Sedentary jobs, helping the obesity epidemic Drive

 as Americans sit - literally - in more sedentary jobs, they're packing on the pounds, and it is this inertia which is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic, new research suggests.

Look at the computer for hours rather than hoeing the fields means that us are 120 to 140 burning less calories per day than they were 50 years ago.

Therefore promote any type of physical activity should be more important in this war the weight, according to a study in the Edition online may 25 in the journal PLoS ONE.

"It is calories in and calories out, and we're more calories in that we take, said Dr. Robert Graham, a primary care physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York."

Led an inclination towards calories in two-thirds of American adults are now overweight or obese.

Although dietary habits and exercise have been studied to the obesity epidemic, these researchers, from Biomedical Research Centre Pennington in Baton Rouge, Louisiana), stated that a large part of the responsibility for the extra weight was put on the caloric intake.

This is because the amount of recreational physical activity has not really changed over the years.

But what physical requirements of work, where so many people spend most of their days?

These researchers cross-referenced U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on the prevalence of different jobs with a large national database which includes information on body weight.

Fifty years ago, about half of private-industry jobs involved United States a kind of physical activity, things such as agriculture, mining, construction and manufacturing. Today, this number is less than 20%, with the dominance of jobs in the retail, education and business sale.

The authors estimate that less than 100 calories out each day would lead to weight gain in what the U.S. population has seen since the 1960s.

However, if Americans were following federal guidelines for physical activity (150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise or 75 minutes of more vigorous activity), these additional calories would have been levelled.

Only one in four Americans made the recommended exercise level, the authors reported.

"We need to encourage physical activity most, particularly given that us sit more during the day that we has 100 years," says Keri Gans, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association and the author of the diet of Small Change.

"The requirements of daily life are in competition with exercise," said Graham. "We have just in time for it to do."

Gans recommends that people move to work even if they have what amounts to an employment office. That could take the stairs when you can walk on the counter of a co-travailleur when you can and taking a walk at lunch. And if your company happens to have a gym or exercise program, by all means, you will participate.

Study sees the link between Psoriasis, obesity in children

the prevalence of psoriasis - a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin - is significantly higher in overweight children and obésités, researchers found.

The study of Kaiser Permanente, published online in the journal of Pediatrics, also found that adolescents with psoriasis (regardless of their body weight) have higher cholesterol, putting them at greater risk for heart disease.

"This study suggests a link between obesity and psoriasis in children," lead author of the study Corinna Koebnick, researcher, Department of research & evaluation of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said in a press release of Kaiser Permanente.

"But our findings also suggest that the increased risk of heart disease in patients with psoriasis begins in childhood in the form of higher levels of cholesterol." "We might need to monitor the young patients of psoriasis more closely to cardiovascular risk factors, especially if they are obese,", Koebnick said.

With the aid of electronic health records to study 710,949 children various racial and ethnic, researchers have discovered the obese children were almost 40 per cent more likely to have psoriasis that children of normal weight. Even more at risk, extremely obese children were almost 80 per cent more likely to have psoriasis that children of normal weight. In addition, it was four times more likely to psoriasis to be severe or more widespread among the young obese and normal weight children.

The study also revealed that, compared to children without psoriasis, teen with the State of the skin had 4 to 16 per cent of the higher levels of cholesterol and liver enzymes, regardless of their weight.

Psoriasis, often seen simply as a condition of the heaviness of the skin, may put children at risk of metabolic disease (like diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease), as in adults, the study authors noted.

"It has been well described that adults with psoriasis have increased cardiovascular risk factors, but now, we examined these issues in children," the study's main author, Dr. Jashin j. Wu, Director of clinical research and residency program associate and Director of the Department of Dermatology at the Medical Centre of Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles, said in the press release.

"As follow us these patients over 30 to 40 years, we will be able to determine if these increased cardiovascular risk factors increase in turn the risk for major adverse cardiac events," said Wu.

The researchers acknowledged that the study had limitations due to its transversal design, where body weight and information on psoriasis were assessed at the same time and stated that these issues would be met in future studies.

McDonald shareholders reject the proposal of obesity

OAK BROOK, Illinois  - Corp. McDonalds spurned calls to assess the impact of food on obesity and said that its trademark clown Ronald McDonald would be peddling Happy Meals for children for the years to come.

"It's choice and we believe in the democratic process," Chief Executive Jim Skinner told a packed auditorium meeting of its shareholders, to an enthusiastic wave of applause. "It is on the personal and individual right to choose."

The largest chain of fast food of the resounding world shareholders rejected a proposal that would have required to publish a report describing its role in the epidemic of childhood obesity, saying customers were free to make their own food choices.

Ronald McDonald is an Ambassador McDonald and is an Ambassador for good. Ronald McDonald is going nowhere, "Skinner said firmly, which prompted most cheers with shareholders."

Among the dissidents at the meeting was Dr. Donald Zeigler, Director of prevention and the health of living to the American Medical Association, who asked when the burger chain will stop marketing to children with Ronald McDonald.

Zeigler, who is also visiting professor at the University of Rush Medical Center, was one of the 550 health care professionals who signed an open letter to the McDonalds plead that he "stop take sick next generation."

Tuesday, a monitoring group placed ads in newspapers across the country claim McDonald is to stop marketing to children across the clown, gift toy and other tactics.

Some 17 per cent of children and adolescents are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Excess weight in childhood raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and a host of other diseases.

McDonald has been a lightning rod for criticism over the years on its marketing tactics and sales of Happy Meals for children that include toys as incentives.

McDonalds allows parents to share of milk or juice of soda in its Happy Meals. It also offers slices of apples with sauce caramel and chicken nuggets and alternatives to the French fries and burgers.

The restaurant chain said healthier options on its menu, including salads and oatmeal, but critics argue, that it is still too fat, salt and sugar in his meal. Even the oatmeal, one critic noted, contains about as much sugar as a Snickers candy bar.

Skinner has defended the strategy of McDonald, which resulted in hefty sales and earnings for shareholders. Shares of McDonald won almost 12% in the last four months and agrees with a record of $82.63 Thursday.

But, as noted by the experts, obese children often grow obese adults, overloading the system of health care.

Ironically, Miles White, Chairman and CEO of diversified health Abbott Laboratories company, is a Director of the Board of Directors since 2009 McDonald.

Abbott made a wide range of drugs, including cholesterol-lowering statins, and medical devices, such as heart stents used on patients with clogged arteries.

Scientists are "master switch" genes for obesity

London - scientists have found that a gene linked to diabetes and cholesterol is a "master switch" which should help controls other genes found in fat in the body and say in the search for treatments for obesity-related diseases.

In a study published in the journal Nature Genetics, the British researchers said that, because fat plays an important role in the susceptibility of people to metabolic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, the regulator gene may be target for drugs to treat these diseases.

"This is the first major study that shows how small changes in a single master regulator gene can cause a cascade of other metabolic effects in other genes," said Tim Spector of College London of the King, who led the study.

More than half a billion people, or of 1 in 10 adults worldwide are obese and the numbers have doubled since the 1980s as the obesity epidemic overflowed rich in poor countries.

In the United States, obesity-related diseases already represent about 10% of medical expenses--147 billion more per year.

Type 2 diabetes, which is often linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, is reaching epidemic levels in the world as the rate of increase of obesity.

Scientists have already identified a gene called KLF14 as being related to 2 levels of cholesterol and diabetes type, but until now, they knew what role he played.

Spector team analyzed more than 20,000 genes in fat samples under the British 800 volunteers female twin skin. They found a link between the KLF14 gene and the levels of many other genes in adipose tissue, showing that KLF14 acts as a master switch to control these genes.

Then, they confirmed their conclusions 600 fat samples of a distinct group of people in the Iceland.

In a report of their study, the researchers explained that other genes were to be controlled by KLF14 are linked to a range of metabolic traits, including body mass index, obesity, cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels.

"KLF14 appears to act as a general switch, control processes that connect changes in the behaviour of subcutaneous fat of disturbances in the muscles and the liver that contribute to diabetes and other conditions," said Mark McCarthy, of the University of Oxford of Britainwho also worked on the study.

"We are working hard... to understand these processes and how we use this information to improve the treatment of these conditions."

Fever during pregnancy, diabetes and obesity may raise risk of autism

have the flu during pregnancy not associated with a risk of autism or delay of development in children, although having a fever during pregnancy can be.

And delivery by caesarean section is not associated with autism in the progeny, but having diabetes or high blood pressure or being obese, while speakers seem to be.

Those are the results of several new studies that sought to discover what factors during pregnancy can affect the risk of autism in children. The research was presented Wednesday at a press conference at the international meeting for autism (IMFAR) in San Diego research.

About one in 110 U.S. children have an autism spectrum disorder, a condition of neurological development characterized by problems of language, communication and social functioning, as well as repetitive or restrictive behaviour. Many children with autism have also other conditions including epilepsy, anxiety disorders and gastrointestinal disorders.

Recent research has found that the diagnosis of autism is increasing, some of which may be due to greater awareness and increased availability of services for autism, said experts. Still other research suggests that the actual incidence of autism is also rising.

"Autism is a disorder of incredibly complex that now affects about 1% of the children," said the President IMFAR David Amaral.

The cause of autism is unknown, although some research, including the papers presented at IMFAR, referring to maternal factors which could contribute to a child to develop the disease.

In the first study, researchers examined data from research on 1,000 children taking part to the risk of autism from childhood focused on population genetics and the study of the environment (support), 462 included with a spectrum autism disorder136 with other development disorders and 265 typically developing children between 2 and 5. The researchers also examined the reports of the mother of flu or fever during pregnancy.

Researchers found no link between autism and other development and delay the flu in a trimester of pregnancy.

But in a weighted analysis, mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder were almost twice as likely to report having a fever during pregnancy than mothers of children without autism, co-author of the study Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Deputy Director of the University of Californie.Davis MIND Institute (medical investigation of neurological development).

The risks were particularly high when mothers reported having had a fever during the 2nd quarter.

Prior research has suggested an association between viral infections during pregnancy and autism. Yet researchers believe the mother inflammatory response to the virus, rather than any particular virus itself, influence the development of the brain of the child.

"These results add to a growing number of evidence that inflammation maternally mediated by could be part of the mechanistic pathway leading to Autism", said Hertz-Picciotto.

However, the researchers noted that the findings were preliminary and that the association did not reach statistical significance in an analysis where they did not apply the sampling weights.

Along the same vein, another study to be presented at the meeting by researchers at the Denmark analyzed amniotic fluid collected samples of pregnant women in Copenhagen since 1982. Later, some children from women were diagnosed with autism.

The study found no difference in hospitalization for infections during pregnancy, but they found that mothers of autistic children were more likely to have high level of some inflammatory markers — in particular, a cytokine called TNFa. For reasons not well understood, inflammatory markers were particularly high among mothers of girls with autism.

"Overall, the results of our study not only to support the idea that immune dysfunction plays a role in autism, but also confirm that this happens effectively before birth,"wrote the authors."."

In a third study, mothers who were with diabetes (Type 2 and gestational), which also draws data from the study of the charge, researchers have studied chronic hypertension and obesity before pregnancy.

The study found that children of mothers with these conditions were much more likely to have autism or other developmental delays.

"For mothers with at least one of the three conditions, their children were at risk increased by 60% of autism and delays in development, there was a risk of 150 per cent have increased," Hertz-Picciotto said.

Researchers have also noted that the children of diabetic mothers has also tended to have more poor expressive language skills whether children had autism.

A fourth study, which looked at caesarean section and autism, also used data on approximately 500 children with autism and 300 without autism of the study of the charge.

The study found no link between autism and the delivery method.

However, having a profile in c of emergency after a difficult birth - including prolonged labour, rupture of the membranes or infection of the amniotic cavity - was related to an increased risk of autism in the offspring.

But when the researchers controlled for other factors, such as the age of the mother, pre-eclampsia and diabetes, which are associated with increased risk of autism, the mode of delivery was more statistically significant.

The good news is that many of the factors described in the three studies are "updateable," which means that if they are confirmed to be the Autism risk factors, it would be possible to modify their, Hertz-Picciotto said.

"We would like to able to intervene and potentially avoid autism in the future," she said.

They note that research presented at meetings has not been submitted to the same type of scrutiny given to research published in medical journals and should be regarded as provisional.

Canadian Inuit not immune to the risk of obesity

WINNIPEG, Manitoba- the evolution of climate and a more stable lifestyle have removed any protection of the Canada Inuit once may have had diabetes, according to a report published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Researchers have long believed that the Inuit, the indigenous peoples of the northern regions of the Canada, Alaska and Greenland, have been largely immune to obesity health risks, because cases of diabetes were rare.

But the newspaper article, written by researchers at two Canadian universities, concluded that the Inuit in the Canadian North had diabetes at similar levels to the rest of the Canadian population.

"Stories (that) the Inuit are protected against diabetes go way back in time and especially the 1970s," said lead author Grace Egeland, McGill University in Montreal, in an interview with the Norway.

"With Westernization and rapid changes in the Arctic, we see that they fundamentally the same risk as Canadian generals."

The melting of polar ice has made it more difficult for the Inuit to hunt for food over long distances. At the same time, they are more and more to settle in permanent communities and taking less active, paying jobs, Egeland said.

The passage of a lifestyle based on hunting caused many Inuit move from a traditional diet heavy on fish or caribou to store-bought food, rich in fats and sugars, and the increased consumption of alcoholEgeland said.

These lifestyle changes add the circumference of the size of a person and increased levels of a type of fat called triglycerides, which are markers of diabetes.

"The changes have been deep enough at several levels," said Egeland.

Type 2 diabetes, the main type of disease, occurs when the body is not actually use or produce enough insulin, a hormone that controls the amount of glucose in the blood.

Researchers at McGill and the University of Toronto used data from a study of 2007-2008 of nearly $ 2 600 Inuit of the Canada.

Their work found that 1.9% of those under the age of 50 had diabetes while 12.2 per cent of people 50 years and plu had the disease. These rates are similar, but slightly lower than the rest of the Canadian population.

The article reported that 35% of the Inuit were obese, in line with the rest of the population.

The report focused on the Inuit of Canada, but rates of diabetes among the Inuit in Alaska and Greenland are also increasing, Egeland said.

A worsening of health in the North because of obesity is likely to drive the costs of health care, Egeland added, with most of the Inuit living far from major cities of the Canada.

Rising obesity rates add to the woes of arthritis in the United States. (HealthDay)

the rate of increase in obesity among the 50 million Americans with arthritis are of concern because excess weight is associated with problems increased for arthritis patients, according to a new study.

Among the people with arthritis, obesity is associated with the progression of the disease, reduced activity, disability, lower quality of life, Arthroplasty, total and poor results after the replacement of joints.

The study, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States researchers analyzed data from 2003 to 2009 behavioral risk factors Surveillance System and found that the prevalence of obesity in adults with arthritis was 54 per cent higher than in adults without arthritis.

During this period, the prevalence of obesity among American adults with arthritis was significantly increased in 14 States and Puerto Rico, has decreased in the District of Columbia, and remained the same elsewhere.

In 2009, the number of States in which more than 30 percent of adults with arthritis were obese increased 38 (including D.C.) in 2003 to 48. The number of States, which more than 40 percent of adults with arthritis were obese increased from zero in 2005 to seven in 2007 and 12 in 2009, investigators found.

The prevalence of obesity median State in adults with arthritis rose from 33.2% in 2003 to 35.2% in 2009. In 2003, the prevalence ranged from 40.1% in Ohio to 25.1% in Colorado. In 2009, the prevalence varied from 43.5% in Louisiana to 26.9% in Colorado.

The results highlight the urgent need to develop programs to prevent obesity in patients with arthritis and promote treatment and management of the disease, researchers said.

The study appears in the number of April 29 of morbidity and mortality Weekly Report, published by the CDC.

The United States, about 50 million adults have arthritis and approximately 72.5 million adults are obese. Estimated annual medical expenses are 128 billion for arthritis and 147 billion for obesity.

In the "war against obesity," skeptics warn stigma (AP)

The images are striking: Overweight boys and girls staring somberly from billboards and online videos, real-life embodiments of the blunt messages alongside.

"Chubby kids may not outlive their parents," for example. Or: "Big bones didn't make me this way. Big meals did."

The ads — part of a new "Stop Child Obesity" campaign in Georgia — won some enthusiastic praise for their attention-grabbing tactics. But they also have outraged parents, activists and academics who feel the result is more stigma for an already beleaguered and bullied group of children.

"Billboards depicting fat kids are extraordinarily harmful to the very kids they are supposedly trying to help," said the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, which called for the billboards' removal.

The Georgia Children's Health Alliance, which created the ads, said they were necessary to jar parents of obese kids out of a state of denial that their children had a problem.

The furor reflects a broader nationwide phenomenon as states, cities and the White House itself — led by first lady Michelle Obama — expand efforts to curb obesity. For all the public support of these efforts, there's also a vocal and passionate corps of skeptics and critics worried that widespread discrimination toward the overweight and obese will only increase.

"Stigma is not an effective motivator," said Rebecca Puhl, a Yale University psychologist who is a leading expert on weight discrimination. "Whether children or adults, if they are teased or stigmatized, they're much more likely to engage in unhealthy eating and avoidance of physical activity."

Research by Puhl and her colleagues at Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity suggests that weight discrimination is pervasive — at schools, in the workplace, in the media, among health care providers. Yet efforts to combat it frequently founder: Only one state, Michigan, outlaws weight discrimination, and the anti-bullying policies proliferating in schools often lack specific content related to teasing of overweight children.

The spotlight on obesity intensified last year when Michelle Obama unveiled her national public awareness campaign, "Let's Move." Its goal, she said, was to eliminate childhood obesity within a generation by helping parents make better food choices, serving healthier food in schools, and encouraging children to exercise more.

Many aspects of "Let's Move" won near-universal praise. But activists in the fat-acceptance movement and experts who espouse a "health at every size" approach were upset that the campaign encouraged the monitoring of children's body mass index, or BMI, and thus might contribute to stigmatization of heavier kids.

"The idea of a BMI report card is horrible," said Paul Ernsberger a professor in the nutrition department at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine in Cleveland.

"To declare we're going to eliminate childhood obesity — that's actually a very stigmatizing thing to say," Ernsberger said. "The overweight child hears that and thinks, `They wish I wasn't here.'"

Linda Bacon, a nutrition professor at City College of San Francisco, is the author of "Health At Every Size" — a manifesto for a movement stressing a healthy lifestyle rather than weight control. She said the focus by "Let's Move" on BMI was of dubious medical value and posed potential problems for kids at all weight levels.

"It's done much more damage than good," Bacon said. "The larger kids feel bad about themselves, and the thinner kids feel it doesn't matter whether they exercise or eat well."

Deb Lemire, president of the Association for Size Diversity and Health, credited Michelle Obama with good intentions and commended various nutrition-related aspects of "Let's Move." But she said the emphasis on weight risked worsening the problems of teasing and bullying.

"The message that gets to the kids is, `There really is something wrong with me,'" said Lemire, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. "We're saying we love you, we want you to have wonderful lives and be successful, but right now you're just not good enough."

The first lady's press office declined to respond in detail to the criticism, but defended "Let's Move."

"There will always be critics, but our approach is comprehensive, nurturing and working, with success already seen across the country," the office said in an e-mail.

There's no question that "Let's Move" has broad, high-powered backing, from groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. Its supporters note that one in three American children are overweight or obese, putting them at higher risk of serious health problems while billions of dollars are spent yearly treating obesity-related conditions.

Dr. Sandra Hassink, who chairs the pediatrics academy's obesity work group, said she witnesses the toll of weight-based bullying on a daily basis at her clinic at the A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del.

However, she defended the use of BMI as a screening mechanism.

"We know that elevated BMI places you at elevated risk of health problems," she said. "It's a screening tool to start a conversation with a child and family about health behavior that will reduce that risk."

Weight loss doesn't necessarily need to be the overriding goal in every case, she suggested, but it can be a vital part of countering diabetes, liver disease, sleep apnea and other obesity-related problems.

Critics of "Let's Move" say it could have struck a more positive tone about the diversity of body sizes and the possibility of being both large and healthy simultaneously.

"Regardless of her intentions, the first lady is making things worse," said San Francisco attorney Sondra Solovay, who teaches and writes about weight-based discrimination.

"I invite her to talk to fat adults who have experienced the hatred and discrimination firsthand," Solovay said, "and ask them how this program would have impacted them as kids."

Several local and state anti-obesity initiatives also have drawn fire from weight-discrimination watchdogs — notably Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's recent proposal to levy a $50 fee on state Medicaid recipients who are obese and don't follow a doctor-supervised slimming regimen.

"This proposal does nothing to improve public health, and only perpetuates further stigma toward thousands of individuals whose quality of life is already reduced because of prejudice," Puhl wrote in her blog on Medscape.com.

One form of such prejudice is harassment at school. Peggy Howell, spokeswoman for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, protested when members of Congress recently introduced a bill that addressed bullying based on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion, but made no mention of body size.

"Why are weight and height missing?" Howell asked. "Multiple studies indicate that fat children are the group being most bullied."

Puhl says too little attention is paid to such bullying.

"Youth who are obese cannot conceal their weight — their stigma is very visible," she said. "And yet their voices are not being heard. They are so vulnerable to victimization, with such devastating consequences."

Indeed, weight-related bullying is being cited by family members as a possible factor in the decision of two 14-year-old Minnesota girls to commit suicide together on April 16.

Puhl, who has studied weight discrimination for more than a decade, was lead author of a 2007 study of overweight children that concluded their quality of life, due to stigmatization by peers, was comparable to that of people with cancer.

She also has examined how obese people are portrayed in ads, news reports, movies and TV shows. Too often, says Puhl, they are depicted in needlessly negative ways — slouching on a sofa, eating junk food.

"We need to be sure we are fighting obesity, not obese people," she says.

Among other initiatives, the Rudd Center has compiled a gallery of photographs portraying obese individuals "in ways that are positive and non-stereotypical" — strolling outdoors, shopping for fresh produce.

Puhl says her research indicates Americans would support legislation to prohibit weight discrimination, particularly in the workplace. Yet only Michigan and a handful of cities, including San Francisco and Santa Cruz, Calif., have such laws in place.

There's been little serious discussion in Congress or most legislatures about following Michigan's example by outlawing weight discrimination at the federal or state level. A bill introduced several times in Massachusetts has failed to advance; a similar proposal died in Nevada's legislature this year after employers objected.

Michigan's law, enacted in 1976, has resulted in only a handful of weight-related complaints each year, according to Michigan State University human resources professor Mark Roehling. He says many overweight workers may be hesitant to pursue legal remedies even if they do feel discriminated against.

One of the few high-profile lawsuits in Michigan involves two former waitresses who claim Hooters fired them in 2009 because they weren't sufficiently slim. Hooters officials say the state law shouldn't apply because the appearance of their waitresses was a legitimate concern. The case remains unresolved.

Meanwhile, fat-acceptance activists continue to struggle against what they perceive as bias — on matters such as airline seating and seatbelt standards that don't account for extra-large people.

Marilyn Wann, San Francisco-based author of the book "FAT!SO?," says she's proud to call herself fat, and objects to the terms "overweight" and "obese."

She became an activist partly because she was unable to buy affordable health insurance, and is grateful that the Obama-backed health care overhaul now enables her to get coverage. But she wishes the White House would do more to counter weight bias.

"I had a painful childhood, and it would be worse now because weight stigma has increased," she said. "It would be amazing if federal government took a stand against weight discrimination."

Hassink, the Delaware pediatrician, said obesity and weight discrimination should both be combatted firmly and compassionately.

"The environment is pretty tough for people struggling with their weight," Hassink said. "But we need to have the conversation. We're all in this together."

Multiple pregnancies can high risk of obesity, diabetes: animal study (HealthDay)

 multiple pregnancies can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and the build-up of plaque in arteries, suggests new research in mice.

Scientists from the University of Cincinnati and colleagues studied the mouse towards the end of gestation in both their first or fourth pregnancy. Those of their fourth pregnancy had severe glucose intolerance and adipose tissue excess, while those in their first pregnancy had no glucose intolerance and had less fat.

In addition, the adipose tissue of mice in their fourth pregnancy had significantly increased in several chemicals that cause inflammation called cytokines and accumulation of white blood cells called macrophages inflammation.

Cytokine changes repeated during pregnancy can cause residual inflammation that affects heart health, according to the study of.

If such changes occur also in humans, women who have multiple pregnancies can be at an increased risk of accumulation of plaque in arteries, obesity and diabetes, the researchers concluded.

The study was to be presented Friday to the American Heart Association arteriosclerosis, thrombosis and vascular biology 2011 scientific sessions in Chicago.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be considered preliminary until published in a refereed journal.

Low levels of vitamin d linked to obesity in children (HealthDay)

a vitamin d deficiency is common among American children and related to obesity and the different types of fat distribution in young whites and blacks, shows new research.

Vitamin d is found in some foods, but humans synthesize most of the nutrients that they need the action of the Sun on exposed skin. Supplements may also stimulate vitamin d levels.

In the study, researchers checked the levels of vitamin d in 237 obese healthy and non-obese black and white children, aged 8 to 18 years. They found that most of them were deficient in vitamin d. low levels of vitamin d are associated with the index higher body mass and levels of fat and lower levels of HDL "good" (HDL) cholesterol.

Among those who have a vitamin D deficiency, white children were more likely to have higher levels of fat between their internal organs (visceral), while black children was more likely to have high levels of fat just under the skin (adipose subcutaneous)investigators found.

The study is published in the may issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & metabolism.

"Vitamin d deficiency is endemic in American youth, and it is suggested that low levels of vitamin d plays a role in increasing rates of type 2 diabetes adults." It is possible that may even be true for young people with diabetes type, of the University of Pittsburgh 2, lead author Dr. Silva Arslanian, said in a press release of the endocrine society.

"More therapeutic interventions to correct the high levels of vitamin d deficiency among youth, benefits of vitamin d optimization on fat, lipid profile [blood lipids] levels and the risk of diabetes type 2 must be explored""Arslanian added."