Obesity research gets weightier
Findings are filling out the story behind the fat
By Nathan Seppa
2012 SCIENCE NEWS TOP 25: 18
As obesity expands the world’s collective waistline, researchers keep finding new reasons why we are getting fatter, and more consequences of the added pounds.
In 2012, scientists found that hormones such as oxytocin and testosterone seem to help protect against gaining weight, or at least against a runaway appetite (SN Online: 6/26/12; SN: 7/28/12, p. 11). Other work offered counterintuitive results, finding that diet soda might not help much (SN: 7/14/12, p. 14), and that worries about junk food access in schools may be overrated (SN: 2/25/12, p. 9).
It’s a mishmash, but this much is clear: More than one-third of people in the United States are already obese, and another third are overweight. In one generation, obesity has gone from a medical and social issue to a public health disaster.
Obesity contributes to atherosclerosis, metabolic problems and other chronic diseases. “If you can tone all that down, you’ll probably be better off, and losing weight is a good way to do it,” says biochemist Russell Tracy of the University of Vermont.