| Radical Diets, A Cause of Obesity |
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DALLAS - Adolescent girls who are depressed or try radical dieting like vomiting are more likely to become obese than those who eat high-fat foods or sometimes gorge themselves, a four-year study suggests.
Researchers said harsh weight-control methods — including skipping meals and using laxatives — can promote weight gain more than weight loss.
"A lot of these behaviors that adolescent girls are turning to are not effective in controlling obesity," said Eric Stice, research professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.
One expert not involved in the study said the results were not surprising.
"We know that rigid dieting actually leads to one overeating or a change in metabolism," said Lisa Dorfman, a dietitian and psychotherapist who is a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "Your body slows down because it doesn’t know when the next normal meal will come. Having a piece of cake is healthier than dieting for a week and having a (whole) cake."
The study, which looked at 496 Austin-area girls ages 11 to 15, was published in the April issue of the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Stice said that the message from the study is that young girls need to watch how many calories they eat and get exercise. "Don’t swallow more calories than you need," he said.
While the study found that eating high-fat foods, binge-eating or infrequent exercise did not predict future obesity, Stice said that such effects are hard to measure accurately because youngsters may be reluctant to report eating high-fat foods and being sedentary.
The study found that another predictor of obesity was whether the girls’ parents were obese — a connection that Stice said can be explained not only by genetics, but by environmental factors such as what’s in the refrigerator.
As for the depression connection, while people who are depressed may overeat for comfort or distraction, the study said that it is also possible that a lack of the happy chemical serotonin — a condition often seen in depression — also leads people to eat lots of carbohydrate-rich foods.
Candace Ayars of the Center for Health Research and Rural Advocacy at Geisinger Health Systems in Danville, Pa., said that it is important to remember that there are many other factors that could also lead to obesity.
"I wouldn’t want people to think if they can’t detect depression or eating disorders that they wouldn’t become obese," Ayars said. "There are lots of explanations as to why we are obese that have nothing to do with depression or eating disorders."
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| Human Hibernation, A Possibility - Apr 22, 2005 7:0 IST |
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WASHINGTON Researchers say experiments in forced hibernation might lead to a new way to buy time for critically ill animals -- or even people.
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| More than 600 AIDS Patients on Waiting List for Drugs - Apr 22, 2005 6:49 IST |
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WASHINGTON - More than 600 low-income AIDS patients in 11 states are on waiting lists for medicines as funding for assistance programs falls short, a report released Wednesday said.
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| New Food Pyramid is for All - Apr 21, 2005 16:53 IST |
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At some point, you’ve seen the food pyramid. Whether it was in a nutrition class or on the wall of your elementary school cafeteria, you likely remember the building blocks of the pyramid suggesting what your daily diet should look like. For years, this shape has ruled over our eating habits: guiding food labels, school lunch programs and diet plans. But today, Americans are more overweight than ever, which tends to suggest that the old food pyramid wasn’t very useful, or even followed. So, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given the old food pyramid an overhaul, creating MyPyramid, a personalized tool to give Americans a new way to organize their daily eating and exercising habits.
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| Marburg Update - 221 of 243 Infected Have Died in Uige says WHO - Apr 20, 2005 17:19 IST |
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Angola - Bowing and curtsying have replaced handshakes and hugs in northern Angola as health workers battle a deadly viral outbreak that has killed 237 people and left victims too scared to go to hospital.
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| Marburg Update - Death Toll Reaches 237 - Apr 20, 2005 9:26 IST |
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Two more people have died in northern Angola, bringing the death toll from the deadly Marburg virus to 237 people. Health officials continue to warn area residents of the dangers of this disease, which is spread through bodily fluids. Unfortunately, many of the earlier victims may have infected family members who cared for them during their illness or who may have had a part in their burial ritual. Death normally occurs less than ten days after the symptoms first appear.
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| First Successful Transplant of Insulin Producing Cells - Apr 19, 2005 22:6 IST |
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The first successful transplant of insulin-producing cells from a live donor — a mother to her daughter — is being reported today by Japanese scientists, raising hopes for a cure for severe diabetes.
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| Happiness and Health may Overlap - Apr 19, 2005 7:43 IST |
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In a recent study of British civil servants, the happiest participants had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Their hearts kept a mellower pace than those of less happy participants, and they didn’t flip out as much during a mental stress test.
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| Avastin Helps Those with Breast Cancer, Study Shows, Genentech shares jump. - Apr 18, 2005 12:58 IST |
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Genentech Inc.’s pioneering colon cancer drug Avastin, already showing potential as a lung cancer treatment, delivered significant benefits to breast cancer patients in clinical trial results announced Friday by the company and the National Cancer Institute.
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| 214 known cases of Marburg in Angola - Apr 17, 2005 19:56 IST |
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The Angola outbreak involves 214 known cases so far. The focus is on detecting infections early, isolating those infected, training local hospitals on infection control and removing dead bodies, which can spread the disease, said WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng.
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| FDA Orders Levitra Ad Pulled; Seniors Should Read Objections - Apr 17, 2005 7:22 IST |
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The FDA yesterday notified the makers of Levitra (vardenafil HCI) their television ads for the erectile dysfunction drug must be withdrawn from the market. The regulators called the ads “misleading” and say they fail to disclose “major side effects.” This and other erectile dysfunction drugs are widely used by senior citizens, who should pay careful attention to the message from the FDA.
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| Scientists Scramble To Destroy Flu Strain - Apr 16, 2005 7:11 IST |
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Scientists around the world were scrambling to prevent the possibility of a pandemic after a nearly 50-year-old killer influenza virus was sent to thousands of labs, a decision that one researcher described as "unwise."
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| Human Genome Sciences Hepatitis C Drug Passes Test - Apr 15, 2005 3:23 IST |
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NEW YORK - Human Genome Sciences Inc. on Thursday said its experimental drug for hepatitis C met its primary goal in a mid-stage trial of patients who had not previously been treated for the liver-damaging virus.
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