Featured

• Donna Arnett “Transforming cardiovascular health through genes and environment: presidential address at the American Heart Association 2012.”
• Civility and fidelity called for in scientific communications - even if complex.
• Self-report–based estimates of energy intake offer an inadequate basis for scientific conclusions.

Headlines versus Studies

• Headline: Drinking 5 cups of coffee everyday may lead to obesity: study.
• Headline: Wrong amount of coffee could kill you
• Study: A study of mice, involving a substance found in coffee, but no coffee, showing no significant weight gain, and reporting no deaths.

 Findings Contrary to Hypotheses or Popular Ideas

• Controlled trial to prevent childhood obesity in maternity and child health care clinics improved maternal glucose tolerance test results, but did not affect maternal weight gain, newborn anthropometry or infant weight gain.
• RCT: A pedometer-based physical activity intervention with telephone support produces no effect on health outcomes among type 2 diabetes patients.
• RCT: No effect of whey protein supplementation vs isoenergetic control on resistance exercise-induced changes in lean mass, muscle strength, and physical function in mobility-limited older adults.
• Overweight and obesity are not associated with dental caries among 12-year-old South Brazilian schoolchildren.
• Genetically obese mice do not show increased gut permeability or faecal bile acid hydrophobicity.
• RCT: No differential effect of experimental low-glycemic-load or conventional low-fat diet for 6 months in Treatment of Fatty Liver in Obese Children.
• RCT: The addition of a protein supplement to the diet of overweight and obese young adults, with dietary counseling incorporated, did not improve diet quality or suppress fasting appetite.
• Could the Net Health Effects of Food Stamps Be Negative?
• Meta-analysis shows no association between consumption of soft-drinks and the risk of cancer.
• RCT: No effect of a program of lifestyle changes to promote weight reduction, a randomized controlled trial in primary health care.
• RCT: The relative carbohydrate and protein content of the diet, when combined with intensive CBT, does not significantly affect attrition rate, weight loss and psychosocial outcome in patients with severe obesity.
• The obesity paradox in the surgical population

Basic Science

• Brown adipose tissue transplantation improves whole-body energy metabolism.
• Alpha-MSH signalling via melanocortin 5 receptor promotes lipolysis and impairs re-esterification in adipocytes.
• Effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on in vitro global DNA methylation and adipocyte differentiation
• Low levels of physical activity are associated with increased metabolic syndrome risk factors in Korean adults
• Fat taste in humans: Sources of within- and between-subject variability.
• Disrupting rhythms: diet-induced obesity impairs diurnal rhythms in metabolic tissues.
• Inducible transgenic expression in the short-lived fish Nothobranchius furzeri
• Comparison of the metabolic effects of sustained CCK1 receptor activation alone and in combination with upregulated leptin signalling in high-fat-fed mice.
• Obesity-Associated Oxidative Stress: Strategies Finalized to Improve Redox State

Food

• The Addition of a Plain or Herb-Flavored Reduced-Fat Dip Is Associated with Improved Preschoolers' Intake of Vegetables.
• RCT: Low-carbohydrate diet is as safe as Mediterranean or low-fat diets in preserving/improving renal function among moderately obese participants with or without type 2 diabetes.
• RCT: Higher protein diets consumed ad libitum improve cardiovascular risk markers in children of overweight parents from eight European countries.
• Meta-analysis of RCTs: Compared with control diets, diets enriched with nuts did not increase body weight, body mass index, or waist circumference in controlled clinical trials.
• RCT: No effect of macronutrient composition in isoenergetic weight loss diets.
• RCT: No effect of high GI vs low GI diet on weight among overweight and in obese adult patients.
• No effect of 12 weeks' supplementation with 1 g DHA-rich or EPA-rich fish oil on cognitive function or mood.
• RCT: combination of a high-protein formula diet and polyglucosamine decreases body weight and parameters of glucose and lipid metabolism in overweight and obese men and women.
• Cooked rice prevents hyperlipidemia in hamsters fed a high-fat/cholesterol diet by the regulation of the expression of hepatic genes involved in lipid metabolism.
• Dietary patterns and diet quality among diverse older adults: The University of Alabama at Birmingham study of aging.
• RCT: Breakfast consumption and exercise interact to affect cognitive performance and mood later in the day.
• Vegetable cost metrics show that potatoes and beans provide most nutrients per penny.
• Pilot Study: Financial Incentives Used to Increase Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Purchases in Lower-Income Households Have Mixed Results
• RCT: Daily flaxseed consumption improves glycemic control in obese men and women with pre-diabetes.

Exercise

• '10 000 Steps Flanders': evaluation of the state-wide dissemination of a physical activity intervention in Flanders.
• Meta-analysis of RCTs: The effects of physical activity and physical activity plus diet interventions on body weight in overweight or obese women who are pregnant or in postpartum: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
• RCT: No effect of substituting a physiotherapist for a nurse in pediatric weight loss sessions to stimulate physical activity.
• RCT: A physical education program decreases waist circumference in children: The JuvenTUM project.
• Don't just sit there. Really.
• Combined Aerobic/Strength Training and Energy Expenditure in Older Women.
• Cessation of physical exercise changes metabolism and modifies adipocyte cellularity of periepididymal white adipose tissue in rats.

Epidemiology

• The value of genetic information for diabetes risk prediction - differences according to sex, age, family history and obesity.
• The obesity paradox in the US population.
• Cardiometabolic risk after weight loss and subsequent weight regain in overweight and obese postmenopausal women.
• Obesity and risk of sepsis: A population-based cohort study.
• Poverty is the Main Environmental Factor for Obesity in a Mexican-Border City
• Cumulative Social Risk and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Obesity during the Transition to Adulthood
• Areca nut chewing and metabolic syndrome: evidence of a harmful relationship.
• Body Mass Index Is Associated With Hospital Mortality in Critically Ill Patients: An Observational Cohort Study.
• A spatial analysis of community level overweight and obesity.
• Obesity status and colorectal cancer screening in the United States.
• A 'Rule of Sevens' evidenced as being more appropriate for obese burn victims, as opposed to the standard 'Rule of Nines'

Methods

• Authors opine that “Energy adjustment of nutrient intakes is preferable to adjustment using body weight and physical activity in epidemiological analyses.”
• Actigraph GT3X: Validation and Determination of Physical Activity Intensity Cut Points.
• Imaging Cold-Activated Brown Adipose Tissue Using Dynamic T2*-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging and 2-Deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose Positron Emission Tomography.
• Biomarkers of food intake and metabolite differences between plasma and red blood cell matrices; a human metabolomic profile approach.
• Three-dimensional body scanning: methods and applications for anthropometry.
• Development and evaluation of a genetic risk score for obesity.
• Two-Method Measurement for Adolescent Obesity Epidemiology: Reducing the Bias in Self-Report of Height and Weight.
• The cat as a model for human obesity: insights into depot-specific inflammation associated with feline obesity.

Policy Related

• A typology of beverage taxation: Multiple approaches for obesity prevention and obesity prevention-related revenue generation.
• Parens Patriae: A Flawed Strategy for State-Initiated Obesity Litigation.
• Guidelines updates in the treatment of obesity or metabolic syndrome and hypertension
• Changes in Sodium Levels in Processed and Restaurant Foods, 2005 to 2011.

Aging

• A Dwarf Mouse Model With Decreased GH/IGF-1 Activity That Does Not Experience Life-Span Extension: Potential Impact of Increased Adiposity, Leptin, and Insulin With Advancing Age.
• The impact of body mass index and weight changes on disability transitions and mortality in Brazilian older adults.
• Physical Performance in Relation to Body Composition and Bone Mineral Density in Healthy, Overweight, and Obese Postmenopausal Women.

Timing

• Restricting night-time eating reduces daily energy intake in healthy young men: a short-term cross-over study.
• RCT: Effects of caloric intake timing on insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Psychology

• Effects of mindful eating training on delay and probability discounting for food and money in obese and healthy-weight individuals.
• Losing the Symptoms: Weight Loss and Decrease in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms.
• Dietary fat types appeared to influence anxiety but not depression in mice.
• Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Association Between Obesity and Depression in Women

Caloric Restriction

• Calorie Restriction and Cancer Prevention: Established and Emerging Mechanisms.
• Dietary restriction of rodents decreases aging rate without affecting initial mortality rate - a meta-analysis.
• Beneficial cardiac effects of caloric restriction are lost with age in a murine model of obesity.
• Dietary Regimen of Caloric Restriction or Pharmacological Activation of SIRT1 to Delay the Onset of Neurodegeneration.
• Dietary restriction of rodents decreases aging rate without affecting initial mortality rate - a meta-analysis
• Dietary Restriction Depends on Nutrient Composition to Extend Chronological Lifespan in Budding Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• Extension of Drosophila Lifespan by Rhodiola rosea through a Mechanism Independent from Dietary Restriction
• Beneficial effects of a 6-month dietary restriction are time-dependently abolished within 2 weeks or 6 months of refeeding-genome-wide transcriptome analysis in mouse liver.

Evolution, Ecology & Energetics

• The relationship between body mass and field metabolic rate among individual birds and mammals.
• Thermoregulation in African Green Pigeons (Treron calvus) and a re-analysis of insular effects on basal metabolic rate and heterothermy in columbid birds.
• Prolonged fasting activates Nrf2 in postweaned elephant seals.

Drugs

• RCT: Zonisamide is tolerated well and reduces weight among patients with schizophrenia being treated with atypical antipsychotics.
• Effects of growth hormone withdrawal in obese premenopausal women.
• Pharmacologic treatment options for obesity: What is old is new again
• Treatment of Obesity and Diabetes Using Oxytocin or Analogs in Patients and Mouse Models
• RCT: The Effect of leptin, caffeine/ephedrine, and their combination upon visceral fat mass and weight loss
• RCT: Maternal metformin treatment decreases fetal inflammation in a rat model of obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Weight Loss

• RCT: Renal Function Following Three Distinct Weight Loss Dietary Strategies
• RCT: Relationship of cravings with weight loss and hunger. Results from a 6 month worksite weight loss intervention.
• Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is safe and efficacious for pretransplant candidates.

Child Maltreatment

• The Force-Feeding of Young Girls: Mauritania's Failure to Enforce Preventative Measures and Comply with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
• FAMILY LAW—CHILDHOOD MORBID OBESITY: HOW EXCESS POUNDS CAN TIP THE SCALES OF JUSTICE IN FAVOR OF REMOVING A CHILD FROM THE HOME AND/OR TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS.
• Childhood maltreatment and obesity: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Trans-generational effects

• Maternal Obesity Has Little Effect on the Immediate Offspring but Impacts on the Next Generation in Mice.
• Evidence for transgenerational metabolic programming in Drosophila.
• Maternal obesity: how big an impact does it have on offspring prenatally and during postnatal life?
• Hydrocarbons (jet fuel JP-8) induce epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of obesity, reproductive disease and sperm epimutations.
• Women's Weight-Loss Surgery May Benefit Later Offspring.

Menu Labeling

• Consumers' estimation of calorie content at fast food restaurants: cross sectional observational study.
• The Energy Content of Restaurant Foods Without Stated Calorie Information.
• Equivocal results of menu labeling intervention at chain restaurants.
• Use of calorie information at fast food and chain restaurants among US youth aged 9-18 years, 2010.

Commentary

• What's the Big Deal?: The Ethics of Public-Private Partnerships Related to Food and Health.
• Nobel prizes, chocolate and milk: The statistical view.
• Great or Not Such Great Expectations: Weight Loss Goals.
• Sleeve gastrectomy: The ideal choice for weight-loss surgery.

 General Science

• The importance of surprising findings in psychology.
• Little evidence that editors, authors or reviewers use the peer review process as an opportunity to play citation games.