Does Obesity Rehab Help Overweight Teens Enough?

Elizabeth Fedorchalk was tired of being fat. She had been trying to lose weight since elementary school, but diets never made a difference. She wasn't husky. She wasn't big-boned. By age 16, the 5-ft. 5-in., 291-lb. high school junior from Holts Summit, Mo., was undeniably obese. And each year, it was only getting worse.

Fedorchalk's diet was abysmal. She skipped breakfast, ate lunch at school - usually chicken strips and fries - and frequently had dinner at McDonald's: a burger and more fries. She drank nondiet soda and snacked on potato chips and Little Debbie cakes. She never exercised because, between school and extracurricular activities, she claimed she didn't have time. "It got to where I didn't like sports anymore," Fedorchalk says. "I'd get out of breath and get upset because mentally I wanted to do so much, but physically I couldn't." She gained 45 lb. in 2009 alone. (See 10 dieting myths debunked.)

She had high cholesterol, and her weight put her at risk for hypertension, heart disease, sleep apnea and Type 2 diabetes. By any measure, Fedorchalk was in poor health. But look around. She is hardly alone.

In the past 30 years, obesity rates among U.S. children have more than tripled. A flurry of antiobesity legislation has taken aim at environmental factors that have contributed to the epidemic, and Michelle Obama's sweeping new Let's Move campaign to end childhood obesity will most likely inspire further changes in the coming years. But while healthier school lunches and public-service announcements may help future generations stay fit, they won't make someone like Fedorchalk thin. Our national dialogue focuses on obesity prevention, but what do we do for kids who have already gained the weight? (Watch a video with Jillian Michaels: "How to Lose Hundreds of Pounds.")

As Fedorchalk's weight climbed, her parents feared for her well-being. "We couldn't communicate with her or get her to change her habits," says her mother Michele. Family members decided there was nothing they could do for her at home; she needed professional help. In September, they sent her to Wellspring Academy, a residential weight-loss facility in Reedley, Calif. For families like the Fedorchalks, Wellspring offers a commodity often in short supply: hope. But turning that hope into a long-term remedy for teen obesity isn't easy. (See and listen to an audio slideshow about Wellspring Academy.)

Weight-Loss Boarding School
When marathon runner and educator Ryan Craig opened Wellspring Academy in 2004, it was the only residential obesity-treatment center of its kind. (Others existed mostly in clinical settings.) A former board member of the Aspen Education Group - one organization behind those wilderness programs for troubled teens - Craig learned about the staggering U.S. obesity rates and saw an enormous untapped market for a weight-loss school.

Wellspring Academy houses about 75 students in grades 8 through 12, all at various stages of weight loss. Students can enroll at any time and must stay at least four months. They live together in dorms, just like at traditional boarding schools. (See pictures of a public boarding school.)

Aside from regular academic classes and sessions with staff therapists, kids participate in simple exercise routines like walking 10,000 steps (5 miles) each day. The school's weight-loss program was designed by Northwestern University Medical Center professor Daniel Kirschenbaum, who used to run a number of clinical obesity programs in Chicago-area hospitals. Students are served three perfectly proportioned meals a day and are asked to note everything they eat in a journal. Calorie and fat counts are displayed on a whiteboard in Wellspring's cafeteria, making it easy for kids to copy them down. The diet, which allows for unlimited access to fruits and vegetables, works out to about 1,300 calories per day and results in 1 to 5 lb. of weight loss a week, depending on the student. Wellspring claims its students lose an average of 25% of their starting weight and 70% maintain or continue their weight loss a year after leaving the academy.

See a special report on the science of appetite.

See pictures of a diverse group of American teens.

Every meal at Wellspring is basically a fat-free re-creation of something unhealthy. In their nutrition and cooking classes, kids learn to make mozzarella sticks with fat-free cheese and PB&J sandwiches with imitation peanut butter. They're nowhere near as tasty as the original versions, but the kids seem to like them, and at least they don't feel deprived. "A lot of parents ask me why we don't serve organic health foods," says Craig, "to which I say, Is your kid really going to eat that?" (See the 10 worst fast food meals.)

No Easy Answers
A program as progressive as wellspring's is bound to have some kinks. Like most other weight-loss programs, Wellspring is not covered by any health insurance plan. Many families find themselves taking out loans to pay the $6,250-per-month tuition. "A lot of parents use their kids' college money," says Craig. Its prohibitively high cost makes the place inaccessible to many Americans who could benefit, especially since the highest obesity rates are found in low-income areas. But Wellspring kids are far from wealthy. Fedorchalk's mother and father, who work at a nursing home and Walmart, respectively, struggle to pay the bill. Freddy Fahl, 16, attends the school courtesy of a several-thousand-dollar student loan taken out by his mother Debi DeShon. (See TIME's special report on paying for college.)

Fahl arrived at Wellspring in September. He was up to 351 lb., having gained 40 lb. a year for three years straight. "His weight was completely out of control," says DeShon. Last year, Fahl was even denied health insurance because of his weight. "He was 16, and I thought, O.K., I have two more years with him. Am I willing to send my child into the world at 400 lb.?" (Comment on this story)

When he stayed on the diet, Fahl lost an average of 4 lb. per week. But he found himself cheating whenever he could. While visiting his brother off campus one weekend, he went to Taco Bell and ate "almost everything" on the menu. At another outing to a restaurant, he ordered pie. Over Christmas break, he managed to lose weight, but only because his mother kept him on the program. When he returned to campus in January, he mysteriously started gaining. His therapist wonders whether he didn't smuggle in some candy. (See pictures of what makes you eat more food.)

Fahl's weaknesses mirror one of Wellspring's: its success hinges on the parents. Craig hosts family workshops and urges parents to rid their homes of unhealthy foods. Yet despite the thousands of dollars they spend on tuition, only some Wellspring parents are willing to change their behavior. In medical studies, family-based behavioral treatments have proved almost twice as effective as those that involve only the child. "You can't have a successful program if the parent is telling the kid not to eat chips while he's sitting there eating ice cream," says Leonard Epstein, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University at Buffalo.

After they leave Wellspring, students remain in contact with their therapists for six months to help them readjust to the real world. They have been spoon-fed diet-friendly meals for so long that they are often unsure how to act at birthday parties and pizza nights.

Which points to another problem: the fat-free diet. It's difficult to maintain and, over the long term, nutritionally unsound; humans need fat to survive. "People don't lose any more weight on a low-fat diet than they do on a high-fat one," says David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston.

Watch a video about fitness gadgets.

See a TIME special report: "How to Live 100 Years."

"This is the only area of our program that is controversial," Craig acknowledges. But he adds that kids need something they can understand, and they understand fat.

The school's self-reported 70% success rate is based on voluntary follow-up assessments with former students, most of whom agree to participate. A rate that high is almost unheard-of in the diet world. Only 7% of dieters finish Jenny Craig's one-year program, while Weight Watchers counts people who stay even a few pounds under their starting weight as a triumph. But these programs lack the comprehensive approach of Wellspring. Research indicates that therapy-based obesity treatment can be three times as effective as traditional diet-and-exercise models. But how many people can run off to rehab for six months? "The outcome is probably better [at Wellspring] than if the program were applied to the general public. The people who can go to that school are a small sliver of the population," says Kerri Boutelle, associate professor of pediatric psychiatry at University of California at San Diego. (See "The Year in Health 2009: From A to Z.")

After Wellspring
Fedorchalk and Fahl have been at Wellspring for nearly six months and have lost 72 and 82 lb., respectively. Fedorchalk dropped eight dress sizes - from a size 22 to a 14 - and although she's still considered obese at 219 lb., for the first time in her life she can shop at what she calls "skinny people" stores. She counts fat grams obsessively and adheres to her diet whenever she's at a restaurant. On a recent visit to an Olive Garden, it took her 20 minutes to find something on the menu she could eat. She is also exercising regularly. "Whenever I'd try to do a sport at home, there'd always be really skinny people who were always really good at it, and I'd feel kind of awkward," she says. "Here I can give 100% without looking stupid." In November, she and Fahl walked a half marathon. (See how the world's top chefs lost weight.)

Fahl was scheduled to leave Wellspring on Jan. 15, but he was still struggling with the program, and DeShon didn't think he was ready to come home. Two days before his departure, she told him he had to stay. "I did my part," Fahl complained. "Why can't I lose the rest of the weight at home?"

That's a lot easier said than done, of course. "It's way harder than they ever tell you it will be," says Ganzy McCorvey, 19, who lost 104 lb. at Wellspring in 2007, only to gain half of it back. "I felt really guilty making my mom eat the same things as me. And then there were my friends, who always wanted to go to Wendy's." Other former Wellspring students experienced similar roller-coaster cycles of losses and gains.

Wellspring is no miracle cure. Even the most advanced kids at the academy are far from thin. But they are healthier, and they have been empowered with the uncommon gift of hope. Nobody is destined to be fat forever, says Fedorchalk. "Even if you do mess up, even if you do fall, what matters is you get back up again. You can always start anew at the next meal."
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How to decline Facebook friends without offense

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A colleague I just met at work has invited me to be their friend on Facebook. I don't want to offend them, but nor do I want to share my candid photos and lousy Scrabble scores with someone I hardly know.

Can I ignore their invite?

"Can I be your friend?" might work as an ice-breaker among small children, but it's not a question you hear often between adults, at least not outside of Las Vegas.


Friendship, it is generally understood, is a relationship that evolves through shared interests, common experiences and a primeval need to share your neighbor's power tools.

Yet for many people, Facebook permits a return to the simplicity of the schoolyard.

Rather than inviting someone to be our Facebook friend only after we've become friends in the real world, many of us are using Facebook as a short-cut around all that time-consuming relationship building.

Why bother asking someone you've just met questions about their family, interests and ability to run a farm or aquarium, when you can simply send them a friend request and read the answers in your Facebook news feed? And so we think little of receiving friend requests after we meet someone for the first time at, say, a dinner party.

If you like the person, perhaps because they brought an excellent bottle of wine to the party, then you can accept the request in the hope of further opportunities to sample the contents of their cellar.

If you didn't get to taste the wine because they accidentally spilled the bottle over your brand new party dress, then etiquette experts would probably agree that you can decline the friend request, send them a dry-cleaning bill and humiliate them in a derisory posting to your real Facebook friends.

In the workplace, however, the dynamic is very different. The consequences of offending someone by ignoring their friend request are greater with a colleague you see every day than with a careless dining companion you may never meet again.

So why are people you work with increasingly offering to share their Facebook output?

Joan Morris DiMicco, an IBM researcher who studies social software in the workplace, said it's partly because some people just don't anticipate the ramifications of sharing their personal life with colleagues.

But it's also a function of the Facebook interface, which recommends other people for you to friend.

"Once you've connected to one person you work with you get recommendations to connect to others that you work with," she said.

Of course, many people don't have a problem with being Facebook friends with colleagues, especially those they know well. But for those who would rather keep their work and private lives separate, there are options other than ignoring an unwanted friend request.

One is to accept the invitation and then use Facebook's privacy settings to limit the flow of information between you and your new "friend." To do this, you can create a "colleagues" list from the Friends menu and then add to it your new friend. Then navigate to the privacy settings and use the "Profile Information" section to control what information people on the "colleagues" list can see.

An alternative, says workplace etiquette expert Barbara Pachter, is to suggest to the colleague that you connect instead on LinkedIn, a social network for professional relationships.

"You can just go ahead and ask them to join you on LinkedIn and hope they forget they sent you a Facebook friend request," said Pachter, the author of New Rules @ Work.

"Or you can say, Thanks for asking me. I'm keeping Facebook for my family and friends. I'm asking you to join me on my professional network instead.'"

Pachter said that whatever you do, it's important not to offend your colleague -- and that's not just because politeness is good etiquette.

"The person you offend might end up being your boss next year," she said.

Got a question about the etiquette of email, social networks and other workplace technologies? Send them to richard.baum@reuters.com or via Twitter to @rbaum.
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7 Tips for Working for a Younger Boss

As more baby boomers delay retirement and work until older ages, they may find themselves working for a younger boss. A recent Harris Interactive and CareerBuilder survey of 5,231 full-time employees found that 69 percent of workers ages 55 and older currently have a younger manager. The generational differences of this dynamic can create challenges. Here's how to form a solid relationship and even impress a younger supervisor.

Acknowledge their expertise. Be open to the fresh ideas and new approaches that a younger manager may bring to the job. "One of the problems that many boomers experience is that in their perception, the younger boss does not want to listen to their experiences and take account of their expertise," says Linda Gravett, a psychologist and coauthor of Bridging the Generation Gap: How to Get Radio Babies, Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Gen-Yers to Work Together and Achieve More. "The younger person has their own education and expertise and they don't want to be parented by someone."

[See America's Best Affordable Places to Retire.]

Use electronic communication. A younger manager might prefer to interact with you via instant messenger, text message, or E-mail rather than face to face or on the phone. "Talk about your preferred method of communicating," says Rosemary Haefner, the vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. Make sure you log on to instant messenger every day and keep your cellphone, BlackBerry, or smart phone on to stay in the loop.

Don't expect too much face time. The number of hours you log at the office is generally less important to younger managers than the results you produce. "A boomer might say that work ethic means you are in the office half an hour before your start time and work through lunch, but a generation X or Y manager says that telecommuting allows you to miss the rush hour and get some more work done," says Gravett. "They are looking for results and productivity as opposed to face time in the office." Be prepared for webinars and teleconferences and fewer in-person meetings.

[Use our online tool to Find Your Best Place to Retire.]

Point out your results. Keep your boss up to date with your progress toward meeting goals. "Ask questions when you are not sure, deliver on time, and try to overachieve," says Haefner. Tally your accomplishments, and make your boss aware of them on a regular basis. Instead of chatting about your decades of experience, talk about expectations you have exceeded over the past month or six months.

Act your age. Avoid comparing a younger manager to your adult children or talking about what you were doing at their age. "The last thing the boss wants to hear is 'you remind me of my son,' " says Gravett. Conversely, you don't need to prove yourself hip to 30-somethings. "It is not appropriate to try to act younger than your age, dress younger, or try to disguise yourself as a younger individual in order to fit in," says Cam Marston, president of Generational Insight and author of Motivating the "What's in It for Me?" Workforce: Manage Across the Generational Divide and Increase Profits. "It comes across as silly."

Update your skills. When a manager introduces a new workflow system, take advantage of retraining opportunities. Think of it as a way to get paid while you learn new software programs and keep your skills up to date. Becoming proficient with the latest technology is key to staying employed in a difficult job market.

Don't compete. According to the CareerBuilder survey, some employees complain that their younger bosses act as if they know more than older workers when they don't (15 percent) or didn't earn their position (12 percent). But it's best not to openly compete with a younger supervisor or belittle him or her because of age. "Don't come across as being a know-it-all just because you have been around for a while," says Gravett. "Of course you know quite a bit, but that doesn't mean you know it all."
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Dining Out: Top 5 restaurants in South Korea

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – The Miele Guide to Asia's finest restaurants is written by food experts who know and love the region (www.mieleguide.com).

This is a list of the top 5 restaurants in South Korea, which has embraced foreign foods with a passion in the past decade. It is not endorsed by Reuters.

1. Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul

Champagne as aperitifs and several courses of amuse bouche - such are the little luxuries that precede a meal at the feted Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul. For his Korean outpost, Gagnaire incorporates Korean ingredients to his modern, innovative French cuisine to yield dishes such as grilled beef tenderloin with abalone and pepper, shallot compote and Chinese quince, and beef tartar and consomme jelly with sesame seeds. Conventional course sets are turned deliciously on their heads, as guests might find themselves enjoying dessert or soup in the middle of their meal.

35F Lotte Hotel Seoul

New Wing, 1 Sogong-dong

Jung-gu, Seoul

www.pierregagnaire.co.kr

2. Seasons

Many celebrity chefs spend more time in front of a camera or a computer than in a kitchen - chef Park Hyo-Nam is an exception. Although he has won numerous international accolades and is now the executive chef of the Millennium Hilton, he has not allowed this to stop him from cooking at the hotel's signature French restaurant, Seasons. True to the restaurant's concept, Park's fine modern French style emphasizes harmony with nature. Sample the natural rock salt-crusted sea bass with sesame and basil, as well as the cherry crepes Suzette. Four times a year, Park creates an exquisite degustation menu to mark the change of the seasons.

1F Millennium Seoul Hilton Hotel

395 5-ga Namdaemun-ro

Chung-gu, Seoul

www.hilton.co.kr

3. Akasaka

Akasaka is known for authentic Japanese cuisine paired with a beautiful view over the Han River. The sushi and teppanyaki courses are best enjoyed at the counter seats where you can observe the chefs at work and enjoy excellent personalized service. Apart from classic Japanese offerings, the restaurant also does an excellent hwe dup bap, the Korean cousin to chirashi-zushi.

B1 Grand Hyatt Seoul

747-7 Hannam 2-dong

Yongsan-ku, Seoul

www.seoul.grand.hyatt.com

4. Yongsusan (Chungdam)

The elegance of the powerful Koryo dynasty is alive and well at Yongsusan, a family of restaurants that specializes in recreating Gaesong (North Korean) court cuisine in elaborate menus. The owner is from Gaesong and personally ensures that every dish is recreated authentically. Try specialties such as Gaesong cabbage-wrap and sundae sausages (pig's intestines stuffed with a mixture of pig's blood, rice and vermicelli). The service is exquisite, with each dish served in personal portions on lovely pottery reminiscent of historical creations.

6 Chungdam-dong

Gangnam-gu, Seoul

www.yongsusan.co.kr

5. Table 34

There is an inviting comfort in Table 34's ambience created by New York-based Tony Chi. The clean lines, wood hues and modern elongated chandeliers give the interior a gentle, warm glow that amplifies the stunning views. This works extremely well with the impeccable contemporary French cuisine, which includes dishes like pan-fried duck breast with avocado, or a Dukkah spiced beef tenderloin with grilled baby eggplant and tomato sauce.

34F Grand Intercontinental Seoul

521 Teheranno

Gangnam-gu, Seoul

www.ichotelsgroup.com
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Popular Diet Plans Can Unclog Arteries

MONDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Any one of three heart-healthy diets -- low-fat, low-carbohydrate, Mediterranean -- can reverse the thickening of artery walls that can lead to heart attack and stroke, an Israeli study indicates.

"Once one adheres to a sensible diet, even though you experience only a moderate weight loss, if you stick to it long enough you can cause regression of atherosclerosis," explained Iris Shai, a nutritional epidemiologist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and lead author of a report to be published in the March 16 print issue of the journal Circulation.

Atherosclerosis involves a thickening and narrowing of blood vessels. When narrowing leads to a full blockage of blood flow, heart attacks or strokes are the result.

Shai and her colleagues assigned 140 middle-aged, overweight men and women to one of three low-calorie diets: low-fat; low-carbohydrate; or the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables and healthy fats such as those found in olive oil.

About one-third of the participants were taking blood pressure medications and one-quarter were taking cholesterol-lowering medications, mostly statins.

The researchers tracked the participants' adherence to the recommended diet, as well as their weight and blood pressure. Using ultrasound scans to obtain three-dimensional images, the team also assessed the volume and thickness of the carotid arteries, the major vessels carrying blood to the brain.

After two years, the researchers found that dieters experienced a significant 5 percent reduction in average carotid artery wall volume and a 1.1 percent reduction in carotid wall thickness.

There were also moderate reductions in blood pressure and average weight.

"With a healthy diet and only moderate weight loss and reduction in blood pressure, you can see regression of plaque that naturally progresses over the years," Shai said.

All three diets had certain elements in common -- an increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, and decreased consumption of dangerous trans-fats, especially those found in processed foods, she said.

"The message seems to be that weight loss, no matter how you accomplish it, is good for the carotid artery," said Dr. Robert H. Eckel, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, a past president of the American Heart Association.

While the reduction in blood pressure was perhaps the most important dietary effect, "with weight reduction many things change in the right direction," Eckel said.

Anyone undertaking to follow such a diet must be prepared to stick with it over the long run, he stressed.

"Blood pressure measured during active weight loss is bound to fall," Eckel said. "But that might not be sustained. Blood pressure must continue to be monitored, and treated to reach a goal."
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Hormone Outperforms Insulin in Diabetic Mice

MONDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers are reporting that treatment with a hormone linked to weight loss seems to control type 1 diabetes in mice better than insulin does, raising the prospect of a landmark new treatment for some human diabetics.

There's no guarantee that the hormone, known as leptin, will work against type 1 diabetes. But if leptin has similar effects on humans, it could free type 1 diabetics from their daily regimen of multiple insulin injections and tight blood-sugar monitoring, said the study's co-author, Dr. Roger Unger, chairman of diabetes research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.


In addition, Unger said, leptin could help diabetics do a better job of controlling their blood sugar. "They would have a longer life as well as a less burdensome one," he said. "That's the best possible scenario that we could hope for."

People with type 1 diabetes -- also known as juvenile diabetes -- are reliant on insulin, which has been the main treatment since the early part of last century. "Insulin was discovered in 1922 and prevented death, and all of us have grown up having been taught that that was a miraculous discovery, which is correct," Unger said.

But the problem is that injected insulin causes health problems of its own in the body. Type 1 diabetics have little leeway for error in how they treat their condition, and they are at high risk for heart disease as a result of insulin, Unger said.

Leptin is a hormone that's been linked to weight loss, and previous research has suggested that it could help people with type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.

In the new study, researchers gave leptin, insulin or both to mice with type 1 diabetes. The researchers found that the mice treated with leptin alone or in conjunction with insulin did better: Their blood sugar didn't fluctuate as much, their cholesterol levels went down and they didn't form as much body fat.

Unger said that leptin seems to do a better job than insulin at targeting the body's blood-sugar control mechanisms.

The findings were published in this week's online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Another diabetes expert, Satya P. Kalra, a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Florida Department of Neuroscience, said that his own research has shown that leptin works as a treatment for both kinds of diabetes. In fact, leptin is "the only durable and efficient new therapeutic strategy for diabetes" and related diseases, said Kalra, who's familiar with the findings of the new study.

What's next? Leptin must be tested on humans, Unger said. "We have every reason to believe that it will work in man," leading to better health for diabetics, he said. "But there's no point in getting overly excited until a human trial has shown that it works, and that will take a couple of years."

Unger said he could not estimate the cost of leptin therapy. It could be given through injections or via an intravenous drip, he said.
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Low-Fat Diets Beat Low-Carb Regimen Long Term

MONDAY, March 1 (HealthDay News) -- Three years after going on a diet, obese men and women on low-carbohydrate "Atkins"-type plans had gained back nearly all their weight, while those on low-fat diets continued to lose, new research finds.

Neither group ended up model-thin, however: Three years out, the low-carb dieters were a mere five pounds thinner and the low-fat group about 10 pounds slimmer than when they began.

The study is published in the March 2 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In 2003, around the time the low-carb Atkins diet was all the rage, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania published research that found that obese men and women lost a lot more weight -- initially -- when on a low-carb versus a low-fat diet. At the six-month mark, obese dieters on the low-carb plan had lost about 13 pounds, compared to about 4.5 pounds on a low-fat diet.

But what about keeping the weight off long-term? The new study suggests that as time goes on, low-carbohydrate regimens fall short.

The study participants were all severely obese, with a mean body mass index of 43 (30 and above is considered obese) and a mean weight of 288 pounds. About 39 percent had diabetes and 43 percent had metabolic syndrome, a constellation of symptoms that can be a precursor to coronary artery disease and diabetes.

Participants were told to follow either a low-fat diet, in which they cut about 500 calories a day and ate no more than 30 percent of their calories from fat; or a diet that closely matched the low-carb Atkins diet. Low-carb dieters were not told to cut calories, but were instead told to limit their carb intake to no more than 30 grams a day, roughly the equivalent of two slices of bread.

Participants met once a month with a nutritionist for a year. After that, they were on their own to continue the diet or go back to eating as they once did.

After three years, neither group showed a statistically significant difference in their ability to keep the weight off. The good news for those in the low-fat group, however, was that they continued to show slow and steady weight loss, while the low-carb dieters were trending back up.

"It's really hard for people to sustain a low-carb diet. They can stick with it for six months, but then you see a gradual return to baseline," said lead study author Dr. Marion Vetter, medical director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania. "Low-fat diets may be a little easier for people to stick with."

The researchers also found no changes in blood levels of hemoglobin A1c, a measure of blood sugar control, between the two groups at 36 months.

For the millions of Americans struggling to lose weight, the study highlights the difficulty of sustaining weight loss over the long term no matter what method you choose, Vetter said. Over time, both groups showed a gradual return to their pre-diet caloric intake and eating habits.

Yet there are dieters who are successful in the long term, said Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. What they tend to have in common is that they cut calories by making small but sustainable changes to their diet and thereby lose weight more slowly.

In the study, those who lost the most at the outset were more likely to gain the weight back, she noted.

"The study further confirms rapid weight loss leads to rapid regains," Sandon said. "When you attempt to achieve weight loss by doing it in a slower manner, you're more likely to keep it off."

In low-fat diets, no food groups are banned, but dieters are encouraged to make certain changes, such as switching from mayo to mustard or from whole to skim milk.

Low-carb diets, on the other hand, require more wholesale changes in the way people typically eat and enjoy food. Realistically, how long can a person put up with asking for their hamburger without the bun?

"People for years have been trying to figure out if it's the carbs or is it the fat, when really it's the calories," Sandon said. "It doesn't matter where the calories are coming from -- carbs, protein or fat -- it's the calorie balance. We're trying to get people away from the idea that it's a single food group or a single nutrient that's causing the weight gain."
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Survey Finds Many Men Complaining of Ill-Fitting Condoms

MONDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Poorly fitting condoms not only boost the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, they also reduce sexual pleasure during intercourse, a new study has found.

The findings are based on a survey of 436 men, aged 18 to 67, who responded to an Internet survey after being recruited through newspaper ads and a blog on a condom sales company Web site. The survey asked the men about how a condom fit the last time they used one while having sex with a female.

Nearly 45 percent said they'd used a condom that fit poorly the last time they had sex during the previous three months. These men were more than 2.5 times more likely to say their condom broke or slipped compared to those who said their condoms fit well. And they were five times more likely to say they experienced irritation to the penis.

The men whose condoms fit poorly were also about twice as likely to say that the condoms made it difficult for them, their partners or both to reach orgasm. Not surprisingly, this made intercourse less pleasurable, the study authors noted.

And the men with poor-fitting condoms were twice as likely to say they took off the condoms before they finished having sex, the survey found.

The findings "emphasize the point that men and their female sex partners may benefit from public health efforts designed to promote the improved fit of condoms," the researchers wrote.

The study, which surveyed men through the Web site of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, is published online in February in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections.

source:http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100217/hl_hsn/surveyfindsmanymencomplainingofillfittingcondoms;_ylt=AmsFwXROpCY888fowIwWgsXrSLYF;_ylu=X3oDMTNubDhlcGhlBGFzc2V0A2hzbi8yMDEwMDIxNy9zdXJ2ZXlmaW5kc21hbnltZW5jb21wbGFpbmluZ29maWxsZml0dGluZ2NvbmRvbXMEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDc3VydmV5ZmluZHNt
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Women and men travelers tend to get different illnesses

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – World travel can make anyone sick but men and women tend to suffer different illnesses with women more prone to stomach problems and men at higher risk of fevers and sexually transmitted diseases, Swiss researchers found.

A study of almost 59,000 international travelers by the University of Zurich found women were more likely than men to come down with bouts of diarrhea or other gastrointestinal problems, colds, urinary tract infections and adverse reactions to medications, such as those taken to prevent malaria.

Men had higher risks of fever, including from infections transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks or other such "vectors," such as malaria, dengue and rickettsia.

Men were also more likely than women to be treated for mountain sickness, frostbite or sexually transmitted diseases.

Researcher Dr. Patricia Schlagenhauf said the findings, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, offer travelers and travel-medicine specialists a clearer idea of how to prepare for international trips.

For example female travelers should be especially sure to bring anti-diarrheal medication.

While all travelers need advice on preventing mosquito-borne illnesses like malaria, the researchers said men may need to pay particular attention to preventive measures, like frequently reapplying insect repellent.

The findings were based on data from 44 travel-medicine clinics throughout the world, all of which are part of a surveillance network designed to track travel-related ills and injuries.

Schlagenhauf and her colleagues looked at records for 58,908 patients who visited those clinics between 1997 and 2007.

Of 29,643 women, one-quarter were treated for acute diarrhea, compared with 22 percent of men.

But when other factors were considered -- like the length and destination of the trip -- women were anywhere from 13 percent to 39 percent more likely than men to seek treatment for diarrhea or symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, which include diarrhea, constipation and abdominal pain.

Just over 3 percent of men were treated for malaria, and roughly the same number sought treatment for dengue, which is also transmitted by mosquito.

That compared with rates of 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, among women.

Overall, over 17 percent of men had some type of fever-inducing illness, versus 11 percent of women.

The exact reasons for the sex difference are not clear. One possibility, according to the researchers, is that men make "more attractive hosts" to mosquitoes because the insects are lured by sweat and excessive sweating also washes off insect repellent.

As for gastrointestinal ills, women may either be more susceptible to them, or they may be more likely than men to seek treatment for them, according to Schlagenhauf's team.

Just over 1 percent of men visited a travel clinic for a sexually transmitted disease, with men being one-third more likely than women to do so. The researchers said past research has shown that men are more likely than women to have sex with someone they meet overseas.

"Safe sex advice is a missing component in most pretravel practices and our study suggests that male travelers, in particular, would benefit from greater preventive efforts," said the researchers.

source : http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100225/hl_nm/us_travel;_ylt=AjqUWflxT6ciadwcLinIdPvrSLYF;_ylu=X3oDMTJmbjY5ZjI1BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwMjI1L3VzX3RyYXZlbARwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawN3b21lbmFuZG1lbnQ-
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U.S. patent office rejects part of Viagra patent

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has partially rejected a patent on Pfizer Inc's impotence drug Viagra because it works in a way similar to the Chinese herb Yin Yang Huo, which is sold on websites under the colorful name Horny Goat Weed.

An appeals board of the patent agency, in a February 12 decision, upheld an earlier finding that an element of the Viagra patent did not represent a new invention.

The claims came under contention as part of a patent infringement lawsuit Pfizer filed against Eli Lilly and Co, which makes the rival drug Cialis.

The board of patent appeals said in a ruling posted on its website on Tuesday that a chemical ingredient of Yin Yang Huo, which is used to treat impotence and sometimes sold as an alleged aphrodisiac, is similar to the enzyme inhibitor found in Viagra.

"The decision has no effect on Pfizer's patent claims relating to Viagra," Pfizer spokesman Chris Loder said.

Pfizer has the right to seek a rehearing or appeal the decision," Loder said, declining to provide a time frame under which an appeal might be filed.

The patent in question, which Pfizer contends does not expire until 2019, "contains many other claims directed solely to the use of sildenafil to treat erectile dysfunction and these remain in effect," Loder said, using the chemical name for Viagra.

Viagra had sales of nearly $2 billion in 2009.
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