Obesity and Energetics Offerings

Featured

• Self-reported physical activity and objective aerobic fitness: differential associations with gray matter density in healthy aging.
• Dual melanocortin-4 receptor and GLP-1 receptor agonism amplifies metabolic benefits in diet-induced obese mice.

Findings Contrary to Hypotheses or Popular Beliefs

• RCT: "a nutrigenetic-based diet did not increase weight loss compared with a standard balanced diet.”
• RCT: "The increase in energy expenditure promoted by a single session of Kinect AVG play is ...compensated for after the intervention, resulting in no measurable change in energy balance after 24h".
• RCT: Short-term food intake in children and adolescents is not differentially altered by an egg breakfast compared to a bagel breakfast.
• These findings challenge the robustness of OLS estimates of a positive relationship between marijuana use and fasting insulin, insulin resistance, BMI, and waist circumference.
• Overweight is not associated with cortical thickness alterations in children.
• RCT: Postprandial Lipid Responses do not Differ Following Consumption of Butter or Vegetable Oil when Consumed with Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids.

Rigor & Scholarly Dialogue

• Correction of Data Errors and Reanalysis of “The Effect of Glucomannan on Body Weight in Overweight or Obese Children and Adults: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.”
• Meta Confusion about Glucomannan.
• Bias in observational study designs: cross sectional studies.
• Implausible data, false memories, and the status quo in dietary assessment (updated link).
• Reply to E Archer and SN Blair (updated link).

Methods

• Our review shows that researchers have used instruments of unknown quality to test if the school environment is a determinant of childhood obesity, which raises broader questions about the impact that schools can play in obesity prevention.
• Integration of body temperature into the analysis of energy expenditure in the mouse.

Exercise

• RCT: “Exercise reduces urges for sugary snacks and attenuates urges in response to the stress situation and the cue in overweight people.”
• RCT: “Abdominal resistance training besides diet did not reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat thickness compared to diet alone in overweight or obese women.”
• The effects of acute and 2 hour post-physical activity on the estimation of body fat made by the Bod Pod.
• Association between Physical Activity and Teacher-Reported Academic Performance among Fifth-Graders in Shanghai: A Quantile Regression.
• BDNF and Substrate Utilization Following Acute Aerobic Exercise in Obese Individuals.
• Active video games and energy balance in male adolescents: a randomized crossover trial.
• Physical Activity, Sedentary Time, and Obesity in an International Sample of Children.
• Subjective and objective physical activity patterns after Roux-en Y gastric bypass surgery compared with non-operated obese and non-obese control women.

Food

• RCT: “Collectively, these findings indicate that acute natural cocoa consumption was associated with decreased obesity-related disease risk.”
• RCT: The Effects of Carbohydrate Amount and Type on Kidney Function in Healthy Adults: Results From the Omnicarb Trial.
• Energy drinks raise blood pressure for caffeine-naive: study.
• Cowboy Cravings: Fried Cookie Dough And Other Rodeo Calorie Bombs.
• Adult picky eating. Phenomenology, taste sensitivity, and psychological correlates.
• Viewers vs. Doers. The relationship between watching food television and BMI.
• Obese Individuals Have Higher Preference and Sensitivity to Odor of Chocolate.
• School Nutrition Program; Prevention of Obesity and Fatty Liver in Children.
• Getting my child to eat the right amount. Mothers' considerations when deciding how much food to offer their child at a meal.

Evolution, Energetics, & Ecology

• Bat Species Warm 'Sleep' Upends Hibernation Concept.
• Mitochondria: Hubs of cellular signaling, energetics and redox balance. A rich, vibrant and diverse landscape of mitochondrial research.

Epidemiology

• Prevalence of Moderate to Severe Obesity Among U.S. Nursing Home Residents, 2000-2010.
• Mom, Homework Is Making Me Fat?
• A Study of the Relationship between Food Group Recommendations and Perceived Stress: Findings from Black Women in the Deep South (corrected link).
• Invited Commentary: The Virtual Epidemiologist—Promise and Peril.
• Body Weight Misperception in Adolescence and Incident Obesity in Young Adulthood.

Clinical

• Non-contact radiofrequency-induced reduction of subcutaneous abdominal fat correlates with initial cardiovascular autonomic balance and fat tissue hormones: safety analysis.
• Pilot Study Evaluating the Feasibility and Initial Outcomes of a Primary Care Weight Loss Intervention With Peer Coaches.
• Residency Training: A failed lumbar puncture is more about obesity than lack of ability.
• Effect of intragastric injection of botulinum toxin A for the treatment of obesity: a meta-analysis and meta-regression.
• Prediabetes Patients Have Fewer Gut Bugs.
• Moderate Hypoglycemia Impacts Language Processing.
• Understanding the Role of Maternal Diet on Kidney Development; an Opportunity to Improve Cardiovascular and Renal Health for Future Generations.
• Modest weight loss through a 12-week weight management program with behavioral modification seems to attenuate inflammatory responses in young obese Koreans.

Surgery

• Laparoscopic versus Open Obesity Surgery: A Meta-Analysis of Pulmonary Complications.
• Increased Risk of Infection in Obese Adolescents After Pedicle Screw Instrumentation for Idiopathic Scoliosis.

Drugs

• Trodusquemine causes lower weight in mice.
• Novo Nordisk's phase 3a SCALET obesity and pre-diabetes trial data shows obesity losing at least 5% with Saxenda.
• RCT: Effects of oxytocin nasal spray on obesity related variables in a single day.

Policy Related

• Government Overreach on Obesity Control.
• English obesity policies: To govern and not to govern.
• FDA Guidance for Industry: Nutrition Labeling of Standard Menu Items in Restaurants and Similar Retail Food Establishments; Small Entity Compliance Guide.
• Impact of policy and built environment changes on obesity-related outcomes: a systematic review of naturally occurring experiments.
• Regressive Effects Causes and Consequences of Selective Consumption Taxation.
• The role of parents in public views of strategies to address childhood obesity in the United States.
• AACE leads advocacy effort to pass improved diabetes care legislation.

Psychology

• Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: food and diet as instigators of bizarre and disturbing dreams.
• Have Your Cake and Make Her Eat It Too: Sabotaging Others While Maintaining Moral Self-Integrity.
• Attentional biases for food cues in overweight and individuals with obesity: a systematic review of the literature.
• Nutrition labels influence value computation of food products in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Caloric Restriction

• Modulation of sphingolipid metabolism with calorie restriction enhances insulin action in skeletal muscle.
• Artemisinin mimics calorie restriction to trigger mitochondrial biogenesis and compromise telomere shortening in mice.
• Caloric restriction mimetic 2-deoxyglucose alleviated lethal liver injury induced by lipopolysaccharide/d-galactosamine in mice.
• Calorie restriction, endothelial function and blood pressure homeostasis.
• Effects of resistance training with and without caloric restriction on physical function and mobility in overweight and obese older adults: a randomized controlled trial.
• Blood cell transcriptomic-based early biomarkers of adverse programming effects of gestational calorie restriction and their reversibility by leptin supplementation.
• Caloric restriction and the adipokine leptin alter the SDF-1 signaling axis in bone marrow and in bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells.
• Metformin and caloric restriction induce an AMPK-dependent restoration of mitochondrial dysfunction in fibroblasts from Fibromyalgia patients.
• Calorie restriction inhibits ovarian follicle development and follicle loss through activating SIRT1 signaling in mice.

Mathematical

• A Simple Model for BMI Change in a Social Network.
• Modeling Social Norms and Social Influence in Obesity.

Stigma

• Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity.
• Women's experience of internalised weight stigma: results from a nationwide survey.
• Reducing obesity prejudice in medical education.
• The heavy weight of death: How anti-fat bias is affected by weight-based group membership and existential threat.

Asthma

• Weight loss improves asthma severity in obese patients.
• Asthma Health app harnesses the power of Apple’s iPhone.

Depression

• A Prospective Study of Fitness, Fatness, and Depressive Symptoms.
• Invited Commentary: Fitness and Fatness—Causes of Depression or of Misclassification?
• Becofsky et al. Respond to “Misclassifying Fitness and Depression”.
• Associations between Depressive Symptomatology, Diet, and BMI among Participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Salt

• Salt May Be Bad for More Than Your Blood Pressure.
• Do TV Cooking Shows Make Us Fat?
• Uptake of Dietary Sodium Restriction by Overweight and Obese Patients After Cardiac Revascularization.

Intergenerational Effects

• Association between caesarean section and childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
• Offspring subcutaneous adipose markers are sensitive to the timing of maternal gestational weight gain.

Economics & Sociology

• Prospect theory and body mass: Characterizing psychological parameters for weight-related risk attitudes and weight-gain aversion.
• I fail to find any evidence of discrimination against obese employees, but I do find that among females the negative relationship between wages and obesity exists only among mothers.

Commentary

• A Cure for Pervasive Bias.
• A Cheese 'Product' Gains Kids' Nutrition Seal.
• Diet Sodas Not Doing Waistlines Any Favors.
• Top expert: C-sections are to blame for obesity epidemic 'because overweight babies who would once have died now survive”.
• Do We Need New Guidelines for “Levels of Obesity” and Weight Gain during Pregnancy?
• What You Should Know About Waist Training.

Basic Science

• Linkage and association analysis of obesity traits reveals novel loci and interactions with dietary n-3 fatty acids in an Alaska Native (Yup'ik) population.
• a-Glucosidase Inhibitor Isolated from Coffee.
• IOM Workshop Summary: Relationships Among the Brain, the Digestive System, and Eating Behavior.
• Can Brown Fat Win the Battle against White Fat?
• Adiponectin as a target in obesity-related inflammatory state (corrected link).
• Ghrelin and obestatin in thyroid gland - immunohistochemical expression in nodular goiter, papillary and medullary cancer.
• Leptin in the hindbrain facilitates phosphorylation of STAT3 in the hypothalamus.
• Epigenetic signature of birth weight discordance in adult twins.

General Science

• Widely Used Antibiotics Affect Mitochondria.
• Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science?
• Nina Fedoroff, Kevin Folta, GLP's Jon Entine push back on organic-led attack on biotech academic research.
• FDA and EPA Sign a Data Sharing Memorandum of Understanding.
• Barriers to Clinical Research Participation Among African Americans.
• Reporting of Noninferiority Trials in ClinicalTrials.gov and Corresponding Publications.
• The Loss of Glucose Regulated Protein 78 (GRP78) during Normal Aging or from siRNA Knockdown Augments Human Alpha-Synuclein (a-syn) Toxicity to Rat Nigral Neurons.
• When ab != c - c': published errors in the reports of single-mediator models.
• Logical Obesity Solutions with Illogical Effects.
• War on Food Science: Part 1 - Weight Loss Quick Fixes.
• TV takes a toll on your child's health for life: Early habit could lead to lifetime as couch potato, warn experts.
• Funding, focus lacking for health care that gets results.
• Diet quality and BMI are associated with health care resource use in rural older adults.

Video

• Kenneth J. McLeod, “The Role of Heat Balance in body Mass Maintenance."
• Caroline Alexander, “Skin Insulation and Staying Warm."
• Energy Balance Explained.

Announcements

• UAB 3rd Annual Workshop on Metabolomics - Sunday, June 14th - Thursday June 18th, 2015.
• NIDDK establishes Office of Nutrition Research.
• Genetic Association Course With Application to Sequence and Genotype Data.
• NIDDK Programs and Emerging Opportunities for Digestive Diseases Research.
• Physical Activity: Moving Toward Obesity Solutions Conference.

Featured

• Both Food Restriction and High-Fat Diet during Gestation Induce Low Birth Weight and Altered Physical Activity in Adult Rat Offspring.
• Corn oil, but not cocaine, is a more effective reinforcer in obese than in lean Zucker rats.

Findings Contrary to Hypotheses or Popular Beliefs

• RCT: Long-Term Green Tea Extract Supplementation Does Not Affect Fat Absorption, Resting Energy Expenditure, and Body Composition in Adults.
• RCT: Psychological support pre and post bariatric surgery had no impact on weight loss as measured by BMI and change in BMI by 1 year.
• RCT: A parent-based intervention found significant positive group effects for vegetable and snack food intake, and yet no effect on zBMI.
• RCT: Intranasal Nicotine Increases Postoperative Nausea and is Ineffective in Reducing Pain Following Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery in Tobacco-Naïve Females.
• Data from this study ...do not lend support to the consideration of obesity, as defined by BMI, as an addictive disorder.
• No Significant Associations between Road Traffic Noise and Obesity Markers in the Total Populations.
• RCT: Comparing effects of different physical activity programs in obese men and women.

Clinical

• Provider communication quality: Influence association of patients' weight and race.
• Association Between Familial Hypercholesterolemia and Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
• Intestinal Microbiome: Prediabetes Patients Have Fewer Gut Bugs.
• Infants' Gut Bacteria Linked to Food Sensitization.
• Mom's Age at Childbirth Tied to Son's Risk for Type 2 Diabetes.
• Reducing obesity prejudice in medical education.

Food

• RCT: Sugar-Sweetened Product Consumption Alters Glucose Homeostasis Compared with Dairy Product Consumption in Men and Women.
• RCT: Palmolein and olive oil consumed within a high protein test meal have similar effects on postprandial endothelial function in overweight and obese men.
• Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and the Risk of Colorectal Cancers.
• Low-Fat Diet vs. Low-Carb Diet: Controlled Trial.
• Metabolic Syndrome Risk in Teens Decreased with Daily Nut Intake.

Drugs

• Fast Metabolism Drug Turns White Fat into Brown.
• RCT: Efficacy and Safety of Beloranib for Weight Loss in Obese Adults.
• Top FDA Official Says Orexigen Study Result 'Unreliable,' 'Misleading'.
• RCT: Taking cumin cyminum L. for eight weeks had similar effects of orlistat120 on weight and BMI.
• Increases in BMI following initiation of methadone treatment.
• Overview of Common Regimens Used for Initiating and Titrating Insulin in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Psychology

• Eating tasty food to cope. Longitudinal association with BMI.
• Characterization of attenuated food motivation in high-fat diet-induced obesity: Critical roles for time on diet and reinforcer familiarity.

Epidemiology

• Linkage and association analysis of obesity traits reveals novel loci and interactions with dietary n-3 fatty acids in an Alaska Native (Yup'ik) population.
• The impact [association] of weight classification on safety: timing steps to adapt to external constraints.
• A Dose-Response Meta-analysis of the Impact of BMI on Stroke and All-Cause Mortality in Stroke Patients: A Paradox Within A Paradox.
• The role of adenovirus 36 as a risk factor in obesity: The first clinical study made in the fatty tissues of adults in Turkey.

Scientific Rigor

• 'Exercise Hormone' Irisin Is More Myth Than Reality.
• An Open Science Peer Review Oath.

Exercise

• Muscle Fiber Type, Achilles Tendon Length, Potentiation, and Running Economy.
• RCT: Effects of exercise amount and intensity on abdominal obesity and glucose tolerance in obese adults.
• RCT: Linear and undulating periodized strength plus aerobic training promote similar benefits and improves insulin resistance.
• New Hormone Mimics Effects Of Exercise, Protects Against Obesity in Mice.

Surgery

• Inequity to the Utilization of Bariatric Surgery: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
• Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Severely Obese Adolescents: The Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen- LABS) Study.
• RCT: Use of positive pressure in preoperative and intraoperative of bariatric surgery and its effect on the time of extubation.
• Surgical vs Nonsurgical Treatment of Adults With Displaced Fractures of the Proximal Humerus.
• A Michigan surgeon invented an apparatus that he believes tricks the brain into thinking the stomach is full.

Methods

• Double Sampling with Multiple Imputation to Answer Large Sample Meta-Research Questions.
• Differing Statistical Approaches Affect the Relation Between Egg Consumption, Adiposity, and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Adults.
• Are common measures of dietary restraint and disinhibited eating reliable and valid in obese persons?
• Capturing exposures: using automated cameras to document environmental determinants of obesity.
• An Exploratory Study on a Chest-Worn Computer for Evaluation of Diet, Physical Activity and Lifestyle.
• Geoprocessing via Google Maps for Assessing Obesogenic Built Environments Related to Physical Activity.

Stigma

• Minty Fresh! Absolving Dieters of Their Consumption Sins.
• Perceptions of Sexual Assault Victims/Survivors: The Influence of Sexual History and Body Weight.
• Marriage and Family Therapy Trainees' Reports of Explicit Weight Bias.
• Influencing weight bias: The impact of biased questionnaire anchors on stereotype beliefs and judgments.

Aging

• Geroscience Needs Aging Biology Research.
• Food and Addiction Among the Ageing Population.

Evolution, Energetics, & Ecology

• Arctic warming: nonlinear impacts of sea-ice and glacier melt on seabird foraging.
• Energetics, scaling and sexual size dimorphism of spiders.
• Dominance, energetics and stress in female capuchins in Costa Rica.

Policy Related

• New School Meal Regulations [were associated with Increased Fruit Consumption and Do Not Increase Total Plate Waste.
• Disparities persist in nutrition policies and practices in Minnesota secondary schools.
• RCT: Acknowledging Individual Responsibility while Emphasizing Social Determinants in Narratives to Promote Obesity-Reducing Public Policy.

Intergenerational Effects

• Male obesity is associated with changed spermatozoa Cox4i1 mRNA level and altered seminal vesicle fluid composition in a mouse model.
• Does exposure to hyperglycaemia in utero increase the risk of obesity and diabetes in the offspring?
• Paternal obesity in a rodent model affects placental gene expression in a sex-specific manner.

Economics & Sociology

• Low Social Capital as a Predictor for the Risk of Obesity.
• Are natural resources bad for health?
• The impact [association] of cumulative family risks on various levels of food insecurity.

Caloric Restriction

• Calorie Restriction Mimetics: Can You Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too?
• Quantitative feed restriction rather than caloric restriction modulates the immune response of growing rabbits.
• A weekly alternating diet between caloric restriction and medium fat protects the liver from fatty liver development in middle-aged C57BL/6J mice.

Commentary

• Gaps in Measuring Behaviors That Contribute to Obesity.
• Resolving the Decision Aid Paradox.
• From Wallstreet to Mt. Sinai: Dr. Data.
• "The Saturated Fat Studies: Set Up to Fail".
• Do we need a gadget to tell us when to eat a banana?
• Mayo Clinic, Gentag to develop skin sensor to treat obesity, diabetes.
• The mother of all problems.
• NPR: Can Family Secrets Make You Sick?
• Why Do People Drink Milk?
• Why Full-Fat Dairy May Be Healthier Than Low-Fat.
• Obesity is an expensive disease, especially for aging senior citizens.

Basic Science

• Low levels of lipopolysaccharide modulate mitochondrial oxygen consumption in skeletal muscle.
• Molecule from trees helps female mice only resist weight gain.
• High-fat diet decreases energy expenditure and expression of genes controlling lipid metabolism, mitochondrial function and skeletal system development in the adipose tissue, along with increased expression of extracellular matrix remodelling- and inflammation-related genes.
• Do altered energy metabolism or spontaneous locomotion 'mediate' decelerated senescence?

General Science

• Lost City Discovered in the Honduran Rain Forest.
• Apple’s ResearchKit Lets iPhone Users Tap Into Medical Trials.
• NASA's Dawn Probe Achieves Orbit Around Ceres.
• Auto Racing Safety Engineer Developing Safer Football Helmets.
• Zebrafish May be Key to Beating Osteoporosis.
• Chameleon Colors: 'Switched by Crystals'.
• Despite The Spread Of Health Information Exchange, There Is Little Evidence Of Its Impact On Cost, Use, And Quality Of Care.
• Researchers Nearly Double the Size of Worker Ants.
• PLoS ONE mega-correction, but no retraction, for researcher who sued diabetes journal.
• "Secret Science": it's everywhere, and nowhere, yet it rules our lives.
• Stochastic developmental variation, an epigenetic source of phenotypic diversity with far-reaching biological consequences.
• Thousands of 16th-, 17th-century Skeletons Found at London Railroad Site.

Video

• Kenneth J. McLeod: "The Role of Heat Balance in body Mass Maintenance."
• Sarah Richardson "Messages to Women about Epigenetics and Childhood Obesity."

Announcements

• Call for Applicants: 2015 Early-Career Research Grants.
• Obesity Researcher Capt (Dr.) Jameson Voss Earns Top Air Force Medical Award.
• ASN ANNOUNCES 2015 CLASS OF FELLOWS.
• Hot Topic Conference 2015: Dietary Sugars, Obesity and Metabolic Disease Risk.
• Two UAB faculty honored by the American Society of Nutrition.
• ASN ANNOUNCES AWARD RECIPIENTS IN NUTRITION SCIENCE.
• “Diet and Cardiovascular Disease: Fact, Fuzzy and Fiction” - Alice Lichtenstein, D.Sc. -- April 20, 2015.

Featured

• Mitochondrial dysfunction in oocytes of obese mothers: transmission to offspring and reversal by pharmacological endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibitors.
• Controlled-release mitochondrial protonophore reverses diabetes and steatohepatitis in rats - proof of concept that mild hepatic mitochondrial uncoupling may be a safe and effective therapy for the related epidemics of metabolic syndrome, T2D and NASH.
• Tipping the metabolic scales towards increased longevity in mammals - recent advances in identifying fundamental signalling pathways that influence metabolic health and ageing through mitochondrial perturbations.
• Age- and Sex-Specific Causal Effects of Adiposity on Cardiovascular Risk Factors.

Findings Contrary to Hypotheses or Popular Beliefs

• Farmer’s Markets “may offer many items not optimal for good nutrition and health, and carry less-varied, less-common fresh produce in neighborhoods that already have access to stores with cheaper prices and overwhelmingly more hours of operation.”
• Primary Care Intervention on BMI, The Maine Youth Overweight Collaborative, was associated with no significant improvement in BMI z-scores, compared to control sites.
• Household food insecurity was not associated with child BMI percentile in this study.
• Nutritional manipulation in pregnancy based on diet or mixed approach do not appear to reduce the risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.
• Assessment of a government-subsidized supermarket in a high-need area showed "no appreciable differences in availability of healthful or unhealthful foods at home, or in children's dietary intake as a result of the supermarket."
• Higher Intake of Fruit, but Not Vegetables or Fiber, at Baseline Is Associated with Lower Risk of Becoming Overweight or Obese in Middle-Aged and Older Women of Normal BMI at Baseline.
• RCT: Exercise in pregnancy does not alter gestational weight gain, MCP-1 or leptin in obese women.

Variety & Choice

• Mitigating or Exacerbating Effects of Maternal-Fetal Programming of Female Mice Through the Food Choice Environment.
• RCT: Effects of meal variety on expected satiation: Evidence for a 'perceived volume' heuristic.
• RCT: Reducing variety enhances effectiveness of family-based treatment for pediatric obesity.
• Dynamics of pre- and post-choice behaviour: rats approximate optimal strategy in a discrete-trial decision task.
• Effects of inter-food interval on the variety effect in an instrumental food-seeking task. Clarifying the role of habituation.

Exercise

• Exercise-induced regulation of key factors in substrate choice and gluconeogenesis in mouse liver.
• Exercise improves quality of life in bariatric surgery candidates: Results from the Bari-Active trial.
• Effects of Exercise Amount and Intensity on Abdominal Obesity and Glucose Tolerance in Obese Adults.

Epidemiology

• Integrated genomic and BMI analysis for type 2 diabetes risk assessment.
• Outcomes of Pregnancy after Bariatric Surgery.
• Commercial Driver Medical Examinations: Prevalence of Obesity, Comorbidities, and Certification Outcomes.
• Does selection bias explain the obesity paradox among individuals with cardiovascular disease?
• Potential Overtreatment of Diabetes Mellitus in Older Adults With Tight Glycemic Control.
• Sex differences in serum leptin and its relation to markers of cardiometabolic risk in middle-aged adults: Evidence from a population-based study.

Evolution, Energetics, & Ecology

• A new method for resolving uncertainty of energy requirements in large water-breathers: the 'mega-flume' seagoing swim-tunnel respirometer.
• New actualistic data on the ecology and energetics of hominin scavenging opportunities.

Economics

• Obesity history and male employment.
• Decomposing socioeconomic inequalities in childhood obesity: Evidence from Ireland.

Drugs

• Characterization of the 5-HT2C receptor agonist lorcaserin on efficacy and safety measures in a rat model of diet-induced obesity.
• Orexigen Released Interim Data Without Approval Of Trial Leaders.
• The FDA Is Forcing Orexigen To Do A Second Safety Study Because Of Contrave Disclosures.
• Merck to Team With NGM to Develop Diabetes and Obesity Treatments.

Clinical

• RCT: Sweet/Dessert foods are more appealing to adolescents after sleep restriction.
• Adult-Acquired Hidden Penis in Obese Patients: A Critical Survey of the Literature.
• RCT: Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) to Construct Weight Loss Interventions for African American Adolescents.
• Integrating Fundamental Concepts of Obesity and Eating Disorders: Implications for the Obesity Epidemic.
• RCT: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Versus Sertraline in Patients With Depression and Poorly Controlled Diabetes: The Diabetes and Depression (DAD) Study.

Surgery

• Bariatric Surgery in Morbidly Obese Adolescents: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
• Effect of three different bariatric obesity surgery procedures on nutrient and energy digestibility using a swine experimental model.

Stigma

• Stigma and eating and weight disorders.
• Harsher Punishments for the Obese.

Psychology

• RCT: Two inhibitory control training interventions designed to improve eating behaviour and determine mechanisms of change.
• Chronic high fat feeding increases anxiety-like behaviour and reduces transcript abundance of glucocorticoid signaling genes in the hippocampus of female rats.

Policy Related

• Simply measuring the popularity of measures to reduce obesity produces an incomplete picture of public opinion.
• Looking Beyond Labeling: From Calories to Construction of New Menus and Venues for Healthier Eating.
• RCT: Evidence from RCTs did not support the introduction of dietary fat guidelines in 1977 and 1983: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Temperature

• Isolating the independent influence of body fat on thermoregulatory responses to exercise.
• Acetylsalicylic acid does not alter thermo-effector responses during mild whole-body passive heat stress in young men.

Food

• Enhanced preference for high-fat foods following a simulated night shift.
• Lactobacillus casei CRL 431 administration decreases inflammatory cytokines in a diet induced obese mouse model.
• Prospective Evaluation of the Association of Nut/Peanut Consumption With Total and Cause-Specific Mortality.
• Dietary Sodium Content, Mortality, and Risk for Cardiovascular Events in Older Adults.
• Association Between Dietary Whole Grain Intake and Risk of Mortality.

Caloric Restriction

• In vitro caloric restriction induces protective genes and functional rejuvenation in senescent SAMP8 astrocytes.
• Energy restriction does not prevent insulin resistance but does prevent liver steatosis in aging rats on a Western-style diet.

Basic Science

• Emulsifiers in Food Linked to Obesity in Mice.
• Do altered energy metabolism or spontaneous locomotion 'mediate' decelerated senescence?
• Paternal obesity in a rodent model affects placental gene expression in a sex-specific manner.
• Macronutrient balance, reproductive function, and lifespan in aging mice.
• The Mitochondrial-Derived Peptide MOTS-c Promotes Metabolic Homeostasis and Reduces Obesity and Insulin Resistance.

Methods

• Misreporting in nutritional surveys: methodological implications.
• Monitoring of Infant Feeding Behavior Using a Jaw Motion Sensor.
• Look before You Leap - Can We Draw Causal Conclusions from Breastfeeding Research?
• Illumination of growth, division and secretion by metabolic labeling of the bacterial cell surface.

General Science

• In short-lived fish secrets of aging.
• Ted Talk: Ron Knight - How our microbes make us who we are.
• Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha: Well Known but Poorly Understood.
• Homeostasis, Inflammation, and Disease Susceptibility.
• Exposure to Experimental Preeclampsia in Mice Enhances the Vascular Response to Future Injury.
• Neuronal CRTC-1 Governs Systemic Mitochondrial Metabolism and Lifespan via a Catecholamine Signal.
• The Influence of Partner’s Behavior on Health Behavior Change.

Commentary

• Lubbock researcher finds link between virus, obesity.
• How Lab Rats Are Changing Our View of Obesity - New study findings may flesh out chemical influences.
• Waking Up to a PA Capitol Forum on Obesity.
• Fighting Food Deserts: Disappointing Results.
• Are Policies to Cut Sugar Intake Justified?
• Journalists Forgetting the Difference Between Mice, Men, and Women.
• David Katz: Isaac Newton's Nutrient Supplements.
• The Link Between Dietary Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: An Unresolved Question.
• Treating obesity seriously: when recommendations for lifestyle change confront biological adaptations.
• Politicians are singling out researchers with whom they disagree.

Video & Audio

• PBS: "The extra costs of extra weight for older adults".
• Why we were wrong about dietary fat guidelines.
• Institutions and Rationality in the Emergence of an Obesity Epidemic - James Woodward.

Announcements

• In the Eye of the Beholder: Critical Evaluation of Nutrition Research.
• The John K. Lattimer Lecture - Beef-Eaters: A Cultural History of Food and Identity. March 17, 2015, 6:00 PM. Speaker: Dr. Steven Shapin. The New York Academy of Medicine.
• Luke Stoeckel, UAB alum, tapped to lead NIDDK's new Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience of Obesity and Diabetes Program.
• UAB's Department of Health Behavior seeks faculty with knowledge of obesity and/or energetics.
• UAB invites you to join us at our five day short course on "The Mathematical Sciences in Obesity Research" in Birmingham, 6/22/2015 - Fri 6/26/2015.
• Physical Activity: Moving Toward Obesity Solutions.

Featured

• Prescribed epinephrine autoinjectors for anaphylaxis require longer needles to ensure intramuscular administration given the increased prevalence of obesity.
• Our findings suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of caloric restriction or ketogenic diets may be linked to BHB-mediated inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome”.
• Preconception diet or exercise interventions in obese fathers normalizes sperm microRNA profile and metabolic syndrome in female offspring.

Findings Contrary to Hypotheses or Popular Beliefs

• RCT: In this pilot study, an 8-week resistance training program did not improve lipid profile in obese/ overweight peri-pubertal boys.
• Obesity Is Not Associated with Increased Operative Complications in Single-Site Robotic Partial Nephrectomy.
• “Sensory taste response is not associated with energy intake or obesity.”
• RCT: 15 g of low molecular weight fiber added to RTECs [cereals] did not affect perceived appetite or subsequent energy intake despite differences in satiety hormone signaling in overweight females.
• RCT: No significant effect on activity or obesity of parental support programme to promote healthy dietary habits and physical activity and to prevent overweight and obesity in 6-year-old children.
• This study found few associations between environmental exposures in home, school and commuting domains and body weight in children.

Headline vs. Study

• Headline: Is your couch making you fat? Study finds flame retardants can lead to obesity.
• Study: Cells isolated from rats dosed with high levels of flame retardants daily for one month developed a sensitivity to hormones that was similar to the sensitivity experienced by people who are overweight.

Basic Science

• Reducing energy efficiency boosts calorie burning in muscle.
• The regulation of muscle mass by endogenous glucocorticoids.
• Improvement of the Survival of Human Autologous Fat Transplantation by Adipose-Derived Stem-Cells-Assisted Lipotransfer Combined with bFGF.
• Fetal Sex and Maternal Risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: The Impact of Having a Boy.
• Sleep and nighttime energy consumption in early childhood: a population-based cohort study.
• Fasting gut hormone levels change with modest weight loss in obese adolescents.
• Shared genetic variance between obesity and white matter integrity in Mexican Americans.
• Fat Body Development and its Function in Energy Storage and Nutrient Sensing in Drosophila melanogaster.
• Obesity: Gut-specific FXR agonism.
• Enriched environment-induced maternal weight loss reprograms metabolic gene expression in mouse offspring.
• High-Fat Diet Causes Bone Loss in Young Mice by Promoting Osteoclastogenesis Through Alteration of the Bone Marrow Environment.
• Pu-Erh Tea Down-Regulates Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein and Stearyol-CoA Desaturase to Reduce Fat Storage in Caenorhaditis elegans.
• Affected connectivity organization of the reward system structure in obesity.
• Role of Astrocytes in Leptin Signaling.

Exercise

• Advances in Exercise, Fitness, and Performance Genomics in 2014.
• Changes in body composition over 8 years in a randomized trial of a lifestyle intervention: The look AHEAD study.
• Physical inactivity among older adults: Implications for life expectancy among non-overweight and overweight or obese individuals.
• The Use of Stand-capable Workstations for Reducing Sedentary Time in Office Employees.
• Children more active on grassy playgrounds.
• RCT: Low level of physical activity achieved by obese women in the exercise intervention arm was insufficient to alter gestational weight gain, MCP-1, leptin or circulating lipid levels.
• Physical Activity Patterns of Latina Immigrants Living in Alabama.

Caloric Restriction

• Overexpression of the adiponectin gene mimics the metabolic and stress resistance effects of calorie restriction, but not the anti-tumor effect.
• Artemisinin mimics calorie restriction to extend yeast lifespan.
• Caloric restriction mimetic 2-deoxyglucose maintains cytoarchitecture and reduces tau phosphorylation in primary culture of mouse hippocampal pyramidal neurons.

Methods

• Diet image: A new perspective on the food-frequency questionnaire.
• Invited commentary: dietary misreporting as a potential source of bias in diet-disease associations: future directions in nutritional epidemiology research.
• Chronic and acute effects of stress on energy balance: are there appropriate animal models?
• Categorisation of built environment characteristics: the trouble with tertiles.
• Malabsorption Blood Test: Assessing Fat Absorption in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis and Pancreatic Insufficiency.

Economics

• The Impact of Body Weight on Occupational Mobility and Career Development.
• Residential property values predict prevalent obesity but do not predict 1-year weight change.
• Measuring Effects of SNAP on Obesity at the Intensive Margin.
• What can we learn about the effects of food stamps on obesity in the presence of misreporting?
• Hungry Shoppers Spend More Money: Save Your Wallet, Fill Your Stomach.

Food

• RCT: Weight loss with a modified Mediterranean-type diet using fat modification.
• RCT: Contrasting effects of fresh and fermented kimchi consumption on gut microbiota composition and gene expression related to metabolic syndrome in obese Korean women.
• RCT: Individual differences in susceptibility to large portion sizes among obese and normal-weight children.
• Peanut Allergy Prevention? Peanut Butter Snacks Could Help.
• Fermented Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae alleviates high fat diet-induced obesity in association with regulation of intestinal permeability and microbiota in rats.

Epidemiology

• Regional disparities in obesity prevalence in the United States: A spatial regime analysis.
• How much do children's body mass indices change over intervals of 6-12 months? Statistics from before and during the obesity epidemic.
• Pregnancy weight gain charts for obese and overweight women.
• Obesity in pregnancy.
• Severe growth hormone deficiency and empty sella in obesity: a cross-sectional study.
• Prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity using mobile and wireless technologies: a systematic review.
• Nurture is more important than nature in childhood obesity, study finds.
• The consumption of added sugars in the United States decreased between 1999–2000 and 2007–2008.
• US adults recommended for weight reduction by 1998 and 2013 obesity guidelines, NHANES 2007-2012.

Stigma

• Overt and subtle discrimination, subjective well-being and physical health-related quality of life in an obese sample.
• Obesity stigmatisation from obesity researchers.
• The effect of body-weight and obesity bias on children’s self-esteem.

Surgery

• Long-Term Metabolic Outcomes 5 to 20 Years After Biliopancreatic Diversion.
• Energetic adaptations persist after bariatric surgery in severely obese adolescents.
• Outcomes of Pregnancy after Bariatric Surgery.
• Obesity-associated intestinal insulin resistance is ameliorated after bariatric surgery.

Psychology

• Short horizons and obesity futures: Disjunctures between public health interventions and everyday temporalities.
• An experimental field study of weight salience and food choice.

Evolution, Energetics, & Ecology

• Ocean animals have bulked up since ancient eras.
• Top carnivores increase their kill rates on prey as a response to human-induced fear.
• The macroevolutionary relationship between diet and body mass across mammals.
• Energetics and behavior: unrequited needs and new directions.

Transgenerational Effects

• Mitochondrial dysfunction in oocytes of obese mothers: transmission to offspring and reversal by pharmacological endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibitors.
• A maternal mouse diet with moderately high-fat levels does not lead to maternal obesity but causes mesenteric adipose tissue dysfunction in male offspring.
• Pre-gestational vs gestational exposure to maternal obesity differentially programs the offspring in mice.

Clinical

• Obstructive sleep apnea treatment with CPAP promotes significant increase in BMI and weight: Meta-analysis of RCTs.
• RCT: Lifestyle counseling to reduce body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors among truck and bus drivers.

Policy Related

• American Congress of Obsteticians and Gynecologists: Weight Gain During Pregnancy.
• Legal action against health claims on foods and beverages marketed to youth.
• Weighing in: the taste-engineering frame in obesity expert discourse.

Commentary on Draft Dietary Guidelines from USDA

• Meat Institute slams 'flawed' DGAC Dietary Guidelines report.
• The Government’s Bad Diet Advice.
• Nutrition Panel Calls for Less Sugar and Eases Cholesterol and Fat Restrictions.
• Diet, Dog, and Dogma.
• Coffee and Eggs Are In, Sugar and Meats Are Out.

Commentary

• Diet research built on a 'house of cards'?
• How the science on fats connects to global warming.
• New Perspective on Pregnancy, Weight Gain, and Obesity.
• Behind New Dietary Guidelines, Better Science.
• Will obesity treatment reimbursement benefit those at highest risk?
• Closing the Gap in Obesity Treatment?
• Linoleic acid - the overwhelming evidence against this 'healthy' poly-unsaturated oil.
• Have Big-Box Superstores Helped To Make Us Fat?
• Smoking and Weight: Those "Burnt-out Ends of Smoky Days"
• Consumer Trends: What are we eating?
• Trial and Error in Food and Nutrition Policy.
• What's What in Nutrition? What's on First.
• Obesity: Unravelling the neural networks that drive different eating behaviours.
• "The Real Reason so Many Children are Obese."

Video

• TOS President Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar on topic of “Should parents be punished for obese kids?” CNN Video.
• My Kid is an ANIMAL! (And so is yours) [from David Katz].

General Science

• 17 Black Women in Science and Tech You Should Know.
• Heart rate reduction and longevity in mice.
• Cancer Bioinformatics.
• Lack of Effect of Metformin on Mammary Carcinogenesis in Nondiabetic Rat and Mouse Models.
• Call to strengthen the accountability and responsibilities of the National Center for Education Statistics.
• Stealth research: is biomedical innovation happening outside the peer-reviewed literature?
• CT scan finds mummified monk inside 1,000-year-old Buddha.
• All-or-Nothing versus Partial Peer Review (scroll to middle of page).

Announcements

• Why we get fat, according to Gary Taubes.
• Robert C. Elston Symposium: The Evolution of Genetic Epidemiology.
• UAB's Department of Health Behavior seeks faculty with knowledge of obesity and/or energetics. .
• UAB invites you to join us at our five day short course on “The Mathematical Sciences in Obesity Research” at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Mon 6/22/2015 - Fri 6/26/2015. .
• Webcast: Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC).
• Class: Transparency and Reproducibility Methods for Social Science Research (Berkeley, CA); 06/10-12/2015.
• Conference: Dietary Sugars, Obesity and Metabolic Disease Risk (Berlin, Germany): 06/29-30/2015.
• 1st Leipzig International Meeting for Interdisciplinary Obesity Research (LIMIOR): ‘The obese brain in society’, September 6th to 10th, 2015.