Weight Loss Research: Low chance of obese people recovering normal body weight ♦ Eating habits most important in weight gain in children ♦ Exercising 300 minutes a week better for reducing total fat in postmenopausal women

Low chance of obese people recovering normal body weight The chance of an obese person attaining normal body weight is 1 in 210 for men and 1 in 124 for women, increasing to 1 in 1,290 for men and 1 in 677 for women with severe obesity, according to a new study. The findings suggest that current weight management programs focused on dieting and exercise are not effective in tackling obesity at population level.

Exercising 300 minutes per week better for reducing total fat in postmenopausal women Postmenopausal women who exercised 300 minutes per week were better at reducing total fat and other adiposity measures, especially obese women, during a one-year clinical trial, a noteworthy finding because body fat has been associated with increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

Taxing the dose of calories in sugary drinks could help reduce obesity A tax on sugary drinks that depends on the number of calories or amount of sugar per liter could help fight obesity, suggests new research. While a few countries are already trialing a tax on sugary drinks, taxing the dose would encourage drinks companies to offer low-calorie alternatives Worldwide, an estimated 1.9 billion adults are overweight, and of these 600 million are obese. Obesity increases the risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes; in the US alone, obesity-related healthcare costs around $200 billion a year.

Eating habits most important in weight gain in children Some children gain weight faster than others. What make some children gain weight faster than others? Eating habits seem to have far more to say than physical activity.

Children's Health: Brain anatomy, Academic achievement, and family income ♦ Develop healthy eating habits in a child ♦ Many teens try e-cigs, but few become regular users

Many teens try e-cigs, but few become regular users  E-cigarettes are popular with teens, including those who have never smoked, but few of those who try them become regular users, while most of those who do so are also smokers. The use of e-cigarettes at least once was more common than having smoked a conventional cigarette among all age groups, except the oldest (15-16 year olds).

How to develop healthy eating habits in a child: Start early and eat your vegetables A healthy diet promotes success in life -- better concentration and alertness, better physical health that translates into good mental and emotional health.

Two drugs reduce teacher-rated anxiety, in addition to ADHD, aggression The addition of risperidone to parent training and a stimulant also improves teachers’ assessments of anxiety and social avoidance, new research shows. Improvement in teacher-rated anxiety and social withdrawal also contributed to improvements in parent-rated disruptive behavior. Children who showed reduced anxiety also showed less disruptive behavior
.
Study links brain anatomy, academic achievement, and family income Many years of research have shown that for students from lower-income families, standardized test scores and other measures of academic success tend to lag behind those of wealthier students. After imaging the brains of high- and low-income students, they found that the higher-income students had thicker brain cortex in areas associated with visual perception and knowledge accumulation. These differences correlated with one measure of academic achievement -- performance on standardized tests