HHS HealthBeat (January 11, 2012)

Even bigger

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Data on about 41,000 people indicate that the effects of risk factors for obesity seem to pile on when people are obese. Paul Williams of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found it in factors such as inactivity and poor food choices.

Having one or more risk factors accounted for added pounds among thinner people. But Williams says the same factors accounted for even more pounds among people who were obese:

``Appetite and body weight are tightly regulated. We think as one becomes more overweight, the tight regulation of body weight and appetite starts to fall apart, and weight becomes more susceptible to these risk factors.’’  (10 seconds)

Williams says the best solution is to not gain in the first place.

The study in the journal PLoS One was supported by the National Institutes of Health. 

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: January 11, 2012