103 posts · 38,990 views
Two health physiology researchers discuss the latest obesity news, research, and weight loss products.
Travis Saunders, MSc
95 posts
Peter Janiszewski, PhD
3 posts
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- September 1, 2010
- 01:00 PM
- 383 views
What Hurts Fitness More: 30 Years of Aging or 3 Weeks of Bed Rest?
by Travis Saunders, MSc, CEP in Obesity Panacea
I recently came across a very interesting study published in Circulation in 2001. In it, authors Darren McGuire and colleagues perform the 30-year follow-up on a group of 5 men who had taken part in the Dallas Bed Rest and Training Study (DBRTS). The DBRTS took place in 1966, when all 5 men were healthy 20 year-olds. They were assessed extensively at 3 different time points: baseline, following 3 months of bed rest, and following 8 weeks of physical training. In 1996 these same 5 men were assessed for a fourth time, allowing the researchers to compare the influence of 3 weeks of bed rest and 30 years of aging on markers of fitness.... Read more »
McGuire DK, Levine BD, Williamson JW, Snell PG, Blomqvist CG, Saltin B, & Mitchell JH. (2001) A 30-year follow-up of the Dallas Bedrest and Training Study: I. Effect of age on the cardiovascular response to exercise. Circulation, 104(12), 1350-7. PMID: 11560849
- August 4, 2010
- 08:59 AM
- 47 views
Fitness of Canadian Adults, 2007-2009
by travis@obesitypanacea.com (Travis Saunders) in Obesity Panacea
This week I am attending the Canadian Obesity Network Student Bootcamp. I know that sounds like some sort of training program, but it's actually a full week of obesity related education with some of Canada's top obesity researchers in a small town outside of Quebec City. Many of my friends and colleagues (Peter included) have attended the bootcamp in the past, and all have told me that its one of their best grad school experiences. Everyday there are lectures from obesity experts like Arya Sharma, JP Depres, and Angelo Tremblay, as well as "journal club" presentations from other students. Below I've embedded a copy of my presentation, which is on the paper "Fitness of Canadian Adults: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey". I discussed the paper in a post a few months ago, but I thought I'd include the full presentation here since it has quite a bit more detail than the original post. I also wanted an excuse to try out SlideShare, which allows you to embed power point (with audio) into a blog post. So feedback would be greatly appreciated.
To follow the goings-on at the bootcamp itself, be sure to check out Arya Sharma's blog, where he will almost certainly be providing updates as the week progresses.
Enjoy the presentation!
Travis
Shields, M, Tremblay, MS, Laviolette, M, Craig, CL, Janssen, I, & Connor Gorber, S (2010). Fitness of Canadian adults: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian
Health Measures Survey Health Reports, 21 (1), 1-15... Read more »
Shields, M, Tremblay, MS, Laviolette, M, Craig, CL, Janssen, I, & Connor Gorber, S. (2010) Fitness of Canadian adults: Results from the 2007-2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Reports, 21(1), 1-15. info:/
- June 25, 2010
- 11:23 AM
- 160 views
Grow More Fat and Improve Metabolic Health: Insights from TZD Treatmen
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
By now, readers of Obesity Panacea have hopefully learned that excess weight is not directly predictive of health risk, and that excess fat mass is not in itself unhealthy. Recall that approximately 30% of individuals who are classified as obese by their body weight turn out to be metabolically healthy, and in fact seem not to get much metabolic benefit (or may even get worse) when they lose weight. Also consider that individuals who have NO fat tissue (e.g. lipodystrophy) have extremely elevated metabolic risk factors, meanwhile others who can apparently indefinitely grow more fat mass (multiple symmetric lipomatosis - think Michelin man) have metabolic profiles we'd all like to have. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
McLaughlin, T., Liu, T., Yee, G., Abbasi, F., Lamendola, C., Reaven, G., Tsao, P., Cushman, S., & Sherman, A. (2009) Pioglitazone Increases the Proportion of Small Cells in Human Abdominal Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue. Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2009.380
- June 23, 2010
- 12:20 PM
- 120 views
Are High Glycemic Index Carbs Worse Than Saturated Fat?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Most people know that consuming too much fat, and especially saturated fat, is bad for your health. That's why there has been a concerted push for several decades to get people to reduce the amount of saturated fat that they consume, and to replace it with complex carbohydrates. Now unfortunately people often misinterpret that to mean that fat is evil, but carbs are ok. This is problematic since consuming too many simple carbs is also likely to increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease - exactly what we are trying to prevent in the first place. So this raises the important question - in order to minimize the risk of heart disease, is it better to reduce the intake of saturated fat, or the intake of simple carbs? An interesting new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examines this issue and while it doesn't provide a definitive answer, it suggests that refined carbs are pretty bad indeed.... Read more »
Hu FB. (2010) Are refined carbohydrates worse than saturated fat?. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 91(6), 1541-2. PMID: 20410095
Jakobsen MU, Dethlefsen C, Joensen AM, Stegger J, Tjønneland A, Schmidt EB, & Overvad K. (2010) Intake of carbohydrates compared with intake of saturated fatty acids and risk of myocardial infarction: importance of the glycemic index. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 91(6), 1764-8. PMID: 20375186
- June 14, 2010
- 11:15 AM
- 129 views
Self-report vs direct measures - new podcast!
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Regular readers know that that Peter and I do a semi-regular podcast on obesity-related issues. This week, I have a discussion with psychology researcher (and fellow ScienceBlogger) Jason Goldman. For the uninitiated, self-report data refers to information that people provide themselves - questionnaires and interviews are very common examples. This is in contrast to direct measurement, which is exactly what it sounds like - researchers measuring your height and weight themselves, etc. The podcast was inspired by a recent conversation where I bemoaned a press release which failed to acknowledge the limitations of self-report data, which I felt could lead to misleading conclusions.... Read more »
Schwarz, N. (1999) Self-reports: How the questions shape the answers. American Psychologist, 54(2), 93-105. DOI: 10.1037//0003-066X.54.2.93
- June 4, 2010
- 11:45 AM
- 234 views
Increased Physical Activity Prevents the Accumulation of Abdominal Fat
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
One of the most interesting things about exercise is that it results in important health improvements even in the absence of weight loss. For example, just a single session of exercise can result in improved insulin sensitivity, increased levels of HDL cholesterol (aka the "good" cholesterol) and reductions in plasma triglyceride levels - all tremendously important markers of disease risk. In addition to these metabolic changes, new research by our friend and former labmate Lance Davidson suggests once-again that exercise can also prevent the accumulation of abdominal fat, independent of changes in overall body fat percentage.... Read more »
Davidson, LE, Tucker, L, & Peterson, T. (2010) Physical Activity Changes Predict Abdominal Fat Change in Midlife Women. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. info:/
- June 2, 2010
- 11:41 AM
- 180 views
New Publication: Big Breasts, An Indicator of Dangerous Fat Deposition?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
In June of last year, I discussed the results of a large epidemiological study in women that showed that women with larger breasts have an increased risk of developing type-2 diabetes.
As soon as Travis and I read this study, we knew we had to do a follow-up study of our own to see if this finding was simply spurious or if there was actually something to large breasts that indicated health risk - beyond that explained by obesity per se.
The project that Travis and I began over a year ago has culminated in both a hot-off-the-press publication in the journal Obesity, as well as my presentation at this year's Obesity Society meeting in Washington D.C.
In the study, we used body composition data acquired through MRI on about 100 premenopausal women to directly quantify breast size. By using MRI data we significantly improved the methodology used by the authors of the original study on breast size and diabetes risk, who relied on over 20 year recall of cup size as their key measure.
First, we sought to examine if breast tissue volume was associated with any cardiometabolic risk factors, such as glucose tolerance (a known antecedent to type 2 diabetes) and various blood lipids. Since the original authors found an association between cup size and diabetes risk, we expected to find an association between breast volume and cardiometabolic risk factors.
What did we actually find? Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Janiszewski, P., Saunders, T., & Ross, R. (2009) Breast Volume is an Independent Predictor of Visceral and Ectopic Fat in Premenopausal Women. Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2009.336
- May 18, 2010
- 11:32 AM
- 205 views
Canadian Health Authorities Release New Physical Activity Recommendations
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Last week ParticipACTION and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP) released recommendations for updated Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines. The previous guidelines were released between 1998 and 2002, and although they were based on the best research available at the time, from what I understand there simply wasn't a tremendous amount of evidence to draw on in some situations. Since then there have been a number of advances in physical activity research, allowing for the creation of updated, and increasingly evidence-based guidelines. ... Read more »
Janssen I, & Leblanc AG. (2010) Systematic review of the health benefits of physical activity and fitness in school-aged children and youth. The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 7(1), 40. PMID: 20459784
- May 6, 2010
- 12:56 PM
- 217 views
How much salt is in your fast food order?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Way too much, according to a recent study by Johnson and colleagues, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Personally, I love salty foods. While I have never been too fond of sweet things (chocolate, candy, etc.), just a few years ago I could have easily gone through a bag of chips or pretzels in one sitting. Just writing about that crunchy/salty goodness makes my mouth water.
However, since hypertension runs in my family, I have recently made a concerted effort to limit my sodium intake - largely by cutting out my intake or salty snacks. This process was made that much easier by living with a partner who is doing PhD research on the effects of salt intake on blood pressure, among other things. She got on my butt to limit my salt intake, while I got on hers to limit her intake of sugar - as diabetes runs in her family.
Regarding dietary sodium limits, it is suggested that adults stay under 1500 mg per day, and should never exceed the upper limit of 2300 mg/day.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Johnson CM, Angell SY, Lederer A, Dumanovsky T, Huang C, Bassett MT, & Silver LD. (2010) Sodium content of lunchtime fast food purchases at major US chains. Archives of internal medicine, 170(8), 732-4. PMID: 20421561
- May 3, 2010
- 02:10 PM
- 231 views
Obesity Panacea blogcast: The health effect of losing butt fat during weight loss
by Peter Janiszewski, PhD in Obesity Panacea
Rather than yet again writing about lower body fat and why losing it during weight loss may or may not be bad for your health, Travis and I decided to try our hand at the first of what we hope to be many Obesity Panacea Blogcasts. In essense, this blogcast is simply Travis and I talking over Skype about this area of research and specifically about my recently published paper.... Read more »
Janiszewski, P., & Kuk, J. (2010) Does loss of gluteofemoral fat through diet and exercise deteriorate metabolic health?. International Journal of Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2010.75
- April 12, 2010
- 04:44 PM
- 242 views
Excess Weight Predicts Younger Age at Hip and Knee Replacement
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Given that I have put myself out of commission due to a musculoskeletal injury I acquired over the weekend, I thought a discussion of joint injuries and such would be most appropriate in my Robaxocet induced state.Just last week Travis discussed the issue of injuries associated with exercise among obese individuals. In that post, based on recent evidence, Travis concluded:"...in overweight and obese individuals, exercise (in the form of walking) has little or no association with injury or illness."
However, there still remains the issue of various musculo-skeletal problems which appear to happen at a high rate among those individuals carrying excess weight, independent of their activity level.Knee and hip osteoarthritis, for example, are quite commonly listed as a frequent medical consequence of obesity. A new study from our neck of the woods (Ontario, Canada) sought to determine the effect of weight status on the age at which individuals elected to have knee or hip replacement surgery.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Gandhi, R., Wasserstein, D., Razak, F., Davey, J., & Mahomed, N. (2010) BMI Independently Predicts Younger Age at Hip and Knee Replacement. Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/oby.2010.72
- April 9, 2010
- 12:38 PM
- 316 views
Staircase Signs - Easiest Physical Activity Intervention. Ever.
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Image by Randy Son of Robert.
I love simple physical activity interventions. We all know that physical activity is a good thing, and yet it can be really difficult for people to increase their physical activity levels, especially over the long-term. So it's exciting whenever any intervention is shown to be effective, but even more so when it is simple. And an intervention that is both simple and inexpensive is pure gold. I wrote about one such intervention a few weeks ago, when I described a British study that showed that simply painting lines on a school-yard playground resulted in a dramatic increase in physical activity levels during recess. The intervention was simple, it was inexpensive and extremely easy to implement, and yet it had an impressive positive impact. What more could you ask for?
Earlier this week I came across a similarly simple intervention published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, this time focused on adults. In this new study, Megan Grimstvedt and colleagues placed signs near the elevators of 4 university buildings in San Antonio. The sign said simply "Walking up stairs burns almost 5 times as many calories as riding an elevator" and included an arrow directing people to the nearest staircase, as well as a cartoon of the school mascot walking up a flight of stairs. Two of the buildings had very visible staircases, while two of the buildings had staircases that were relatively hidden. The buildings with hidden staircases had an additional sign on the staircase door to tell people that the stairs were accessible (e.g. no fire alarm would sound). The researchers then positioned themselves in "inconspicuous" locations for 2 hours per day, Monday-Thursday, and tallied the number of people using the staircase and elevator.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Megan E. Grimstvedt, Jacqueline Kerr, Sara B. Oswal, Donovan L. Fogt, Tiffanye M. Vargas-Tonsing, & Zenong Yin. (2010) Using Signage to Promote Stair Use on a University Campus in Hidden and Visible Stairwells. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 232-238. info:/
- April 7, 2010
- 12:31 AM
- 236 views
Exercise is *NOT* Associated With Injury Risk in Overweight Individuals
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Image by Jespahjoy.
Just before moving to our new home here on Scienceblogs, I asked our readers for ideas on what types of content they would like to see here on Obesity Panacea. One topic that came up several times was the issue of injuries. I'm not sure why we haven't discussed injuries in the past (aside from the fact that it's not the focus of our research), but it was a great idea, and I've come across a study on the topic that I think will be of real interest.
The study is titled "The influence of exercise and BMI on injuries and illnesses in overweight and obese individuals: a randomized control trial" and was performed by Carol Janney and John Jakicic at the University of Pittsburgh. Participants in the study included overweight and obese individuals taking part in one of two exercise studies - one focused weight loss and the other on weight maintenance. The exercise component of the two studies were similar, with participants walking at a brisk pace 5 days/week (the major difference between the two studies is that one included caloric restriction to induce weight loss, while the other simply emphasized healthy eating patterns). Every 6 months, participants reported any injuries or illnesses that impacted their ability to exercise.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Janney, C., & Jakicic, J. (2010) The influence of exercise and BMI on injuries and illnesses in overweight and obese adults: a randomized control trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7(1), 1. DOI: 10.1186/1479-5868-7-1
- April 1, 2010
- 11:25 AM
- 295 views
Junk Food Tax or Health Food Subsidy - Which Results in Healthier Food Purchases?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
In the past few years several prominent researchers have argued for the adoption of taxes on junk food as a means of reducing their consumption. Often, as in a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, the argument is made that money collected through the tax could then be used to subsidize healthier foods. This is an idea that I've found very appealing - we make the bad foods more expensive, the good foods less expensive, and people will probably shift at least some of their purchases to those healthier options. But a very interesting new study by Leonard Epstein and colleagues suggests that things might not be so simple.... Read more »
Epstein, L., Dearing, K., Roba, L., & Finkelstein, E. (2010) The Influence of Taxes and Subsidies on Energy Purchased in an Experimental Purchasing Study. Psychological Science, 21(3), 406-414. DOI: 10.1177/0956797610361446
- March 30, 2010
- 11:50 AM
- 298 views
Are Probiotics the Cure for Abdominal Obesity?
by Peter Janiszewski, PhD in Obesity Panacea
Nope, not even close, although I doubt it will stop big food from marketing Activia yogurt and others as a solution for expanded waistlines.... Read more »
Kadooka, Y., Sato, M., Imaizumi, K., Ogawa, A., Ikuyama, K., Akai, Y., Okano, M., Kagoshima, M., & Tsuchida, T. (2010) Regulation of abdominal adiposity by probiotics (Lactobacillus gasseri SBT2055) in adults with obese tendencies in a randomized controlled trial. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2010.19
- March 26, 2010
- 11:55 AM
- 372 views
Is Jesus Making You Overeat?
by Peter Janiszewski, PhD in Obesity Panacea
Well, in fairness, Jesus' twelve Apostles should also share in the blame.
An incredibly quirky and yet fascinating study was just published in the International Journal of Obesity which investigated the size of the food and plates that have been depicted in paintings of Jesus' Last Supper over the last 1000 years.
... Read more »
Wansink, B., & Wansink, C. (2010) The largest Last Supper: depictions of food portions and plate size increased over the millennium. International Journal of Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2010.37
- March 24, 2010
- 11:31 AM
- 295 views
Physical Activity Reduces the Risk fo Childhood Fat Gain
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Over the next few months, Peter and I will be re-posting some of our favourite posts from our Obesity Panacea archives. The following article was originally posted on December 2, 2009.
Image by Mike Baird.
There is a surprising amount of controversy about the ability of physical activity to prevent the development of obesity. Sure, obese individuals tend to perform less physical activity than their lean counterparts, but that doesn't prove causation. And almost every week it seems that there is a news story reporting that the obesity epidemic is caused by diet. Period. If you believe these articles, physical activity plays a minor role, if any role at all. Some have even (erroneously) suggested that physical activity increases the risk of weight gain (for a thorough debunking of a recent TIME article on this subject, click here).
One of the problems of trying to untangle the role of physical activity in the development of obesity is that most studies use indirect measures of physical activity, like self-report questionnaires. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of error when people are reporting a socially-desirable behaviour like physical activity, as they tend to err on the positive side. And questionnaires also often give several fixed options, for example "Are you normally active for 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes per day?". If you are active for 20 minutes per day, would you pick 15 or 30? Either way, it introduces a lot of error, which makes it very difficult to determine the specific role that your current physical activity levels play in the development of obesity down the road.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Riddoch, C., Leary, S., Ness, A., Blair, S., Deere, K., Mattocks, C., Griffiths, A., Davey Smith, G., & Tilling, K. (2009) Prospective associations between objective measures of physical activity and fat mass in 12-14 year old children: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). BMJ, 339(nov26 2). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b4544
- March 19, 2010
- 12:15 PM
- 331 views
Not enough, rather than too much fat, causes metabolic problems of obesity
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
That's right - contrary to what many religiously believe, it is the inability to grow more fat during times of energy surpluss, rather than the excess of fat which appears to directly contribute to the metabolic consequence often associated with obesity.
A recent article in the New Scientist shines some light on this issue;
Obesity kills, everyone knows that. But is it possible that we've been looking at the problem in the wrong way? It seems getting fatter may be part of your body's defense against the worst effects of unhealthy eating, rather than their direct cause.
While the article goes on to discuss some interesting new research, I feel the author misses an opportunity to really challenge the overwhelming dogma that too much fat, per se, is the cause of metabolic consequence of obesity. From my experience, it is much easier to get the point across by investigating the obvious anomalies or outliers to the often thought direct relationship between excess adiposity and disease.... Read more »
Bays, H., & Dujovne, C. (2006) Adiposopathy is a more rational treatment target for metabolic disease than obesity alone. Current Atherosclerosis Reports, 8(2), 144-156. DOI: 10.1007/s11883-006-0052-6
- March 17, 2010
- 12:05 PM
- 332 views
Painting lines on the playground - easiest physical activity intervention. EVER.
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
In most developed nations, kids get far less physical activity than they did just a few generations ago. Given the strong links between physical inactivity and health risk (and given that we're now seeing "adult" diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes in children and teenagers), this has become a very real public health concern. Unfortunately, when it comes to increasing childhood physical activity levels, people often want to reinvent the wheel. For example, many people are enthralled with the Nintendo Wii as a means of increasing childhood physical activity - even though it is expensive, and the evidence supporting it is weak at best. At the same time, evidence continues to accumulate in support of simple, inexpensive interventions for increasing childhood physical activity. Today I'd like to briefly look at one of the simplest possible ways of increasing childhood physical activity levels - painting lines on a schoolyard playground.... Read more »
STRATTON, G., & MULLAN, E. (2005) The effect of multicolor playground markings on children's physical activity level during recess. Preventive Medicine, 41(5-6), 828-833. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2005.07.009
- March 15, 2010
- 12:42 PM
- 329 views
Is Weight Loss Associated with Increased Risk of Early Mortality?
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
The current recommendations from major health organizations stipulate that if an individual has a BMI in the obese range (30 kg/m2), they should be counseled to lose at least 5-10% of their body weight. This advice appears to make some sense given that increasing body weight is generally associated with heightened risk of various diseases, and that reduction of body weight usually improves levels of risk factors for disease (e.g blood pressure, triglycerides, etc). However, the literature has been much more complicated in terms of the effect of weight loss on risk of early mortality.
Adding to that literature is a recent study by Ingram and Mussolino published ahead of print last week in The International Journal of Obesity. In essence this recent study showed that weight loss of 15% or more was associated with an increased risk of death from all causes among overweight men and among overweight and obese women. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...... Read more »
Ingram, D., & Mussolino, M. (2010) Weight loss from maximum body weight and mortality: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Linked Mortality File. International Journal of Obesity. DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2010.41
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