The number of obese children and adolescents worldwide has jumped tenfold in the past 40 years and the rise is accelerating in low- and middle-income countries, especially in Asia, a major study said on Wednesday. Childhood and teen obesity rates have levelled off in the United States, north-western Europe and other rich countries, but remain "unacceptably high" there, researchers at Imperial College London and the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Over the last 15 years, the prevalence of adult obesity in the U.S. population has bloated from 30.5 percent to 39.6 percent, according to a 2015–2016 survey. A majority of Hispanic and non-Hispanic black women are obese, the National Center for Health Statistics study found. Meanwhile, just one in ten Asian men are obese. The so-called "middle age spread" is supported by this study, with a 42.8-percent incidence of obesity measured among adults between the ages of 40 and 59 compared to 41 perce

Surgeons are performing hip replacements on children as young as ten because of the damage caused by obesity, new figures show. In the past three years, the total number of obese people needing joint replacements has risen by almost 60 per cent to more than 37,000. But much of the rise has been driven by young adults and people in middle age who require surgery far earlier than ever before because of the strain on their joints caused by excess weight.

Obesity is set to become the new normal in America. By the time today’s kids reach the age of 35, 57% of them will be obese, a new study predicts. That means that if present trends continue, an American child’s chances of having a normal weight when they grow up — or of being merely overweight — are less than even.

Over the past three decades this increasingly prosperous nation has become the fattest country in Asia, with nearly half the adult population now overweight or obese. Several years ago, Dr. Tee E Siong, Malaysia’s leading nutrition expert, decided to act, organizing a far-reaching study of local diets and lifestyle habits. The research, conducted by scientists from the Nutrition Society of Malaysia, which Dr. Tee heads, has produced several articles for peer-reviewed academic journals.

A child born in the United States has a 70 percent greater chance of dying before adulthood than kids born into other wealthy, democratic countries, a new study has found. The research, published in the journal Health Affairs on Monday, shows that the United States lags far behind peer countries on child health outcomes. It estimates that, since 1961, America’s poor performance accounts for more than 600,000 excess child deaths — deaths that wouldn’t have happened if these kids were born into other wealthy countries.

Instead of gulping your food, try eating more slowly. It may help you drop those unwanted pounds, a new study by Japanese researchers suggests. Also helpful: Avoiding after-dinner snacks and eating anything in the two hours before you go to bed, the researchers said. The study linked those simple changes to a smaller waist, and lower rates of obesity and overweight.

The 2008 Great Recession resulted in changes to individuals’ health behaviour, with a significant increase in the likelihood of obesity, diabetes and mental health problems, according to a new study from City, University of London and King’s College London. In particular, the researchers discovered that the probability of being obese and severely obese increased by 4.1 and 2.4 percentage points respectively. Similarly, the probability of having diabetes was 1.5 percentage points higher after 2008, with the prevalence of mental health problems increasing by 4 percentage points.

UK millennials are on track to be the most overweight generation since records began, health experts say. Based on population trends, more than seven in every 10 people born between the early 1980s and mid-90s will be too fat by the time they reach middle age. In comparison, about half of the "baby boomer" generation, born just after World War Two, were fat at that age. Being fat as an adult is linked to 13 different types of cancer, says Cancer Research UK, who did the analysis.

Britain “needs to go on a diet”, a top health official has warned, adding that some children currently eat the equivalent of an extra meal a day in calories. Public Health England (PHE) said that obesity is becoming "the norm" as it launched a new campaign targeting pizzas, processed meat, ready meals and takeaways. The health body has called on the food industry to cut portion sizes and promote healthier foods in a bid to slash calorie consumption by 20 per cent before 2024.

ANN ARBOR—The link between emotions and eating has been well established but new research from the University of Michigan shows that children as young as 4 who experience stress eat more in the abse

Doctors have known that as people pack on the pounds, their sense of taste diminishes. New research in mice helps explain what's going on: Inflammation brought on by obesity may be killing taste buds.

High sugar intake is associated with an increased risk of overweight. For parents, as their children’s nutritional gatekeepers, knowledge about sugar is a prerequisite for regulating sugar consumption. Yet little is known about parental ability to estimate the sugar content of foods and beverages and how this ability is associated with children’s body mass index (BMI).

American adults continue to put on the pounds. New data shows that nearly 40 percent of them were obese in 2015 and 2016, a sharp increase from a decade earlier, federal health officials reported Friday. The prevalence of severe obesity in American adults is also rising, heightening their risks of developing heart disease, diabetes and various cancers. According to the latest data, published Friday in JAMA, 7.7 percent of American adults were severely obese in the same period.

Pretty much every country in the world now has an obesity crisis. But no one’s really figured out what to do about it. One of the most avant-garde obesity policy experiments is happening in Chile, where health officials are trying to revolutionize nutrition labeling. Instead of cramming percentages and numbers onto the back of food packages, the Chilean government now requires symbol-based warning labels on the front of food products that contain high levels of salt, sugar, calories, and saturated fat.

Eating at restaurants and fast food chains may increase exposure to potentially harmful hormone-disrupting chemicals used to increase the flexibility and durability of plastic, a study has found. Researchers investigating levels of phthalates in the human body, which have been linked to asthma, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and fertility issues in the past few years, were found to be nearly 35% higher in participants who had eaten out the previous day compared with those who stayed at home.

Tony Bussey, 43, took up two seats on a plane fleeing Fort McMurray in 2016 — and the fact he prevented another person from getting a place on the plane because of his weight changed his life.

According to data published by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, more than two in three adults in the United States are considered to be overweight or obese. However, this problem is not randomly distributed across the country. In fact, according to a new University of Arkansas study, obesity is particularly prevalent in certain areas; areas with socio-economic factors that create an “ecology of disadvantage,” as the researchers put it. This includes various social and demographic components.

Britain’s sugar tax on soft drinks came into effect on Friday, a move that will lead to some higher prices as the country seeks to battle childhood obesity. The tax, announced in March 2016, has already cut sugar content in drinks by 45 million kg per year, Britain’s Treasury said, as over 50 percent of manufacturers have reformulated their products to be below the levy’s sugar threshold.

Philadelphia residents were less likely to drink sugary soda each day after the launch of a beverage tax of $0.015/ounce on sugar and sugar-substitute beverages last year, a new study from Drexel University researchers has revealed. The new tax on nonalcoholic sweetened beverages was levied on distributors and came into effect on January 1, 2017. It was considered one of the steepest in the U.S. and was estimated to raise the price of diet soda, energy drinks, and sugary fruit juice beverages by 20 percent.