How Thin People Make Other People Fat

Dish colors that match food lead to larger meals

(NEWSER) - Trying to cut back on calories? Pay attention to the color of your plate. A new study reveals that people who use a dish that matches the color of the food they're eating will pile on more grub than if the plate is a different color, reports Scientific American . A researcher tested this by giving people at a buffet either a red plate or a white plate, then observing how they chowed down on pasta with either red or white sauce. A pdf of the study is here . More»

Mouse study shows weight gain more than doubles on opposite schedule

(NEWSER) - Eating when you should be sleeping—the proverbial midnight snack, say, or the meals of night-shift workers—could put you at higher risk of obesity, Time reports. A new study fed two groups of mice the same high-fat diet on opposite schedules; the group that ate during “normal” waking hours had a weight gain of 20% after 6 weeks, while the other group gained 48%. The mouse study, the first of its kind, mirrors observational research on humans. More»

(NEWSER) - If so many people are fat in this country, why is there so much venom against the overweight? Part of it can be chalked up to "self-loathing," write Kate Dailey and Abby Ellin in Newsweek. We're conditioned to consider extra pounds unattractive, and we get ticked off when we can't shed them. "The same people that tend to get very angry at themselves for not being able to manage their weight are more likely to be biased against the obese," says one researcher. 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»

Tired research subjects ate hundreds more calories per day

(NEWSER) - You better be sleeping enough or you'll plump up, say scientists: Tiredness and sleep-deprivation may lead to snacking. A new study by the Mayo Clinic found that people who got less sleep than a normal night consumed hundreds more calories the next day compared to people who get a full night's rest, and the fatigued did not appear to burn off the extra calories, reports the Daily Mail . More»