Obesity

Sleep: Even a low level of light at night may disrupt your blood sugar

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Leaving even a dim light on while you sleep may disrupt blood sugar control, a small study in humans suggests Health 14 March 2022 By Clare Wilson Sleeping with a night light on might have down sides Shutterstock / Realstock Keeping the TV or a bedside light on overnight could slightly disturb your sleep – … Read more

Diabetes and obesity: Pedestrian-friendly cities have lower rates

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A review of 170 studies finds consistent evidence that people are less likely to be obese or have diabetes if they live in cities where walking and cycling is safe and convenient Health 24 February 2022 By Matthew Sparkes Pedestrians in Montpellier, France Manfred Gottschalk/Getty Images Diabetes and obesity rates can be reduced by transforming … Read more

Weight loss: Getting enough sleep may lower the amount of calories you eat

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When people who weren’t getting enough sleep took measures to sleep for longer, they ate fewer calories per day and lost weight without changes to their diet or exercise Health 8 February 2022 By Clare Wilson An extra hour of sleep helped some people lose weight Getty Images/Westend61/Kiko Jimenez Sleeping for about an hour longer … Read more

Gut Microbes Can Cause Obesity, And We’re Getting Closer to Understanding How

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Medical researchers have discovered a molecule linking the tiny creatures that call our guts home to levels of fat in our bodies. “We now have a molecular mechanism that provides a starting point to understand our microbiome as a link between our diet and our body composition,” explained Emory University biochemist Dean Jones.   Hints … Read more

Have we got the science of obesity back to front?

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By David S. Ludwig Michelle D’urbano IN PRINCIPLE, it sounds simple: eat less and move more. This dietary advice for tackling obesity has been around for decades. Yet, despite all the calorie counting, dieting and exercising, worldwide obesity rates just keep ticking up. People in the US, for example, were heavier in 2021 than they … Read more

The Weight Game: How Body-Size Bias Can Hold Back Health Science

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In December 1994 then former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop launched a national weight-loss campaign at a White House press conference, stating that obesity had become the country’s second-largest cause of death, “resulting in about 300,000 lives lost each year.” This marked the beginning of a long, influential life for the statistic. Pundits and … Read more