Diet & Weight Loss Archive

Strengthening your core muscles can also help.

You may worry about your heart or diabetes if you're packing on a few extra pounds. But a new study finds that extra weight also contributes to disc degeneration in your spine, particularly in the lumbar region.

In the study, published in Arthritis & Rheumatism, researchers studied more than 2,500 adults and found that disc degeneration tended to be more common, more severe, and more extensive among overweight or obese participants.

Now there are more comfortable ways to correct the disordered breathing that disrupts your slumber.

There's good news for anyone with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). For one, more people can undergo sleep testing at home, making diagnosis more comfortable and convenient. On the treatment side, there are additional choices besides continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which many people use inconsistently despite doctors' warnings. Finally, although excess body weight plays a central role in OSA, it also means you can kick apnea for good with lifestyle change.

If you start an exercise program, it only seems fair that you should see your hard work reflected in lower numbers on the scale. If it isn’t, don’t despair—or quit exercising. You are still helping your heart, lungs, and every other part of your body. A study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology looked at the effects of exercise and/or weight loss on cardiovascular health among more than 3,000 men and women who were initially overweight. As I write in the July issue of the Harvard Health Letter, those who exercised consistently and lost weight had the biggest reduction in heart attack risk over six years of follow-up. Exercising without losing weight and losing weight without exercising offered smaller benefits. Although exercise and weight don’t always move in the same direction, they are both important for health.

Here are some ways to increase your calorie awareness and lay the foundation for successful weight loss.

Is it possible to "trick" your body into losing weight by consuming either very low or very high amounts of protein, thus interfering with normal calorie metabolism? Some diet gurus would have you think so. But if it sounds too good to be true, as the old saying goes, maybe it is. According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (see box below), it is the number of calories consumed that determines the amount of body fat gained or lost—regardless of whether you choose a high- or low-protein diet.

The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new drug, lorcaserin (Lorqess), for weight loss in people who are so heavy that it poses a risk to their heart—those with a body mass index of 30 and higher, or 27 and higher with a major risk factor, such as high blood pressure or diabetes. Lorcaserin is the third weight-loss medication available to people who cannot lose enough weight with diet and exercise alone (see page 4 of last June 2011 Harvard Heart Letter).

Lorcaserin reduces appetite by increasing serotonin levels in the brain. It is in the same class of medications as dexfenfluramine (Redux) and fenfluramine (Fen-Phen), which were taken off the market after reports of heart-valve damage surfaced. Sibutramine (Meridia) was withdrawn after it was connected with heart attacks and strokes in people with cardiovascular disease. None of these problems have yet been seen in clinical trials of lorcaserin.

For people who are obese, the operation known as gastric bypass surgery has been hailed as something of a miracle. In addition to rapid weight loss, it can reverse diabetes and reduce the risk of heart disease. A new study reveals potential darker side—an increase in alcohol abuse. In a presentation at yesterday’s annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, researchers reported that almost 11% of nearly 2,000 men and women who underwent gastric bypass surgery (the most common type of obesity surgery) got in trouble with drinking by the second year after surgery. About 7% drank too much before the operation, representing a 50% increase. This finding shouldn’t steer people who could benefit from gastric bypass surgery away from the procedure. But it should prompt them—and their doctors—to be on the lookout for changes in alcohol use or abuse afterward.

Exercise makes cells burn extra energy—that’s one way it helps control weight. It also generates a newly discovered hormone, called irisin, that transforms energy-storing white fat cells into energy-burning brown fat cells. Irisin also appears to help prevent or overcome cellular changes that lead to type 2 diabetes. The hormone does this by helping transform energy-storing white fat cells into energy-burning brown fat cells. White adipose tissue, more commonly known as body fat, is the tissue that dimples thighs, enlarges waists and derrieres, and pads internal organs. Each white fat cell stores a large droplet of fat. Brown fat, in comparison, is chock full of energy-burning mitochondria. Its main function is to generate body heat by burning fat. A team led by Dr. Bruce Spiegelman, professor of cell biology and medicine at Harvard Medical School, has identified irisin in mice and humans and showed how irisin transforms white fat cells into brown ones, at least in mice.

Harvard researchers discover a hormone released by exercise.

When you're taking a brisk walk on a beautiful day, what are you thinking about? The sun, the breeze, how good it feels to loosen up the stiff parts. The last thing you're thinking about as you pick up the pace is what's happening to your body chemistry.

When you exercise, your body chemistry changes in ways that we only now are coming to understand. Over the past 20 years, scientists have identified natural molecules in all of us that influence our appetite and our metabolism—and, hence, our weight. Now, researchers at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere are identifying the molecules that not only affect our weight, but also cause other health benefits of exercise.

New data shows substantial benefit in eliminating or reducing consumption of red meat and substituting healthier proteins.

Red meat: in addition to raising the risk for colorectal cancer and other health problems, it can actually shorten your life. That's the clear message of the latest research based on data from two ongoing, decades-long Harvard School of Public Health studies of nurses and other health professionals. It appears "healthy meat consumption" has become an oxymoron.

No weight-loss approach works for every heart patient.

If you have tried different diets and are diligent about exercise, but those extra pounds won't budge, you may not have found the right approach or combination of approaches for you.