Obesity
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Health-related quality of life and weight loss among overweight and obese U.S. adults, 2001 to 2002.
To examine the prevalence and association of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) with trying to lose weight and with weight loss practices (eating fewer calories, physical activity, and both) among overweight and obese U.S. adults >/= 20 years of age. ⋯ Our findings indicate an association between trying to lose weight and a greater number of unhealthy days reported by obese men, suggesting that these men may be influenced by traditional clinical weight-loss counseling that is prompted by weight and comorbidity, whereas women had a high prevalence of trying to lose weight irrespective of weight and HRQOL. Assessment of HRQOL, especially measures that evaluate physical domains, could provide subjective information to assist with weight counseling.
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Obese patients without clinically apparent heart disease may have a high output state and elevated total and central blood volumes. Central circulatory congestion should result in elevated pulmonary diffusing capacity (DLCO) and capillary blood volume (Vc) reflecting pulmonary capillary recruitment; however, the effect on membrane diffusion (Dm) is uncertain. We examined DLCO and its partition into Vc and Dm in 13 severely obese subjects (BMI = 51 +/- 14 kg/m2) without manifest cardiopulmonary disease before and after surgically induced weight loss. ⋯ Severely obese subjects without manifest cardiopulmonary disease may have increased Vc indicating central circulatory congestion and reduced Dm suggesting associated alveolar capillary leak, despite normal DLCO. Reversibility with weight loss is in accord with reversibility of the hemodynamic abnormalities of obesity.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Intensive weight loss program improves physical function in older obese adults with knee osteoarthritis.
Physical function and body composition in older obese adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA) were examined after intensive weight loss. ⋯ An intensive weight loss intervention incorporating energy deficit diet and exercise training improves physical function in older obese adults with knee OA. Greater improvements in function were observed in those with the most weight loss.
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Comparative Study
Neural mechanisms underlying hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome.
Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a genetic disorder associated with developmental delay, obesity, and obsessive behavior related to food consumption. The most striking symptom of PWS is hyperphagia; as such, PWS may provide important insights into factors leading to overeating and obesity in the general population. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the neural mechanisms underlying responses to visual food stimuli, before and after eating, in individuals with PWS and a healthy weight control (HWC) group. ⋯ Results point to distinct neural mechanisms associated with hyperphagia in PWS. After eating a meal, the PWS group showed hyperfunction in limbic and paralimbic regions that drive eating behavior (e.g., the amygdala) and in regions that suppress food intake (e.g., the medial PFC).
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Case Reports
Fat and energy partitioning: longitudinal observations in leptin-treated adults homozygous for a Lep mutation.
Partitioning of body energy content in the aleptinemic ob/ob mouse differs from that in wild-type mice, but it is not known whether parallel differences exist between humans with leptin (Lep) gene mutations and healthy adults. The objective of this study was to evaluate body composition in three leptin-treated Turkish adults homozygous for a missense mutation (C-->T substitution at codon 105 resulting in Arg-->Trp) of Lep. ⋯ Adult women with Lep mutations had body composition similar to normal women at baseline and with leptin treatment. In contrast, the man with a Lep mutation had high body fat in the untreated state but a normal male phenotype with leptin administration, possibly secondary to androgenic fat partitioning effects. Fat and energy partitioning can, thus, be quantitatively assessed and linked with potential hormonal mechanisms in humans with inherited disturbances in energy regulation.