166 posts · 173,486 views
Two health physiology researchers discuss the latest obesity news, research, and weight loss products.
Travis Saunders, MSc
117 posts
Peter Janiszewski, PhD
4 posts
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- May 13, 2009
- 11:00 AM
- 1,023 views
Ten simple ways to become more physically active
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
... Read more »
- June 10, 2009
- 11:00 AM
- 1,020 views
Xocai and the Chocolate Weight Loss Diet - Where's the Evidence?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
If you spend any time following the "super" foods that are currently promoted on websites and daytime talk shows, you will certainly have heard about the "miracles" of dark chocolate, one of the super-est of all the super foods. If the Super Foods were the Super Friends, chocolate would probably be Batman (second only to Super Man, a role currently filled by Acai Berry).... Read more »
Cooper, K., Donovan, J., Waterhouse, A., & Williamson, G. (2007) Cocoa and health: a decade of research. British Journal of Nutrition, 99(01). DOI: 10.1017/S0007114507795296
- July 8, 2009
- 11:25 AM
- 1,010 views
Influence of sex on regional fat loss in overweight men and women
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Last week I discussed sex-differences and obesity related metabolic risk among elderly men and women. This week I'd like to stay on the topic of obesity related sex-differences, focusing on a paper by Drs Jen Kuk and Bob Ross (not that Bob Ross) which was published recently in the International Journal of Obesity. In this new study, Drs Kuk and Ross examined the influence of sex on regional fat loss in overweight/obese men and women in response to diet and/or exercise interventions.... Read more »
Kuk, J., & Ross, R. (2009) Influence of sex on total and regional fat loss in overweight and obese men and women. International Journal of Obesity, 33(6), 629-634. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2009.48
- April 17, 2009
- 01:16 PM
- 997 views
Public Transit Users More Likely to Reach Physical Activity Targets
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Regular readers of this blog will know that I feel physical activity should be built into our daily lives, rather than being sequestered in small chunks labeled “workouts”. It can feel impossible to fit in a workout some days, and it’s just too easy to skip the gym when you’re having an off day. By building activity into your daily routine, you can ensure that you’re getting at least some physical activity on even the busiest days.... Read more »
Lachapelle, U., & Frank, L. (2009) Transit and Health: Mode of Transport, Employer-Sponsored Public Transit Pass Programs, and Physical Activity. Journal of Public Health Policy. DOI: 10.1057/jphp.2008.52
- December 7, 2010
- 07:00 AM
- 991 views
Sedentary Physiology Part 2 – Can Sitting Too Much Kill You?
by Travis Saunders, MSc, CEP in Obesity Panacea
Photo by independentman.
Welcome to our 5-part series delving into the fascinating research being performed in the emerging field of sedentary physiology. Today in Part 2, we look at some of the health effects associated with excess sedentary behaviour. For an introduction to the basics of sedentary physiology, check out Part 1.
Over the past few years research has suggested that being sedentary (e.g. sitting or lying down) for extended periods of time has a negative impact on your healt........ Read more »
Katzmarzyk, P.T., Church, T.S., Craig, C.L., . (2009) Sitting Time and Mortality from All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41(5), 998-1005. DOI: http://www.ms-se.com/pt/re/msse/abstract.00005768-200905000-00005.htm;jsessionid
- June 17, 2009
- 10:00 AM
- 990 views
Food addiction - fact or fiction
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Photo by Marina KomolovaOne topic that never fails to generate a lively discussion is the relationship between obesity and personal responsibility. For example, in response to a post on psychological exams for bariatric surgery patients, one anonymous reader commented that: I don't have a gym membership. I'm not even all that active. I live in a bad neighbourhood and i'm floating right around the Canadian poverty line. I'm not obese. When I see a little extra belly buil........ Read more »
Dagher, A. (2009) The neurobiology of appetite: hunger as addiction. International Journal of Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2009.69
- July 6, 2009
- 11:30 AM
- 988 views
Obese but healthy: Is weight loss detrimental?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
... Read more »
Karelis, A., Messier, V., Brochu, M., & Rabasa-Lhoret, R. (2008) Metabolically healthy but obese women: effect of an energy-restricted diet. Diabetologia, 51(9), 1752-1754. DOI: 10.1007/s00125-008-1038-4
- December 1, 2010
- 12:10 PM
- 983 views
Animal obesity: canary in the coal mine?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
There are a number of factors, both behavioural and environmental, which are thought to play important roles in the current epidemic of obesity. These range from things like increased soft-drink consumption and decreased physical activity, which are at least nominally under our personal control, to more external factors like viruses, light pollution, and environmental contaminants, over which we have little or no control. How much of a role do these external factors play in the obesity epidemi........ Read more »
Klimentidis, Y., Beasley, T., Lin, H., Murati, G., Glass, G., Guyton, M., Newton, W., Jorgensen, M., Heymsfield, S., Kemnitz, J.... (2010) Canaries in the coal mine: a cross-species analysis of the plurality of obesity epidemics. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1890
- June 1, 2009
- 10:00 AM
- 972 views
Big Breasts; a Hazard for Type 2 Diabetes?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
While it may sound like a ridiculous headline from The National Enquirer, a study published in 2008, actually found that all else being equal – women with larger breasts had an increased risk of type-2 diabetes.... Read more »
Ray, J., Mohllajee, A., van Dam, R., & Michels, K. (2007) Breast size and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 178(3), 289-295. DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.071086
- October 2, 2009
- 10:00 AM
- 964 views
Obesity and car crashes - does fat provide a protective cushion against injury?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
While Travis and I often focus on the cardiometabolic and sometimes psychological complications of obesity, the consequences of carrying excess weight reach far beyond these two areas.
Take for example automobile collisions.
By and large, most cars on the road today are not built specifically to be driven by obese drivers. More importantly, the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety regulations and New Car Assessment Program testing uses a crash test dummy with a BMI of ~25.5 kg/m2 to gauge how s........ Read more »
Kent, R., Forman, J., & Bostrom, O. (2009) Is There Really a “Cushion Effect”?: A Biomechanical Investigation of Crash Injury Mechanisms in the Obese. Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2009.315
- July 13, 2009
- 11:25 AM
- 955 views
Power-Pops - Lollipops that cause weight loss?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Can you imagine...
A lollipop with the amazing Power to Suppress the appetite and give you a burst of energy. What could be more simple?"
So begins a brochure promoting Power-Pops, a lollipop which claims to reduce appetite, increase energy, and help you lose weight. Power-Pops have received a fair amount of media coverage in the USA, including the following video from the television program Extra (email readers can view the video on our main page by clicking here).
I've got to ........ Read more »
- September 14, 2009
- 10:00 AM
- 953 views
Is virtual reality the cure for obesity?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
I know what you’re thinking. I was also a bit perplexed when I read the following headline: “Avatars could help fight obesity.”This was a title of an article in the Triangle Business Journal discussing the results of a preliminary study published in the largely obscure Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.In essence, this study (and I use the term ‘study’ very generously here) found that individuals who had personal virtual avatars of normal weight which exercised fre........ Read more »
Elizabeth Dean, Sarah Cook, Michael Keating, & Joe Murphy. (2009) Does this avatar make me look fat?. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. info:/
- June 24, 2009
- 11:00 AM
- 950 views
Eating with friends - a cause of weight gain?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
... Read more »
Salvy, S., Howard, M., Read, M., & Mele, E. (2009) The presence of friends increases food intake in youth. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27658
- June 16, 2009
- 11:00 AM
- 927 views
Want to avoid weight gain? Stay Single!
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Although marital status is often tied to improved health, greater longevity and lower prevalence of unhealthy behaviours, such as smoking, being in a romantic partnership is also a recipe for weight gain.... Read more »
The, N., & Gordon-Larsen, P. (2009) Entry Into Romantic Partnership Is Associated With Obesity. Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2009.97
- September 13, 2010
- 06:00 AM
- 922 views
Metabolically-Healthy Obesity: An Oxymoron? (Series Pt 1/5)
by Peter Janiszewski, Ph.D. in Obesity Panacea
Welcome to our 5-part series delving into the fascinating and seemingly paradoxical research on people who despite being obese, remain metabolically-healthy. Today, we’ll start with an introduction.
To date, countless epidemiological studies have shown that as you move from a normal weight (BMI = 18.5-24.9 kg/m2) towards overweight (BMI = 25-29.9kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) the risk of many diseases increases exponentially.
Does this imply that every individual carrying excess ........ Read more »
Albrink, M., & Meigs, J. (1965) THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERUM TRIGLYCERIDES AND SKINFOLD THICKNESS IN OBESE SUBJECTS. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 131(1 Adipose Tissu), 673-683. DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1965.tb34830.x
Sims, E. (2001) Are there persons who are obese, but metabolically healthy?. Metabolism, 50(12), 1499-1504. DOI: 10.1053/meta.2001.27213
Karelis, A. (2004) Metabolic and Body Composition Factors in Subgroups of Obesity: What Do We Know?. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology , 89(6), 2569-2575. DOI: 10.1210/jc.2004-0165
- July 2, 2009
- 11:30 AM
- 890 views
Take a break from being lazy – your health depends on it!
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
... Read more »
Healy, G., Dunstan, D., Salmon, J., Cerin, E., Shaw, J., Zimmet, P., & Owen, N. (2008) Breaks in Sedentary Time: Beneficial associations with metabolic risk. Diabetes Care, 31(4), 661-666. DOI: 10.2337/dc07-2046
- August 10, 2009
- 11:15 AM
- 890 views
Sedentary Behavior, Sleep, and Obesity in Children
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
It has been reported that up to 16% of children have a hard time falling asleep, resulting in shorter sleep duration. That might not seem like such a big deal, but an increasing number of studies report that decreased sleep time is a risk factor for obesity. Although the idea is still quite controversial, it is has been suggested that insufficient sleep is likely to affect the hormones that regulate hunger, resulting in increased food intake, and eventually obesity. Reduced sleep time has als........ Read more »
Nixon, G., Thompson, J., Han, D., Becroft, D., Clark, P., Robinson, E., Waldie, K., Wild, C., Black, P., & Mitchell, E. (2009) Falling asleep: the determinants of sleep latency. Archives of Disease in Childhood. DOI: 10.1136/adc.2009.157453
- August 7, 2009
- 11:15 AM
- 889 views
Salted Food Addiction Hypothesis may explain overeating and the obesity epidemic
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
An interesting article was published earlier this week on the website of the journal Medical Hypotheses, suggesting that the current obesity epidemic may be caused by salt addiction. The article is provocatively titled "Salted Food Addiction Hypothesis may explain overeating and the obesity epidemic" and as you might expect given the journal that published it, it is wildly speculative. Now I'm just going to say this upfront - I think the authors are probably wrong. But it can be........ Read more »
Cocores, J., & Gold, M. (2009) The Salted Food Addiction Hypothesis may explain overeating and the obesity epidemic. Medical Hypotheses. DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2009.06.049
- June 29, 2009
- 01:35 PM
- 879 views
Self-assessment of body weight in children is influenced by body weight of their classmates
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
A very interesting article came out this past week in the journal Obesity. Dr H Shelton Brown III and colleagues at the University of Texas School of Public Health examined how a child's assessment of their own body size (e.g. lean, overweight, or obese) is influenced by the body size of their classmates. Subjects consisted of male and female students in grades 4, 8 and 11. All students had their height and body weight measured, which were used to calculate their body mass index (BMI). This ........ Read more »
Brown, H., Evans, A., Mirchandani, G., Kelder, S., & Hoelscher, D. (2009) Observable Weight Distributions and Children's Individual Weight Assessment. Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2009.168
- July 29, 2009
- 11:55 AM
- 873 views
Erectile Dysfunction Today; Death Tomorrow?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
As I have previously discussed, while erectile dysfunction can have a detrimental impact on quality of life, it also appears to foreshadow future cardiovascular disease risk (i.e. heart attack). Indeed, it is reported that men who seek medical attention for cardiovascular disease symptoms often report that their penis stopped working long before they had any signs of heart problems.
A new study, published ahead of print in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, reports for the first time that the pr........ Read more »
Araujo, A., Travison, T., Ganz, P., Chiu, G., Kupelian, V., Rosen, R., Hall, S., & McKinlay, J. (2009) Erectile Dysfunction and Mortality. Journal of Sexual Medicine. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01354.x
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