Blocking a muscle growth-limiting hormone protects against obesity and atherosclerosis
Knockout of myostatin, a growth factor that limits muscle growth, can decrease body fat and promote resistance against developing atherosclerosis, or “hardening” of the arteries, according to a new study conducted in mice. The results will be presented Thursday at The Endocrine Society’s 91st Annual Meeting [...]

Press release from Tufts University School of Nutrition
BOSTON (May 18, 2009) Curcumin, the major polyphenol found in turmeric, appears to reduce weight gain in mice and suppress the growth of fat tissue in mice and cell models. Researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA) studied [...]

An interesting press release was brought to my attention today talking about a study showing that L-arginine (an amino acid) supplementation reduces fat gain in overfed rats.
Basically, the two ratty cohorts were fed more than sufficient, except one group was supplemented with arginine and the other alanine (another amino acid) as a control. The rats [...]

An interesting idea was presented recently in Medical Hypotheses, postulating that common obesity (i.e., fatness that does not have an underlying medical cause) is due to a lack of vitamin D.
Most of us experience weight gain over winter, and I had always assumed that it was due to the changes in lifestyle that the winter [...]

Researchers at Yale University have found a new substance that is released by the stomach following the consumption of fatty food. Suppressing appetite and causing weight-loss in rats and mice, this substance might lead to novel obesity treatments for humans in future.
The team, headed by Professor Gerald I. Shulman, investigated substances known as N-acylphosphatidylethanolamines, or [...]

The prestigious and excellent-for-a-laugh International Journal of Obesity reported today that fatness and stupidity are actually linked at a physiological level. Cortisol, a hormone released in moments of stress and as a result of obesity, causes a decline in cognitive performance.
In this experiment, they decided to induce stress by making their test subjects go skydiving! [...]