Obesity

Obese patients have a significantly higher risk of complications following surgery, including heart attack, wound infection, nerve injury and urinary tract infection.

Researchers surveyed more than 1200 families to find out if parents had concerns about their children's weight and if they took any preventative action to avoid obesity in their children.

A supplement some people turn to in hopes of losing a few pounds may have some previously unknown, unsavory side effects, suggest two new studies.

A very high proportion of children who are having surgery are overweight or obese, and because of the excess weight have a greater chance of experiencing problems associated with the surgery, according to a new study.

Obesity surgeries for patients between the ages of 55 and 64 in the United States soared from 772 procedures in 1998 to 15,086 surgeries in 2004—a nearly 2,000 percent increase. The report also found a 726 percent increase in surgeries among patients age 18 to 54.

Obesity or being overweight is seen as the most important health issue for U.S. children, according to a new poll.

Video game makers seem to be addressing concerns about how playing affects children. But too much gaming still puts children more at-risk for behavioral and health problems, health experts say.

Preliminary findings suggest that eating less protein may help protect against certain cancers that are not directly associated with obesity.

Fifty-four million Americans - that's one in six of us -- have pre-diabetes and most don't even realize it. Mark Schutta, MD, medical director of the Penn Rodebaugh Diabetes Center, is urging at-risk patients to be proactive and ask your doctor to give you a simple blood test for pre-diabetes - to arm yourself with information before the damage is done.

The finding of growing girth is significant because abdominal obesity has emerged as a better predictor of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk than the more commonly used Body Mass Index.

A new drug billed as a magic bullet for obesity does help people lose weight, although not that much weight, and also helps lower cardiac risk factors, according to a review of studies.

Three new studies demonstrated that transoral endoscopic surgical techniques, entering the abdomen through oral cavities such as the nose and mouth, can be successful in human patients.

When interpreting prostate cancer screening test results, physicians should consider the impact of a patient's body mass index, regardless of race.

The concept of whetting the appetite by serving hors d'oeuvres before a meal may have a solid scientific basis, according to a new report.

A drug designed to target a powerful hunger-stimulating factor that has long been considered a prime target for antiobesity therapy failed to produce clinically meaningful weight loss in obese people in a long-term clinical trial.

Leptin, a hormone critical for normal food intake and metabolism, exerts a strong effect on appetite by acting in the mid-brain region as well as in the hypothalamus.