Latest Obesity/Overweight/Fitness News From Medical News Today.

A longitudinal study of childhood physical activity at the Government-recommended level and obesity-related health outcomes questions the value of UK and US government guidelines and the use of BMI as the outcome measure.

The California Legislative Black Caucus Foundation and Assembly member Sandre Swanson (D) on Friday sponsored a health care summit that focused on ways to address diabetes and obesity, particularly in minority communities, the Contra Costa Times reports.

A comprehensive, population-based strategy is needed to reduce the alarming prevalence of obesity in the United States, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. "Population-Based Prevention of Obesity" recommends an approach that would complement individually-oriented strategies, including clinic-based prevention and treatment programs.

"The pathways are parallel, and the idea is if you can somehow disrupt the fat production pathway, you will get more bone," says Dr. Xingming Shi, bone biologist at the Medical College of Georgia Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics. He's found the short-acting protein GILZ appears to make this desirable shift and wants to better understand how it does it with the long-term goal of targeted therapies for osteoporosis, obesity and maybe more.

Obesity is an epidemic, and lesbians are nearly twice as likely to be overweight than heterosexual women. Sarah Fogel, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor of Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, is using an extraordinarily successful, predominately lesbian weight loss group in Atlanta, as a model system for discovering how to target obesity in a lesbian population. Fogel is studying the group, and her findings are giving her a different view on weight loss.

Saturday can be the worst enemy for our waistlines, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They found that study subjects on strict diet and exercise programs tend to lose weight more slowly than expected because they eat more on weekends than during the week. The investigators report their findings in the advance online publication of the journal Obesity.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued new guidance recommending use of Acomplia® (rimonabant) in England and Wales, within its licensed indications, as an adjunct to diet and exercise for adults who are obese or overweight and who have had an inadequate response to, are intolerant of or are contraindicated to other anti-obesity agents that have previously been reviewed by NICE.

A new review of studies from UC shows that a little shove from the workplace may actually be the ticket to dropping weight. According to Michael Benedict, MD, and colleagues at UC, employer-based programs for weight loss are modestly effective at helping workers take off extra pounds.

The peer groups teenage girls identify with determine how they decide to control their own figure. So reports a new study (1) by Dr. Eleanor Mackey from the Children's National Medical Center in Washington DC, and her colleague Dr. Annette La Greca from the University of Miami. Also influencing weight control behavior is girls' own definition of normal body weight and their perception of what others consider normal body weight.

The July 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association contains articles and research studies you may find of interest. Below is a summary of some of this month's articles. Eat Slowly to Help Lose Weight People looking for ways to manage their weight are often advised to eat slowly, allowing a feeling of fullness to register before they eat too much.