The study, published Jan. 28 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, conflicts with research that suggests that being overweight contributes to a long list of health problems, including heart disease.

“Our study suggests that those people who survive to age 70 in reasonable health have a different set of risks and benefits associated with the amount of body fat to younger people,” lead researcher Leon Flicker, of the University of Western Australia, said in a news release from the journal’s publisher.

Flicker and colleagues looked at a decade’s worth of data regarding the health of more than 9,200 Australians aged 70 to 75 in 1996 when the study began. Australia is ranked as the third most obese country in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom, the study authors noted.

The study defined overweight and obesity levels based on body mass index, a measurement that takes weight and height into account. The four weight categories used in the study included underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese.

Those who were overweight — a step below obese — faced a 13 percent lower risk of death compared with those who were normal weight. But there was no benefit found for those who were obese, the study authors noted.

The researchers also found that being sedentary doubled the risk of death for women and raised it by one-quarter for men.

According to the study authors, it may be time to reevaluate the system that determines who is overweight and obese.

Technorati Tags: obesity, Overweight

Liraglutide, marketed as Victoza, outperformed the established anti-obesity drug orlistat, commercialised as Alli or Xenical, among 564 European volunteers, it suggests.

The 135 men and 429 women volunteers were divided into three groups.

One received daily liraglutide at four different dosages; the second received orlistat; and the third were given a harmless lookalike called a placebo.

In the fortnight before the trial, all the volunteers began a regime that combined daily exercise with a cut in calorie intake by 500 calories.

By comparison, 500 calories is roughly a quarter of the recommended daily energy intake for women, and about a fifth of the recommended intake for men.

Five months later, the liraglutide patients had each lost between 4.8 and 7.2 kilos (10.5 and 15.8 pounds) on average depending on the dosage; the orlistat volunteers had lost 4.1 kilos (9.0 pounds); and the placebo group 2.8 kilos (6.1 pounds).

Seventy-six percent of the high-dosage liraglutide takers lost more than five percent of their weight, compared with 44 percent in the orlistat group and 30 percent in the placebo group.

There was also a big reduction in “prediabetes” conditions among the liraglutide group.

Liraglutide was “well-tolerated,” according to the study.

“Nausea and vomiting occurred more often in individuals on liraglutide than in those on placebo, but adverse events were mainly transient and rarely led to discontinuation of treatment.”

Liraglutide, which is administered into the skin through an injector, was initially developed as a treatment to control blood glucose levels for patients with Type 2 diabetes.

But one of its impacts is to brake the emptying of the contents of the stomach into the intestine, thus prolonging a feeling of satiety.

The study was led by Arne Astrup, a professor of nutrition at the University of Copenhagen. He is also an advisor to liraglutide’s manufacturers, the Danish company Novo Nordisk A/S. The study data was vetted by The Lancet, a peer-reviewed journal.

The authors say the results offer “a new mode of action” for treating obesity, for which only a few effective and safe drugs are available.

Obesity has reached epidemic-level proportions in many rich economies as well as in fast-growing emerging countries.

Over the past 20 years, the rate of obesity has tripled and is more than 30 percent in some European countries, according to an estimate published last year.

Volunteers in the study had a body mass index (BMI) of between 30 and 40. A BMI — one’s weight in kilos divided by one’s height in metres squared — that is above 30 is generally categorised as obese.

Technorati Tags: alli, diabetes drug, Liraglutide, low-fat diet, orlistat, Victoza, xenical

Oregon researchers collected data on almost 1,700 obese women (their body mass index was 30 or higher) who gave birth between 2000 and 2005.

“We found that 70 percent of the women were exceeding the recommended weight gain for women in their weight category,” said researcher Victor J. Stevens, a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. What’s more, “these women had a lot of difficulty losing that weight, and on average retained 40 percent of it [a year later],” he said.

“That’s a concern as they are already heavy enough to have health problems related to their weight, and retaining significant weight gain after pregnancy just makes it worse,” Stevens said.

For an obese woman, gaining too much weight during pregnancy also increases the risk of complications, such as diabetes, hypertension, preeclampsia, bigger babies, C-sections and birthing injuries.

The research was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and appears in the November issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

In the study, Stevens’ team noted the women’s starting weight (between six months before conception and 12 weeks after conception), delivery weight and their later weight at eight and 18 months after giving birth.

The researchers defined excess weight gain as more than 15 pounds.

Women who gained 15 to 25 pounds were twice as likely to retain 10 pounds of that weight over the next year and a half, compared to women who had less weight gain. Those who packed on more than 35 pounds were almost eight-times more likely to retain 10 pounds of that extra bulk, the team found.

Younger women and first-time mothers were most likely to put on too much weight, the researchers note.

“We would like to see better services for women to help them manage their weight gain during pregnancy,” Stevens said.

Other experts agreed.

Samantha Heller, a registered dietitian, clinical nutritionist and exercise physiologist in Fairfield, Conn., said for anyone who is already overweight or obese when she gets pregnant, “it is going to be even more difficult to lose the post-pregnancy weight.”

But moms-to-be should not diet during pregnancy, she said. “We don’t want a study like this to scare people into doing that. What we want people to do is eat carefully and healthfully when they are pregnant, but not overeat.”

Nor should new mothers try to lose the extra weight during the first few months after delivery, Heller said.

“The women are exhausted, their body is still going through huge changes,” she said. “If they are breast-feeding, we don’t want them restricting calories at a high level, because they need those extra calories to produce breast milk.”

Because it is so difficult for many women to control weight gain during and after pregnancy, Heller believes they need more support and education.

To control weight gain during pregnancy, Kaiser Permanente offers these tips:

• Watch your diet. Each day have 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables, 3 servings of low-fat dairy, 5 to 9 ounces of protein-rich foods, 6 to 10 servings of whole grains and 3 to 7 teaspoons of fats, such as olive oil and nuts.
• Eat regular meals and small healthy snacks between meals.
• Cut fat to less than 30 percent of your calories.
• Cut back on sweets and sugary drinks.
• Keep a food diary to check for nutritional adequacy and portion management.
• Have only 100 to 300 calories a day more than you had before you became pregnant.
• Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. If you don’t exercise, ask your doctor how to start an exercise program.

Technorati Tags: Kaiser Permanente Center, lose the post-pregnancy weight, obesity during pregnancy

The study is the first to quantify the relative contributions of food and exercise habits to the growing number of Americans with bulging waistlines.

“In the U.S., over the last 30 years, it seems that the food side of the equation has changed much more than the physical activity side,” Professor Boyd A. Swinburn, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, noted in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.

Weight gain in the American population seems to be virtually all due to the consumption of more calories, with declines in physical activity playing only a minor role, Swinburn explained.

“We absolutely need to continue to promote increased physical activity and a healthy diet because they are both obviously beneficial factors in terms of obesity,” he emphasized. “But when it comes to placing priorities, I think it needs to be on reducing energy intake. It’s particularly important for policymakers to focus on the energy intake side of the equation.”

In the study, Swinburn and his colleagues calculated how much adults need to eat in order to maintain a stable weight and how much children need to eat in order to maintain a normal growth curve.

They then figured out how much Americans were actually eating, using national food supply data from the 1970s and the early 2000s. This information allowed them to predict how much weight Americans would be expected to gain over the 30-year study period if food intake were the only influence.

Next, the investigators determined the actual weight gained over the study period using data from a nationally representative survey that recorded the weight of Americans in the 1970s and early 2000s.

In children, according to Swinburn and colleagues, the predicted and actual weight increase matched exactly, which indicates that the increases in energy intake alone over the 30 years studied could explain the added pounds, they say.

In adults, the data predicted that they would be 10.8 kg (23.8 pounds) heavier, but in fact they were only 8.6 kg (18.9 pounds) heavier. This finding, Swinburn noted, “suggests that excess food intake still explains the weight gain, but that there may have been increases in physical activity over the 30 years that have blunted what would otherwise have been a higher weight gain.”

“To return to the average weights of the 1970s, we would need to reverse the increased food intake of about 350 calories a day for children (about one can of fizzy drink and a small portion of French fries) and 500 calories a day for adults (about one large hamburger),” Swinburn noted in a statement from the meeting.

“Alternatively, we could achieve similar results by increasing physical activity by about 150 minutes a day of extra walking for children and 110 minutes for adults, but realistically, although a combination of both is needed, the focus would have to be on reducing calorie intake,” he added.

Acomplia is a CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist, and it’s main avenue of effect is reduction in appetite. Acomplia acts by obstructing the receptors, which control the food intake and energy expenditure - Thus resulting in reduced appetite. You can find more information about original Acomplia medication online.

Technorati Tags: acomplia, obesity, obesity epidemic, obesity in the usa, obesity reason, overeating, reduce appetite

As reported in The Cochrane Library, Dr. Jill L. Colquitt and colleagues, from the University of Southampton, UK, searched various electronic databases and identified 26 studies that compared weight loss surgical procedures (also called bariatric surgery) with each other or with non-surgical treatments for obesity such as drugs, diets and exercise.

The studies included three randomized trials and three prospective studies that compared surgical with non-surgical treatments. The remaining 20 studies were trials that compared various types of bariatric operations.

Overall, the authors found that surgery provided greater weight loss for any degree of obesity compared with non-surgical treatments. Surgery was also associated with reductions in diabetes, hypertension, and other co-existing conditions. Improvements in health-related quality of life were noted after 2 years, but their long-term persistence was unclear.

The bariatric operations were not free from complications, including serious ones such as pulmonary embolism and even postoperative death, the report indicates.

In the studies that compared different bariatric procedures, there was some evidence that gastric bypass provided greater weight loss than did vertical banded gastroplasty or adjustable gastric banding.

Isolated sleeve gastrectomy and banded gastric bypass both produced weight losses comparable to that seen with gastric bypass.

No statistically significant differences in weight loss or quality of life were seen between procedures performed using conventional open surgery and those using laparoscopic bariatric procedures.

Due to limited data, the authors were unable to reach firm conclusions regarding the relative safety of each bariatric operation.

While surgery produces greater weight loss than conventional obesity treatments, and exactly which procedure provides the best mix of effectiveness and safety is unclear, they note.

SOURCE: Cochrane Database System Review 2009.

Technorati Tags: obese, obese patients, obesity, obesity surgery, obesity treatments, severe obesity, weight loss, weight losses

Obesity can result from excessive intake of food, lack of physical activities, lack of knowledge on balanced diet and genetic factors etc. Obesity can also be visible as a result of side effect of some certain kind of medications. Obesity is considered as a disease by the medical fraternity as it may give rise to future health risks like – heart ailments, diabetes, prostate cancer, high blood pressure, and hypertension etc. Hence, it is important to get rid of obesity when time is left.

Acomplia is a diet pill is a sympathomimetic amine and is known as ‘anorexigenic’ or ‘anorectic’ drug too. This diet pill stimulates the central nervous system and its periphery thus helps in increasing heart rate and blood pressure. This increase in blood pressure and heart rate helps one decrease his or her appetite. Acomplia is a short term appetite suppressant to be used in tandem with controlled diet and exercises. As Acomplia is a diet supplement it cannot directly help one get out of obesity rather it helps in supplementing the process of weight loss through exercises.

Before starting its dosage individuals with thyroid problem, anxiety, epilepsy, allergy, and diabetes should tell their doctor about it. One should not take Phentermine if he or she has – heart disease, high blood pressure, glaucoma or have a history of drug abuse. Acomplia is a prescription drug hence this drug should not be taken without proper medical guidance. An obese can have online prescription for the drug from a number of online facilities. These online prescriptions are free of cost, i.e. one does not need any fee to pay to avail these services.

Side effects of Acomplia may include hallucination, abnormal behaviour, confusion, headache, blurred vision, difficulty in breathing, swelling of face, lips, tongue or closing of throats etc. In case such events occur one should stop taking Acomplia diet pills immediately. Other minor side effects like restlessness, insomnia, headache, diarrhea and changes in libido may also occur. In case these happen you should talk to your doctor.

 Where to buy Acomplia online?

• Brand Acomplia medication without prescription from Europe
• Generic Acomplia medication without prescription from Europe

Pak J Pharm Sci., 2005 Jan;18(1):62-4. For more information visit: http://www.weightlossoffer.com

The process of fasting is simply going without food and/or water for a specified amount of time Hippocrates often referred to as the Father of Western Medicine recommended fasting for people who were sick. Even today most doctors will tell you to fast before or after a visit depending on the procedure you are at the doctor’s office for. Appetite suppressants like Reductil can be used to begin the fasting process by taking away your desire to eat. However, you will need the will power to continue and you need to drink plenty of water during this time. The best advice I could give to anyone is to start off slow by going with out a meal a day. Over a period of time you will develop a tolerance and you can start going hours a time without food.

There are many benefits to fasting that go beyond weight loss. Fasting helps to cleanse the body out of toxins that are built up and store in your system. These toxins are stored inside of the human body by the pounds in various forms primarily in the intestinal regions. Releasing them will not only cause weight loss but will restore your body to its natural state. Over time these toxins cause internal poisoning to your blood stream so it is important to get rid of them. Drinking vegetable juice or fruit drinks during the fasting process will aid in pushing these po
isons out of the body.

People with oversized stomachs usually have undigested food stored inside that rots away in the body causing all kinds of sickness and disease. Fasting will help to ease the stomach contents out rapidly while reducing pounds off of your body. During this time many people may have a sick or fatigued feeling because they are exposing these inner poisons and chemicals to be released from the body. Since they would normally sit there undisturbed and continue to drain the body it is usually unnoticeable that they are present. This is a necessary step to go through though because the only other alternative would be to leave them in the body.

Many people are completely unaware that they may have intestinal parasites. These parasites feed off of these many toxins in the body and continue to grow causing an ongoing weak and tired feeling to a person. Once you begin to fast these parasites will come out of your system along with many of the toxins. Since the toxins go first the parasites no longer have anything to feed off of and die out.

I can’t stress how important it is to drink lots of liquids while fasting to flush the system out. Reductil, Xenical and Acomplia can help stop toxins from being reabsorbed back into the body. Toxins can be released through the skin which is normal as they are on a regular basis. The amount may increase during fasting so regular bathes are recommended to cleanse the flesh.

The main benefit fasting seems to play on the body is letting go build up toxins that build up over time. It is estimated that the every person has at least ten pounds of unwanted materials in their body or more that fasting will release. It is worth trying a fast just to let go of these unwanted pounds of waste stored. You may want to consult a family doctor before you begin your fast to find out more information.

Data from two studies with rimonabant were reported this week. In the first, called the Stratus-US study, the drug’s effect on smoking cessation was evaluated. In this study, 787 smokers (average of 23 cigarettes per day) were randomized to receive either placebo, or rimonabant in doses of either 5 mg or 20 mg per day. The patients received the study drugs for 10 weeks. They were permitted to continue smoking for the first 2 weeks, but were instructed to attempt to quit smoking on Day 15. The number of patients who had not smoked during the last 4 weeks of the 10 week period were tabulated. Of patients who took 20 mg of rimonabant, 36% had quit smoking. Of patients who took either placebo or 5 mg rimonabant, only 20% successfully quit. Further, of those patients who quit smoking, the ones taking either placebo or 5 mg rimonabant gained 84% more weight than those taking 20 mg rimonabant. Thus, rimonabant at 20 mg per day significantly increased the rate of successfully quitting smoking, and also greatly reduced post-smoking-cessation weight gain.

In the second study (the RIO-Lipids study,) 1036 patients who were either overweight or obese and who had blood lipid disorderswere also randomized to one of three groups (placebo vs. 5 mg/day or 20 mg/day rimonabant). After 1 year of treatment, patients receiving 20 mg rimonabant lost an average of about 20 pounds of weight, compared to 5 pounds for patients on placebo. Further, patients receiving 20 mg rimonabant had significant improvements (compared to placebo) in waist circumference, HDL levels, triglyceride levels, CRP levels, and insulin sensitivity. For patients with metabolic syndrome at baseline (which included about 50% of the study population), half of those taking 20 mg rimonabant no longer had metabolic syndromeat the end of the study.

The Acomplia (Rimonabant, Zimulti) drug was said to be well tolerated. The only relatively common side effects were mild GI side effects and dizziness, and these were said to be transient.

There is still a lot we don’t know about rimonabant, and further studies will be required before the drug is released - which probably won’t happen for almost 2 years. Clearly, this is a drug that has “blockbuster” written all over it. If it turns out to be as effective and as safe as these early studies suggest, its uptake once released has the potential to be explosive - literally millions of patients may be receiving it within a short period of time. Given this fact, along with the fact that this drug is the first of a brand new class and thus there is no long-term experience with any similar substance, we can predict that the FDA will be cautious with its approval. The agency will be in a tough spot. They’ll be getting a lot of pressure from both doctors and the general public to get this drug out there. But if there turns out to be some relatively uncommon (say, 1 per 5,000 patients) but devastating side effect, widespread early adoption of the drug may mean that hundreds or even thousands might experience that side effect before it is recognized.

So: real, pharmaceutical help for smoking cessation, weight loss, metabolic syndrome, and HDL levels may be on the horizon - but hold your horses. The drug will not be available to you for a couple of years - and even then, you might be wise to wait for a year or to two see if unexpected but nasty side effects eventually turn up. For at least the short-term future, we’ll be left to resort to the old-fashioned methods for weight control and smoking cessation.

Source: About.com , date: March 11, 2005

Body mass index greater than 30, an obese has become vulnerable to many serious and fatal diseases such as heart failure, renal failure, liver burst, and arthritis. Obesity is not an irreversible process, which means we can get back the slim and trim figure. Only two things are needed to be done. Firstly, the appetite control excessive intake of calories is the primary cause, which is making an obese. Secondly, burn fat accumulated, which is under the skin, with the help of proper exercise.

Ionamin can help to have control over your appetite. This is an anorectic anorectic drugs and drugs are always hungry and powerful. This drug is

Fentermina cationic resin in a form which means that those who have some complications with Phentermine can also use this drug. Ionamin stimulates the functioning of the hypothalamus gland, which controls more action of neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters increase the rate of heart beats and blood pressure low, which means appetite. Ionamin saves not only from harmful effects obesity, but also that you save from the harmful effects of the diet.

The drug is an oral Ionamin, which means that the medicines prescribed by a doctor for a prescription is necessary for the use of Ionamin. The drug is a drug in the short term generally taken for a few weeks, however doctor may decide the duration of dosage. Ionamin is available in the form of capsules 15 mg and 30 mg volume. Generally doctor prescribes for a capsule 30 mg daily Ionamin. Ionamin is effective only when taken on an empty stomach and should be taken one hour before breakfast. The capsule should be swallowed with a glassful of plain water. Masticazione, crushing and breaking the capsule can make some harmful changes in the chemical matrix Ionamin and should be avoided.

This drug can have some mild side effects such as dizziness, dry mouth, anxiety, restlessness, upset stomach and nausea. These effects are generally mild disappear after continuous use of the drug for a few days.

Ionamin and for the prescription of the doctor which are easily available on the online pharmacies. Order online is a better way to get Ionamin as this method is usually less expensive rate. In addition, the online delivery of Ionamin is made at your door steps.