Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity
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Obesity is associated with multiple negative health consequences and current weight management guidelines recommend all obese persons to lose weight. However, recent evidence suggests that not all obese persons are negatively affected by their weight and that weight loss does not necessarily always improve health. The purpose of this review is not to trivialize the significant health risks associated with obesity, but to discuss subpopulations of obese people who are not adversely affected, or may even benefit from higher adiposity, and in who weight loss per se may not always be the most appropriate recommendation. More specifically, this review will take a devil's advocate position when discussing the consequences of obesity and weight loss for adults with established cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, weight cyclers, metabolically healthy obese adults, youth, older adults and obese individuals who are highly fit.
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Exposure to physical and policy environments that limit availability, affordability and appeal of healthy eating and active living options is higher for U. S. blacks than whites. This may contribute to high risk of obesity in black communities and limit effectiveness of preventive interventions. ⋯ Only 33 study groupings (~8%) included ≥ 50% black Americans or reported subgroup analyses. Of 10 evaluation studies for interventions rated as effective for all populations in the primary review, 8 suggested effectiveness of child-focused interventions in school or child care settings for obesity- or physical activity-related outcomes in black Americans. Overall findings highlight the need for rigorous evaluations of interventions that reach black children in community or institutional settings, and conceptual frameworks and research designs geared to identifying ethnic or ethnicity-income group differences in intervention effects.
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Review
Symposium report: the prevention of obesity and NCDs: challenges and opportunities for governments.
This paper is written as a briefing document with the aim of providing support to policy-makers and government officials tackling obesity and related non-communicable diseases. It is based on a symposium Obesity and non-communicable diseases: Learning from international experiences convened by the International Association for the Study of Obesity (now the World Obesity Federation) and its policy section, the International Obesity TaskForce (now World Obesity - Policy and Prevention). The symposium discussed a wide range of proposals to tackle the consumption of unhealthy food products, including interventions in the market through fiscal policies and marketing restrictions, measures to strengthen public health legislation and measures to limit agri-food company lobbying activities. It recognized the need for government leadership and action in order to reduce preventable deaths while improving economic performance and identified a need for governments to take a systems wide approach to tackling obesity and to work with civil society, especially to monitor the drivers of disease and to hold all stakeholders accountable for progress.
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Review
Osteoarthritis, obesity and weight loss: evidence, hypotheses and horizons - a scoping review.
Obesity is widely acknowledged as a risk factor for both the incidence and progression of osteoarthritis, and has a negative influence on outcomes. Loss of at least 10% of body weight, coupled with exercise, is recognized as a cornerstone in the management of obese patients with osteoarthritis, and can lead to significant improvement in symptoms, pain relief, physical function and health-related quality of life. ⋯ Given the significant health, social and economic burden of osteoarthritis, especially in obese patients, it is imperative to advance our knowledge of osteoarthritis and obesity, and apply this to improving care and outcomes. This paper overviews what is already known about osteoarthritis and obesity, discusses current key challenges and ongoing hypotheses arising from research in these areas, and finally, postulates what the future may hold in terms of new horizons for obese patients with osteoarthritis.