SHR

There are many strongly held views on obesity, some of which persist in the absence of scientific evidence to support them (presumptions), and some that are believed despite evidence to contradict them (myths). One of these views is that rapid weight loss is not sustainable and increases the likelihood of regaining all the lost weight. Whether this presumption should be classified as a myth was recently investigated by Vink et al from Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands. These researchers recruited 57 weight-stable, overweight-obese (BMI of 28-35) but otherwise healthy, middle-aged Caucasian men and women to undergo a three-phase intervention (figure 1). The first phase was the weight loss (WL) phase, whereby participants were randomly assigned to either the low calorie diet (LCD; slow weight loss) or very-low calorie diet (VLCD; rapid weight loss) group, both of which aimed for a weight loss of about 10% starting bodyweight. Accordingly, the WL...

Effective fat loss strategies are necessary for individuals with obesity and other conditions in which excessive fat tissue may pose a health risk. One commonly recommended strategy is to eat breakfast, and there has been a tremendous amount of research investigating the effects of eating various types of breakfasts on satiety, metabolism, and health. Yet, there has also been an increasing number of studies showing that breakfast is not king. For instance, in August of 2014, David Levitsky from Cornell University published an editorial where he rightly pointed out that breakfast is the most important meal of the day only if you are selling breakfast cereals. This editorial was spurred in part by research examining the effects of breakfast consumption or omission on all components of energy balance and health in lean men and women over the course of six weeks. The results of which showed that there are no metabolic...

What defines healthy obesity? Observational studies have established that not all obese individuals display the same risk for developing cardiovascular disease or type-2 diabetes (T2DM). This phenotype has been called “metabolically healthy obesity.” The mechanism underlying the switch in phenotype from the metabolically healthy status to unhealthy status is still unclear.Thanks to a recent study by Pujia et al, we may be one-step closer to filling this knowledge gap. These researchers performed a cross-sectional analysis of 172 middle-aged, overweight-obese Caucasian subjects who were undergoing health-screening tests at their outpatient nutrition clinic.The participants were divided into three groups: healthy overweight-obese (max of two criteria for metabolic syndrome and no glucose intolerance); metabolic syndrome (three or more criteria without T2DM) and T2DM (only those with fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dL or antidiabetic treatment). The focus of this research was on differences in the respiratory quotient (RQ) between groups, whereby a lower value signifies increased...

Every year millions of people make resolutions to do things they don’t already do and have no intentions of keeping up with past February. This only reinforces their acceptance of failure as part of their lives. Bad idea. Here’s a better idea. This year don’t add anything new to your list. Just double down on what you’ve already been doing. This will actually allow you to succeed! If you took up a sport that you only engage in occasionally, simply increase your participation one additional time per month. If you’ve adapted a new eating plan and you only stick to it 50% of the time, bump that to 75%. If you’ve been training 3 days a week for the past year, hit the gym one extra day every two weeks. Just increase what you’ve already been doing a small achievable amount as opposed to overhauling everything you’re doing and making it...

Climate change has been part of our evolutionary journey. Past climate change has been outside of our control and drove our search for better living conditions and thus our populating the entire planet. The most devastating of all of these periods was the Ice Age. While most consider the 11,700 year period during the Pleistocene Epoch as the Ice Age, there is evidence that there may have been more than one period spanning some 40,000 combined years where ice and cold engulfed our areas of population that drove many of our ancestors to search for more livable climates. I’m not debating whether or not humans are effecting climate change. For the purpose of this article I’d like you to assume that we are. So what are the purported real life and death impacts of climate change? The Global Humanitarian Forum estimates that we have already experienced 300,000 global deaths a year...