That Extra 7lbs May Be Deadly

By two measures, black women could be bigger without raising health risk

(NEWSER) - Black women can have larger waistlines and be larger in general than white women and still be relatively healthy, according to new research.The study of 6,400 volunteers examined abdominal obesity and body-mass index and found that black women had higher thresholds than white women for both measures before they became "high risk," Reuters reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Americans eat more than twice as much added sugar as doctors recommend, and they should cut back to battle obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, researchers say. Added calories from processed sugar should total no more than 150 for men and 100 for women, the American Heart Association said today. Soft drinks are the top factor in added dietary sugar, and the recommendations are sure to rile their producers, Reuters reports. More»

People who disrupt biological clocks have higher BMIs

(NEWSER) - Your alarm clock could be making you flabby, suggests new research. People who force themselves to maintain schedules that are different from their natural sleep routines are more likely to put on the pounds, reports LiveScience . Researchers collected data from more than 65,000 Europeans and found that for every hour of sleep discrepancy between their work days and free days, the person was 33% more likely to have a higher BMI, a measure of fatness. More»

New study suggests new, pricier procedure to determine obesity

(NEWSER) - Feeling pretty good about yourself because, according to your BMI, you're not obese? Well, a new study finds that you may have reason to worry after all: Researchers used a new, and supposedly more accurate, standard for detecting obesity—a person's ratio of fat to lean muscle mass—and found that under that standard, a lot more people end up in the "obese" column. Specifically, about half of women and 20% of men may actually be obese, despite the fact that their BMI doesn't classify them as so, the Los Angeles Times reports. The researchers believe their standard will better predict future health issues, but the test it relies on (called a DXA scan) currently costs $300 a pop to run. More»

Irisin sends messages from muscle cells to fat cells

(NEWSER) - In research that may alarm gym owners, scientists have found a hormone responsible for many of exercise's health benefits. The newly discovered hormone—named "irisin" after the Greek messenger goddess Iris—turns ordinary white fat cells into energy-burning brown fat, and helps ward off diabetes by improving glucose tolerance, Time reports. Researchers found that the body produces irisin in response to exercise, and the hormone helps muscle cells "talk" to the body's fat cells. More»