Eating food while watching television has more to do with the increased risk of obesity associated with TV watching than does leisure time activity according to a study from Australia.

Overweight and obese adolescents who, on average, were 15-years-old and were given ten weekly sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy followed by a phone call every two weeks were 12.6 pounds lighter after 5 months than children who acted as controls according to a study from Australia.

Among overweight postmenopausal women, the one-forth eating the lowest glycemic index diet were 26 percent less likely to get breast cancer than the one-forth of women eating the highest glycemic index diet according to a study from France. To say this in reverse, the risk of breast cancer was 35 percent higher in the one-forth of women eating the highest glycemic index diet.

Insulin should not be given to obese type 2 diabetics with insulin resistance according to Dr. Roger Unger, professor of internal medicine at Southwestern University in Dallas, Texas, USA, who has investigated diabetes, obesity and insulin resistance for more than 50 years.

Studies that have had children engage in about 25 minutes of moderate-to-high intensity exercise find that these children weigh on average about 5.9 pounds less than children that are not put on an exercise program. This according to a review paper that reviewed 14 studies that involved 481 children who were approximately 12-years-old.

In a press release, Dr. Mark Hyman, author of the book UltraMetabolism, who you may have seen on PBS talking about weight loss, recommends that anyone trying to lose weight should be given a glucose tolerance test which measures blood sugar and insulin levels after you have eaten. And that anyone whose insulin levels go over 30 during the test, a mark of someone who secretes a lot of insulin, should be sure to eat “low glycemic load, whole-foods, unprocessed diet which keeps your blood sugar even”.

People with variants of the FTO gene and of the MC4R gene are, on average, 8.5 pounds heavier than those who do not have these genetic variants according to a new study of 90,000 people. People with a variant of the MC4R gene were, on average about 3.1 pounds heavier. Those with a variant of the FTO gene were, on average, about 6.2 pounds heavier. And those with variants of both genes were, on average, about 8.5 pounds heavier.

“Dramatically, in a study of almost 6000 children, they found that the effects were almost double those seen in adults,” the press release notes.

“Between the ages of four and seven, this additional increase in weight was the result, almost exclusively, of gain of fat tissue, and not due to gain in muscle or other solid tissues.”

The number of fat cells in a person’s body remains the same throughout their adult life according to a new study from Stockholm, Sweden. The study also found that fat people have twice as many fat cells as lean people. Obese people who had weight loss surgery still had the same number of fat cells two years later even though they had lost a large amount of weight. They also found that every year, 10 percent of fat cells die and replaced with new fat cells so that the total number remains the same.

Adults who get less than 5 hours of sleep per night are 1.6 times more likely to be obese than adults who sleep 7-8 hours per night according to a new meta-analysis of 17 previous studies done worldwide. The reason for this is thought to be because short sleep changes levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin which in turn increase appetite and increase the risk of obesity.

Children who get less than 10 hours of sleep are 1.9 times more likely to be obese than children sleep at least 10 hours per night according to a new meta-analysis of 12 previous studies done worldwide. The reason for this is thought to be because short sleep changes levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin which in turn increase appetite and increase the risk of obesity.

Overweight women given 30 mg of phentermine every other month plus a diet of 1,000 calories per day lost an average of 28.7 pounds versus 10.5 pounds for those given a placebo according to a 1968 study.

Women who were given phentermine continuously lost a similar amount of weight to those given the phentermine every other month—27 pounds.

Obese diabetics given 30 mg of phentermine lost an average of 11.6 pounds in six months versus 3.9 pounds for those given a placebo according to a 1977 study.

Overweight people given phentermine continuously in addition to a diet lost 20.3 pounds in four months compared to 18.3 pounds for those who took it intermittently, that is 3 our of every 4 weeks with a placebo being substituted every fourth week, versus a weight loss of 11.5 pounds for those given a placebo according to a 1972 study.

People given 30 mg of phentermine hydrochloride ( phentermine Hcl ) two hours after breakfast, in addition to being told to eat a diet of 1000 calories per day, lost an average of 16.1 pounds in four months versus 3.9 pounds for those given a placebo, a difference of 12.2 pounds according to a 1974 study.

Women who had found it difficult to lose weight, lost an average of 14.1 pounds in five months when given phentermine resinate (Ionamin) according to a 1983 study. Weight changes varied from a weight gain of 4.8 pounds to a weight loss of 62.9 pounds. Nine out of the 50 women given the drug ( 18% ) lost 22 pounds or more.

One out of every seven people given phentermine ( 14% ) dropped out of the study due to side effects according to a 1983 study.

These side effects that caused withdrawal included:

• 3 women ( 6% ) developed severe headaches
• 1 woman ( 2% ) developed hypertension
• 1 woman ( 2% ) developed symptoms of depression
• 1 woman ( 2% ) developed breathlessness and palpitations with irritability.

People given 30 mg of phentermine hydrochloride (phentermine Hcl) lost an average of 11.9 pounds in six weeks versus 7.9 pounds in patients given a placebo according to a 1975 study.

People given 1000 mg of an extract from an edible cactus called Caralluma fimbriata lost 4.4 pounds in two months compared to 2.2 pounds for those given a placebo, in other words, an additional 2.2 pounds according to a study by researchers from St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences in Bangalore, India. This is only one pound per month—not much. “Caralluma fimbriata is an edible cactus, used by tribal Indians to suppress hunger and enhance endurance,” according to the paper.

People consume 43 percent more of a food when it is in liquid form compared to when it is in semi-solid form according to a new study from researchers at the Top Institute Food and Nutrition in Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Note: The paper made a couple errors in their calculations. The said the increase was 30 percent, but this is not correct. The correct number is 43 percent.

A given amount of apples was consumed 10 times faster when in liquid form (apple juice) compare to eating whole apples, and 3 times faster than when consumed in semi-solid form (apple sauce) according to a 1977 study.

People consume 73 percent more soup in self-refilling bowls without feeling any more satisfied and without realizing that they had eaten any more according to a study by Brian Wansink at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, USA.

Girls who watch a little television, defined as less than one hour per day, and get a moderate amount of moderate physical activity, defined as 3-5 days per week, are 40 percent less likely to be overweight than girls who watch little TV and engaged in a high amount of moderate physical activity according to a new study from researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. On a

Yes, this seems counterintuitive, but that is what they found.

Girls who watch a lot of television, defined as more than four hours of television per day, and get a little vigorous physical activity, defined as less than two days per week, are 3.1 times more likely to be overweight than girls who watch little TV, defined as less than one hour per day, and engaged in a high amount of moderate physical activity, defined as 3-5 days per week, according to a new study from researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

Boys who watch a lot of television, defined as more than four hours of television per day, were 22-49 percent more likely to be overweight regardless of how much physical activity they got compared to boys who watched little TV, defined as watching less than one hour per day according to a new study from researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

Girls watching a lot of television were much more at risk of being overweight compared to boys, the increased risk ranging from 27-211 percent.

Children getting the least sleep are 92 percent more likely to be overweight or obese according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.