A US study, released in the latest issue of the journal Obesity, has suggested that a preference for fatty foods “has a genetic basis” and that people with certain forms of the CD36 gene “may like high-fat foods more than those who have other forms of this gene”. The study conducted by a team of scientists from Penn State, Columbia University, Cornell University and Rutgers University, led by Dr Kathleen Keller a leading nutritional scientist. The study examined 317 African-American males... ...Read more »

The Cancer Council of New South Wales has published online a list of the food advertising that occurs during children’s favorite television programming. The online list at a specific website (http://www.fatfreetv.com.au/) has been dubbed a “Fat Free TV Guide” by the Cancel Council which recommends the list be used by parents to filter their children’s selections of programs. Parents are being encouraged by the Cancer Council “to make better viewing choices with television shows that have... ...Read more »

A new study from the University of Sydney has found that high protein diets are more effective in helping young women manage their weight than diets high in carbohydrates. The study looked at the effect of diet, exercise and behaviour change in overweight and obese women aged 18-25. Researcher Dr Helen O’Connor and her colleagues tracked 71 overweight and obese women aged 18-25 years over 12 months. The women were randomly placed the women on either a higher-protein or a higher-carbohydrate diet,... ...Read more »

New research from Harvard University, in the U.S., has shown that cooked meat provides more energy than raw meat. The researchers claim their findings suggest cooking played a pivotal role in human evolution by increasing the energy content of some foods. Conducted by Rachel Carmody, a student in Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the research also raises... ...Read more »

Obesity and injury are major health burdens on society, and the two are most likely linked, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The report, ‘Obesity and Injury in Australia: A Review of the Literature’, suggests that the probability of falls, trips, or stumbles rises with obesity. The report suggests that, in children, the risk of falls – and therefore likelihood of face, tooth, and musculoskeletal injuries – also increases... ...Read more »

Obese people may regain weight after dieting due to hormonal changes, a University of Melbourne and Austin Health study has shown. The study, which was undertaken in collaboration with La Trobe University, in Melbourne, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine today. According to the study’s findings, although restriction of diet often results in initial weight loss, more than 80 per cent of obese dieters fail to maintain their reduced weight. The study involved 50 overweight or obese... ...Read more »

In a world first, Denmark has introduced a tax on food products high in saturated fats. Despite the move sparking fresh calls for a similar tax law to be introduced in Australia, food industry opinion-makers are divided. The new tax law, implemented in Denmark on Saturday 1 October 2011, aims at discouraging unhealthy diets as well as offsetting the economic costs of obesity in Denmark. The law imposes a tax of 16 Danish Krone (A$2.96) per kilogram of saturated fat on meat products, certain dairy... ...Read more »

New research by Professor Boyd Swinburn and Gary Sacks, with the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Obesity at Deakin University, Melbourne, has found that global obesity rates began to rise in the 1970s, and that by 2008 an estimated 1.46 billion adults were overweight while a further 502 million were obese. The research paper concludes that the changes needed are likely to require many sustained interventions at several levels, but that national governments should take the lead. Professor... ...Read more »

A new study from the Harvard School of Public Health has found that small changes in diet, lifestyle and sleep patterns are strongly linked with long term weight gain, with humble potato the single biggest offender. Where previous studies have examined patterns of weight loss, the Harvard study examined factors in weight gain, finding changes in diet to have the biggest association with gaining weight. “An average adult gains about one pound per year. Because the weight gain is so gradual and occurs... ...Read more »

Synthetic fat substitutes used in low-calorie potato chips and other foods, such as olestra, could backfire and contribute to weight gain and obesity, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association. The study, by researchers at Purdue University, challenges the conventional wisdom that foods made with fat substitutes help with weight loss. By feeding rats Pringles potato chips – either full-fat or both full-fat and ‘low-fat’ olestra varieties – researchers... ...Read more »