Slim Fast : Weight Management E-newsletter

Vol. 2, No 2, April 2007

Eat fast food, gain weight

People who eat fast food are more likely to put on weight, concludes a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (January 2007).

The study looked at 3,394 young adults taking part in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study.*

Researchers examined participants’ consumption of fast foods during year 7 and year 10 of the study with their BMIs at both time points. The more fast food the subjects ate, the higher the BMI. For each additional fast food meal eaten per week during year seven, BMI increased by 0.13 points. Each additional fast food meal per week at year 10 was linked to a 0.24 rise in BMI.

*From the Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina (KJD, PG-L, and BMP); the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (DRJ); the Department of Nutrition, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway (DRJ); and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Division of Preventive Medicine (ODW)

Source: Reuters Health (January 16, 2007)

Losing weight starts with breakfast
People who successfully lose and keep off weight eat breakfast. So concludes two studies in the Journal of The American Dietetic Association. Researchers analyzed data from a government-funded study that followed more than 2,000 young girls from ages 9 to 19. They found that those who ate breakfast infrequently had a 13% higher risk of being overweight than those who ate breakfast regularly.
Source: WebMD (January 27, 2007)


			Americans want public policies to prevent obesity Most Americans are open to public advocacy for public policy changes regarding obesity, according to a study in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The telephone survey of 1,239 adults found that 85% supported tax breaks for employers who made exercise space available to employees. Source: WebMD (January 27, 2007)

More states fighting obesity
The University of Baltimore Obesity Initiative’s third national assessment shows that states are improving their efforts in the battle against obesity. Six states – California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee – earned an “A” for their legislative and public-policy work in the past year to control obesity in children. Researchers say that efforts to stop this health care crisis are similar to those of the early era of the battle against smoking.
Source: Medical News Today (February 4, 2007)