Food and beverage companies are using television ads to entice children into eating massive amounts of unhealthful food, leading to a sharp increase in childhood obesity and diabetes, a national science advisory panel said yesterday.

The Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies, called on food and beverage manufacturers and restaurants to make more healthful products and shift their advertising emphasis to promote them. If the companies do not do so within two years, Congress should mandate changes, especially for broadcast and cable television ads, the institute said. (Washington Post)

September 21, 2005

John Keitz, 39, the vastly overweight Dundalk, Md., man who last spring began a physical therapy program, vowing to walk again after his extreme bulk had made him a prisoner of his bed for seven years, died yesterday of complications from an infection in a hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, his wife said. (Washington Post)

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

August 24, 2005

Obesity rates have continued to rise steadily across the nation, with the lone exception of Oregon, where they remained steady, the report by the group, the Trust for America's Health, said. (NYTimes.com)

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

May 04, 2005

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Tuesday launched a campaign to reduce obesity among American children, warning that today's youth could be the first U.S. generation to die younger than their parents. (Reuters)

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

April 29, 2005

In a study that followed more than 10,000 Californians for almost 30 years, researchers found that the fatter people were, the greater their risk for Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. The results were published online Friday by the British Medical Journal. (AP Medical)

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

April 08, 2005

"Three quarters of male veterans and two thirds of female veterans receiving medical care at a Veterans Affairs outpatient facility are obese or overweight, a slightly higher rate than that of the general population, according to a new survey of nearly 2 million veterans."

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

April 07, 2005

"Investigators found that when women wore a prosthetic suit designed to make them look obese, they were treated more rudely, and received fewer smiles and less eye contact from sales clerks at a Houston, Texas, shopping mall than when they shopped without the fat suit."

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

April 05, 2005

California, the land of body worshippers and vegetarians, is getting alarmingly fat, with more than half of all adults overweight, according to a study released Tuesday.

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

March 04, 2005

"Women who were obese before pregnancy are significantly more likely to give birth to fraternal twins."

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

February 08, 2005

A growing number of Americans are being told they have "metabolic syndrome." The diagnosis has become alarmingly common, primarily because of the obesity epidemic.

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

January 24, 2005

"A new study suggests a man’s weight may affect the accuracy of a common test to detect prostate cancer, leading researchers to warn that doctors could be missing the dangerous cancer in obese men."

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity

December 30, 2004

The American Heart Association reported that more than 10 percent of U.S. children ages 2 to 5 are overweight.

Posted by news editor | Filed under: Obesity