Weight Loss Research: Your family can make your fat ♦ Critical windows to turn away junk food craving ♦ Commercial weight-loss programs - Most don't work

Critical windows to turn away junk food craving Researchers have shown there are two critical windows during the developmental pathway to adulthood when exposure to junk food is most harmful, particularly for female offspring.

The brain-belly connection: Scientists find key genetic triggers in weight-regulating brain cells The little voice inside your head that tells you to eat, or stop eating, isn't a little voice – it’s actually a cluster of about 10,000 specialized brain cells. And now, scientists have found tiny triggers inside those cells that give rise to this “voice”, and keep it speaking throughout life.

Stress and obesity: Your family can make your fat A new study suggests a relationship between long-term exposure to three specific types of family stressors and children becoming obese by the time they turn 18.

Few commercial weight-loss programs show reliable evidence of effectiveness: Most don't work In a bid to help physicians guide obese and overweight patients who want to try a commercial weight-loss program, researchers reviewed 4,200 studies for solid evidence of their effectiveness but concluded only a few dozen of the studies met the scientific gold standard of reliability

11/5/14 Health News: Fecal testing in colorectal cancer screening ♦ Fruit, vegetables,whole grains and nuts lower stroke risk ♦ BPA exposure by infants ♦ Craving in alcoholics

Support for fecal testing in familial colorectal cancer screening

Fecal immunochemical tests may be as effective as colonoscopies when it comes to detecting colorectal cancer among first-degree relatives of patients with colorectal cancer, according to a new study Continue Reading

Diets high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and nuts among factors to lower first-time stroke risk

Eating Mediterranean or DASH-style diets, regularly engaging in physical activity and keeping your blood pressure under control can lower your risk of a first-time stroke, experts say. Additionally, these experts not updated prevention guidelines that focus on lowering stroke risk among women Continue Reading,

BPA exposure by infants may increase later risk of food intolerance

Scientists show, for the first time, that there is a link between perinatal exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) at low doses and the risk to develop food intolerance in later life. "We may look back one day and see BPA exposure as one of the more important public health problems of our time," said one expert. "We know that too much exposure is bad, but exactly how much exposure is too much is still up for debate.Continue Reading

Breakdown in gut barriers to bacteria may promote inflammation and craving in alcoholics

Bacteria in the GI tract fulfill many vital functions and are critical for digestion. Yet, these same bacteria can induce strong inflammatory responses by the immune system if they penetrate the gut and enter the bloodstream. Prior research has established the involvement of inflammatory processes in the development of psychiatric disorders, including major depression and alcohol dependence, but the origins of such inflammation have remained unclear. Now, researchers have found that inflammatory pathways are stimulated in alcohol-dependent patients by bacteria that escape the gut barrier, which correlated with alcohol craving. Continue Reading