COVID Reinfections Are Now Common. Will Getting a Booster Even Help?
Everyone in the United States knows someone -- often multiple someones -- who have been reinfected with COVID-19. Despite vaccines, boosters and natural immunity, the highly infectious Omicron variant appears capable of getting around whatever protection you might have gained against SARS-CoV-2.
Fat Around the Liver Raises Risk for Heart Failure
About 30% of adults around the world have a buildup of fat in the liver, a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Now an international team of researchers has linked that condition to a heightened risk of heart failure.
Obesity: Is the sight or smell of food enough to trigger inflammation in the brain?
Everyone is familiar with the sensation of the mouth watering in anticipation of food, but this is not the body’s only response. At the same time, the pancreas starts to release insulin, ready to deal with the influx of glucose into the blood. This neurally mediated or cephalic phase response has been recognized for some time, but the mechanisms involved were unclear. Now, a study from the University of Basel has shown that a short-term inflammatory response is responsible for this early insulin release.
Genetically at risk of stroke? A healthy lifestyle can help
Researchers investigated how cardiovascular health interacts with a high genetic risk for stroke. They found that optimal cardiovascular health reduces the lifetime risk of stroke among those with a high genetic risk.
More children aged 8–17 trying to lose weight than a decade ago, including children of a healthy weight
Over a quarter (26.5%) of children reported trying to lose weight between 2015 and 2016, a 5% increase over 1997 and 1998, finds new research from the University of Oxford. The largest increases in weight loss attempts were seen in boys, older children, Asian children, and children from lower income households, according to the study published today in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Type 2 diabetes: Could whey protein before meals help blood sugar?
A new study finds a simple way to help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar. Researchers observed that the participants who drank a shot of whey protein before their meals had evened out blood sugar levels after eating.
New weight-loss intervention targets instinctive desire to eat
People who are highly responsive to food lost more weight and, importantly, were more successful at keeping the pounds off using a new alternative weight-loss intervention that targets improving a person's response to internal hunger cues and their ability to resist food, reported a team led by University of California San Diego experts in the
Preoperative BMI and weight play a key role in bariatric surgery outcomes
New research being presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia Congress in Milan, Italy (4-6 June), suggests that preoperative body mass index (BMI) and weight play an important role in outcomes following bariatric (obesity) surgery.