But it is important to note that worrying about being overweight is rarely useful. Dale Atrens, a reader emeritus in psychobiology at the University of Sydney, has made an extensive study of scientific literature in this area. He says, "The injunction to lose a little weight is probably the most common medical prescription. It is given to untold millions each day through both official and unofficial channels. Globally, the weight loss industry is approaching a trillion-dollar turnover. This is astonishing in light of the fact that there is no systematic evidence that any of the weight loss schemes (except surgery) have any more than transient effects."

The next time someone, even a health minister, tries to make you feel guilty about carrying a few extra kilos, just say no.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/dont-fa...7568262871.html

OBESITY may be hard-wired into the brain from birth, according to a new animal study that appears to bolster the notion that some people are more prone to pile on the pounds than others.
The study showed that obese rats had faulty brain wiring that impaired their response to the hunger-suppressing hormone leptin.

In obesity-prone rats, "it seems that appetite and obesity are built into the brain," said Sebastien Bouret, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

"The neurodevelopmental differences in these animals can be seen as early as the first week.

The findings also fly in the face of the one-size-fits-all approach that characterises much of the discussion about weight management and weight loss in the media, said Mr Simerly, who is director of the neuroscience program at the Saban Research Institute at the University of Southern California.

"The message in the media that weight regulation is all a matter of nutrition or lifestyle choices does a disservice to people whose biology predisposes them to obesity," he said.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

A study of more than 5,000 pairs of twins has found that a child's risk of becoming overweight is mostly down to nature, not nurture. The research into children aged between eight and 11 showed that the variation in a child's body mass index and waist circumference was 77% attributable to genes and 23% to the environment in which they grow up.

Overweight children are more likely to become overweight or obese adults, a condition that can contribute to ill health and increased cancer risk in later life. The results are published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"This study shows that it is wrong to place all the blame for a child's excessive weight gain on the parents; it is more likely to be due to the child's genetic susceptibility," said Jane Wardle of University College London.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/feb...research.health