Content about Obesity

“I want to lose weight.” That’s been one of the top four New Year’s resolutions for the past decade, according to a recent survey conducted by FC Organizational Products, makers of “To-Do” lists. However, more people every year are resolving “to become more physically fit,” which goes a long way to explaining why ready-to-drink nutritional shakes and meal replacement bars are hotter than diet aids right now. 


While the need for weight loss is year-round in a country where 1-out-of-every-3 adults is considered obese, the business of weight loss still is seasonal. The first few weeks of January see a spike from the guilt-laden who had over-indulged during much of the holidays. That demand peters off slightly until just before bikini season in the spring. 


MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Obese diabetes patients could experience weight loss when taking Vivus' anti-obesity drug, according to an oral presentation at the International Diabetes Federation's World Diabetes Congress in Dubai.

MINNETONKA, Minn. — United Health Foundation’s "2011 America’s Heath Rankings," released Tuesday, found that increases in obesity, diabetes and children in poverty are offsetting improvements in smoking cessation, preventable hospitalizations and cardiovascular deaths. According to the report, the country’s overall health did not improve between 2010 and 2011 — a drop from the 0.5% average annual rate of improvement between 2000 and 2010, and the 1.6% average annual rate of improvement seen in the 1990s.

MINNETONKA, Minn. — The UnitedHealth Group’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance is emphasizing its Not Me program — an employer- and community-based initiative aimed at combating the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes and obesity — in line with National Diabetes Month.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Vivus has reapplied to the Food and Drug Administration for approval of a drug to treat obesity, the company said Monday.

Vivus said it sent in its regulatory approval application for Qnexa (phentermine and topiramate), a drug designed to treat obese and overweight patients by inducing and maintaining weight loss.

The company originally sought approval for the drug in October 2010, though the FDA declined to approve it.

SAN DIEGO — Drug maker Orexigen Therapeutics said it had identified a "clear and feasible path" for the approval of its drug for treating obesity by working with the Food and Drug Administration.

PHILADELPHIA — Overweight people with lower back pain is more intense than people of normal weight with back pain, according to a recent study published in the Sept. 15 issue of Spine.

The study sets up another comorbidity associated with being overweight.

NEW YORK — A new study that is slated to appear in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that postmenopausal women may improve their insulin sensitivity through such interventions as diet, exercise, or a combination of the two.

NEW YORK — Half of U.S. adults will be obese by 2030, according to a new study published in The Lancet.

The research, part of a four-part series published in the journal this week, projected that the number of obese adults in the country would jump from 99 million in 2008 to 164 million by 2030, a 65.6% increase. What's more, the U.S. obesity rate will rise from 32% to about 50% for men, and from 35% to a range between 45% and 52% for women.

DETROIT — A weight-loss supplement developed by a pair of Wayne State University professors has gained distribution through Meijer stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, ArtJen Complexus announced Monday.

The new diet aid is Mirafit, an all-natural, stimulant-free weight-loss supplement derived from corn fiber, which does not contain allergens, the company added.

SAN DIEGO — Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical have halted development of a treatment for obesity in mid-stage clinical trials, the two companies said.

The companies said the decision to discontinue development of a therapy that combines pramlintide and metreleptin was based on "a commercial reassessment of the pramlintide/metreleptin program … [that] took into account a revised development plan, as well as evolving dynamics within he obesity therapeutic area."