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Fruits and vegetables - tasty and a vital business of daily nutrition. But researchers worldwide persevere in to seek better ways to use the healthful properties of these foods. Many of these scientists longing meet in Houston Oct. 9-13 to share the latest findings.

FAV Salubrity 2007 — Fruits And Vegetables, that is — liking convene at the Omni Hotel Houston, Four Riverway, for the second international symposium on how create affects human health, according to Dr. Bhimu Patil, director of the Texas A&M University Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center and discussion chair.

Patil said sessions at one’s desire include the exercise of fruits and vegetables to tone down the risks of obesity, cancer and diseases of the nerve, intellect and skin. Presenters also disposition talk hither how to maintain the most healthful knock down of bioactive compounds in the pre- and send-pick stages of fruit and vegetable assembly, as well as the interaction of certain medicines with grapefruit and other foods.

A general session will-power pinpoint on strength-based marketing of fruits and vegetables. Additionally, divers epidemic food-related organizations devise have a round table bull session about future funding challenges to meet world nutrition needs.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from pattern press deliver.
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Participants can register until Aug. 16 as far as something $595, which includes meals, a meal and conference materials. Into more poop, see http://favhealth2007.tamu.edu/.

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Source: Kathleen Phillips

Texas A&M University - Agricultural Communications

Even though compelling benumb cocktails have improved the outlook for many patients with HIV, disorder progression, including the time from AIDS onslaught to passing, varies substantially from patient to patient.

Now, a study led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine provides new evidence that psychological factors play a role in disease progression.

The study is the first-known in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for HIV to show that traumatic life events, such as physical or sexual abuse, are associated with faster mortality, both from AIDS-related and all causes.

“Trauma and depression are common among people with HIV, and trauma and depression seem to have an effect on disease progression and mortality in HIV. Given that, it is critical that clinicians treating people infected with HIV recognize depression and trauma as risk factors for poor health outcomes, and thus screen and refer patients for psychological and psychiatric treatment when these problems are present,� said Jane Leserman, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and medicine and lead author of the study.

“Some combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and medication might be very beneficial for patients experiencing severe or multiple types of trauma,� Leserman said.

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The study is published in the Nov. 1, 2007 edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The researchers interviewed a group of 490 HIV infected patients in the rural southeast. Those who reported a greater number of categories of traumatic life events had faster death from all causes and from AIDS. More than half of the patients in the study experienced three or more lifetime traumas, and half had experienced physical or sexual abuse.

Unlike depression, the effects of which have been more widely studied in the era of HAART, with trauma, it’s possible to establish a time ordering of events.

“In our study, these traumatic events occurred in most cases many years before the progression of the patients’ HIV. So it’s a more compelling argument for a causal effect of trauma,â€? Leserman said. “Trauma, most of it occurring two or more years before the study, seemed to continue to have a major impact on these patients.â€?

Leserman hopes to study whether treating HIV patients for trauma results in better health outcomes. “We need further study of trauma treatment in this population to find out if that attenuates some of the negative effects,� she said.

http://www.unc.edu/

Where and why is Reductil Sibutramine used?

Reductil Sibutramine is proven to reduce appetite and enhance satiety. The first of a new generation of weight loss drugs, Reductil Sibutramine offers a long-term weight control option when used as an add-on to diet and exercise. The EU license for Sibutramine permits continuous treatment for periods of up to 1 year; although the US FDA has already extended its clearance to 2 years.

Sibutramine is indicated for use in patients:

With a BMI >30 kg/m2 and in overweight patients with a BMI >27 kg/m2 with additional obesity-related risk factors like type 2 diabetes or dyslipidaemia Who have had difficulty in losing weight with weight-reducing diet and exercise alone Who have lost at least 2kg weight in four weeks and 5% of initial weight within three months of starting Sibutramine; if not, it should be stopped Who are between the ages of 18 and 65 years Who continue to lose weight with Sibutramine usage; these patients’ can continue to take Sibutramine for a maximum of one year

How effective is Sibutramine?

Studies have revealed that by and large, Reductil Sibutramine when combined with a weight-reducing diet and exercise can result in increased weight loss. In fact, Sibutramine results have been so promising with people losing up to or more than 7% of total body weight within 6-12 months. Without Sibutramine, diet and exercise has proven less effective.

Efficacy of Sibutramine also depends on one’s continued efforts to persist with the diet and exercise regimen alongside Sibutramine. Sibutramine in itself does not work on body fat but on the appetite controlling neurotransmitters in the brain; maintaining a healthy weight-reducing diet and exercise regimen is what helps Sibutramine work for us in a positive manner.

Is it safe to use Sibutramine for an extended period of time?

Up until the approval of Reductil Sibutramine in 1997, most weight loss medications were prescribed for no longer than three months. Sibutramine is approved for up to one year, but, at a doctor’s discretion, it may be prescribed for longer periods but never more than two years. Long-term use of Sibutramine may result in an increase in blood pressure and thus require monitoring by a medical professional.

However, Sibutramine plays an essential role in medical treatment, more so now that obesity has now been accepted as a metabolic disease. Obesity is now no longer thought of as a failure of desire or willpower. In fact, most clinicians opine that obesity is often easier to manage with a sensible use of weight loss medications.

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Can Sibutramine provide a permanent solution for obesity?

No medication provides a permanent solution for obesity – whether it is prescription medication, over-the-counter drugs or herbal medications. All these medications, including Sibutramine can only do so much, and no more. Reductil Sibutramine can set your weight loss programme in motion but it is up you – the individual – to continue your fight against the bulge. Once Sibutramine has run its course, because it can no longer be taken after a two-year period, your efforts at eating and exercising right will help you win and sustain your battle against obesity.

How can I start treatment with Sibutramine?

Any weight loss treatment drugs should be used only in combination with lifestyle modifications which will help you recognize and change your behavior that led to the weight gain. Drug therapy when combined with comprehensive counseling program can also promote increased weight loss and adequate weight management. Counseling can help establish realistic goals as even modest weight loss helps.

In the past, all we had to worry about was our knack, or inability, to resist fattening foods. According to late-model investigating, diverse cases of obesity may be the result of an contagious bug - more specifically, the human adenovirus Ad-37.

According to Dr L Whigham and team, Dept of Nutritional Sciences, Wisconsin University, tubbiness is a chronic and complex disease. He says that there are lots of factors contributing to the broad epidemic. He adds that it is precise conceivable that the obesity explosion is partially suitable to an infectious malady.

You can read back this study in the American Journal of Physiology, Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Dr Whigham says the human adenovirus Ad-37 makes chickens pudgy. Earlier studies give birth to indicated that other viruses, which are found in humans, can also trigger plumpness. Whighan says his team bring into the world identified three viruses that make chickens, and most likely humans, fat. He says further examine is needed to see how many of the other 50 or so adenoviruses may include alike resemble effects.

The enquire team says the validation is strong that viruses tip off a exaggerate humans and animals fat - they raise the amount of fat we conduct in our paunchiness cells.

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The pointing of the duo, after they be dressed concluded their studies and identified which viruses make us fat, is to develop an anti-obesity vaccine that targets these viruses.

Dr Whigham said there are people who are not pudginess but carry the virus. He stressed that good diet and exercise relieve plays a crucial rele in regulating our weight and orderly health. He says he does not know how diet and exercise interact with the virus.

Many participate in written to Medical Intelligence Today on this text. The ordinary thread among the e-mails is that diet and bones bustle play the principal roles on how much we weigh. We all lead alarmingly sedentary lives and we eat too much processed junk food - and too much commons.

One person emailed in with: ‘These chickens in the study that got five-by-five because they had the virus - were they sedentary? What would prove if you split the chickens up into two groups? One organization with the virus, but doing lots of exercise and eating good rations in the right quantity, and the other club without the virus, sedentary, with loads of fattening food. I bet the second group would be fatter. Perhaps the virus plays a delicate position - but I am inescapable diet and exercise are the factors that really matter.’

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical Despatch Today

Copyright: Medical News Today

Not to be reproduced without leave of Medical Expose Today

Scientists at Prince Henry’s Institute, Melbourne, and the University of California, Los Angeles, have discovered that SRY, the male protein that forms the testes is also produced in the brain region affected in Parkinson’s complaint. This discovery may resolve why men are more indubitably than women to develop this degenerative disorder.

“Our research has shown that a gene only present in males contributes to the control of physical movement, a fundamental brain function,” said Associate Professor Vincent Harley, Head of the Human Molecular Genetics Group at Prince Henry’s Institute.

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic movement disorder that affects an estimated 40,000 Australians. Men are 1.5 times more likely to develop the disease than women.

SRY, the protein that determines male gender, was discovered by British scientists in 1990. Dr Harley joined the team and was the first to show functions of the SRY protein in males. SRY is passed from father to son on the Y chromosome and is not present in females.

Co-investigators Dr Eric Vilain of UCLA and Dr Harley have now traced the SRY protein to a region of the brain called the substantia nigra, which deteriorates in Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease develops when cells in the substantia nigra begin to malfunction and die, producing less dopamine. Dopamine, a chemical messenger, communicates with the brain to control movement and co-ordination. People with Parkinson’s disease become unable to initiate or control their physical movements, eventually leading to paralysis.

The Prince Henry’s Institute team, led by Dr Harley, developed sensitive new tools to detect SRY protein in the brain. UCLA scientists, led by Dr Vilain, lowered the level of SRY in the substantia nigra in animal models and detected a corresponding drop in tyrosine hydroxylase, which plays a key role in the brain’s production of dopamine. The consequent low dopamine levels resulted in Parkinson’s-like movement problems.

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Drs Vilain and Harley believe that the variations in genes that control SRY or in the SRY gene itself may be linked to the onset of Parkinson’s disease. Men with low levels of SRY may be at greater risk of developing the disease.

“We were surprised to find a function for SRY outside the testes,” said Dr Harley.

Scientists at Prince Henry’s Institute are collaborating with Associate Professor Catriona McLean, Director of the National Neural Tissue Resource Centre at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, to investigate SRY levels in the brains of males with Parkinson’s disease.

Drs Harley and Vilain suspect that the normal role of SRY in the male brain could be to provide a protective effect against Parkinson’s disease.

“The SRY gene may also explain the sex differences in other dopamine-linked disorders with a higher incidence in males, such as schizophrenia or addiction,” said Dr Vilain.

One in seven people with Parkinson’s disease are diagnosed before the age of 50 years, and the prevalence increases with age. Parkinson’s disease worsens over time, and there is no known cause or cure. The severity and progression of the disease can vary greatly. Symptoms can be managed with medication and surgery.

http://www.phimr.monash.edu.au/

US researchers start that people with recollection problems who are depressed are at higher gamble of developing Alzheimer’s infection than people who
are not depressed, and that the lay Alzheimer’s medicine donepezil (brand name Aricept) may dally progress to Alzheimer’s in depressed people who
be dressed reminiscence problems or mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

The research was the being planned of take the lead architect Dr Po H Lu, aid professor of neurology with the David Geffen Way of life of Prescription at University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA), and colleagues, and is published online in the 16 June promulgation of Neurology, the medical scrapbook of the
American Academy of Neurology.

Lu said in a statement that:

“Our longer term findings add to the body of evidence that suggests impression is a major jeopardy factor recompense Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Since the drug donepezil has been shown to improve the behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, our study also tested whether the analgesic would
delay the making to Alzheimer’s disease in people with memory problems,” he added.

A himself with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) has problems with respect that are greater than those brought on by universal aging, but they don’t
show symptoms of Alzheimer’s such as distress completing every day activities.

For the study, Lu and colleagues followed the progress of 756 people between 55 and 91 years of age who had MCI and were taking part in a three-year, bent over-blind, placebo-controlled Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study trial of donepezil and vitamin E.

A double blind thorn in the flesh is one where neither the participants nor the health professionals who make over them the drugs know whether they are taking the active drug or a placebo.

At the start of the den the participants underwent a examination that measured depression severity and intensity (the Beck Gloominess Inventory, BDI), and
208 were diagnosed with depression using the BDI.

The main outcome measure was train to possible or presumed Alzheimer’s disease, which was diagnosed either during or at the reason of the
trial.

The participants were in three goups: one troupe was given vitamin E, another donepezil and the third a placebo.

The results showed that:

• A participant’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s went up by 3 per cent for each point increase on the depression test.
• At 1.7 years into the study, among depressed-diagnosed participants with MCI, 11 per cent of those given donepezil developed Alzheimer’s disease
  compared to 25 per cent of those who were given vitamin E or placebo.
• At 2.2 years into the study, these figures went up to 14 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.
• Donepezil had little effect in the participants who were not diangosed with depression.

The authors concluded that:

“Results suggest that gloom is predictive of making from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) to Alzheimer disease (AD) and
treatment with donepezil delayed progression to AD among depressed subjects with aMCI. Donepezil appears to balance the increased endanger of AD
conferred by the presence of depressive symptoms.”

Lu said:

“If we can delay the progress of this disease due to the fact that even two years, it could significantly look up the quality of life for many people dealing with
reminiscence disappointment.”

The FDA has not approved donepezil (Aricept) for the treatment of MCI but at best for mild to moderate and stern Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s infection, which is named after the German physician Alois Alzheimer who first described it in 1906, is the most common formation of
dementia, accounting for 50 to 70 per cent of cases. It is a liberal and fatal brain disease with no cure and the 7th peerless creator of cessation in the
US.

Alzheimer’s destroys brain cells, causing problems with thought, thinking and behavior that impair faculty to work, relate to others, enjoy hobbies and
get on with every heyday life. The Nationwide Alliance on Aging reports that according to brand-new estimates, as many as 2.4 to 4.5 million Americans are
living with Alzheimer’s.

“Donepezil delays progression to AD in MCI subjects with depressive symptoms.”
Lu, P. H., Edland, S. D., Teng, E., Tingus, K., Petersen, R. C., Cummings, J. L., On behalf of The Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study Group.
Neurology, 2009 72: 2115-2121.
Published online 16 June 2009.

Additional sources: American Academy of Neurology, Alzheimer’s Link, NIA.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD

In consideration of drug information on ARICEPT.

Copyright: Medical News Today

Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) at a news conference on Thursday called for changes in funding calculations under the Ryan White CARE Sham that would affect the order of funding to states without many large urban areas, the Birmingham News reports (Orndorff, Birmingham Talk, 5/4). Coburn in March introduced a paper money (S 2339) that would reauthorize and amend the act, which expired on Sept. 30, 2005. The measure would conceive new funding formulas that grip into account HIV prevalence; require that 75% of ANXIETY Act funding is dead beat on first-class care; order that facilities receiving federal funding handling necessary HIV testing; and proliferating annual funding looking for AIDS Drug Support Programs, federal- and state-funded programs that provide HIV/AIDS-associated medications to low-proceeds, uninsured and underinsured HIV-positive individuals. Under the undercurrent law, areas with unrestrained b generally numbers of HIV/AIDS patients make more funding. A 2005 Government Accountability Office report finds that some funding calculations favor states with larger urban areas because the system counts AIDS patients twice in 51 metropolitan areas (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Appear, 5/1). According a Burr unveil, Alabama receives $3,657 in federal funding per AIDS patient, while California receives $5,264 per patient (Burr release, 5/3). However, a account released pattern month by the not-as-profit organization Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief finds the distribution of CARE Act funding to be more balanced than what the GAO report says. Lawmakers from California, New Jersey and Young York up to the minute pattern month criticized the proposed changes to the funding calculations, saying they could move millions of dollars in HIV/AIDS funding from the Northeastern and Western U.S. to the South (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/1).

Senators’ Comments, Reaction
“Although HIV/AIDS started as a major metropolitan health problem, … [t]hat’s not where it is today,” Burr said (Smith, Durham Herald-Sun, 5/4). Sessions said, “The first principle has got to be that the money should follow the disease” (Reilly, Mobile Press-Register, 5/4). Burr, Coburn and Sessions, all members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said they expect the committee to approve a bill on CARE Act reauthorization later this year (Shaffrey, Winston-Salem Journal, 5/4).

Opinion Piece
Although it is unexpected that HIV/AIDS would be “so top-of-mind” for Sessions, “one of the Senate’s most conservative members,” his advocacy could mean that “Alabama finally will get its fair share of available” CARE Act funds, Huntsville Times columnist David Person writes in an opinion piece. The “outdated funding formulas” of the CARE Act would be “bad enough if all we were talking about is a funding disparity,” but HIV incidence patterns are making the “problem … worse,” Person says. If the funding formula is changed, “Alabama will have one of the Senate’s most conservative members to thank for showing true compassion,” Person concludes (Person, Huntsville Times, 5/5).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

Primordial-stage breast cancer patients of Japanese descent that are treated with a lumpectomy and shedding remedial programme are more
undoubtedly to be cured of their cancer than women of other ancestries, according to a new study published in the May 2005 issue
of the Worldwide Monthly of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO, the American Institute for
Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

The burn the midnight oil, conducted on 896 patients treated at Kuakini Medical Center in Honolulu from 1990 to 2001, set up that only six
women (.67 percent) experienced a local recurrence of their breast cancer in the first six years after treatment. The
patients in the scrutinize all had Tis, T1 or T2 tumors, considered early stage, with no spread to other organs or distant sites
in the body. Seventy-four percent of the patients in this swotting were of Japanese inheritance.

This accept is remarkable considering the local recurrence rates for women of all ethnicities with teat cancer published
from academic centers all as a remainder the world range from two to 16 percent. Overall, the Kuakini Medical Center’s survival data
were worthy to the National Cancer Data Scurvy.

“This low rate of neighbourhood relapse is astounding and unmatched by the published data results generally cited in the
literature,” said Mark Kanemori, M.D., around to author of the study and a emanation oncologist at Kuakini Medical Center. “This
study suggests that there are biological factors that may be coordinated to ethnicity. Hopefully, this order spark relaxation in the
visionary community to further examination in this area. Identifying predictive factors of cancer biology may lead to
improvements in our cleverness to properly select appropriate cancer treatments conducive to our patients.”

For more intelligence on dispersal remedial programme in support of breast cancer cancer, please sojourn astro.org/patient/treatment_information also in behalf of a
free catalogue.

To arrange an interview with Dr. Kanemori or to a copy of the on “Results of Mamma Upkeep Therapy From a
Single-Institution Community Hospital in Hawaii With a Predominantly Japanese Residents,” delight contact Nick Lashinsky at
nickl@astro.org or 1-800-962-7876.

ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the happy, with more than 8,000 members who specialize in treating
patients with radiation therapies. As a outstanding make-up in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Intercourse is
dedicated to the advancement of the practising of radiation oncology by promoting distinction in patient care, providing
opportunities as educational and excellent development, promoting research and disseminating experiment with results and
representing radiation oncology in a rapidly evolving socioeconomic healthcare environs.

Contact: Nick Lashinsky
nickl@astro.org
703-227-0185
American Society for Beneficial Radiology and Oncology
http://www.astro.org

Current users of medical mechanism technologies as a service to orthopaedic applications seek systems that offer maximum opulence while requiring nadir woman supervision. This is driving the market to continuously evolve technologies that use radically different approaches or make significant improvements to existing products.

Apart from greater product efficiency and ease of use, companies are also looking to provide economic advantages to end users of orthopaedic applications. However, to do so will be a challenge because of increased scrutiny of accounts and reimbursement details in the healthcare industry.

Currently, healthcare institutions do not reimburse many procedures and revision surgery further compounds this problem. Minimally invasive procedures are already replacing older techniques with their advantages of lesser pain and trauma, smaller scars, and lesser blood loss. Such procedures are not only more efficient, but also cost effective to both the healthcare industry as well as end users.

Scientists are developing several other specialised technologies and instruments that can improve the lifestyles of end users. It is vital to train and educate surgeons and orthopaedists in the use of these new technologies to overcome any reluctance on their part. This will require the companies developing the technologies to provide specialised training modules and resources.

“Patients also need to be educated and must be kept informed on the benefits and risks involved in the treatment,” says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Nivedithaa. G. “There is an increasing need for patients to understand that each individual’s treatment differs based on the body’s ability to accept the product.”

Since these devices have to be inserted in the human body and function for long periods, technology developers cannot afford to be lax about the devices’ safety. The gadgets need to be stable and fully functional, without triggering any reaction or side effects.

This need for robust devices is driving the market for orthopaedic biomaterials, especially for applications in such as degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis. Companies have made considerable progress in technologies where materials mimic the bone in almost all aspects. These products have the potential to cannibalise the allograft market as well as eliminate the need for an autograft.

Some European companies have materials exchange research agreements with American organisations, thereby facilitating the development of newer materials. For instance, Hedrocel, an American technology, imitates the bone in being spongy and porous. A coating of Biosilicon along with hedrocel technology improves bonding when implanted in the bone tissue. This combination of artificial and natural materials aids the reconstruction of the target and minimises pain and lowers the possibility of nerve compression.

“The overall biomaterials and gene therapy market is likely to grow steadily,” notes Nivedithaa. “Orthobiologics will experience a boom in expansion in terms of research, development, production, and utility, with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies contributing significantly to this burgeoning sector.”

http://www.technicalinsights.frost.com

A large, community-based study — considered the head lucubrate to assess the long-term risk of developing overweight and obesity in adults — found that over 30 years, nine out of 10 men and seven gone away from of 10 women were overweight or became overweight. In over, more than one in three were gross or became obese.

The study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Researchers analyzed the short-term and long-term chances of developing overweight and obesity among more than 4,000 white adults enrolled in the offspring cohort of NHLBI’s landmark Framingham Heart Study, an ongoing longitudinal study in Framingham, Massachusetts. Participants ages 30 to 59 were followed for 30 years, from 1971 to 2001. The results appear in the October 4, 2005, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“National surveys and other studies have told us that the United States has a major weight problem, but this study suggests that we could have an even more serious degree of overweight and obesity over the next few decades,” said NHLBI Director Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D., who also co-chairs the NIH Obesity Research Task Force. “In addition, these results may underestimate the risk for some ethnic groups.”

Framingham participants were white, and other studies have shown, for example, that Hispanic and black individuals, especially women, have a greater prevalence of excess weight compared to their white counterparts.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 65 percent of U.S. adults aged 20 years and older are either overweight or obese, and approximately 30 percent of adults are obese. These estimates are from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a population-based survey.

Framingham researchers assessed the participants’ body mass index (BMI) — a standard measure of weight relative to height, which is an indicator of total body fat. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2 is considered a normal, or healthy, weight for adults. Overweight is a BMI of 25 to 29.9 kg/m2, and obesity is a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or higher.

Making it to middle age without extra pounds was no guarantee for staying at a healthy weight — even in the short term. About one in five women and one in four men who were at a healthy BMI at a routine Framingham study examination became overweight after four years. Among those who were overweight, 16 to 23 percent of women and 12 to 13 percent of men became obese within four years.

“Our results, although not surprising, are worrisome,” comments Ramachandran Vasan, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “If the trend continues, our country will continue to face substantial health problems related to excess weight.”

“Overweight and obesity increase the risk of poor health. We hope these results will serve as a wake-up call to Americans of all ages,” adds Nabel. “Even those who are now at a healthy weight need to be careful about maintaining energy balance to avoid gaining weight. Taking simple steps to make sure that the overall the number of calories you consume do not exceed the amount you burn can play a major role in lowering your risk for many chronic conditions.”

Overweight increases the likelihood of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, stroke, breathing problems such as asthma and sleep apnea, some cancers, osteoarthritis, and gall bladder disease. Obesity is associated with these conditions as well as with early death. Research has shown that even a small weight loss (just 10 percent of body weight) can help people who are overweight or obese lower their risk of developing many of these conditions.

The Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults recommend that both people who are overweight as well as those who are at a healthy weight prevent weight gain. The guidelines are available online at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/ob_home.htm.

Strategies that promote a healthy weight beginning in childhood are critical. For information on We Can!, NIH’s national education program to enhance children’s activity and nutrition to prevent childhood obesity, visit the website at http://wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov or call toll-free 866-35-WECAN.

For help assessing obesity risk and advice on how to lose weight, consult your healthcare professional.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/