Light Rain, 56° F
101 stories tagged ‘Obesity’
Giants behind, challenges ahead
Fifty years after its founding, the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Global Health and Population took time for reflection and a look ahead on April 25 during an all-day symposium at the School.
Lest you think you’re at the top of the evolutionary heap, looking down your highly evolved nose at the earth’s lesser creatures, Marlene Zuk has a message for you: When it comes to evolution, there is no high or low, no better or worse.
Major weight loss tied to microbes
In a study conducted by Harvard and MGH researchers, gut microbes of mice underwent drastic changes following gastric bypass surgery, and transfer of the microbes into sterile mice resulted in rapid weight loss.
Survey finds public support for legal interventions to fight obesity, noncommunicable diseases
The public is very supportive of government action aimed at changing lifestyle choices that can lead to obesity, diabetes, and other noncommunicable diseases — but they’re less likely to support such interventions if they’re viewed as intrusive or coercive, according to a new Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study. The study also found that [...]
In January, when the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a meta-analysis of 100 studies that probed the relationship between body mass index and mortality — studies that found slightly overweight people have lower all-cause mortality than normal weight and underweight people — media around the globe trumpeted the news.
Obesity studies generate debate on impact of weight, sugar on health
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) nutrition experts, including Walter Willett, Frederick John Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology and chair of the Department of Nutrition, were quoted widely by the media about two obesity studies published in January 2013. The association between sugar and poor health has been contentious over recent decades, with scientists and [...]
Obesity-related hormone discovered in fruit flies
Researchers have discovered in fruit flies a key metabolic hormone thought to be the exclusive property of vertebrates. The hormone, leptin, is a nutrient sensor, regulating energy intake and output and ultimately controlling appetite. As such, it is of keen interest to researchers investigating obesity and diabetes on the molecular level. But until now, complex [...]
Sugary cereals, oversized soft drinks, and quarter-pound cheeseburgers are among the unhealthy food choices kids face daily. Junk food, most of it highly processed, and sugar-sweetened beverages are major contributors to the childhood obesity epidemic.
Targeting childhood obesity early
With childhood obesity now affecting 17 percent of American children, the nation is rallying around the concept that serious action is required. Harvard researchers have identified some key triggers for obesity in early childhood.
Fat fighters found in fat tissue
Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have found that a type of immune cell plays a role in guarding against obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disease.
In research, treatment, and outreach, researchers from Harvard Medical School are taking on the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. This is the first in a three-part series.
Alcohol abuse after weight loss surgery?
Experts on the use of bariatric surgery for the treatment of obesity gathered at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study earlier this month for a two-day seminar examining new evidence that stomach surgery for the treatment of obesity has unexpected side effects, including an increased incidence of alcohol abuse among patients.
A fond look back at the memorable events of Harvard's 375th year.
2009 flu could have echoed 1918
David Butler-Jones, Canada’s chief public health officer, believes that the relatively mild 2009 global flu outbreak might have been as deadly as the 1918 Spanish flu that killed millions, if not for improved scientific, public health, and medical practices.
Obesity? Diabetes? We’ve been set up
The twin epidemics of obesity and its cousin, diabetes, have been the target of numerous studies at Harvard and its affiliated hospitals and institutions. Harvard researchers have produced a dizzying array of findings on the often related problems.
Making the World Smaller – Daniel Lieberman – Harvard Thinks Big
Daniel Lieberman Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology
Susan Greenhalgh, a new professor in Harvard’s anthropology department, studies China’s controversial one-child policy, finding lessons for American health policymakers, too.
All-star Harvard faculty members at “Harvard Thinks Big” dazzled and provoked their audience in 10-minute talks Thursday that framed major questions about happiness, stem cell growth, runaway obesity, and the exploding American prison population.
Exploring roots of hunger, eating behaviors
Synaptic plasticity — the ability of the synaptic connections between the brain’s neurons to change and modify over time — has been shown to be a key to memory formation and the acquisition of new learning behaviors. Now research reveals that the neural circuits controlling hunger and eating behaviors are also controlled by plasticity.
In a first-of-its-kind study, Harvard researchers have shown that cooked meat provides more energy than raw meat, a finding that challenges the current food labeling system and suggests humans are evolutionarily adapted to take advantage of the benefits of cooking.
Panelists at a Harvard School of Public Health Forum Oct. 20 said that changing agriculture policy may be necessary to reform the nation’s diet, which is blamed for worsening current epidemics of obesity and diabetes.
Health care disparities for disabled
Two decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act went into effect, people with disabilities continue to face difficulties meeting major social needs, including obtaining appropriate access to health care facilities and services.
Harvard College freshmen got their first taste Aug. 26 of the world of ideas awaiting them over the next four years in a talk by Professor Nicholas Christakis, who delivered the 2011 Opening Days Lecture, "Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives."
The global obesity epidemic has been escalating for decades, yet long-term prevention efforts have barely begun and are inadequate, according to a new paper from international public health experts published in the Aug. 25 issue of the journal The Lancet.
Grant backs study of cancer-obesity link
The Harvard School of Public Health has been awarded a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute for a new research center to study the relationship between obesity and cancer.
Gazette Print Archives
RSS Feed
© 2013 The President and Fellows of Harvard College