Featured

• Effects of Exogenous Leptin on Seasonal Reproductive Responses to Interacting Environmental Cues in Female Siberian Hamsters.
• "Growing evidence suggests that obesity is a disorder of the energy homeostasis system, rather than simply arising from the passive accumulation of excess weight."
• Establishing Energy Requirements for Body Weight Maintenance: Validation of an Intake-balance Method.

Headline vs Study

• Press Release: "A large-scale effort to reduce childhood obesity in two low-income Massachusetts communities resulted in some modest improvements among schoolchildren over a relatively short period of time..."
• Study: “Overall, we did not observe a significant decrease in the percent of students with obesity from baseline to post intervention in either community in comparison with controls..."
• Headline: Science: Regular Consumption of Marijuana Keeps You Thin, Fit, and Active.
• Study: Baseline Data Table for NHANES Study of Bone Mineral Density Shows Nominal Differences (No Formal Comparisons) in BMI and Activity Among Categories of Cannabis Users.

Contrary or Null Findings

• RCT: Red Wine Polyphenols do Not Improve Obesity Associated Insulin-resistance.
• RCT: No Effect of Prescribed Low Advanced Glycation End Product Diet on Inflammation and Cardiovascular Risks in Healthy Overweight Adults.
• "Branding and obesogenic messaging in children's movies influenced some choices that children made about snack foods immediately following viewing, especially food with greatest exposure time in the film, but did not affect total calories consumed."
• Palatable Food Self-administration and Reinstatement are Not Affected By Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonism.
• RCT: No Cognitive-enhancing Effect of GLP-1 Receptor Agonism in Antipsychotic-treated, Obese Patients with Schizophrenia.
• RCT: "Twelve-week supplementation of GOS selectively increased fecal Bifidobacterium species abundance, but this did not produce significant changes in insulin sensitivity or related substrate and energy metabolism in overweight or obese prediabetic men and women."
• In beetles, "contrary to our expectations..., rather than increasing the male’s parental effort, females appeared to suppress the male’s food consumption, thereby leaving more food for their brood."
• "... the higher prevalence estimates for inadequate [folate] intakes compared with biomarkers suggest, among other factors, a systematic underestimation bias in intake data."

Basic

• Social Jet-lag Potentiates Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome When Combined with Cafeteria Diet in Rats.
• Tributyltin and Triphenyltin Exposure Promotes in Vitro Adipogenic Differentiation but Alters the Adipocyte Phenotype in Rainbow Trout.
• Maternal Western Diet Increases Adiposity Even in Male Offspring of Obesity-resistant Rat Dams: Early Endocrine Risk Markers.
• Deficiency in Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells and Type I Interferon Signalling Prevents Diet-induced Obesity and Insulin Resistance in Mice.
• Ablation of Neuropilin 1 in Myeloid Cells Exacerbates High-Fat Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance Through Nlrp3 Inflammasome in Vivo.
• Muscle Directs Diurnal Energy Homeostasis Through a Myokine-Dependent Hormone Module in Drosophila.

Scientific Rigor & Scholarly Dialogue

• Researcher Who Tangled with CrossFit Loses Two More Papers.
• In Reply I—Prescribing More Stringent Design of RCTs of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids.

Clinical

• Effects on Diabetes Medications, Weight and A1C Among Patients with Obesity and Diabetes: 6-month Observations From a Full Meal Replacement, Low-Calorie Diet Weight Management Program.
• Google Spin-off Deploys Wearable Electronics for Huge Health Study.

Children and Adolescents

• Changes in Eating Behaviors of Children with Obesity in Response to Carbohydrate-Modified and Portion-Controlled Diets.
• Socioenvironmental, Personal, and Behavioral Correlates of Severe Obesity Among an Ethnically/Racially Diverse Sample of US Adolescents.
• Infant Feeding and Growth Trajectory Patterns in Childhood and Body Composition in Young Adulthood.

Surgery

• The Inequity of Bariatric Surgery: Publicly Insured Patients Undergo Lower Rates of Bariatric Surgery with Worse Outcomes.
• The Role of Aprepitant in Prevention of Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting After Bariatric Surgery.
• Body Composition and Bone Health in Adolescents After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass for Severe Obesity.

Drugs

• RCT: The Effects of Testosterone on Body Composition in Obese Men are Not Sustained After Cessation of Testosterone Treatment.
• Self-administered Nicotine Differentially Impacts Body Weight Gain in Obesity-prone and Obesity-resistant Rats.
• Epidemiology of Obesity and Pharmacologic Treatment Options.
• Thyroid Hormone Receptor Beta in the Ventromedial Hypothalamus is Essential for the Physiological Regulation of Food Intake and Body Weight in Mice.

Food & Diet

• Wasted Food, Wasted Nutrients: Nutrient Loss From Wasted Food in the United States and Comparison to Gaps in Dietary Intake.
• Energy Density of Foods and Diets in Mexico and Their Monetary Cost By Socioeconomic Strata: Analyses of ENSANUT Data 2012.
• Video-Based Grocery Shopping Intervention Effect on Purchasing Behaviors Among Latina Shoppers.
• Science Plays a Starring Role in Documentary Film, Food Evolution.
• Should 1000 IU Be the New RDA for Vitamin D?
• High-fat Diet and Aging Interact to Produce Neuroinflammation and Impair Hippocampal- and Amygdalar-dependent Memory.
• Diet-induced Impulsivity: Effects of a High-fat and a High-sugar Diet on Impulsive Choice in Rats.

Caloric Restriction

• Aging and Caloric Restriction Research: A Biological Perspective with Translational Potential.
• High-Intensity Interval Training and Calorie Restriction Promote Remodeling of Glucose and Lipid Metabolism in Diet-Induced Obesity.
• Chemical Activation of a Food Deprivation Signal Extends Lifespan.
• Reducing Calorie Intake May Not Help You Lose Body Weight.
• Obesity and Malnutrition Similarly Alters the Renin-angiotensin System and Inflammation in Mice and Human Adipose.

Exercise & Physical Activity

• Increasing Walking in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: The Walk to Fly Study.
• A Novel Smartphone Accelerometer Application for Low-Intensity Activity and Energy Expenditure Estimations in Overweight and Obese Adults.
• Exercise Training Improves Fat Metabolism Independent of Total Energy Expenditure in Sedentary Overweight Men, but Does Not Restore Lean Metabolic Phenotype.
• Do Placebo Expectations Influence Perceived Exertion During Physical Exercise?

Economics & Sociology

• Changes in the Food Environment Over Time: Examining 40 Years of Data in the Framingham Heart Study.
• Gender and Social Mobility Modify the Effect of Birth Weight on Total and Central Obesity.
• Socioeconomic Status: The Missing Link Between Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus?
• Motherhood, Fatherhood and Midlife Weight Gain in a US Cohort: Associations Differ By Race/ethnicity and Socioeconomic Position.

Epidemiology

• Prevalence of Cardiovascular and Respiratory Complications Following Trauma in Patients with Obesity.
• Geographic Variability in Gestational Weight Gain: A Multilevel Population-based Study of Women Having Term Births in Florida (2005-2012).
• Walking for Transportation or Leisure Among U.S. Women and Men — National Health Interview Survey, 2005–2015.
• Review: How Much Variance in Insulin Resistance is Explained By Obesity?
• Childhood Obesity Prevention in the Women, Infants, and Children Program: Outcomes of the MA-CORD Study.

Psychology & Neuroscience

• Effect of Television Watching and Portion Size on Intake During a Meal.
• Correlates of Severe Obesity Among Ethnically/Racially Diverse Adolescents.
• Change in Use of Sleep Medications After Gastric Bypass Surgery or Intensive Lifestyle Treatment in Adults with Obesity.
• Is It Me or My Hormones? Neuroendocrine Activation Profiles to Visual Food Stimuli Across the Menstrual Cycle.

Equity and Disparities

• Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Hispanic Youth with Dysglycemia: Risk for Subclinical Atherosclerosis?
• A Systematic Review: Racial and Ethnic Minority Enrollment in RCTs of Behavioural Weight Loss Utilizing Technology.
• Missed Opportunity? Leveraging Mobile Technology to Reduce Racial Health Disparities.
• Framing Health Equity: US Health Disparities in Comparative Perspective.

Stigma

• Does Psychological Functioning Mediate the Relationship Between Bullying Involvement and Weight Loss Preoccupation in Adolescents? A Two-stage Cross-sectional Study.
• Perceived Weight Discrimination and High-risk Health-related Behaviors.

Policy Related

• Food Labeling; Nutrition Labeling of Standard Menu Items in Restaurants and Similar Retail Food Establishments; Extension of Compliance Date; Request for Comments.
• Autonomous Vehicles: Good or Bad for Our Health?
• Final Recommendation Statement Obesity in Children and Adolescents: Screening.

Intergenerational Effects

• The Effect of Mare Obesity and Endocrine Function on Foal Birthweight in Thoroughbreds.
• Gender Differences Between Parental Pregnancy Characteristics and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Adolescents.
• Maternal Gestational Weight Gain and Objectively Measured Physical Activity Among Offspring.

Ecology, Evolution, & Energetics

• Scientists are Studying Chimpanzee Food as a Way to Treat Human Diseases, Including Cancer.
• Pharyngeal Stimulation with Sugar Triggers Local Searching Behavior in Drosophila.
• Monoaminergic Integration of Diet and Social Signals in the Brains of Juvenile Spadefoot Toads.
• Mice Shed Weight When They Can’t Smell—but Not Because They Stop Eating.

Methods

• Accuracy of Food Photographs for Quantifying Food Servings in a Lunch Meal Setting Among Danish Children and Adults.
• Developing a Digital Photography-based Method for Dietary Analysis in Self-serve Dining Settings.
• Best (but Oft-forgotten) Practices: Mediation Analysis.
• Challenges in Conducting Clinical Nutrition Research.
• A New Tool to Assess Human Fat Grafts Transplanted Into Nude Mice Using a NMR Device.

Commentary

• Offensive Words to Grab Attention and Block Progress.
• In Defense of Fat.
• Commentary on Failure of Food Desert Removal as Strategy.
• What Cookies and Meth Have in Common.
• Leptin's Physiologic Role: Does the Emperor of Energy Balance Have No Clothes?

General

• Instructional videos: Healthcare Triage - Experimental Design.
• Will Pruning the Biomedical Field Keep It Alive?
• Feeding During Dialysis-risks and Uncertainties.
• Racial Bias in Judgments of Physical Size and Formidability: From Size to Threat. (PDF)
• Effects of Cola-Flavored Beverages and Caffeine on Streptococcus Mutans Biofilm Formation and Metabolic Activity.
• Video: Women in Science.
• Video: Making Faces: The Evolutionary Origins of the Human Face.
• How Pythons Regenerate Their Organs and Other Secrets of the Snake Genome.
• Video: Biologist Sean B. Carroll on Ecosystem Resilience.
• Field Tests Show How Pesticides Can Wreak Havoc on Honeybees.
• Chilean Scientists Produce Biodiesel From Microalgae.

Video & Audio

• “Obesity, Energetics, & Longevity: Social, Experimental, Evolutionary, & Epidemiologic Perspectives.”
• “Secondhand Sugars: Role of Dietary Sugars in the Early Development of Obesity and Metabolic Risk.”
• “A Longitudinal Study of Obesity & Type II Diabetes: Lessons Regarding the New Dietary & Obesity Guidelines.”
• “Attempts to Address the Fundamental Flaw in Obesity Research with New (and Old) Technology.”
• “Effects of Obesogenic Dietary Environment & Adverse Psychosocial Experience on Food Intake & the Brain in Non-Human Primates.”
• Audio: Taste Cell Regeneration.

Announcements

• Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute Set a Goal of Enrolling 34,000 Products in Its SmartLabel Program.
• World Obesity: Obesity and Reproduction – Call for Abstracts. (PDF).
• UAB Invites You to Join Us at Our NIH-funded Short Course on “Strengthening Causal Inference in Behavioral Obesity Research”.

• UAB’s NORC seeks post-doctoral fellows in obesity research.