You’ve known it since you first climbed the playground ladder – overweight kids are more likely to be bullied. Overweight girls, according to the findings of a new Canadian study on the effects of bullying, are more likely to turn into bullies themselves. For the study, published in Obesity Facts, the European Journal of Obesity, [...]

Celebrity Chef Paula Deen has admitted on the Today Show that she has Type 2 Diabetes. Deen is the author of 14 cookbooks, and has two shows that run on the Food Network – ‘Paula’s Best Dishes,’ and ‘Paula’s Home Cooking.’ Each year 7 million people develop diabetes. Diabetes is a disease that occurs when [...]

Doctors are being advised to avoid using loaded terms such as ‘obesity’ when talking with patients about their weight. According to a new study of 390 overweight patients, certain phrases may cause people to close up and avoid talking about weight with their doctor. “(The term obesity) is judgmental and has negative attributes… you’re imposing [...]

It’s a known fact that the size of your plate can affect how much you eat. Now research has found the contrast of a bowl or plate’s colour versus what’s placed inside it may also be a contributing factor to obesity. Low colour-contrast between dinnerware and food – a large helping of vanilla ice cream [...]

Poor women who made the move to neighbourhoods with lower levels of poverty showed improved type 2 diabetes control and other health benefits say U.S. researchers, who have called for changes in government initiatives to fight obesity. The experiment was described in Wednesday’s online issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers conducting [...]

Alberta’s provincial government is taking steps to combat obesity by increasing access to weight loss surgery and funding programs in the province’s schools. Alberta Health, the provincial health agency, estimates there are one million obese Albertans, and another one million who are overweight. That’s about 25 per cent of the province’s population. The agency has [...]

Two new studies are calling into question the war North American governments are fighting against obesity. The studies, from Canada’s University of Alberta and York University, argue that doctors should consider not just a patient’s BMI, but how well they take care of themselves. The studies both suggest BMI (Body Mass Index) a traditional measurement of whether someone [...]

A new study suggests doctors aren’t discussing weight loss surgery as an option with their patients nearly as much as they should. The study, conducted by the Obesity Action Coalition and Ethicon Endo-Surgery, shows that while four out of five obese individuals had discussed their weight with a doctor, only one in ten who met [...]

An opinion piece published in Wednesday’s edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association says placing extremely obese children temporarily in foster care is sometimes more ethical than weight loss surgery to control obesity. Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist with the Children’s Hospital Boston, said the point is to act in the child’s [...]

A new report just released by the Stop Obesity Alliance suggests that many family physicians aren’t sufficiently screening patients for obesity or warning them about the risks of being overweight. The study is an analysis of existing literature and in person interviews. The study noted that for 50 per cent of patient visits, such basic information [...]