Flame retardants, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are found in consumer products like carpeting, upholstered furniture, computers and household appliances. In use since the 1960s, the chemicals supposedly make for safer households by retarding combustibility, but their ubiquity is now prompting questions about what other effects these additives might have. PBDEs are so widespread […]
English doctors say that if nothing is done, the rising prevalence of obesity could bankrupt the country’s health system. The warning, published in the British Medical Journal, comes on the heels of new statistics that reveal well over half the United Kingdom’s population is overweight and more than one in five adults is obese. The […]
Scientists at an obesity conference in Australia have heard how the human body is designed from the ground up to strongly resist attempts to lose weight. Queensland University appetite regulation and energy balance researcher, Dr Neil King, explained to the conference attendees that our bodies have strong mechanisms to defend against attempts to lose weight, […]
Obesity isn’t just a health hazard; it may also hinder the provision of healthcare. Writing in the journal Radiology, radiologist Dr. Raul N. Uppot said that increasing obesity in the U.S. has doubled the number of inconclusive diagnostic imaging exams over the last 15 years. Uppot came up with his findings after analyzing Massachusetts General […]
What’s the best way to reduce obesity rates among children? Take their chairs away and make them stand, according to James Levine, a Mayo Clinic obesity researcher. And if this new initiative gets off the ground, children in the classrooms of the future will be schooled at “standing desks” equipped with new technologies. Childhood obesity […]
There was a striking association in women between being overweight at 70 and developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) ten to 18 years later, according to a Swedish study reported in the July 15 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. In the study, sponsored in part by a grant from the Alzheimer’s Association, 392 adults were […]
