Tag • #obesity

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Overweight girls ‘more likely to see GP about musculoskeletal problems’

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 12 March - 23:30

Study finds reception-age girls with obesity 67% more likely to see doctor about musculoskeletal issues than those at healthy weight

Girls aged between four and 11 who are overweight or obese are more likely to see a GP at least once about musculoskeletal problems than their healthy weight peers, research suggests.

Pupils in reception year who had a body mass index considered overweight were 24% more likely to see a doctor at least once for a musculoskeletal issue while their peers who were living with obesity were 67% more likely to do so than girls with a healthy weight, the study found.

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Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: ministers doing ‘next to nothing’ to tackle obesity

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 10 March - 11:45

Celebrity chef clashes with health secretary over what he calls government’s lack of obesity strategy

The celebrity chef and Green party supporter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has clashed with the UK health secretary, Victoria Atkins, over what he says is the government’s failure to tackle the obesity crisis.

Fearnley-Whittingstall challenged Atkins during a live discussion on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, accusing ministers of doing “next to nothing” to tackle obesity in England.

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Unhealthiest UK restaurants and takeaways ‘more likely to be found in deprived areas’

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 8 March - 07:00

Researchers from the University of Cambridge examined menus from almost 55,000 food outlets on Just Eat

Restaurants and takeaways with the unhealthiest menus are more likely to be found in deprived areas, while tourists hotspots such as Westminster have the healthiest food outlets, research suggests.

The study from the University of Cambridge examined menus from almost 55,000 food outlets on Just Eat, an online food ordering and delivery platform. Each menu was given a score between 0 and 12, with 12 being the healthiest.

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More than a billion people worldwide are obese, research finds

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 29 February - 23:30

Over past three decades. obesity rates increased fourfold among children and doubled among adults

More than 1 billion people worldwide are now living with obesity, with rates among children increasing fourfold across a 32-year period, according to new research.

Analysis of the weight and height measurements of over 220 million people from more than 190 countries shows how body mass index (BMI) changed across the world between 1990 and 2022.

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UK public warned over dangers of fake weight loss medication pens

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 26 October, 2023 - 18:19

Pre-filled injection devices claimed to hold Ozempic or Saxenda may contain other substances, regulator says

The UK medicines regulator has issued a public warning about fake and potentially harmful weight loss pens after seizing hundreds of devices sold by illegal traders.

The pens, with which the traders’ drugs are injected, are claimed to contain the medications Ozempic (semaglutide) or Saxenda (liraglutide), which are used for weight loss. However, these pens are thought to contain other substances.

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Weight-loss drug can reverse heart failure symptoms, study finds

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 25 August, 2023 - 09:55

Semaglutide injections trigger ‘very large improvements’ in patients with hearts too stiff to fill properly

Weight-loss jabs can reverse the symptoms of heart failure, according to a global trial that experts say could revolutionise treatment.

Heart failure is one of the world’s fastest growing health threats. About 65 million people have the condition, with cases soaring in recent years. However, few treatment options are available.

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Overweight adults with high blood pressure a third more likely to die early, study finds

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Friday, 25 August, 2023 - 06:00

Up to 31% of global population estimated to have metabolic syndrome due to three or more unhealthy traits

Millions of middle-aged adults who are overweight with even slightly raised blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose levels are about a third more likely to die early, research suggests.

They also face a 35% higher risk of heart attacks or strokes and will experience them two years earlier than their peers. The stark findings are being presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology , the world’s largest heart conference. They represent more evidence of the immediate dangers posed by the global obesity crisis.

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Aspartame and cancer: Why you really shouldn’t worry about this

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 17 July, 2023 - 21:33

Enlarge / Bottles of Diet Coke, which contains aspartame.

The World Health Organization's cancer agency released an anticipated assessment late last week, finding that the common artificial sweetener aspartame "possibly" has the ability to cause cancer—specifically, a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma.

The assessment, leaked to Reuters in June , was poised to set off alarms. But, a closer look at the designation itself, the safety evaluation of the current daily recommended limited, and the data underpinning the assessment should comfort anyone worried about their cancer risk and considering ditching their favorite diet drink or snack.

Low-confidence designation

The concern is all based on a designation from the WHO's cancer agency—the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)— labeling aspartame a Group 2B agent , which is considered "possibly carcinogenic to humans." Group 2B is one of four possible classifications , which span "carcinogenic" (Group 1), "probably" carcinogenic (Group 2A), "possibly" carcinogenic (Group 2B), and "not classifiable" (Group 3). This is the first time the IARC has evaluated aspartame—it's not an update to a previous assessment.

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Body mass index gets smack down: AMA calls out harms and “racist exclusion”

news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 14 June, 2023 - 21:11 · 1 minute

Body mass index gets smack down: AMA calls out harms and “racist exclusion”

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Thierry Monasse )

Body mass index has for decades been used as a shorthand for assessing body fat and weight-related health risks. But for about just as long, critics have noted the simple calculation is laden with problems; BMI doesn’t actually measure fat mass, account for its distribution, or how those differ by age, gender, ethnicity, race, and how those differences affect health risks. Calculations and cutoffs are largely based on past generations of non-Hispanic white people. And BMI classifications mislead people on their individual risks of disease and death, and can lead to substandard care for eating disorders.

Now, it seems the hefty criticism has finally reached a critical mass. During the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) this week in Chicago, physicians and medical students voted to adopt a strongly worded policy acknowledging the calculation's "significant limitations" and "historical harms," including "racist exclusion." While the massive medical group acknowledged that BMI remains useful for population-level trends and associations, the policy called for doctors to become familiar with the calculation's problems and explore alternative measurements for diagnosing obesity and assessing health risks.

"There are numerous concerns with the way BMI has been used to measure body fat and diagnose obesity, yet some physicians find it to be a helpful measure in certain scenarios," AMA Immediate Past President Jack Resneck, Jr., said in a statement . "It is important for physicians to understand the benefits and limitations of using BMI in clinical settings to determine the best care for their patients."

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