Mothers who follow five healthy habits may reduce risk of obesity in children.

Mothers who follow five healthy habits may reduce risk of obesity in children. Children and adolescents whose mothers follow five healthy habits which are eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, keeping a healthy body weight, drinking alcohol in moderation, and not smoking . These are 75% less likely to become obese when compared with children of mothers who did not follow any such habits, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. When both mother and child adhered to these habits, the risk of obesity was 82% lower compared with mother and children who did not. One in five children in the U.S aged 6-19 have obesity, putting them at risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other metabolic conditions later in life. While it is known that genetics play a role in obesity, the rapid increase of the disease in recent years is likely due to changes in lifestyle and diet, indicating that "nurture" more than "nature" is fueling the current obesity epidemic.

LABRADOR RETRIEVER AND OBESITY GENE..

A new University of Cambridge study shows that Chubby labrador retrievers may be genetically predisposed to obesity. This research has been published in the journal Cell Metabolism,the dog – which is the most popular breed in the UK – is often considered to be "obsessed with food", say the researchers,this could be explained by the gene. 310 pet and assistance Labradors were weighed, assessed, and given a "body condition score". The team also "searched for variants of obesity-related genes" and assessed food-motivation via a diary kept by dog owners. The research found that one particular gene – POMC – was associated with obesity in the Labradors, with around one in four Labradors thought to carry the gene. It affects how the brain regulates and recognizes the feeling of hunger – meaning the dogs may carry on eating when they're full. "This is a common genetic variant in Labradors and has a significant effect on those dogs that carry it, so it is likely that this helps explain why Labradors are more prone to being overweight in comparison to other breeds," said Eleanor Raffman, lead author of the research. "People who live with Labradors often say they are obsessed by food, and that would fit with what we know about this genetic change." The team says the research may also have an impact on our understanding of human obesity. "Common genetic variants affecting the POMC gene are associated with human body weight and there are even some rare obese people who lack a very similar part of the POMC gene to the one that is missing in the dogs. So further research in these obese Labradors may not only help the well being of companion animals but also have important lessons for human health," said Stephen O'Rahilly, who also worked on the research. Obesity in dogs can cause diabetes, heart disease, cancer and a reduced lifespan as also observed in man. culled from wired.co.uk

FELINE OBESITY.

Obesity is a big problem in cats — literally. So many cats are overweight or obese . The difference between overweight and obese: Overweight cats are 10 to 29 percent over ideal weight while obese cats are 30 percent or more over ideal weight.) More than half of our feline friends — nearly 58 percent — could stand to shed a few pounds. That’s not something to take lightly. Its not easy to put your cat on a diet and exercise plan, especially if he lives a sedentary indoor life. And the answer isn’t to let him roam outdoors — unless you have a safely enclosed area for him. But you can work with your veterinarian to develop a feline weight-loss program designed to improve your cat’s health and activity level. And that will leave both of you purring.Any diet starts with decreasing the number of calories your cat takes in and increasing the number of calories he burns through activity Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/got-a-fat-feline-how-to-help-your-cat-shed-those-extra-pounds.html#ixzz45vQ5GChB

CANINE OBESITY.

A morbidly obese Texas dachshund once dubbed “Fat Vincent” because his belly was so large it hit the ground when he walked, has found its way out of animal shelter care by dropping half its body weight, on track to become healthy enough for a new owner. The 7-year-old canine with a love for fast food weighed a whopping 38 pounds (17.24 kg) with a body mass index of over 60 percent body fat in September when he was surrendered to a Houston animal shelter after his elderly owner died, according to his foster mother. His ideal healthy weight is around 16 pounds. "Besides terribly high cholesterol and BMI, Vincent’s back sloped downward in the middle and our vet was fearful that one false move would cause his back to break", said Melissa Anderson with K-9 Angels Rescue in Houston. Now dubbed “Skinny Vinnie,” the dog weighs 17.5 pounds due to a healthier diet, swimming with a life jacket in a pool and long walks, Anderson said, adding his fast food craving comes to life every time she goes to a drive-through window of a national coffee house chain. “He hops over to the driver’s seat, sticks his head out the window and waits for the order,” Anderson said. “He is always disappointed when the coffee arrives, but he never gives up hope.” Read more at http://newsdaily.com/2016/04/morbidly-plump-texas-wiener-dog-loses-weight-and-fat-vincent-name/#mOYyI01KU0YXi8sC.99

DIET-INDUCED OBESITY AND DIABETES CAN BE INHERITED.

Yes!! a new research has shown that you are what your parents ate.Scientists have shown that diet-induced obesity and diabetes can be epigenetically inherited by the offspring through both the eggs and the sperm. The studies by the team of the Institute of Experimental Genetics (IEG) used mice that had become obese and had developed type 2 diabetes due to a high-fat diet. Their offspring were obtained solely through in vitro fertilization (IVF) from isolated oocytes and sperm, so that changes in the offspring could only be passed on through these cells. The offspring were carried and born by healthy surrogate mothers. This enabled the researchers to rule out additional factors such as the behavior of the parents and influences of the mother during pregnancy and lactation. The results showed that both eggs and sperm passed on epigenetic information, which particularly in the female offspring led to severe obesity. In the male offspring, by contrast, the blood glucose level was more affected than in the female siblings. The data also show that,like in humans the maternal contribution to the change in metabolism in the offspring is greater than the paternal contribution. This kind of epigenetic inheritance of a metabolic disorder due to an unhealthy diet could be another major cause for the dramatic global increase in the prevalence of diabetes .The increase in diabetic patients observed throughout the world can hardly be explained by mutations in the genes themselves (DNA) because the increase has been rapid. Epigenetic inheritance as opposed to genetic inheritance is in principle reversible, new possibilities to influence the development of obesity and diabetes arise from these observations, according to the scientists. Charles Darwin stated that characteristics and traits that parents acquire during their lifetime through interaction with the environment could be passed on to their offspring referred to as epigenetics. Epigenetics refers to the inheritance of traits that are not determined in the primary sequence of the DNA (the genes) and RNA transcripts and chemical modifications of the chromatin (e.g. on the DNA or the histones) have been considered as carriers of this epigenetic information. This study shows is important because it proves for the first time that an acquired metabolic disorder can be passed on epigenetically to the offspring through eggs and sperm as Darwin stated.

Using Nutrition to Manage Obesity

Using Nutrition to Manage Obesity