Hot MedFax

So we're not getting quite as fat.  But more of us are dying from it. That's the consensus of a new report , according to Alexandra Sifferlin. "Obesity is more deadly than previously thought, but a nationwide survey shows that after rising for decades, rates have not increased for the first time in 30 years," she writes at time.com. Only one state showed an increase in obesity rates, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report said, and that was Arkansas. All other states, while still having plenty of obese residents, stayed stable.  Not surprisingly (hey, they have the best food), the South had quite a few states with high obesity rates, as did some in the Midwest, and Pennsylvania (hmm, what's in the water THERE?). Mississippi also handed over its crown for the state with the highest adult obesity rate to Louisiana, 34.7% of adults weighing in with a body mass index (BMI) above 30, Sifferlin reports. Colorado is the thinnest state, with Connecticut not ...

You're not going to believe this.  After all my posts about obesity, especially in kids, a new report came out today that it's actually going down. According to Lydia DePillis at The Washington Post, "Obesity rates are leveling off and even dropping, in a sign that the public health crisis of the moment may have eased." Reductions in childhood obesity were seen in New York and Philadelphia, two of the cities where it hit hardest, perhaps because of the numbers of poor who live near fast food restaurants, who, other studies have shown, tend to be heavier, most likely because of the proximity (and low prices). But Mississippi beats them both, achieving an impressive drop from 43.9% of children being obese and overweight in 2005 to 40.9% in 2011, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as referenced by DePillis.  That may not sound like much but we're talking 90,000 kids. DePillis also noted in her story that "an April 2013 analysis showed tha...

It used to be the hour between feeding and bed was the "witching" hour for babies. But a new study has found that it can be just as harmful for kids and teens, only, with them, it starts earlier in the day. According to a story by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public School, which ran the study, 60% of parents said their kids ate or drank something unhealthy that could lead to weight gain in the period between getting home from school and sleep. Another trend that could result in weight gain? Only one-half of the families surveyed said they ate dinner together six or seven nights out of the week. And it's not just eating that gets out of hand, but the lack of exercise most kids are getting these days after school and on weekends, Richard Knox and Patti Neighmond write.  Added together, they add up to a mountain of calories each year that may lead to heart disease, stroke, even cancer in your children's later years. Overall, it...