Featured

• Overstatement of Results in the Nutrition and Obesity Peer-Reviewed Literature.
• RCT: Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, as advocated in public-health advice, has no effect on IR in overweight individuals who are at high risk of CVD.
• Nutrition research must overcome pseudoscientific measures and self-interest to make progress in the fight against obesity.

Findings Contrary to Hypotheses or Popular Beliefs

• RCT: Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation had no effect on body weight but reduced energy intake in overweight and obese females.
• The number of food outlets was not significantly associated with BMI-score over 4 years among German children.
• No association of food stores with obesity in a sample of Brazilian adults.
• RCT: No effect of low glycemic index diet on body weight and blood pressure in overweight adolescent girls.
• No association between author COI and drugs recommended in guidelines for Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
• Among over 11,000 Spanish individuals, those with obesity generally had a lower consumption of sugary drinks (see Table 2).
• Meta-analysis of data from 11 randomized, school-based physical activity interventions show no effect on BMI.

Headline vs. Study

• Study: Nucleus accumbens C-Fos expression is correlated with conditioned place preference to cocaine, morphine and high fat/sugar food consumption.
• Headline: College study finds Oreo cookies are as addictive as drugs.
• University Press Release: Student-faculty research shows Oreos are just as addictive as drugs in lab rats.
• Commentary: Oreos = Cocaine (Huh?).
• Commentary: Cookies, Cocaine, and Culture.
• Study: Meat intake and semen parameters among men attending a fertility clinic.
• Headline: Bacon Everyday Might Keep Baby Away.
• Headline: Is bacon a male contraceptive?
• Commentary: Bacon bad for your sperm - news stories hit below belt again.
• Misleading Press Release: Based on association study, states “For the first time, it has been proved that obesity regardless of the students social background influences school performance.”

Video

• Videos now available from UAB NORC conference on Evaluating Bioactive Food Components in Obesity and Cancer Prevention (see bottom of page).
• Jake Lusis: A Systems Genetics Approach to Complex Cardio-metabolic Traits (see bottom of page).
• Michael Thorner: Ghrelin Regulation and Its Implications for Its Physiological Role (see bottom of page).
• Jeff Sindelar - Discovering the History and Science of Meat Products.

Saturated Fat

• From the Heart: Saturated fat is not the major issue.
• Scapegoats, Saints, and Saturated Fats: Old Mistakes in New Directions.
• CardioBuzz: How Bad Is Saturated Fat?

Brown Fat

• MRI Detection of Brown Adipose Tissue with Low Fat Content in Newborns with Hypothermia.
• FABP3 and brown adipocyte-characteristic mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation enzymes are induced in beige cells in a different pathway from UCP1.

Caloric Restriction & Lifespan Extension

• Calorie restriction and sirtuins revisited.
• Synergistic effects of caloric restriction with maintained protein intake on skeletal muscle performance in 21-month-old rats: a mitochondria-mediated pathway.
• Prevention of Neuromusculoskeletal Frailty in Slow-Aging Ames Dwarf Mice: Longitudinal Investigation of Interaction of Longevity Genes and Caloric Restriction.
• Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) and gonadotropin-releasing hormones (GnRH) in Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua: Tissue distributions, early ontogeny and effects of fasting.
• A pharmacological network for lifespan extension in C. elegans.

Psychology

• High energy diets prevent the enhancing effects of emotional arousal on memory.
• RCT: Choosing between an Apple and a Chocolate Bar: the Impact of Health and Taste Labels.
• Obesity and self-control: food consumption, physical activity and weight-loss intention.

Surgery

• Bariatric surgery versus non-surgical treatment for obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.
• Effects of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Ileal Transposition Surgeries on Glucose and Lipid Metabolism in Skeletal Muscle and Liver in Rats.
• Alabama investigators report that Robotic-assisted total laparoscopic hysterectomy can be a safe and effective method of performing hysterectomies in select morbidly obese patients.
• Psychological predictors of weight loss after bariatric surgery: A review of the recent research.
• Executive Control Circuitry Differentiates Degree of Success in Weight Loss Following Gastric-Bypass Surgery.

Epidemiology

• Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults: United States, 2011–2012.
• Is body mass human capital in sumo? Outcome of globalization and formation of human capital in Japan.
• On the effect of obesity on employment in the presence of observed and unobserved confounding.
• Slow metabolism 'obesity excuse' true.
• Obesity and Occupational Injury: A Prospective Cohort Study of 69,515 Public Sector Employees.
• Explaining Trends in BMI Using Demographic Counterfactuals.
• Seasonality and ambient temperature at time of conception in term-born individuals associated with obesity in adult life.
• Defining an epidemic: The BMI in British and US obesity research 1960-2000.
• Obesity Paradox in People Newly Diagnosed With Type 2 Diabetes With and Without Prior Cardiovascular Disease.
• Telomere length loss due to smoking and metabolic traits.
• Social and spatial patterns of obesity diffusion over three decades in a Norwegian county population: the HUNT Study.
• Impact of BMI on prevalence of multimorbidity in primary care: cohort study.
• Obesity-related Behaviors of US- and Non-US-born Parents and Children in Low-income Households.
• Pregnancy weight gain and childhood body weight: a within-family comparison.
• Alcohol consumption and risk of metabolic syndrome: A meta-analysis of prospective studies.
• Dinner rituals that correlate with child and adult BMI.

Policy Related

• Food labels: A critical assessment.
• USDA study evaluates Hannaford grocery stores feature the company's Guiding Stars rating system.
• Calorie labeling, Fast food purchasing and restaurant visits.
• Food and Beverage Policies and Public Health Ethics.
• Punishing Maternal Behavior: Potential Legal Consequences for Obesity-Associated Poor Fetal Outcome in the United States.
• Obesity experts appalled by EU move to approve health claim for fructose.

Methods

• Measurement and validation of the nature of salivary adiponectin.
• Hunger and thirst numeric rating scales are not valid estimates for gastric content volumes: a prospective investigation in healthy children.
• Interactive Effects of in Utero Nutrition and Genetic Inheritance on Cognition: New Evidence Using Sibling Comparisons suggests caution in interpreting previously reported associations.
• Exploiting the universAAL platform for the design and development of a physical activity monitoring application.
• Estimation of feature importance for food intake detection based on Random Forests classification.
• On the confounding effect of temperature on chemical shift-encoded fat quantification.
• How to use published complete case results from weight loss studies in a missing data sensitivity analysis.
• Reliability and Accuracy of Real-Time Visualization Techniques for Measuring School Cafeteria Tray Waste: Validating the Quarter-Waste Method.
• Solid anthropomorphic infant whole-body DXA phantom: design, evaluation, and multisite testing.
• Are Ethnic and Gender Specific Equations Needed to Derive Fat Free Mass from Bioelectrical Impedance in Children of South Asian, Black African-Caribbean and White European Origin?

Review

• Effect of weight loss on health-related quality of life: systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.
• Prolactin and Adipose Tissue.
• Race and the Insulin Resistance Syndrome.

Food

• RCT: Alternate day fasting with a high fat or low fat diet equally effective in reducing weight and related risk factors.
• RCT: Short-term black pepper consumption effects on 24-hour energy expenditure and substrate utilization.
• RCT: Hypocaloric diet supplemented with probiotic cheese improves BMI and blood pressure indices of obese hypertensive patients.
• Hass avocado and postprandial vascular reactivity and postprandial inflammatory responses to a hamburger meal in healthy volunteers.

Exercise

• RCT: Whereas intense exercise reduces daily energy balance in adolescents with obesity by mainly affecting ad libitum dinner energy consumption, imposed sedentary behaviors lead to increased energy intake and then positive energy balance.
• RCT: Community Engagement Promotes Physical Activity in Parks.
• RCT: Effects of an acute bout of aerobic exercise on immediate and subsequent three-day food intake and energy expenditure in active and inactive men.
• RCT: Eight weeks of stretching training reduces aortic wave reflection magnitude and blood pressure in obese postmenopausal women.
• The effects of imposed sedentary behavior and exercise on energy intake in adolescents with obesity.

Evolution, Energetics, & Ecology

• Ovarian function in Samoan women shows stronger association with signals of energy metabolism than fat reserves.
• Obesity accelerates ovarian follicle development and follicle loss in rats.
• Environmental Conditions during Breeding Modify the Strength of Mass-Dependent Carry-Over Effects in a Migratory Bird.
• Quantifying energy intake in Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) using the heat increment of feeding.
• Energetics of hibernation and reproductive trade-offs in brown bears.

Clinical

• RCT: Trial of a Community-based Behavioral Counseling Program.
• RCT: Efficacy of a daily self-weighing weight loss intervention using smart scales and e-mail.
• RCT: Chewing thoroughly reduces eating rate and postprandial food palatability but does not influence meal size in older adults.
• RCT: Personalized dietary intervention in managing gestational weight gain in a low-risk antenatal population.
• RCT: An active telephone-based recruitment strategy to increase childcare service staff attendance at a physical activity and nutrition training workshop.
• RCT: Evaluation of phentermine and topiramate versus phentermine/topiramate extended-release in obese adults.
• RCT: Changes to dietary intake during a 12-week commercial web-based weight loss program.
• RCT: The effect of topiramate on weight loss in patients with type 2 diabetes.
• Long-term testosterone therapy in hypogonadal men ameliorates elements of the metabolic syndrome.
• Obese Children in a Community YMCA “Fun 2B Fit” Program Have a Reduction in BMI Z-Scores.
• Adding Obesity to the Problem List Increases the Rate of Providers Addressing Obesity.

Basic Science

• Hypoxia-mimetic effects in the secretome of human preadipocytes and adipocytes.
• How dormice make optimal use of their body fat reserves.
• Obesity Alters Adipose Tissue Macrophage Iron Content and Tissue Iron Distribution.
• Investigation of adipocyte proteome during the differentiation of brown preadipocytes.
• Moving beyond energy homeostasis: New roles for glucagon-like peptide-1 in food and drug reward.
• Genetic identification of a neural circuit that suppresses appetite.
• Regulation of cuticle pigmentation in Drosophila by the nutrient sensing Insulin and TOR signaling pathways.
• Obesity is associated with an altered autonomic nervous system response to nutrient restriction.
• Adipose stromal-vascular fraction-derived paracrine factors regulate adipogenesis.
• Adipose Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 and Obesity: Correlation with insulin resistance and depot-specific release from adipose tissue in vivo and in vitro.

Commentary

• Do CDC’s Obesity Stats Tell the Whole Story?
• Research accomplishments that are too good to be true.
• Neuroscience wrongs will make a right.
• The next generation of obesity treatments: beyond suppressing appetite.

Sugar-Sweetened Beverages

• RCT: Effect of Sugar-Free Versus Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Satiety, Liking and Wanting.
• American adults eligible for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program consume more sugary beverages than ineligible adults.

Pediatric

• Excess weight gain in the first 18 months of life is associated with later childhood overweight, obesity and greater arterial wall thickness.
• Declining and stabilising trends in prevalence of overweight and obesity in Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan and South Asian children 3-16 years of age.
• Social and behavioral risk factors for obesity in early childhood.
• ADHD is a risk factor for overweight and obesity in children.
• The Origins of Early Childhood Anthropometric Persistence.

Transgenerational

• DDT exposure in rats causes increased obesity in the third generation.

General Science

• How science goes wrong.
• UK Report on evidence use in public health highlights concerns about biases.
• Internships Boost Postdocs' Skills, Worldliness, and Marketability.
• Older Siblings' Cells Can Be Passed From Female Dogs to Their Puppies in the Womb: Discovery will help further research into health effects of microchimerism.
• Scientists like to think of science as self-correcting. To an alarming degree, it is not.
• Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future.
• History: Great myths die hard.
• Why does a beer bottle foam up after a sudden impact on its mouth?
• It Pays to Be Herr Kaiser-Germans With Noble-Sounding Surnames More Often Work as Managers Than as Employees.
• Scientists discover DNA body clock.
• For first time, drug developed based on zebrafish studies passes Phase I clinical trial.
• First Venomous Crustacean Found.
• Oldest known galaxy discovered in photos by Hubble.

Announcements

• ADA Position Statement: Nutrition Therapy Recommendations for the Management of Adults With Diabetes.
• Special Issue Published in Human Heredity on Genes and the Environment in Obesity.
• More Information on Moving Forward with NIH Applications, Review, and Awards.
• ECO2014, the 21st European Congress on Obesity, will take place in the wonderful city of Sofia, Bulgaria from 28 - 31 May 2014.
• Join PubMed’s Revolution in Post Publication Peer Review.
• NY Academy of Sciences offers small nutrition grants.
• AHA EPI Council offers travel and mentoring Awards.
• ICMJE Releases New Guidelines for Journals.