Early puberty onset in US girls tied to obesity

November 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment

USA Today (11/4, Healy, 5.82M) reports, “The age at which puberty starts in some girls has continued to drop,” according to a 1,239-patient study published online Nov. 4 in the journal Pediatrics that suggests that “obesity may be a key trigger.”

The Boston Globe (11/4, Salahi, 1.75M) reports that previous studies have indicated that “girls are experiencing puberty much earlier than previous generations.” This study focused in particular on breast development in girls who were ages six to eight at study start in 2004 and who were followed since.

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Filed Under: obesity Tagged With: , ,

New two-hormone Roche drug shows promise in diabetes, obesity

October 31, 2013 By

October 30, 2013
(via www.Reuters.com)
by Ben Hirschler

An experimental drug that mimics the effects of two naturally occurring hormones appears to work significantly better than existing single-hormone medicines against diabetes and obesity, scientists said on Wednesday.

A team of German and U.S.-based researchers said they are using “mother nature’s toolkit” to seek a breakthrough for treating type 2 diabetes and related obesity which is affecting rapidly growing numbers of people in the West and many developing nations.

The new dual-action molecule, which is being developed by Swiss drugmaker Roche, targets receptors for hormones known as GLP-1 and GIP that play a critical role in regulating the body’s metabolism.

Currently approved injectable drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Victoza and Byetta from Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca mimic only GLP-1.
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Filed Under: diabetes Tagged With: ,

Seven reasons obesity is a disease

July 31, 2013 By

by Dr. Terry Simpson
obesitydiseaseThe American Medical Association (AMA) –  has officially recognized obesity as a disease, joining the scientists of the NIH,  a move that could encourage physicians to pay more attention to the importance of addressing obesity, and spur more insurers to pay for treatments. Contrary to popular stigma obesity is not the result of eating too much or exercising too little.

Research has shown that obesity is far more complex than many people, and most physicians, understand.
Arguments Why Obesity Shouldn’t Be a Disease – and The Rebuttals 

(1) Obesity is preventable
Rebuttal: so is most heart disease, lung cancer, type 2 diabetes, trauma, food poisoning, osteoarthritis, and suicide. To state that something should not be a disease because it can be prevented is naive. First, we don’t know if it can be prevented – that is, while some would love to say all people have to do is eat less, the reality is we don’t know. Ever meet someone who eats junk food and never gains a pound – and yet you watch your overweight friend struggle with diet after diet?
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Filed Under: doctors voices Tagged With: ,