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,” […]
Weight management program also reduces depression among black women
An intervention program aimed at helping obese women maintain their weight without adding pounds also significantly reduced depression in nearly half the participants, according to a new study from Duke University. The study was conducted with 185 low-income black women ages 25-44, each with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 35, who were […]
Brown fat found to be at the root of cancer-related wasting syndrome
Many patients with advanced stages of cancer, AIDS, tuberculosis, and other diseases die from a condition called cachexia, which is characterized as a “wasting” syndrome that causes extreme thinness with muscle weakness. Cachexia is the direct cause of roughly 20% of deaths in cancer patients. While boosting food intake doesn’t help, and no effective therapies […]
Obese women may have learning deficit specific to food
Obese women have a deficit in reward-based learning, but only when food is involved. Importantly, say researchers who report their findings in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on July 17, those same women have no trouble at all forming accurate associations when the reward is money instead of food. The findings may lead to […]
Eating lean beef daily can help lower blood pressure, study suggests
Contrary to conventional wisdom, a growing body of evidence shows that eating lean beef can reduce risk factors for heart disease, according to recent research by nutritional scientists. “This research adds to the significant evidence, including work previously done in our lab, that supports lean beef’s role in a heart-healthy diet,” said Penny M. Kris-Etherton, […]