According to a new study published online in Diabetologia, obese adolescents with type 2 diabetes may experience changes in their brains that affect how well they are learning in school. Cognitive and brain impairments, have been documented in adults with type 2 diabetes who also have multiple co-morbid disorders that could contribute to these observations. The new study focused on obese teenagers with type 2 diabetes and compared them with a control group of obese children who do not suffer from type 2 diabetes....

An advisory committee just warned the FDA against approving a new weight-loss pill that many were pinning their hopes on. Health advisors said safety concerns outweigh the drug’s ability to help obese patients shed pounds. Shares of Vivus, the company developing the weight-loss pill, sank 62%. While the drug appears to work, side effects of depression, memory loss, increased heart rate and birth defects were a top worry; and as evidenced by one of the clinical trial participants who lost 50 pounds on the drug, once off...

In the last decade, we’ve seen new sections created in grocery stores, natural product expos and magazines as they cover the latest and greatest in protein powders, shakes and bars. So what’s the scoop? Let’s start by looking at sources, then forms, and finally rationales to determine what’s good for us (and for the environment) versus what falls into my “just because we can (make it, eat it), doesn’t mean we should (make or eat it)” category. Quick Review: What Is a Protein? Proteins...

Novo Nordisk today announced the decision to re-initiate the global phase 3 development program of liraglutide for the treatment of obesity. Following the US approval of Victoza for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, Novo Nordisk has been in dialogue with the FDA regarding the further progression of the development program investigating the potential of liraglutide within obesity. Based on the feedback from the FDA, Novo Nordisk now plans to re-initiate the global phase 3 program in the first half of 2011 in clinical trials comprising...

Diabetes UK reports that a group of over 100 diabetes experts from across Scotland and the UK has called for legislative action to ban all forms of advertising of unhealthy foods to children in order to reduce increasing obesity levels and risk of  type 2 diabetes. The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) convened a UK-wide meeting of diabetes experts in order to reach a consensus on how best to tackle this major threat to the nation’s health. After considering the evidence, and in addition to making a number...

Obesity, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes, now appears to be associated with another health problem, but one that affects men only – low testosterone levels. A new study conducted by University at Buffalo and published online ahead of print in the journal Diabetes Care, showed that 40 percent of obese participants involved in the Hypogonadism in Males (HIM) study, had lower-than-normal testosterone readings.  Results also showed that men with diabetes, whether obese or not, showed lower levels of testosterone...

Call me late to the game, this book came out last year, but I just read Dr. David Kessler’s The End of Overeating, Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. Wow! If you haven’t read it, you should. It’s never too late to tell someone about a good book. I can no longer look at food as anything but salt loaded on fat loaded on sugar. It is a refrain throughout this in-depth work that pulls the curtain open to reveal, among other things, how manipulated we are into over-eating by food manufacturers. The...

Scientists from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney Australia have shown for the first time that even modest weight loss reverses many of the damaging changes often seen in the immune cells of obese people, particularly in those with Type 2 diabetes. It has been known for some time that excess body fat, particularly abdominal fat, triggers the production of ‘pro-inflammatory’ immune cells, which circulate in the blood and can damage our bodies. In addition, other inflammatory immune cells, known as macrophages,...

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have found that simply reducing caloric intake is not enough to promote significant weight loss, according to a EurekAlert report. The researchers, headed by Judy Cameron Ph.D., studied 18 female rhesus macaque monkeys at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. The monkeys were placed on a high-fat diet for several years. They were then returned to a lower-fat diet (standard monkey food) with a 30 percent reduction in calories. For a one-month period, the monkeys’...

I watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, his new reality TV series. Like Oliver, I could barely contain my dismay. Unlike the English-born cook and rising food star, however, I didn’t have any “luvs” or Old England charm to cover it up. Of course it was only me and my TV. Oliver is out to change America’s school lunch programs. Waking people up to fresh cooking and helping them see the health ills of processed foods. He has started his intervention in the schools of Huntington,...