obesity

Being overweight or obese in midlife may age the brain by around 10 years. This is the finding of a new study led by researchers from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, the study revealed that middle-aged adults who were overweight had reduced white matter volume in the brain, compared with their lean counterparts.

Being overweight in middle-age makes the brain age by 10 years, research by the University of Cambridge has found.

The study, which scanned 473 brains, found changes in the brain structure of overweight people which are normally seen in those far older.

The volume of white matter - the tissue that connects areas of the brain and allows information to be communicated between regions - shrunk far more in those with a Body Mass Index above 25.

Shrinkage of parts of the brain is associated with a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

Your habits, surroundings and diet choices could all be driving your insatiable appetite.

Too little sleep and too much stress can make you hungry. Watching TV can make you hungry. Your hormones and mood and even the wrong-sized fork can make you hungry.

“Hunger is not as simple as needing food to meet physical needs,” says Aner Tal, a research associate at Cornell University’s Food & Brand Lab. “There are many different psychological and biological and environmental factors that affect hunger.”

People who take some of the newest weight-loss prescription medications on the market typically lose about 5 percent of their body weight over one year, a new review of studies suggests.

Even some of the most fit, athletic people in the world face cravings for unhealthy foods from time to time.

That's the take-away of a fun story from ESPN's Jackie MacMullan on the nutritional struggles of NBA players and how they learn to eat healthy and deal with those cravings.

MacMullan spoke to Dr. Mike Roussell, a nutritionist who has worked with several professional athletes, including Los Angeles Lakers center Roy Hibbert.

It seems logical to think that eating a high-fat diet would tip the scale upward, but a new study suggests that might not be the case. What's more, eating more of certain types of fats may help move the scale in the other direction.

Men and women in the study who followed a high-fat, Mediterranean diet that was rich in either olive oil or nuts lost more weight and reduced their waist circumference more than the people in the study who were simply instructed to reduce their fat intake, according to the study.

Eat less, move more, and you may lose weight—though probably not for long.

If you’re hoping to drop a few pounds for an upcoming vacation, the old “calories in, calories out” method can be effective. Combine a meager diet with lots of exercise, and in the short term your body will plunder its fat stores in search of energy. You’ll lose weight—maybe even a lot of weight, depending on how much you were eating and exercising before you got going.

So you want to drop a couple sizes. You know the drill: Eat more veggies; fewer cookies. Drink more water; less soda. Work out a few times a week.

Still, while most of us know the basics of healthy living, getting trim is hard work.

That's why we recently talked to exercise scientist Philip Stanforth, executive director of the Fitness Institute of Texas and a professor of exercise science at the University of Texas, to find out more about what to look out for when losing weight.