Obesity News

September 16, 2025

Top Headlines

Being Too Thin Can Be Deadlier Than Being Overweight, Danish Study Reveals

Sep. 14, 2025 — New research from Denmark challenges long-held assumptions about body weight and health, revealing that being overweight—or even moderately obese—does not necessarily increase the risk of death compared to those at the upper end of the "normal" ...

One Number at Age 7 Could Predict How Long You Live

Sep. 7, 2025 — Children with higher blood pressure as young as age 7 face a sharply increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by their mid-50s, according to a massive decades-long study. Researchers found that even moderately elevated readings, not just ...

The Fat You Can’t See May Be Damaging Your Heart, Even If You Exercise

Sep. 6, 2025 — Hidden fat wrapped around organs, known as visceral fat, has now been linked to faster heart aging. Using AI and imaging from more than 21,000 people in the UK Biobank, scientists found that this invisible belly fat accelerates stiffening and ...

Scientists Reveal How Breakfast Timing May Predict How Long You Live

Sep. 4, 2025 — Meal timing shifts with age, and researchers found that eating breakfast later is tied to depression, fatigue, sleep problems, and an increased risk of death. Monitoring when meals are eaten could provide an easy health marker for aging ...

The Next Ozempic: A 4-in-1 Breakthrough for Lasting Weight Loss

Sep. 1, 2025 — Scientists are racing to improve weight loss treatments beyond drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, which are effective but plagued by nausea, bone loss, and weight regain. Tufts University chemists have created a new multi-target compound that goes ...

Losing Weight but Gaining Weakness? What Ozempic Might Be Doing to Your Muscles

Aug. 10, 2025 — Ozempic’s weight loss benefits might come at the cost of muscle strength, even if muscle size remains relatively stable. This raises significant concerns for older adults, who are already at risk ...

Can a Diet Really Ease Lipoedema? Sunniva’s Journey to Pain Relief and Weight Loss

Aug. 10, 2025 — Sunniva Kwapeng struggled with lipoedema, a painful condition causing disproportionate fat accumulation, until finally being diagnosed in her 40s. An NTNU study found that a low-carb diet helped ...

Scientists Discover Amino Acid Switch That Turns Fat Into a Calorie-burning Furnace

Aug. 8, 2025 — Cutting calories doesn’t just slim you down—it also reduces cysteine, an amino acid that flips fat cells from storage mode to fat-burning mode. Researchers found that lowering cysteine sparks the ...

This Diet Helped People Lose Twice as Much Weight, Without Eating Less

Aug. 5, 2025 — People eating minimally processed foods lost twice as much weight as those on ultra-processed diets, even though both diets were nutritionally balanced and participants could eat freely. This real-world, long-term study revealed that food processing ...

Fat Melts Away, but so Does Muscle: What Ozempic Users Need to Know

July 31, 2025 — GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are transforming weight loss, but a new UVA study warns they're not improving a critical measure of health: cardiorespiratory fitness. While these medications help people shed fat, they also strip away vital muscle mass ...

People with Eating Disorders Say Cannabis and Psychedelics Help More Than Antidepressants

July 24, 2025 — A massive global survey has revealed that people with eating disorders often turn to cannabis and psychedelics like magic mushrooms and LSD to ease their symptoms, rating them more effective than ...

Study Finds Tummy-tuck Patients Still Shedding Pounds Five Years Later

July 7, 2025 — Patients who undergo tummy tuck surgery may be in for more than just cosmetic changes — a new study shows they often keep losing weight for years after the procedure. Researchers followed 188 patients and found consistent weight reduction up to ...

Latest Headlines

updated 7:51am EDT

Fitness Trackers Are Failing Millions — This Fix Could Change Everything

June 20, 2025 — Fitness trackers often fail people with obesity by underestimating their energy burn, leading to discouraging results and misguided health data. A scientist's frustrating experience in an exercise ...

Self-Esteem Skyrockets 131% After Weight-Loss Surgery, Study Reveals

June 20, 2025 — Self-esteem scores jumped a remarkable 131% within just one year of bariatric surgery, according to a large study presented at ASMBS 2025. Tracking nearly 5,800 patients, researchers found a direct ...

Brain Food Fight: Rutgers Maps the Hidden Switch That Turns Cravings on and Off

June 14, 2025 — Rutgers scientists have uncovered a tug-of-war inside the brain between hunger and satiety, revealing two newly mapped neural circuits that battle ...

The Hunger Switch in Your Nose: How Smells Tell Your Brain to Stop Eating

June 12, 2025 — A team of scientists has discovered a direct link between the smell of food and feelings of fullness at least in lean mice. This brain circuit, located in the medial septum and triggered by food ...

Beyond Ozempic: New Weight Loss Drug Rivals Surgery

June 12, 2025 — Tufts University scientists are aiming to revolutionize the future of weight loss drugs by engineering a new compound that targets four gut hormones instead of the usual one to three. These next-gen ...

Scientists Found the Brain Glitch That Makes You Think You’re Still Hungry

June 11, 2025 — A team of scientists has identified specialized neurons in the brain that store "meal memories" detailed recollections of when and what we eat. These ...

Why Your Diet Might Be Making You Sad--Especially If You're a Man

June 7, 2025 — New research reveals a surprising downside to calorie-cutting diets: a link to higher levels of depressive symptoms, especially in men and those who are overweight. Despite popular beliefs that ...

Newly Identified Group of Nerve Cells in the Brain Regulates Bodyweight

May 30, 2025 — Obesity is a global health problem that affects many people. In recent years, very promising anti-obesity drugs have been developed. Despite these successes, there are patients who do not respond to ...

Looking to Cut Calories? Try Adding Chilies, Study Suggests

May 22, 2025 — Throwing a little heat on your meal might be an effective strategy for cutting back on calories, according to a new ...

Early Puberty Increases Risk of Overweight Later in Life for Girls

May 21, 2025 — Unique Danish longitudinal study with over 136,000 measurements reveals the connection between pubertal development and weight throughout ...

99 Trials Later, Fasting Ties Traditional Diets in Weight-Loss Showdown

June 19, 2025 — Intermittent fasting might not be a miracle solution, but it stands shoulder to shoulder with traditional calorie-cutting when it comes to shedding pounds and improving metabolic health. A major new ...

Eating Craved Foods With Meals Lessens Cravings, Boosts Weight Loss

May 20, 2025 — Cravings may not be your enemy after all. A study from the University of Illinois found that dieters who allowed themselves dessert in moderation not only lost more weight but also kept cravings in ...

A Healthy Diet in Childhood Is Linked to Starting Menstrual Periods Later, Regardless of BMI or Height

May 6, 2025 — Eating a healthy diet as a child is linked to girls having their first menstrual period at an older age than those who consumed a less healthy diet, according to a new study. The findings remained ...

United States Sees Disproportionate Increase in Body Mass Index Rates of More Than 60

Apr. 28, 2025 — In the past 20 years, the average rate of obesity among adults in the United States has risen by approximately 30 percent, but the rate of those with the most severe forms of obesity, or those with a ...

Early Mutations and Risk Factors for Stomach Cancer, and Develops a Pre-Cancer Model for Stomach Cancer Prevention

Apr. 16, 2025 — Researchers have made significant advancements in understanding the earliest stages of stomach cancer, a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, through two recent innovative studies. With ...

Carb Restriction Offers Relief from Calorie Counting

Apr. 8, 2025 — Forget starving yourself with intermittent fasting — new research shows you may get the same health perks simply by cutting carbs. Scientists at the University of Surrey found that lowering ...

Parents' Metabolic Traits Can Affect the Child's Health Over Time

Apr. 8, 2025 — Research shows that the biological parents' genes affect the child's insulin function and capacity to regulate blood sugar levels and blood lipids in different ways. Such knowledge may be ...

Research Highlights Urgent Need for National Strategy to Combat Rising Eating Disorders

Mar. 27, 2025 — Over a million people in the UK are living with eating disorders, yet England still has no national strategy to address the crisis. Researchers are urging urgent action, warning that inconsistent ...

How Time-Restricted Eating Affects Weight Loss

Mar. 26, 2025 — Eating within an eight-hour window while exercising may help burn more fat while preserving muscle, according to new research from the University of Mississippi. Though the benefits were modest, the ...

Neurons in Brain That Regulate Energy Levels and Body Temperature

Mar. 26, 2025 — Scientists have gained greater clarity in the brain regions and neurons that control metabolism, body temperature and energy use. A team of researchers discovered which chemicals influence the ...

Scientists Discover Why Obesity Takes Away the Pleasure of Eating

Mar. 26, 2025 — Why do some people lose the joy of eating, even when surrounded by irresistible foods? UC Berkeley researchers have uncovered a surprising brain mechanism that explains this paradox. They found that ...

Slowing Down to Eat Less: Towards Simple Strategies for Obesity Prevention

Mar. 25, 2025 — Obesity prevention strategies often focus on diet, but eating behaviors also play a key role. In a recent study, researchers from Japan investigated factors influencing meal duration, including sex ...

Biologists Discover Ancient Neurohormone That Controls Appetite

Mar. 24, 2025 — Biologists have discovered that bombesin, a neurohormone controlling appetite in humans, also regulates feeding in starfish, revealing its ancient evolutionary origin dating back over 500 million ...

Earliest Stages and Possible New Cause of Stomach Cancer Revealed

Mar. 19, 2025 — Scientists have systematically analyzed somatic mutations in stomach lining tissue to unpick mutational processes, some of which can lead to cancer. The team also uncovered hints of a potential new ...

Maternal Depression Can Lead to Children's Emotional Overeating, Study Shows

Mar. 17, 2025 — Up to 25% of new mothers suffer from postpartum depression, which can significantly impact their parenting behavior and the wellbeing of their children. A new study looks at long-term effects of ...

Depressing Findings for Those Suffering from Eating Disorders

Mar. 13, 2025 — New research shows that people with eating disorders are more harshly judged than those suffering from depression, making it much harder for them to seek ...

An Easy-to-Apply Gel Prevents Abdominal Adhesions in Animals

Mar. 12, 2025 — Up to 90% of abdominal surgeries result in adhesions -- abnormal scarring that ties together organs and tissues. A gel has now been shown to prevented adhesions in mice and ...

Two-Thirds of Children Classified BMI-Overweight Had Normal Fat Estimated With Waist-to-Height Ratio

Mar. 12, 2025 — Body mass index (BMI) was almost three times more likely to classify children as overweight than waist circumference-to-height ratio, according to a new ...

Memory Is Impaired in Aged Rats After 3 Days of High-Fat Eating

Mar. 6, 2025 — Just a few days of eating a diet high in saturated fat could be enough to cause memory problems and related brain inflammation in older adults, a new study in rats ...

Scientists Identify Genes That Make Humans and Labradors More Likely to Become Obese

Mar. 6, 2025 — Researchers have discovered genes linked to obesity in both Labradors and humans. They say the effects can be over-ridden with a strict diet and exercise ...