“I lost 90 pounds with the Lap-Band!,” read the billboards. Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? But there are serious risks with the weight-loss surgery promoted by these ads.
Experts want kids to exercise at least 60 minutes every day, but among all children, black girls are most likely to report they got no physical activity in the past week.
As obesity among young people continues to rise, a growing number of clinicians say that weight-loss surgery may be their best chance to take off significant weight. But although health plans frequently cover bariatric surgery in adults, coverage for patients under age 18 is spotty.
After 20 years of U.S. residency, rates of hypertension, diabetes and obesity rise sharply for Hispanic immigrants.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study suggests that, in postmenopausal women at least, dietary weight loss alone is effective while exercise alone is not effective — but both together are best of all.
The weights of young people in the U.S. remained fairly steady over the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s — but then they began to put on pounds.
The percentage of adults in Washington state who are obese has more than doubled over the past two decades from 10 percent to more than 26 percent — and two-thirds, 62 percent, are either obese or overweight.
Why don’t physicians provide counseling to obese patients? — lack of financial incentives, lack of adequate training in weight management and counseling and language barriers.
Fewer than half of primary care physicians for adults talk to their patients about diet, exercise and weight management consistently.
The researchers found that 31.9 percent of babies at nine months and 34.3 percent at two years of age were either at obese or at risk for obesity.
One in three middle and high school students in King County is overweight or obese. Sugar-loaded sodas are making the epidemic worse
Obesity has become an epidemic, hurting people’s health and costing as much as $147 billion each year in the United States. What can you do?
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Seattle Times Health News
Experts divided over recommendation to screen children for cholesterol
Some clinicians say universal screening is an important tool to help identify children who are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and to pinpoint others who could benefit from treatment. Others express concerns that screening may do more harm than good.
People in state high-risk insurance plans often feel left behind
The federal health law set up new plans that are cheaper and more comprehensive than the older ones run by states but consumers need to go without insurance for six months to qualify.
Peeking in on your doctor’s notes
Although federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, providers haven’t always made it easy to do so. But the movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam, and policymakers have encouraged it as a way to empower patients to help manage their health and their medical care.
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