Complex Obesity

Obesity 'Set Before Age Of Five'

Compared to children in the 1980s, today's youngsters are fatter and most of their excess weight gain happens before school age, they will say. This suggests initiatives to prevent childhood obesity should be started before school, suggest the authors. The EarlyBird Diabetes study of 233 children from birth to puberty is being published in the journal Pediatrics. One in four children aged four to five in England are overweight, latest figures show.

Obesity 'Controlled By The Brain'

Seven new gene variants discovered by scientists suggest strongly that obesity is largely a mind problem. The findings suggest the brain plays the dominant role in controlling appetite, and that obesity cannot easily be blamed on metabolic flaws. Two international studies, published in Nature Genetics, examined samples from thousands of people for the tiniest genetic changes.
Many of the seven key variants seem to be active in the brain.