Weight Loss and Nutrition News

Psychologists call for replacing sexualized images of girls in media and advertising with positive ones.

WASHINGTON, DC—A report of the American Psychological Association (APA) released today found evidence that the proliferation of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising, and media is harmful to girls’ self-image and healthy development.

To complete the report, the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls studied published research on the content and effects of virtually every form of media, including television, music videos, music lyrics, magazines, movies, video games and the Internet.  They also examined recent advertising campaigns and merchandising of products aimed toward girls.

The number of obese people in Sweden has doubled in the past 25 years, with one in 10 Swedes now considered largely overweight, a Statistics Sweden study showed.

Obesity is now as common among women as men, according to the report, which was published on Tuesday and studied Swedes' weight from 1980 until 2005.

The problem has increased most among young women, non-labour workers and rural residents, though Swedes across all social groups registered weight gains during the period.

Obesity, blamed on changes in diet and lifedtyles, has long been a problem in the United States and is on the rise in many European countries. In France, nine percent of people are considered obese, compared to 12 percent in Germany and 23 percent in Britain.

Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse

Obese couples have a more difficult time conceiving a baby than couples of normal weight, according to a study published on Tuesday identifying another consequence of putting on too much weight.

Researchers tracked nearly 48,000 Danish couples between 1996 and 2002, including about 7,600 couples with both the man and woman either overweight or obese according to standards set by the World Health Organization.

They measured how long it took couples to conceive a baby once they began unprotected sex in a bid to have a child.

Weight loss surgery--more specifically referred to as bariatric surgery and gastric bypass surgery --has been the big buzz word in treating morbidly obese adults for several years now. But can it help--or would it harm--severely overweight teens?

Although one of these popular procedures, gastric banding -- or “lap banding,” as it is commonly known-- has been an accepted practice in controlling weight in obese adults since 2001, the Food and Drug Administration has been reluctant to approve it for the treatment of childhood obesity.