“In 1990, among states participating in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, ten states had a prevalence of obesity less than 10% and no states had prevalence equal to or greater than 15%,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“By 1999, no state had prevalence less than 10%, eighteen states had a prevalence of obesity between 20-24%, and no state had prevalence equal to or greater than 25%.”

“In 2008, only one state (Colorado) had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-two states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; six of these states (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia ) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%.”

“[In the US,] Non-Hispanic blacks had the highest prevalence, followed by Hispanics, and non- Hispanic whites,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“For non-Hispanic blacks”

• “Overall prevalence of obesity was 35.7%”
• “Higher prevalences were found in the Midwest and South.”
• “Prevalence ranged from 23.0% (New Hampshire) to 45.1% (Maine).”
• “40 states had a prevalence of greater than or equal to 30%.”
• “5 states (Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oregon) had a prevalence of ≥ 40%.”

“For Hispanics”

• “Overall prevalence of obesity—28.7%”
• “Lower prevalence was observed in the Northeast”
• “Prevalence ranged from 21.0% (Maryland) to 36.7% (Tennessee)”
• “11 states had a prevalence of ≥ 30%”

“For non-Hispanic whites”

• “Overall prevalence of obesity—23.7%”
• “Higher prevalences were found in the Midwest and South”
• “Prevalence ranged from 9.0% (DC) to 30.2% (West Virginia)”
• “Only one state (West Virginia) had a prevalence of ≥ 30%”
• “5 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, and New Mexico) and DC had a prevalence of <20%”

The “bone-building” drugs Fosamax (alendronate) and Actonel (risedronate) look like a disaster to me. I would avoid them like the plaque.

I was idly watching a programme on the Atkins diet last night which, to my surprise, was reasonably balanced. Yes folks, the Atkins diet has crossed the pond to reach the United Kingdom. Although, in reality, all it is doing is returning. After all we invented it nearly one hundred and fifty years ago.

(This article was written by Malcolm Kendrick, MD, author of the wonderful, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting book The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It .)

I have been aware of the ASCOT study [Anglo Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial] for some time. In fact, it seems to have been spewing out results for the past 500 years or so. Maybe not quite that long but, boy, it sometimes seems like it.

(This article was written by Malcolm Kendrick, MD, author of the wonderful, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting book The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It .)

“In summary, in 50 years of worldwide use, there are only a few anecdotal reports of serious adverse cardiovascular events due to phentermine,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

“[N]o cases of addiction to phentermine have been reported in the peer-reviewed medical literature in the 50 years since phentermine was introduced, nor have there been reports of phentermine abuse, even in patients who have taken it for decades,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

“Patients taking oral stimulants, as prescribed by a physician, simply do not achieve the high plasma drug levels needed to produce serious adverse effects. This fact likely explains the overall very low rate of serious adverse effects seen with the use of stimulants for the treatment of attention deficit disorder and obesity,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

“Experienced obesity treatment physicians, secure in the knowledge that phentermine, unlike amphetamine, has relatively minor adverse effects, are comfortable prescribing it for most of their patients. Indeed, bariatric medicine specialists often add phentermine to obesity treatment regimens because it produces added weight loss,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

“There are reports of numerous clinical trials of all the weight management drugs, and these have been reviewed in several extensive meta-analyses, which uniformly agree that pharmacotherapy with phentermine is an effective agent for obesity treatment,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

“Phentermine is widely prescribed in the United States by obesity treatment specialists because it is a safe and effective addition to any comprehensive obesity treatment regimen,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

“Regarding case reports, PubMed searches yield no citations for phentermine-induced heart failure, cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, multifocal ventricular ectopic beats, or supraventricular tachycardia,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

“We identified 2 cases of myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries, one in a 35-year-old woman, which was attributed to phentermine, and one in a 24-year-old woman, attributed to sibutramine [Meridia].”

“Neither the obese or overweight patients for whom phentermine has been prescribed nor the emergency physicians who encounter such patients should be unduly apprehensive concerning phentermine cardiovascular safety,” according to a recent letter by Rothman, MD, PhD, Chief of the Psychopharmacology Section at the National Institutes of Health, and Ed Hendricks, MD from Roseville, California published in the American Journal Of Emergency Medicine.

This new study found that giving 2500 mg of potassium per day per day for one month in the form of either potassium chloride or potassium bicarbonate had numerous benefits on the heart including “significantly improved endothelial function","increased large elastic artery compliance”, “reduced [ left ventricular ] mass”, “improved [ left ventricular ] diastolic function”.

“Adults should consume at least 4.7 grams [4700 mg] of potassium per day to lower blood pressure, blunt the effects of salt, and reduce the risk of kidney stones and bone loss,” according to the Institute of Medicine.

However, most Americans only get about half this much.

The diabetes drug Avandia (Rosiglitazone Maleate) increases the risk of heart attack by 43% according to a study by Steven Nissen, MD, Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

In an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Feb 22, 2010, Dr. Nissen noted that Glaxo, the maker of Avandia, stole a copy of his manuscript—or as Mike Huckman of CNBC stated, they were given a copy of the manuscript by one of the peer reviewers for the New England Journal of Medicine, who later claimed he wasn’t feeling well, and didn’t know what he was doing.

Dr. Nissen said that after determining that the study was scientifically correct, Glaxo then planned a Public Relations campaign to discredit it.

MIddle-aged and older adults who were on a reduced-calorie diet who were instructed to drink 16 ounces of water a half-an-hour before each meal lost an average of 4.6 lbs more body fat during the 3 month than those in the non-water group according to a new study.

Those in the water group lost an average of 11.9 lbs of body fat versus 7.3 lbs in the non-water group. 

“Our results indicate that when combined with a hypocaloric diet, consuming 500 ml [ approximately 16 fl oz] of water prior to each of the three main daily meals (1.5 [ liters per day ]) leads to [ approximately 4.4 lbs ] greater weight loss over 12 weeks [ 3 months ] as compared to a hypocaloric diet alone, among middle-aged and older adults,” the authors of new study conclude.

“Our prior work led us to hypothesize that premeal water consumption could reduce daily [ calorie intake ] by [ approximately 225 calories per day ], and over a 12-week period [ 3 months ]...,” the authors of new study note.

Consuming water before a meal reduces calorie intake in middle-aged and older adults, however, this does not seem to be the case with younger adults according to the researchers who conducted a weight loss study in middle-aged and older adults.

Some time ago, I was looking through the latest definitions of various states of health. I can’t remember why. I think I was writing a paper on multiple sclerosis and trying to establish the various stages that you may progress through, from fully fit and able to bed bound and incapable of feeding yourself.

All types of health “states” were catalogued for all sorts of diseases. However, the really depressing definition was left to last. Someone with no disease or disability of any sort — the type of person you or I might call “healthy” — was defined as temporarily able. As if health is a strange abnormal state, which, happily, given a bit of time, will revert to the more normal human condition of illness.

(This article was written by Malcolm Kendrick, MD, author of the wonderful, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting book The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It .)

Refreshed from a holiday in France, I returned to work to find an e-mail informing me that a German study has concluded that Lipitor (atorvastatin) might not be as effective as the other statins, and might also have more side-effects.

Well, it must be true because it was a study done by the Institut fuer Qualitaet und Wirtschaftslichkeit im Gesundheitswesen. And there is no way on Earth you could argue with an institute as formidable sounding as that. An institute, I picture, entirely populated by white-haired professors all looking like a cross between Albert Einstein and Socrates.

(This article was written by Malcolm Kendrick, MD, author of the wonderful, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting book The Great Cholesterol Con: The Truth About What Really Causes Heart Disease and How to Avoid It .)

“Ingredients for obesity management are tea, caffeine and capsaicin, as they increase daily [energy expenditure] with 4–5% [roughly 70 to 100 calories] without increasing energy intake and counteract the decrease in metabolic rate during weight loss,” a recent paper concludes.

“Studies have shown that these ingredients are useful in losing weight or preventing weight regain after weight loss.”

Green tea catechins (EGCG) reduce body weight by an average of 2.9 lbs according to a meta-analysis of 11 studies.

“[White tea] has been shown to contain the largest amount of catechins, from which EGCG is also present abundantly,” a recent paper notes.

“The amount of caffeine in [white tea] is also substantially larger compared with for instance [green tea].”

“More research is needed to study [white tea’s] effect on thermogenesis.”