HealthNut
Appreciation for fat jokes, belief in obese stereotypes linked
From movies to television, obesity is still considered “fair game” for jokes and ridicule. A new study from researchers at Bowling Green State University took a closer look at weight-related humor to see if anti-fat attitudes played into a person’s appreciation or distaste for fat humor in the media. “Weight-Related Humor in the Media: Appreciation, […]
Healthy lifestyle may buffer against stress-related cell aging
A new study from UC San Francisco is the first to show that while the impact of life’s stressors accumulate overtime and accelerate cellular aging, these negative effects may be reduced by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and sleeping well. “The study participants who exercised, slept well and ate well had less telomere shortening than […]
3 Health Lies We Tell Ourselves
Self-delusion is something we all do. And it’s not always a bad thing as it can help us cope with some of life’s truly challenging and trying times by convincing us to press on, even when facing insurmountable odds. However, when we do this with physical activity and nutrition, we can unknowingly erode […]
Overweight, obese preschoolers lose more weight when parent is also treated
Primary care treatment of overweight and obese preschoolers works better when treatment targets both parent and child compared to when only the child is targeted, according to research published this week in Pediatrics and conducted at the University at Buffalo and Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. Children enrolled in this study were overweight or […]
New brain pathways for understanding type 2 diabetes and obesity uncovered
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified neural pathways that increase understanding of how the brain regulates body weight, energy expenditure, and blood glucose levels — a discovery that can lead to new therapies for treating Type 2 diabetes and obesity. The study, published in Nature Neuroscience, found that melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4Rs) expressed […]
Election surprises tend to erode trust in government
When asked who is going to win an election, people tend to predict their own candidate will come out on top. When that doesn’t happen, according to a new study from the University of Georgia, these “surprised losers” often have less trust in government and democracy. And the news media may be partly to blame, […]
Strategy proposed for preventing diseases of aging
Medicine focuses almost entirely on fighting chronic diseases in a piecemeal fashion as symptoms develop. Instead, more efforts should be directed to promoting interventions that have the potential to prevent multiple chronic diseases and extend healthy lifespans. Researchers writing in the journal Nature say that by treating the metabolic and molecular causes of human aging, […]
Why consumers choose high-effort products
Consumers often face situations that undermine their feelings of control. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, when a person’s sense of control is threatened, they are mo re likely to seek out products that require hard work. “Intuitively, it would seem that feeling a loss of control might cause consumers […]
Parents rank their obese children as ‘very healthy’
A University of California, San Diego School of Medicine-led study suggests that parents of obese children often do not recognize the potentially serious health consequences of childhood weight gain or the importance of daily physical activity in helping their child reach a healthy weight. The study is published online in the Journal of the Academy […]
Adults with eosinophilic esophagitis should consider a diet change
Dietary elimination is a successful method of treatment for adults with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. “By eliminating specific foods from patients’ diets, symptoms improved in 71 percent of patients, and endoscopic appearance improved in 54 percent,” […]