Fitness secret was discovered by George Washington University. This video shows what scientists learned, and how you can use it to reach your fitness goals. Read the full story

Moderate Exercise May Be Belly-Fat Buster

Belly fat is dangerous. Not only is it unsightly and can cause your clothes to shrink at the cleaners, it puts strain on the body and releases molecules that travel throughout the body causing inflammation which has been linked with metabolic syndrome – the precursor to heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

But new research has revealed that the inflammation caused by belly fat can actually be reduced by exercise alone.

A study at the University of Illinois looked at the effects of diet and exercise on mice. After fattening up the mice for 6 weeks, the researchers put them into four groups — diet alone, exercise alone, diet and exercise together, and a control group – then watched to see which group would lose the weight fastest. Of course, the assumption was that the diet and exercise mice would lose the most weight.

Wrong. Although the diet and exercise mice did lose weight the researchers found that brief, regular exercise helped the mice just as much as diet alone or diet and exercise. The exercise-only mice also showed less insulin sensitivity, less fat in the liver, and less damage overall.

Researchers point out that the exercise-only mice weren’t working out that hard — the equivalent of a human doing a 30 to 45 minute walk five days a week. If that modest amount of exercise can decrease or prevent the life-threatening diseases caused by obesity, we may all be a few steps closer to beating the danger of belly fat.

Coming up in the May 8, 2009 edition of WLS News, we’ll tell you about a new research project on weight loss surgery for the super-obese underway in Switzerland that is yielding super results. Well also find out what your sonogram may not be telling you about your baby; examine whether or not exercise alone can help beat belly fat; and look into a weight loss “miracle medicine” with some frightening side effects. Read the full story

Ohio’s Plan to Prevent Childhood Obesity

The obesity rate among children and adults in Ohio has swelled far beyond an acceptable level, and state officials are fighting back. It’s called the Ohio Obesity Prevention Plan, and it was released at the end of March.

This is the state’s five-year initiative to help reverse the obesity trend that has made it the 17th heaviest state in the country. Right now, an estimated two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese – and more than a third of Ohio’s youth have weight problems.

The plan’s purpose is to not just encourage healthier eating and more exercise, but to make those methods more available to everyone there, everywhere. Over the next five years, the Ohio Department of Health hopes to spearhead policies that target unhealthy lifestyle factors among adults and limit access to unhealthy food and beverage choices among children in schools.

Change exercise and eating habits now, experts say, and today’s children will become healthier adults. The department is also prepared to spend time each year examining the policies they have developed, in case any of them need to be changed.

The plan, as developed, may do more for the obesity problems of the future than for cases that are observed today. But based on the current trend, many obese children are set to develop diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, often even before they reach adulthood.

And, as Kristopher Weiss of the Ohio Department of Health recently noted, if this doesn’t change, many of today’s children will live shorter lives than their parents.

Experimental Parkinson’s Therapy May Have Robust Weight-Loss Effect

In clinical experiments focused on rescuing dying brain cells in Parkinson’s patients using a growth factor called GDNF, scientists found unwanted weight loss.

When the GDNF was delivered to specific fluid-filled areas of the brain, researchers discovered that a common side effect was weight loss greater than what could be attributed to surgery, diet, or exercise.

Although there is much more research to do in finding a treatment that not only alleviates movement problems that affect Parkinson’s patients, including tremors and stiffness, but more importantly slows the disease’s progression, this find has broadened the understanding of how gene therapy could eventually help control obesity by regulating metabolism and body weight.

It has also given researchers studying potential obesity therapies much more to consider when creating treatments that influence food intake and how the brain regulates energy use.

Based on the results from the Parkinson’s study, the University of Florida researchers began looking for areas in the brain that may be responsible for weight loss.

Using rats, they noticed that when GDNF was delivered to known areas of the brain that control weight and general metabolism, younger rats had reduced weight gain, while older rats experienced significant weight loss.

Using obese rats, the UF researchers also flooded bundles of nerves, known as the nigro-stri-atal tract, the area known as a potential target for Parkinson’s therapy, which resulted in significant weight loss.

However, when the GDNF protein was over-expressed in the hypothalamus, which regulates the feeding and hunger center of the brain, the result was only half as much weight loss.

Ron Mandel, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Florida, says that the results show for the first time that GDNF over-expression in a specific anatomical area in the brain is involved in metabolism.

He goes on to state that “for people who study metabolism in the brain, this sheds some new light on the playing field… and that the playing field is more complicated than anyone dreamed.”

All in all, that’s promising news in the fight against obesity.

Better Bikes for Bigger Folks

Exercise is not so easy if you’re seriously overweight. Jogging or aerobics, for example, can totally blow out your knees. And pumping iron can be dangerous if not done correctly – one wrong move and it’s goodbye collarbone, hello, emergency room. Enter low impact exercise – physical activity that burns calories without subjecting your body to damaging impacts. Cycling a great low-impact exercise, but most folks think of biking as an activity for muscular overachievers in skin tight stretch shorts. Besides, if you’re looking at a touring bike, the thought of balancing your behind on one of those bladelike seats is just ridiculous.

Fortunately, all is not lost: a company called Super Sized Cycles has created a special line of Zize bikes designed for riders weighing up to 550 pounds. The bikes are made with reinforced parts and special ergonomics to ensure safe and comfortable riding. Several models also feature a battery-powered motor that can boost your pedal power, making the uphill grind not only possible, but fun.
So, if you’ve been looking for an exercise option that won’t grind your bones to a fine powder, getting a supersized bicycle may be the answer. As always, talk it over with your doctor before deciding if cycling is right for you. One word of warning, however: stay away from the skin-tight stretch shorts. Nobody looks good in those!

Behavior Modification and Weight Loss Surgery Equally Effective

A new study published in the International Journal of Obesity shows that people who lose weight by adopting healthy diet and exercise habits can keep it off over the long-term just as well as those who have bariatric surgery.

The two-year study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, compared the lifestyles of a group of 315 obese patients, each of whom had lost and kept off an average of 124 pounds – some by behavior modification, some by weight loss surgery – and kept it off an average of five-and-a-half years. At the beginning of the study, researchers assessed each patient’s weight, along with his or her food intake, activity level, and psychological factors, like depression, then measured each of the markers one year later and at the end of the study.

Interestingly, the researchers found no significant differences in the amount of calories that each group took in, or the amount of weight they regained over the two year period.  However, the bariatric surgery patients had eaten more fat and more fast food than the non-surgical patients.

They also reported less conscious control over their eating and higher incidences of depression and stress.

And, only one-third of the surgical group reported engaging in the recommended level of physical activity, compared with 60 percent of the non-surgical group.

Doctors concluded that no matter how you lose the weight, good diet, physical activity, and psychological health are important parts of your recovery process. So guys, even if you’ve dropped the pounds, it’s important that you still go to the gym to keep your heart healthy, and that you stay plugged in with your doctor and a local support group.

Now, for some more good news: it looks like physical activity after weight loss surgery may speed recovery.

That’s the word from researchers from The Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, who found that patients who began a program of regular physical activity after bariatric surgery had better postoperative outcomes than those who stayed inactive.

In the study, which was published online in the Journal of Obesity, more than two thirds of the weight loss surgery patients who went from being inactive before weight loss surgery to highly active a year after their procedure lost more weight than the ones who were still couch potatoes.

On average, the formerly-inactive patients reduced their BMI by two more points, and lost 8% more excess weight, than those who remained inactive after weight loss surgery.

And—here’s a shocker—the patients who became more active after surgery reported better overall health and vitality, and less depression and anxiety compared with those who remained inactive.

So, what is the difference between being “active” and “inactive”?

According to the study, “active” means putting in 200 minutes a week of walking or other physical activity of moderate or vigorous intensity. That breaks down to about 30 minutes a day.

Well, you all know what to do. Get moving, people! Off the couch! Get some physical activity, will ya?