Overweight and obesity are defined by the WHO as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to an individuals health.
Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer and while it was once an issue only in high income countries, overweight and obesity has now dramatically risen in low- and middle-income countries.Such countries are now facing a "double burden" of disease, for while they continue to deal with the problems of infectious disease and under-nutrition, they are also experiencing a rapid upsurge in chronic disease risk factors such as obesity and overweight, particularly in urban settings.
University of Queensland-led research has revealed liver cells influence the body's internal circadian clock, which was previously believed to be solely controlled by the brain.
A new editorial paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 15, Issue 8, entitled, "The senescence-associated secretory phenotype induces neuroendocrine transdifferentiation."
Researchers have demonstrated that the loss of function of two paralogous starch biosynthesis genes increases the amount of resistant starch (RS) in cooked rice.
Researchers at Umeå University, Sweden, have found that among the many factors that shape the intestinal microbiota composition, diet has a much stronger impact than defensins, which are intestinal defence molecules produced by the body.
Antibiotics help to fight bacterial infections, but they can also harm the helpful microbes living in the gut, which can have long-lasting health consequences.
Researchers of the Genome Dynamics Project team at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science revealed new mechanism controlling cellular proliferation in response to serum, which triggers growth of resting cells.
New research suggests a strategy to ward off age-related weight gain, which could prevent obesity and associated health disorders like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and chronic inflammation.
The risk of developing cardiovascular disease is lower in people with obesity who have a genetic predisposition for high BMI than people with obesity influenced mainly by environmental factors such as lifestyle, researchers from Karolinska Institutet report in eClinical Medicine.
Poor quality sleep may bolster a person's genetic susceptibility to asthma, potentially doubling their risk of being diagnosed with the condition, suggests a large UK Biobank study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research.
Scientists at Texas Tech University have revealed that the heart-healthy benefits of eating walnuts could be a result of the changes they induce in the gut microbiome.
Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, say Cambridge scientists.
Individuals who are obese may be more susceptible to severe COVID-19 because of a poorer inflammatory immune response, say Cambridge scientists.
Multiple types of beta cells produce insulin in the pancreas, helping to balance blood sugar levels. Losing a particularly productive type of beta cell may contribute to the development of diabetes, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.
A high blood caffeine level might curb the amount of body fat a person carries and their risk of type 2 diabetes, suggests research published in the open access journal BMJ Medicine.
A Kaiser Permanente study of more than 800,000 young people between the ages of 3 and 17 showed that youth at the upper range of average weight had a 26% higher risk of developing hypertension than those closer to what is considered average weight. The study was published March 14, 2023, in JAMA Network Open.
New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of Mass General Brigham, indicates that socioeconomic and genetic factors likely interact in an additive way to affect people's risks of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes.
A team of Purdue University scientists led by Shihuan Kuang has received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to define the role of lipid droplets in muscle stem cell function, a study with implications in both humans and livestock.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School and the University of Chicago discovered data identifying “jumping genes”—associated with the distribution of fat in the abdomen—that are connected to a higher risk for health problems from obesity in women.
Researchers from Northumbria University have found that swapping red and processed meat for Quorn's mycoprotein, a fungi-based meat alternative, leads to a significant reduction in intestinal genotoxins - which can cause bowel cancer - and increases healthy gut bacteria.
Obesity causes many health problems and worsens several chronic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, however, some obese people are more susceptible to complications than others.