The actions of a hormone that controls maturation of fat cells may help identify how high-fat diets, stress, and some steroid medications cause obesity.

Is what you eat associated with better function and respiratory function for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) soon after diagnosis?

By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – The increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and eventually dying from the disease, begins early in life and at weights in the “normal” range, a new study suggests. Researchers followed the fates of millions of Israeli teenagers weighed at age 17, and found a steady increase in the likelihood of death from diabetes-related causes up to age 70 that was tied to heavier weights in the teen years. “This study provides further evidence for the urgent need for firm public health actions to overcome the childhood obesity epidemic, as its devastating impact on human health is currently underestimated,” said coauthor Hagai Levine of Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Jerusalem.

A new study has found that adults who had childhood cancer are likely to have poor nutrition, which could increase the risk of chronic disease.

By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – For overweight and obese older men and women, adding calorie restriction to a resistance training schedule improves at least some metabolic markers, according to a new study. Although resistance training alone seemed to have no effect on so-called metabolic syndrome – a group of markers linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease – the exercise is still important for maintaining bone and muscle in older people, researchers say. “The results are not really surprising as it is challenging to improve the cardiometabolic profile with resistance training only,” said lead author Eve Normandin of Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

When the painkillers stop working, arthritic joint damage in the big toe can make even the weight of a bedsheet agonizing. Cartiva Inc’s implant – made of the same substance used in contact lenses, called hydrogel – was approved for big-toe surgeries by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in July. It is designed to mimic natural cartilage and can achieve the same pain relief as surgery while retaining joint-mobility.

In a study of 81 overweight and obese women with type 2 diabetes who usually consumed diet beverages and were on a weight loss program, those who substituted water for diet beverages after their…

By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) – Tapping into the Twitter stream could help researchers understand how healthy people’s lifestyles are and how to target improved public health, according to a recent study. Using geotagged tweets, researchers at the Universities of Utah and Washington were able to build a map of the U.S. by neighborhood, with indicators of how happy and active people in that neighborhood are and what their diets are like. “Overall I think the patterns make sense, more fast food restaurants in the area are correlated with more fast food mentions, but I was surprised that coffee was so highly ranked,” said lead author Quynh C. Nguyen of the University of Utah College of Health in Salt Lake City.

The Daily Meal report on how, just like the body, our hair also benefits from a proper diet. They suggest that certain foods can boost hair health.