By Madeline Kennedy (Reuters Health) – During economic slumps, children’s risk of becoming overweight or obese may rise with the unemployment rates in their communities, according to a recent study of California school children. Researchers found that after the 2007 U.S. economic crash, children in areas where houses were being foreclosed tended to lose weight. “We often think about how recessions directly affect adults (e.g.

A study from France’s Inserm, Paris Descartes University and Sainte Anne Hospital suggests that anorexia nervosa may be linked to the pleasure of losing weight rather than the fear of gaining weight. To avoid being influenced by the subjective discourse of patients suffering from disease, the researchers used a “skin conductance test” to measure the rate of perspiration on their skin when exposed to various images. The emotion caused by seeing certain images leads to a rapid and automatic increase in perspiration, which can be measured objectively.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia could soon become the first major U.S. city with a sugary drinks tax after a city council committee voted Wednesday to approve an amended version of a soda tax proposal that would set a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary and diet drinks.

The US obesity epidemic has worsened across the board to include 40 percent of women, 35 percent of men and 17 percent of children and teens, studies released Tuesday found. Efforts to encourage Americans to lose weight have achieved precious little, the research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, one study examined data for 2,638 adult men and 2,817 women with average ages of 47 and 48, respectively.