Recent studies completed by Floriana S. Luppino, M.D., of the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands have provided valuable evidence of the correlation between Obesity and Clinical depression with American subjects being more conclusive than our European cousins. The association between these two conditions was significant with adults more so then children. The next correlation between these two conditions is that developing one of these conditions, will more than likely lead to the secondary condition becoming prevalent.



Now, more than ever it is time to instill in our children healthy habits from a balanced diet right through to regular exercise that they can take into adult life. Not only will this aid their bodily growth and the regulation of their weight, recent studies have found the linkage between fit and healthy children and an increase in self confidence and an increase their academic results. This is the only preventative outside of radical expensive medical and pharmaceutical treatments for these conditions. This may be your children’s only chance to enable them to lead a healthy, normal and active life throughout adulthood.

Below are more detailed articles from the news around this topic

Study Explores Links Between Obesity and Depression

Meta-analysis confirms that obesity increases risk of depression and vice versa

People who are obese are at increased risk of developing depression and, conversely, depressed people are at increased risk of developing obesity, according to a meta-analysis published in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Floriana S. Luppino, M.D., of the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues reviewed the medical literature up to March 2008 on overweight (body mass index 25 to 29.99) and obesity (body mass index ≥30) and their links to depression. The reviewers screened 2,937 articles, reviewed 80, and performed meta-analyses on 15 studies covering 58,745 subjects.

The reviewers found that baseline overweight and obesity both increased the risk of onset of depression at follow-up (odds ratios, 1.27 and 1.55, respectively). This association between obesity and depression was stronger among American than European subjects and for depressive disorder as opposed to depressive symptoms. The association between overweight and depression was significant for adults (20 to 59 and ≥60 years of age) but not for subjects under 20 years of age. Conversely, depression increased the risk for developing obesity (odds ratio, 1.58) but was not predictive of overweight. Read More…

Obesity and depression are a two-way street

Obesity, Luppino and colleagues found, increases the risk of depression in initially non-depressed individuals by 55 percent and depression increases the risk of obesity in initially normal-weight individuals by 58 percent.

Luppino said the analysis was not designed to determine a given person's risk of depression, only to figure out how much obesity increased that risk. However, for comparison, a recent study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health found that nearly one out of four cases of obesity is associated with a mood or anxiety disorder.

These findings, the NIMH notes on its website, appear to support what other studies have found - that obesity, which is on the increase in the US - is associated with increasing rates of depression and other mental health problems.

The new findings stem from pooled data from 15 published studies that looked at whether being overweight or obese is associated with depression, and vice versa. Read More…

Which Comes First, Obesity or Depression?

People who are obese are often diagnosed with clinical depression, but which comes first - the increased weight gain or the depression symptoms? Researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands have found that it is actually a two way street and each condition influences the other.

………. Those who are depressed can become overweight or obese when they neglect their health due to a feeling of hopelessness. Some turn to food for comfort and can increase their caloric intake beyond their needs. Although exercise can actually relieve depressive symptoms, many depressed patients avoid working out.

Biologically, both obesity and depression are associated with an inflammatory state. Depression can also affect weight by interfering with the endocrine system. Some common antidepressants are also known to increase the risk of weight gain. Read More…

With all of the dieting noise around at the moment around low Carb and Low Fat diets a lot of information has been dispensed about the benefits of these diets. But which one is better for you to lose weight? Researchers have now taken up these questions of which diet provides the better results. The answers are discussed in detail below. However what the researchers didn’t analyze is the combination of the Low carb or Low fat diet with regular exercise. I’m sure that the results would have evened out if this had been taken into account. Don’t get me wrong diet is important for managing weight with eating less produced and more natural foods and grains, however in the absence of a regular exercise program to burn those excess pounds your body then are the benefits sustainable? Maybe that will be included in the next study.



Low-Fat Diet Tops Low-Carb in Long Run

A low-carb diet may offer quick results, but a new study suggests that a low-fat diet may be best for long-term weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.

Researchers found obese people who followed a low-fat diet may be more likely to keep the weight off three years later after starting the diet than those who followed a low-carbohydrate diet.

"Although participants in the low-carbohydrate group lost more weight at 12 months, they regained more weight during the next 24 months," write researcher Marion L. Vetter, MD, RD of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues in the Annals of Internal Medicine. "In contrast, participants in the low-fat group maintained their weight loss."

In the study, researchers started with a group of 132 obese people who weighed an average of 289 pounds before starting either a low-fat diet, a calorie- restricted diet with less than 30% of daily calories from fat, or a low-carb diet with fewer than 30 grams of fat per day for 12 months.

After six months on the diets, the group on the low-carb diet experienced the greatest weight loss, but by 12 months there was no significant difference in weight loss between the two groups. Read More…

Low-fat, Mediterranean and low-carb diets 'help heart'

Three diets - Mediterranean, low-fat and low-carbohydrate - are equally effective in helping reverse blocked arteries, say Israeli researchers.

The study of 140 people, reported in the journal Circulation, found diet could reduce the fatty build up in arteries.

The Ben-Gurion University team found that by the end of the two-year study, the arterial wall had been cut by 5%.

Experts said the study was interesting, but diet was not a "magic bullet".

Atherosclerosis is a progressive condition in which the arteries thicken with fatty deposits, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Read More…

Low-Fat Diet Better Than Low-Carb Diet in Long Run

Diet has been given the status of a four-letter word, but in truth is simply defines what you eat. As it turns out, the balance of what you eat – your diet – is important. A new study suggests that for in the long run a low-fat diet is better than a low-carb diet for maintaining a health weight.

Marion L. Vetter, MD, RD and colleagues have published their findings in the March 2 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Low-carb dieters lost weight quicker, but were more likely to regain it. Low-fat dieters were more likely to maintain their weight loss.

The researchers conducted a randomized, controlled trial of 132 obese patients (mean BMI of 43, mean weight of 288 pounds) who were then placed on either a low-carbohydrate diet or a calorie-restricted, low-fat diet. About 39 percent had diabetes and 43 percent had metabolic syndrome.

The low-carbohydrate diet was defined as less than 30 gm/day of carbohydrates with no calorie restriction (similar to the Atkins diet). The calorie-restricted, low-fat diet was defined as a deficit of 500 kcal/day with less than 30% kcal from fat. Read More…

The Final Result

The researchers found people in the low-carb diet group weighed an average of 4.9 pounds less than before they started dieting while those in the low-fat diet group weighed an average of 9.5 pounds less than they did at the start of the study. "The differences in weight regain between the two groups probably reflects initial weight loss," write the researchers. "Participants who lost more weight during the first 12 months tended to regain more weight by month 36." These results would have been greater with a more liner weight loss or decrease in weight with a regular exercise program

With all of the dieting noise around at the moment around low Carb and Low Fat di...

We all are creatures of habit. Most of our faults or bad habits have been bought ...