Featured

• RCT: Breastfeeding promotion program increases breastfeeding but has no effect on offspring growth at 6 months.
• Has obesity made driving safer?

Findings Contrary to Hypotheses or Popular Beliefs

• Review concludes that saturated fat intakes are now close to guideline amounts and further reductions may only have a minor impact on CVD.
• Obese people pay for all of their own increased health costs in the form of lower wages, rather than passing them on to employers, insurers, and co-workers.
• In contrast to previous research, we find little indication of a relationship between maternal employment and adolescent obesity.
• College Weight Gain: Debunking the Myth of the 'Freshman 15'.
• Lack of Correlation Between Morbid Obesity and Severe Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Candidates for Bariatric Surgery.
• AthenaHealth not seeing declines in childhood obesity as the CDC recently reported.

Special Collections

• Researcher Responses to IOM Sodium Intake Report.
• Childhood Overweight and Obesity Collection.

Basic Science

• Effect of adenovirus and influenza virus infection on obesity.
• Orexin: Pathways to obesity resistance?
• Fruit Flies Demonstrate That Diet Experience Can Alter Taste Preferences.
• Gut health and obesity: Human gut bacteria can alter mouse metabolism, depending on diet, says new study.
• A novel chemical uncoupler ameliorates obesity and related phenotypes in mice with diet-induced obesity by modulating energy expenditure and food intake.
• Expression patterns of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma 1 versus gamma 2, and their association with intramuscular fat in goat tissues.
• Thermogenesis is involved in the body-fat lowering effects of resveratrol in rats.
• Modelling adipocytes size distribution.
• Liver fructose production and metabolism contributes to the development of metabolic syndrome.
• Tracking adipogenesis in the AdipoChaser mouse.

Economics

• Obesity and the Labor Market: A Fresh Look at the Weight Penalty.
• Forward Looking Decision Making: The Effects of the Food Stamp Program Participation on Women’s Obesity in the NLSY.

Behavioral

• RCT: Improvement of household routines for the prevention of obesity in preschool aged children.
• Obese And Overweight Teens Losing Weight May Be At Risk For Eating Disorders.
• Program boosts some healthy habits in kids.

Caloric Restriction

• Effect of long-term feed restriction on the health status and welfare of a robust horse breed, the Shetland pony (Equus ferus caballus).
• Calorie restriction in overweight males ameliorates obesity-related metabolic alterations and cellular adaptations through anti-aging effects, possibly including AMPK and SIRT1 activation.
• Fasting or caloric restriction for Healthy Aging.
• Resveratrol vs. calorie restriction: Data from rodents to humans.
• Calorie restriction (CR) and CR mimetics for the prevention and treatment of age-related eye disorders.
• Genetic variation in responses to dietary restriction - An unbiased tool for hypothesis testing.
• Facts and controversies in our understanding of how caloric restriction impacts the mitochondrion.
• Utilizing Calorie Restriction to Evaluate the Role of Sirtuins in Healthspan and Lifespan of Mice.

Food

• Dark Chocolate: An Obesity Paradox or a Culprit for Weight Gain?
• Eat a Healthy Diet and Drink Wisely to Postpone Dying If You Survived a Myocardial Infarction?: Yes, but Randomized Clinical Trials Are Needed.
• RCT: liquid meals rich in MUFAs may elicit a weaker satiety response based on PYY levels compared to liquid meals rich in PUFAs or SFAs in normal weight women.
• RCT: Effects of caloric intake timing on insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism in lean women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
• Projected Effects on Milk Consumption and Nutrient Intakes From Eliminating Flavored Milk in Elementary Schools.
• Research Opportunities Concerning the Causes and Consequences of Child Food Insecurity and Hunger: A Workshop Summary (2013).
• Food Addiction: Its Prevalence and Significant Association with Obesity in the General Population.
• The Effect of Fat Replacers on Batter and Cake Properties.

Drugs

• RCT: The effects of anti-obesity intervention with orlistat and sibutramine on microvascular endothelial function.
• RCT: Effects of the once-daily GLP-1 analog liraglutide on gastric emptying, glycemic parameters, appetite, and energy metabolism in obese, non-diabetic adults.
• RCT: Mineralocorticoid receptors modulate vascular endothelial function in human obesity.
• Rosiglitazone-loaded nanospheres for modulating macrophage-specific inflammation in obesity.

Evolution, Energetics, and Ecology

• Effect of exposing the mother, but not her pups, to a cold environment during lactation in mice.
• Age-related variation in energy expenditure in a long-lived bird within the envelope of an energy ceiling.

Exercise

• RCT: Effects of resistance training on central blood pressure in obese young men.
• RCT: Effects of high-intensity circuit training, low-intensity circuit training and endurance training on blood pressure and lipoproteins in middle-aged overweight men.
• Post-exercise energy load and activities may affect subsequent ad libitum energy intake.

Genetics

• RCT: Role of G308 promoter variant of tumor necrosis factor alpha gene on weight loss and metabolic parameters after a high monounsaturated versus a high polyunsaturated fat hypocaloric diets.
• IRS1 Genotype Modulates Metabolic Syndrome Reversion in Response to 2-Year Weight-Loss Diet Intervention.

Gut Microbiota

• Gut microbiota from twins discordant for obesity modulate metabolism in mice.
• Fighting Obesity with Bacteria.

Methods

• Comparison of steps and energy expenditure assessment in adults of Fitbit Tracker and Ultra to the Actical and indirect calorimetry.
• Chemical shift-based MRI to measure fat fractions in dystrophic skeletal muscle.
• Feasibility of a SenseCam-assisted 24-h recall to reduce under-reporting of energy intake.
• Fundamental approaches to the study of zebrafish nutrition.
• Real-time monitoring of adipocyte differentiation using a capacitance sensor array.
• Imaging Cold-Activated Brown Adipose Tissue Using Dynamic T2*-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging and 2-Deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose Positron Emission Tomography.
• Guide for evaluating literature findings uses low calorie sweeteners as an example.
• New Tools for Weight Loss Therapy Enable a More Robust Medical Model for Obesity Treatment.

Mortality

• Changes in Body Weight and Subsequent Mortality: Are We Any Closer to Knowing How to Deal with Obesity in ESRD?
• Is Mortality Risk Reduced in Overweight or Obese Diabetics?
• The "Obesity Paradox," Frailty, Disability, and Mortality in Older Men.

Policy Related

• Freedom of Information Act, privacy and ethical concerns.
• AHA Scientific Statement: Severe obesity in children and adolescents.

Pregnancy

• Pre-pregnancy BMI was negatively predictive of both cord and three-year DNA methylation.
• Gestational weight gain had long-term effects on BMI in a minority adolescent population.
• Maternal Overweight Induced by a Diet with High Content of Saturated Fat Activates Placental mTOR and eIF2alpha Signaling and Increases Fetal Growth in Rats.

Psychology

• RCT: The effect of learning climate on snack consumption and ego depletion among undergraduate students.
• The moderating role of regulatory focus on the social modeling of food intake.
• Perception may be more important than measured weight in the relationship between obesity and depression.

Taste

• Variation in bitter receptor mRNA expression correclated with taste preception.
• TAS1R1 variation associates with differences in overall taste intensity.

General Science

• Do simple screening statistical tools help to detect reporting bias?
• The presence and effect of bias in trials of early enteral nutrition in critical care.
• Questioning the scientific basis of anti-GMO criticisms.
• The Social Life of Genes.
• Stem cells created in living mice.
• Vast supplies of groundwater found under Kenya.
• Voyager 1 Leaves Solar System.

Commentary

• Neglecting Kids with Severe Obesity?
• Program Boosts Some Healthy Habits in Kids.
• Obesity Interventions Can Improve More Than Just BMI.
• Breastfeeding and Childhood Obesity. Where Do We Go From Here?
• Severe Obesity in Children and Adolescents: Identification, Associated Health Risks, and Treatment Approaches.
• What bugs you: Top five flawed obesity thinking.
• Looking at biomedical funding structure.
• Six guidelines for interesting research.
• Innovative Treatment and Prevention Programs for Pediatric Overweight and Obesity.
• Truth about saturated fatty acids.

News Coverage of UAB Breakfast Paper

• Skipping Breakfast Makes You Fat? Not So Fast.
• Myths Surround Breakfast and Weight.
• Why are we so sure that breakfast is the most important meal of the day?

Announcements

• John Dawson UAB post-doc finalist for Obesity Society award.
• Conference: Metabolism, Diet and Disease 2014: Cancer and metabolism.
• USDA Webinar: Balancing Sodium and Potassium Intake for Disease Prevention and Optimal Health.
• Symposium | Metabolic Origins of Disease. Orlando, Florida, March 3-5, 2014.
• The Food Police: From Menu Labeling to Soda Bans.
• Conference: Advances and Controversies in Clinical Nutrition.
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows call for applications.