Aside from increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and your sister constantly asking if you tried that Jillian Michaels workout DVD yet, it seems obese patients have another potential consideration- more frequently feeling chronic pain.

A vast study including more than one million participants found a higher incidence of chronic pain in patients who are obese compared to those who are not, and the heaviest individuals studied reported the highest levels of chronic pain. The study, published in a January issue of the medical journal Obesity, found that issues like “lower back pain, tension-type or migraine headache, fibromyalgia, abdominal pain and chronic widespread pain” were found in higher numbers among the obese participants.

Data was culled from a Gallup poll done by phone between 2008 and 2010, and subjects were categorized by BMI as low to normal weight, overweight, obese I, obese II or obese III. Researchers found in a given time slot that overweight participants were found to be 20 percent more likely to report pain, with 68 percent reporting in the third group, 136 percent in the fourth group and and 254 percent in group five, which was obese III.

According to LiveScience, while chronic pain conditions were accounted for, they did not entirely explain away the link between obesity and chronic pain:

But those conditions didn’t account for all of the reasons for the pain-obesity link. The researchers statistically accounted for any musculoskeletal disease, which is often linked to obesity due to the extra strain on joints from the weight. “What we found is that the weight-pain link persisted, suggesting that there are other factors driving the association,” [researcher Joan] Broderick told LiveScience.

Depression, inflammation and genetics were all suggested as potential causes for higher rates of chronic pain linked to obesity.

Chronic Pain More Common in Obese Patients, Study Indicates is a post from: The Inquisitr

Officials for the US Army are worried that its soldiers are getting to fat and to combat that issue they plan on injecting soldiers with fat.

While it might seem odd to think that fat injections can help soldiers lose weight there are actually two types of fat, the first is white adipose tissue which causes weight gain while the second is brown adipose tissue which actually helps lose weight.

A recent study has found that brown adipose tissue can burn up to 250 calories in a three hour period and even more special is the fact that it uses conventional fat cells to fuel it’s work, burning energy from those cells. The study also found that exercise can help create additional brown fat cells.

Researchers are now attempting to create the brown adipose cells in a laboratory at which point they will be injected into overweight soldiers.

If you aren’t in the Army and you want weight loss injections you might be in luck, a Boston-based company is already working on a commercial treatment.

In the Army’s researcher note in which they granted money to examine the use of brown adipose tissue they wrote:

“Obesity and its associated metabolic complications…are becoming increasingly prevalent in military personnel. Increasing [brown fat] by about 50 grams in obese patients could induce strong weight loss and improve metabolic status.”

If all goes as planned researchers will isolate brown adipose progenitor cells which they will then use to generate new adipose cellsin the lab. If all goes as planned soldiers will receive “transplantation therapy” to shed their extra pounds.

Would you be willing  to undergo this type of treatment to shed some extra weight.

Army To Fight Soldier Obesity With Fat Injections is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ah, schools. Is there any place where forging ahead with a useless course of action in the presence of data to the contrary ever so embraced- such as with obesity and school lunches?

Michelle Obama has picked childhood obesity as her pet cause during her husband’s presidency- much to the consternation of Republicans that seem to think she wants socialist redistribution of all their cookies. Earlier this week, her initiative’s focus on school lunches and obesity drew attention as the First Lady (FLOTUS) sat down with a group of school kids to eat turkey tacos as part of a rejiggering of menus around the country.

The new anti-obesity lunches include more greens and fruits and less fat, replacing some deep-fried and cheese-coated items, and salt also went on the list of items to be reduced in school foods. In a statement, Mrs. Obama said:

“As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat and ensure that they have a reasonable balanced diet. And when we are putting in all that effort the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria.”

The changes came just after the release of a report that indicates obesity and lunches at school are not very provably linked, however. The study came out of Penn State’s sociology and demographics departments and one of its lead authors said:

“We were really surprised by that result and, in fact, we held back from publishing our study for roughly two years because we kept looking for a connection that just wasn’t there… Schools only represent a small portion of children’s food environment. They can get food at home, they can get food in their neighborhoods and they can go across the street from the school to buy food.”

Do you think it’s worthwhile reforming school lunches to combat obesity?

Obesity: Lunches Aim to Limit Kids Exposure to Junk Despite Data Indicating School Food Doesn’t Matter is a post from: The Inquisitr

After over 20 years of a steady rise, obesity rates in the U.S. appear to be holding steady, having only increased “slightly” overall since 2005, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Going over the data, researchers found that in 2009 and 2010, the prevalence of obesity in adult men was 35.5%, and 35.8% among adult women. When compared to data from 1999 and 2000, researchers found that the increase in obesity rates only increased by around 1%.

“I’m not very surprised, but I think this is a kind of encouraging finding, given all the efforts we have been making,” Dr. Youfa Wang, head of the Johns Hopkins Global Center for Childhood Obesity in Baltimore, told Reuters Health. Wang was not involved in the study.

“The general public for sure nowadays has become more aware of the health consequences of obesity, and industry has been heavily influenced by all the efforts,” Wang said.

It’s certainly good news that obesity rates in the U.S. aren’t seeing a significant increase, but Dr. David Ludwig, director of the childhood obesity program at Children’s Hospital in Boston, points out to the LA Times that the fight is hardly over.

“We’re by no means through the epidemic,’’ he said. “Children will be entering adulthood heavier than they’ve ever been at any time in human history. Even without further increases in prevalence, the impact of the epidemic will continue to mount for many years to come.’’

Source: JAMA

Obesity rates in U.S. stall, still high is a post from: The Inquisitr

A series of new anti-obesity ads in Georgia are causing controversy for their blunt message. Which, according to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Strong4Life campaign, is pretty much the point.

Linda Matzigkeit, senior vice president of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, said that the obesity problem in America is getting out of control and people around the country need a wake up call. Matzigkeit said:

“We needed something that was more arresting and in your face than some of the flowery campaigns out there.”

ABC reports that there Georgia currently ranks second in the nation for child obesity with more than 1 million children considered overweight in the state.

Matzigkeit said that Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta surveyed two Georgia towns and found that 50 percent of the parents didn’t know that child obesity was a problem. The survey also found that the majority of parents with obese children did not recognize that their child was overweight.

Matzigkeit said:

“If we do not wake up, this will be disastrous for our state.”

But some experts say that the ads go a little too far. Dr. Miriam Labbok, director of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that the ads blame the victim and that they could do more harm than good.

Labbok said:

“Blaming the victim rarely helps. These children know they are fat and that they are ostracized already… While guilt and fear are motivators, they have to be meted out with the answer to the situation,” Labbok said. “The ads with the children do not offer help to them.”

What do you think about Strong4Life’s new anti-obesity campaign? Are the ads getting the right message across or are they adding insult to injury?

Here’s a video report from Newsy.com.

Strong4Life Child Obesity Ads Tell Georgia to ‘Stop Sugar Coating’ the Truth [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you have a toddler who constantly throws fits and says they hate you it could be reason for future health concern. A recent study conducted at Ohio University found that children who hate their parents are two times more likely to grow up obese.

Set to publish next month the study finds that toddlers were had bad relationships with their mom’s were twice as likely to become obese by the age of 15 when compared to toddlers with good mother-daughter and mother-son relationships.

The study observed 977 toddlers and their moms and then ranked them based on their bonding capabilities at the ages of 15, 24 and 36 months. When the children turned 15 their body mass index (BMI) was taken.

According to researchers 26% of children with bad mom-kid relationships were obese compared to 13% of children found in the “best relationship” category.

Researchers still need to conduct more studies to determine the exact reason for the differences however they currently speculate that children become obese because they lack control in the part of their brain that controls emotions, stress and appetite.

According to the study’s lead author:

“It is possible that childhood obesity could be influenced by interventions that try to improve the emotional bonds between mothers and children rather than focusing only on children’s food intake and activity.”

Have you personally seen the effects of diet based on the mother/daughter or mother/son relationship?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

[Study] Hate Your Mom? That Might Explain Your Obesity is a post from: The Inquisitr

The use of gastric bands as an aid for weight loss is on the rise, but a new case report is revealing that doctor’s need to be ever vigilant for potential complications years after the procedure.

In short, gastric band surgery entails a placement of a band around the top of the stomach. The band bottlenecks food into a small pouch, which then breaks down and drops into the larger stomach beneath. As a result, those who have had the procedure feel full after eating small rations of food.

The 49-year-old British woman studied in the report was admitted to a hospital for night sweats and persistent cough with a medical history of only asthma and the gastric bypass procedure performed in 2008. Since the surgery, the woman’s BMI (body mass index) had decreased from 45 to 33 (30 or more is considered obese). Doctor’s took a chest x-ray, revealing a cavity in the left side of her chest, which is thought to have been caused by repeated aspiration of ingested food, causing constant reflux and lung damage, including cavities and infection.

Doctor’s emptied the fluid from the band, and the woman’s symptoms cleared up. At her follow-up, doctors refilled the band, her BMI was 35, and she was still symptom-free.

Though the report notes that lung-related problems are rare, band slippage and erosion are common, and should be routinely checked by doctors. Regarding the lung complications, Dr. Adam Czapran of Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, had this to say:

“Patients who have undergone laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding should have chest radiography or thoracic CT scan, or both, if they present with respiratory symptoms. Withdrawal of the fluid from the band should be done as soon as possible to relieve the obstruction. Given the increasing frequency of people undergoing interventional procedures to aid weight loss, recognition of the short-term and long-term complications is paramount.”

I guess there really isn’t any substitute for diet and exercise.

Do you know anyone who has had this procedure and has experienced problems with it? Let us know down below.

Gastric Banding On The Rise, Along With Complications is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s become a bit of a cliche in pop psychology that all that is wrong in a person’s life can be traced back to their mother.

You can add another thing to the list, alas- causing obesity by forging a “poor” mother-toddler bond. A new study published in the January 2012 issue of the medical journal Pediatrics explores a newly discovered link between emotional security and a predisposition to seek food for comfort, leading to issues with food and diet. The study monitored children at the ages of 15 months, 2, and 3 years of age, videotaping them interacting with their mothers during 15-minute long taped sessions.

Reviewing the tapes, the study monitored factors like “maternal sensitivity,” which is defined in part as the ability to respond with “comfort, consistency, and warmth,” and researchers noted whether the mother-child pairs demonstrated “secure attachment.” According to the results of the study, the tots that “had moms with low sensitivity to their needs and who overall had the poorest-quality relationship with their moms were twice as likely to be obese at age 15.”

University of Miami pediatrics professor Alan Delamater commented to WebMD about the study and its implications:

“It is likely that these children begin eating to soothe themselves starting at very young ages. We know that packing on excess weight or fat at an early age makes someone more likely to be overweight or obese as they grow up.”

Delamater explains:

What is missing is the “black box,” he says. “We need to figure out how the early mother-child relationship affects risk for becoming overweight or obese.”

Obesity Another Thing That Can Be Blamed on Your Poor Mother is a post from: The Inquisitr

Chips, burgers, and soda are going to start costing extra around the world. Denmark became the first country to impose a tax on fatty foods last Saturday, and now France is following suit with a fat tax of their own.

The LA Times reports that the fat tax rate in Denmark is 16 Danish kroner per kilogram of saturated fat in a food (which works out to about $1.29 per pound of saturated fat). The fat tax will be applied to any food item that has a saturated fat content of more than 2.3%.

Ole Linnet Juul, the food director at Denmark’s Confederation of Industries, says that the fat tax will add about 12 cents to a bag of chips, 39 cents to a package of butter, and 40 cents to a hamburger.

France’s fat tax will concentrate on sugary drinks like Coca-Cola. France plans to raise around $150 million by adding a few pennies to every can of soda. France also recently announced that it was going to start rationing the amount of ketchup and mayonnaise used in school cafeterias.

Both France and Denmark say that the new fat taxes are being implemented to help curb the growing obesity problem. Unfortunately, there isn’t too much research on the results of a fat tax. Will people start shying away from fatty foods? Or will these governments get rich off of bad eating habits?

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, both France and Denmark have an obesity rate below the European average.

A French health ministry spokesman told the Daily Mail:

“We French may be among the least overweight in Europe but we have nothing to be complacent about. Obesity is rising as swiftly in France as it is in other EU countries and action must be taken before it gets any more serious.”

What do you think about the new fat taxes? Would the United States benefit from a tax on fatty foods?

Fat Tax Spreading: France Follows in Denmark’s Footsteps is a post from: The Inquisitr

As a parent, what topics are difficult to discuss with your teens? Perhaps the traditionally touchy subjects like drugs, alcohol, smoking and sex?

A research conducted by a partnership between WebMD and Sanford Health revealed that being overweight is a more difficult topic for parents to discuss with their teens. One in 20 parents of teens said that they are struggling with the subject of drugs, alcohol, smoking while about 10 are uncomfortable talking with their teens about sex. Nearly a quarter of parents are hesitant to talk to their teens about overweight. The study even suggested that many parents of kids ages 8 to 17 are avoiding the subject of weight.

More than one in five parents admit they have never brought up the subject of maintaining a healthy weight to their kids despite knowing that being overweight poses an immediate health risk to their kids.

It should be noted that according to the American Heart Association, about one in three American kids and teens are overweight or obese.

About 90 percent of healthcare professionals said that maintaining a healthy weight is the most important health topic that parents should discuss with their children, over safe sex, cigarette smoking, drug use, and alcohol consumption.

Still, one in five parents are said that the doctor should be responsible in discussing the dangers of being overweight.

Why are parents having such difficulty discussing this issue with their teens? Susan Bartell, Psy.D., an obesity expert, reasons out:

“Weight has become such an emotionally charged and pervasive subject, especially in a culture that is highly image-driven. Broaching this subject can be extremely intimidating for parents, especially given that parents themselves may be struggling with weight.”

With parents and doctors pointing fingers at each other on whose responsibility it is, teens are left behind not knowing what healthy habits to pursue and what information to digest about the issue of weight.

As a parent, are you prepared to discuss weight with your teens?

Weight is Harder to Discuss Between Parents and Teens Than Drugs and Sex is a post from: The Inquisitr

Martin Kessman loves his White Castle. But according to a new lawsuit filed by the White Castle connoisseur, it is impossible for a man of his size to enjoy a White Castle meal inside the restaurant. Why? Because White Castle doesn’t have booths big enough to accommodate the restaurant’s overweight customers.

This, according to Kessman, violates the civil rights of fat people.

Kessman says that the Americans With Disabilities Act is:

“applicable, not only to me, but to pregnant women and to handicapped people. I just want to sit down like a normal person.”

The 64-year-old stockbroker weighs in at 290 pounds and says that he has no problem using airline seats or finding a place to sit at other fast food chains. But White Castle uses stationary booths, which apparently, are not one size fits all.

Kessman wrote a letter to White Castle in 2009 when he finally got fed up from banging his knees and squeezing in his gut as he sat at a White Castle booth. Kessman wrote:

“As I looked around the restaurant, I saw that there were no tables and chairs that could accommodate a person that merely wanted to sit down and eat his meal.”

According to the New York Post, White Castle sent back a few condescending letters, a few coupons for some sliders (cheese not included) and a hollow promise to make larger booths.

Kessman said:

“They sent me specs and everything, about how the booths were going to be enlarged and made comfortable for people with a little more weight. So two and a half years went by, and nothing was done.”

Kessman is suing the burger chain for bigger chairs and unspecified damages.

So should White Castle be required to provide seating for obese people? My guess is that the majority of White Castle patrons, like Martin Kessman, have a few extra pounds around their waists. It’s probably in White Castle’s best interest to give them a place to sit.

White Castle Connoisseur, Martin Kessman, Sues Fast Food Chain Over Booth Sizes is a post from: The Inquisitr

In the United States nearly 34.1 million Americans currently suffer from Asthma with 300 million sufferers worldwide, while 250,000 people around the world die each year because of asthma related attacks. According to a recent study one group most at risk for asthma related issues are children, specially overweight and obese kids.

The American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) also report that asthma accounts for 13 million missed school days with 8.9% of all American children suffering from asthma.

While 40% of asthmatic children develop the condition from their asthmatic parents, a study published recently in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has found that obese children have a harder time managing signs and symptoms of asthma attacks and flare-ups.

The research study took into consideration race and other social factors and they found that diet was important in preventing asthma attacks, while obese children are forced to take more drugs to fight their attacks than thin children with asthma.

Studying 32,000 children in one health care providers enrollment program Dr. Kenneth Quinto of University of California in San Diego and his researchers found that nearly half of the children in the program were overweight or obese and that group was far more likely to request inhalers or bronchodilators to deal with their attacks.

The study also found that children with extra weight use their rescue inhalers 2.8 times annually, while overweight children had an average annual use of 3.1 rescue inhalers.

While researchers are not positive as to why the numbers differ, they believe that too much weight puts pressure on the lungs, causing them to work at higher levels to maintain proper oxygen levels.

Do you have a child that suffers from asthma? How do they deal with their condition?

Children with Obesity Suffer From More Asthma Attacks, Use More Drugs [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

“At the rate we’re looking at right now, it’s a dire prediction,” Claire Wang, assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and lead author of the study, explained.

While studies show that roughly one-third of the U.S. population (99 million) is currently obese, that figure will rise to 164 million people by 2030 if nothing is done to address the epidemic that Wang says will also be followed by a host of  other problems.

In addition to forking over cash for bigger jeans and skirts, the rise in obesity could lead to 7.8 million more cases of diabetes, 6.8 million cases of heart disease and stroke, and more than half a million extra cancer cases in the U.S. — all of which would balloon health care costs by $66 billion a year, according to the report.

“It’s not only a problem of well-being, it’s a financial burden,” said Wang. “It’s both a public health issue and a health services issue for the states.”

Wang added, “Something has to be done.”

According to the study, part of the “something” includes government coordinated efforts to making healthful foods cheaper and less-healthful foods more expensive largely through tax strategies.

The report went on to show that modest weight reductions at the population level could also have a dramatic positive effect; researchers calculated that just a 1% drop in body mass index (BMI) at the population level would stop as many as 2.4 million cases of diabetes and 1.7 million cases of heart disease and stroke from occurring.

The obesity study, issued in a four-part series published in the Lancet, was released in advance of the first high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly focused on noncommunicable disease prevention and control, slated to take place in New York next month.

via Washington Post

Obesity Rates on the Rise, Half of Americans Projected to be Overweight by 2030 is a post from: The Inquisitr

A study recently undertaken by the University of Michigan cites childhood obesity and drug abuse as the two biggest problems facing American youth.

However, the results were culled not from studies of youth, but a poll of adults to see what America’s grown-ups believe is the most harmful thing to the nation’s youngsters. Not surprisingly, obesity topped out the poll- essentially tied with drug use as the major bad things kids in America face. And from a perhaps not-scientific perspective, it seems the results may be skewed by a) problems that are visible and b) problems that have a significant amount of scarelore to back them up- which could account for the one and two spots on the list below.

Obesity in American children certainly is a problem, but not nearly as much as it is for American adults. Recent CDC estimates put the rate of children who are obese at about 17%, compared to 34% of American adults.

The list compiled by the poll would be interesting viewed side-by-side with a table of actual risks facing US children, but the results of the poll alone indicate these ten issues as those thought to be most risky:

• Childhood obesity, 33%
• Drug abuse, 33%
• Smoking and tobacco use, 25%
• Teen pregnancy, 24%
• Bullying, 24%
• Internet safety, 23%
• Stress, 22%
• Alcohol abuse, 20%
• Driving accidents, 20%
• Sexting, 20%

At least one expert, however, says that the poll’s results are somewhat accurate- at least when it comes to drug use and perceived risk. Director of the National Poll on Children’s Health and associate professor in the Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit at the University of Michigan Medical School Matthew Davis, MD says:

“The perception of drug abuse as a big problem matches recent national data showing increasing use of marijuana and other drugs by US teens. Meanwhile, although obesity remains atop the list of child health concerns for the fourth straight year, the level of public concern has declined over the last few years in our poll… This may be a warning to public health officials, because it indicates how the public is hearing national messages that previous increases in children’s obesity rates have recently leveled off.”

Do you agree with the University of Michigan’s poll results?

Obesity, Drug Abuse Biggest Problems in US Youth is a post from: The Inquisitr

An institution of American childhood is changing again, and the Happy Meal you grew up with may look somewhat different from the one your kids will come to know.

The kids’ meals at McDonald’s fast food joints are undergoing a makeover- one that promises to reduce calories by 20%, and add an actual fruit to the standard rugrat fare. (Or, as the Wall Street Journal spins it, “effectively taking away consumers’ current choice between either having apples with caramel dip or fries as a Happy Meal side.” Free market capitalism, we hardly knew ye.) Portions of french fries are shrinking from 2.4 ounces to 1.1 ounces, and the apples with caramel dip with join the fray as standard- not an infrequently selected option, as they are now.

Critics are sharply divided between people who feel like the change is forcing apples on the American consumer and those who feel that the change doesn’t go nearly far enough in forcing apples on the American consumer. To wit:

“McDonald’s is taking steps in the right direction, but we should be careful in heaping praise on corporations for simply reducing the scope of the problem they continue to create,” said Kelle Louaillier, executive director of a group called Corporate Accountability International.

So when the protests start, which side will you be on- the one saying you can have our 2.4 ounces of french fries when you pry them from our cold, dead hands or the one that feels McDonald’s is a poison-shilling obesity factory that should have its products labeled as a Class A controlled substance?

Happy Meal: Would You Like Apples With That? is a post from: The Inquisitr

There has been more than few studies which have shown that there is a link between our growing obesity problem and the lack of access to affordable produce for people to buy and eat, which is in start contrast to the availability of incredibly cheap fast food and carbonated drinks.

The sad part is that for most of the country it is cheaper, especially for a family with children, to go to McDonald’s or Burger King to eat than it is to go to a grocery store and buy the groceries need to make that dinner for four.

Not one to miss a chance to make lots of money Walmart has joined forces with Michelle Obama and her initiative to bring affordable food goods to these areas called food deserts.

In an announcement this week Walmart said that it will be opening up to 300 new locations over the next five years, on top of the 218 they have already opened, and hope to serve some 1.3 million people. This move will make Walmart the biggest grocer in the nation.

Now before we go heralding Walmart and its social conscience let’s realize that they aren’t doing this just out of the goodness of their corporate heart. There is a huge amount of money to be made here and they will be able to do this while paying some of the lowest wages in the nation. Not only that but they are going into areas where they have absolutely no competition.

The only upside to this really, is that at least these food deserts will have a viable alternative to junk and fast food.

via Fast Company

Walmart wants to bring some ‘green’ to the growing food deserts in America is a post from: The Inquisitr

Caitlin Mason and her group of researchers recently conducted research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre and discovered that women who lose weight see a vast improvement in their bodies vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D is a major component in the body when it comes to fighting over various diseases including cancer. The study found that women who lost 15 percent or more of their body weight experienced “significant increases” in their “circulating levels” of the important vitamin.

According to head researcher Caitlin Mason:

“Since Vitamin D is generally lower in persons with obesity, it is possible that low vitamin D could account, in part, for the link between obesity and diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.”

Vitamin D is also important for calcium absorption, for bone growth and bone healing and ultimately helps adults fend off osteoporosis.

The nutrient also aids in the growth of cells, assists immune function and even reduces inflammation which in turn fends off heart disease and respiratory problems.

During the study of 439 moderately overweight to obese women the study has concluded that losing 10 to 20 pounds (the average weight loss by the women in the study) or approximately five to ten percent body fat loss resulted in large increases in Vitamin D circulation.

Losing 15 percent body fat increased Vitamin D production by three times former levels based on the patients daily intake levels of the nutrient.

Vitamin D Increases When Weight Loss Occurs: Obesity Poses Biggest Danger is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the tenets of feeding newborns is that bottle-feeding carries an inherent risk of acclimatizing an infant to easy feedings- babies introduced to both bottle and breast are said to favor the former due to the ease of draining a bottle dry.

A recent study suggests that continuing the bottle may have longer lasting consequences for babies, as the behavior is linked with obesity in older babies, toddlers and into school age. The study, published in the American Journal of Pediatrics, followed nearly 7,000 children born in 2001. What it found is that when other factors were controlled for, a significant portion of kids who refused to give up the bottle were classified as obese by the age of 5:

Temple University’s Dr. Robert Whitaker said, “Children who were still using a bottle at 24 months were approximately 30 percent more likely to be obese at 5 and a half years, even after accounting for other factors such as mother’s weight, the child’s birth weight and feeding practices during infancy.”

The study’s authors believe that extended bottle use encourages infants to consume a higher number of calories than they might if restricted to a sippy cup, and recommend weaning from the bottle at around the child’s first birthday.

‘Prolonged’ bottle feeding linked with obesity in toddlers is a post from: The Inquisitr

Don’t get all attached to your new pajama jeans just yet, Porky.

Wearing the comfortable wardrobe staple isn’t just a fashion crime- according to physiotherapist Sammy Margo, who discussed their impact on muscles to several media outlets, their ease of wear comes with a price:

‘Leggings feel good and look great and I am as addicted to them as anyone, but there is a downside.

‘They hold in and support the quadriceps (thigh muscles), buttocks and core muscles in your tummy,  and do the job the muscles are supposed to do.

‘As a result, the muscles are allowed to relax and switch off, so when we reveal our bodies for the first time as summer approaches, they are not as svelte or firm as they otherwise would be.’

Margo would also like you to know that not only does wearing leggings impact muscles, but they also enable you not to feel horrible enough about yourself all the time to maintain a proper level of self flagellation. She sniffs:

‘Leggings hide the bits of our bodies we don’t like, such as the cellulite on our legs or our “muffin top”, so we are able to ignore the problem and we are less motivated to exercise these parts.’

Margo offers this totally reasonable advice for women who have completely lost their figures due to the unabashed wearing of leggings:

‘Suck your stomach in as far as it will go then breathe out about halfway. Tie a piece of string around your stomach at that point and keep it there all day.’

Today’s shocking new obesity cause… leggings is a post from: The Inquisitr

The results of a recent study have confirmed that parents of young children tend to be less healthy than their childless peers.

Of course, moms are disproportionately affected by the statistics, while dads come off relatively unscathed:

Young fathers, on the other hand, were found to eat no differently from men without children. Nor did they have higher BMIs. They did report exercising less than kid-free men their age, however.

The study, published in the medical journal Pediatrics, found that mothers of small children consumed the same amount of whole grains and other “healthy foods” as their childless peers. But consumption of sugary and fatty foods was higher, a possible contribution to the higher relative weights of mothers with small children.

Lead author of the study Jerica Burge had this to say about the findings:

“It’s not that you shouldn’t be a parent,” Berge was quick to add. “That’s not the message at all.” But parents — particularly mothers — need to be aware, she said, that the first few years of parenthood are “a high risk time” for developing unhealthy eating and exercising behaviors.

In the study, on average, moms were found to consume 18% more calories per day, at an average of 400 calories.

Study: Having kids makes you a total fatass is a post from: The Inquisitr