Fathers-to-be ‘gain extra weight’

The average father-to-be gains a stone (6.35kg) during his partner’s pregnancy, a poll has suggested. A fifth of 5,000 men surveyed said they were given larger meals, and 41% said there were more snacks in the house. The poll, for marketing company Onepoll, also found 25% of men ate more food to make their partner feel better about her weight gain. Favourite ‘male pregnancy’ snacks include pizza, chocolate, crisps, and more inappropriately, beer. Full Story : BBC.com…..

Some French women, too thin, don’t see it that way: study

France has by far the highest proportion of clinically underweight women in Europe, but only half of them think they are too thin, according to a new study. In other European countries the opposite is true: the number of women in Britain, Spain and Portugal, for example, who see themselves as seriously skinny easily outstrips the number who actually are. Full Story : Physorg.com….

Vegetable juice may help People with metabolic syndrome lose weight

Drinking at least one glass of low sodium vegetable juice daily may help overweight people with metabolic syndrome achieve better weight loss results. A study, conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine and presented at this week’s Experimental Biology Meeting, found that participants who drank at least 8-ounces of low sodium vegetable juice as part of a calorie-controlled DASH diet lost four pounds over 12 weeks, while those who followed the same diet but drank no juice lost one pound. Full Story : Physorg.com…..

Birth Weight Can Predict Future Health

Boys born small develop poor health later in life, say scientists. But no such problem was seen in low birth weight girls. When they tested child’s response to stress, problem in vascular resistance was observed. Vascular resistance is a property of blood vessels which makes it harder for the blood to be pumped through. This can lead to blood pressure problems in adulthood. After going through public speaking and mental arithmetic test designed to make them nervous, and increase heart-rate, boys who born smaller were more likely to have higher vascular resistance than those born bigger.

Reason For Teenage Obesity

Dr. Catherine Berkey and colleagues from Harvard Medical School,  Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), surveyed more than 5000 girls, 14 - 21 years from all 50 states, and  their weekly habits were recorded. The researchers found that more Internet time, more alcohol consumption, and less sleep resulted in extra weight gain. Girls who consumed 2 or more alcoholic beverages a week or slept less than 6 hours at night gained more weight.  Girls who use Internet in addition to alcohol and sleep gain 4 extra pounds a year. Researchers are encouraging adolescent girls to replace recreational Internet time with more sleep, and avoid alcoholic beverage consumption to lose their weight.

Peer Pressure To Be Slim

Teenage girls identify themselves according to the peer groups that they belong to. A study done in University of Miami proved that girls’ own definition of normal body weight and their perception of what others consider normal body weight depend on the peer group that they are in.

Dangerous weight control behaviours such as excessive dieting and can lead to serious long-term health implications. Teen girls identifying with athletic peers are less concerned about their weight while girls identifying with non-conformist peers are more concerned about their weight and appearance. Latter group tends to practice dangerous weight losing techniques.