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Nutrition: Weight Loss

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Total 17 results found since Jan 2013.

Benefits of artificial sweeteners unclear
Conclusion The study authors suggest artificial sweeteners may not aid weight loss, despite marketing claims to the contrary, and could actually increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. However, the results need to be treated with caution, as this review had numerous limitations: The randomised controlled trials had great variability and few participants, increasing the possibility of the results occurring by chance. They were also judged to be at a high risk of bias – for example, the participants could not be blinded to the intervention, and adherence (drop-out) rates were not provided. We do not know whether there w...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 19, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

Being overweight, not just obese, still carries serious health risks
Conclusion This impressively large global study demonstrates that the prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide among both children and adults. It supports what has long been thought, that increased body mass index (BMI) contributes to a range of illnesses and is ultimately responsible for a large number of deaths, particularly from cardiovascular disease. One potential limitation is the use of self-reported BMI or health outcome data in some of the studies, although the majority used a specific independent measurement so this is unlikely to have biased results too much. It is also always difficult from observational d...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 13, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Source Type: news

'Fat but fit' still at higher risk of heart disease
Conclusion The question of whether someone can be "fat but fit" has been much debated. If you're obese but exercise, eat well and don't have metabolic risk factors, the theory goes, you could be just as healthy as someone of recommended weight. This study suggests that may not be true. It is definitely worth adopting a healthy lifestyle, whatever your weight. The study found that, the more metabolic risk factors people had, the more likely they were to develop heart disease, cardiovascular disease and so on. Metabolic risk factors do make a difference. But in this large study, on average, people who were obese ...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 17, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

Regular activity may help some people stay 'fat and fit'
Conclusion As people often say, if exercise was a medicine, it would be hailed as a miracle cure. This study suggests that what we already know about the benefits of exercise may extend to reducing risk of cardiovascular disease for middle aged and older people, even if they are overweight or obese. But the study has some limitations. This type of study can't prove that one factor – exercise – is responsible for the lower risk of heart attack and stroke among overweight or obese people who exercise more. It's possible that other factors are important – for example people's income may be linked to their opportuniti...
Source: NHS News Feed - March 2, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Exercise 'most proven method' to prevent return of breast cancer
Conclusion This was a helpful summary of recent research into how lifestyle changes impact on the risk of breast cancer returning, but it does have some limitations. Researching lifestyle factors separately is always difficult as they tend to clump together, making it difficult to pick apart individual factors. For example, people who are more physically active tend to have a healthier diet and are less likely to drink excessive amounts of alcohol or smoke. While the researchers say many studies attempt to make adjustments for these confounding factors, it is difficult to know which studies did this and how successful they...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 22, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer QA articles Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

Sugary drinks linked to increased fat levels around vital organs
Conclusion This US cohort study found drinking sugar-sweetened beverages on a daily basis is associated with the highest increase in fat accumulation around the abdominal organs, compared with people who do not consume them. But there was an average increase in the amount of this fat in all people who took part in the study, although this was lowest in people who never consumed sugar-sweetened beverages. The study was prospective, which limits some sources of bias, but it has some limitations. For example, the food frequency questionnaire was only conducted once, at baseline. The results are therefore reliant on the p...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 12, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Diabetes Heart/lungs Obesity Source Type: news

The idea you can be fat but fit is 'a myth' study argues
ConclusionThis was a large prospective cohort study from Sweden, which was carried out in young adult males who were then followed for a period of around 29 years. The study found that lower levels of aerobic fitness were associated with risk of early death, but that this risk of death was greater for those with a high BMI, even if they had a high level of aerobic fitness. This study has a number of strengths and limitations. The limitations are that a large number of participants had missing smoking data and therefore it was not possible to control for the confounding effect of smoking. The lower fitness level group with...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 21, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

Warning about middle-aged drinking and dementia
"Middle-aged people should curb their drinking to reduce their risk of developing dementia, new guidance suggests," reports the Daily Mirror. The new guidance highlights that people aged 40 to 64 who regularly drink alcohol have an increased risk of dementia. Who produced the guidance?The guidance was produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). NICE is a government body that provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care. What issues does the guidance look at?The guidance is based on the well-established principle that positive lifestyle changes tha...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 21, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet QA articles Older people Neurology Source Type: news

Study finds obese people may struggle to reach a healthy weight
ConclusionThis research makes use of a general practice database providing just under 10 years of BMI observations for a large, nationally representative UK sample. It demonstrates that low proportions of people in the obese categories were able to achieve a normal BMI over a year of follow-up, and the common problem of weight cycling. However, there are points to consider when interpreting these results: The probability of obtaining a normal BMI over a year was very low: only 1 in 210 for men and 1 in 124 for women in the "simple obese" category of 30 to 35kg/m2, and much lower than that for the higher categor...
Source: NHS News Feed - July 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Obesity Source Type: news

Becoming healthier may motivate your partner to join in
Conclusion This cohort study has found that individuals with unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, being inactive or being overweight are most likely to change these behaviours if their unhealthy partner also changes these behaviours. Having a partner who has consistently healthy behaviours was also associated with a greater likelihood of change in smoking and activity compared to a consistently unhealthy partner, but less so than having a partner who changed behaviour. There were some limitations to the study, including that: The study took into account some confounders, such as age and some health conditions, but oth...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 20, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Food/diet Source Type: news

Yoga may help protect against heart disease
ConclusionOverall, this review suggests that yoga may be beneficial in reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.While these are encouraging findings, the authors also caution that these are based on trials with some limitations, including: There was a wide variation in the type of yoga practised, the frequency and the length of each session across the studies. This means it is difficult to say what the actual effects of each approach are, as the overall effects are just an average across all of these approaches. Some may have more of an effect and some may have less. The review does not rep...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 16, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Obesity Source Type: news

UK 'among worst' for cancer linked to obesity
Conclusion This international study has shown alarming increases in cases of cancer that can be attributed to high BMI. Overall, they estimated that 3.6% of cancers in adults (aged over 30 years) worldwide are caused by high BMI, with the proportion attributed to obesity slightly higher in women than in men. In the UK, 4.4% of all cases of cancer per year in men and 8.2% of all cases of cancer per year in women, were estimated to be attributable to obesity. The research focused on cancers that the WCRF has already established are linked to high BMI. When looking at these cancers, the UK was joint second highest in the worl...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 27, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Obesity Source Type: news

Have antibiotic changes upped heart infections?
Conclusion This is valuable and timely research, which has looked at trends before and after NICE's 2008 guidance on the prevention of infective endocarditis in people undergoing invasive procedures. This examined: changes in the prescription of antibiotics for the prevention of infective endocarditis changes in the number of cases of infective endocarditis diagnosed NICE's recommendation was based on an examination of the evidence of the effectiveness of antibiotics in preventing infective endocarditis, weighing the benefits and health outcomes (such as reduction in illness and deaths), risks and costs.   The ...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 19, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medical practice Source Type: news

NICE: 'Obese should be prescribed slimming clubs'
“GPs told to prescribe £100 slimming courses for millions of obese patients,” the Daily Mail reports. The news is based on new guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) that aim to encourage sustainable weight loss in the obese; “lose a little, and keep it off”. The guidance is mainly aimed at commissioners (who plan and agree which services will be provided in the NHS and monitor them), health professionals and groups who provide lifestyle weight management programmes. The recommendations may also be of interest to members of the public, including people who are overweight or o...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Food/diet Obesity QA articles Source Type: news

Just a few extra pounds increases heart failure risk
Conclusion This large study uses an interesting genetic approach (Mendelian randomisation) to suggest obesity increases the risk of heart failure and adverse changes in liver enzymes. The combination of a very large sample, prospectively collected information, and a wide range of cardiometabolic measures lend credibility to the findings. The method the researchers used is also thought to reduce the chances of factors other than BMI influencing results, and the chance that the ‘outcome’ could be causing the ‘exposure’ (reverse causality). The main limitation of this kind of research is that assumptions need to be m...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 26, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news