We’ve all seen the barrage of research studies and news stories on the growing obesity problem. But could the “obesity epidemic” focus cause a backlash -- driving patients away from the health care system?

A preschool-based intervention program helped prevent early trends toward obesity and instilled healthy eating habits in multi-ethnic 2- to 5-year-olds, according to a report presented at the American Heart Association’s Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism.

Professor Debbie Lawlor and colleagues used two approaches to test the ‘developmental overnutrition’ hypothesis which asserts that if a woman is overweight during pregnancy, high sugar and fat levels in her body might permanently affect her growing baby’s appetite control and metabolism, thus increasing the child’s risk of becoming obese in later life.

Spanish-language television is bombarding children with so many fast-food commercials that it may be fueling the rising obesity epidemic among Latino youth, according to research led by pediatricians from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

According to Rena Wing, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and director of the Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital, people who are most successful in preventing weight gain, and dieters who lose weight and keep the pounds off, have made major changes in their in diet and exercise routines.

Obesity prevalence has increased significantly among adults and children in the U.S. over the last two decades. A new study appearing in the journal Nutrition Reviews reveals that characteristics of neighborhoods, including the area’s income level, the built environment, and access to healthy food, contribute to the continuing obesity epidemic.

About nine percent of teenagers may have metabolic syndrome, a clustering of risk factors that put them on the path toward heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.

The soaring obesity rates across the globe have been called the most critical challenge to public health of the 21st century. A top university researcher argues that most physicians are not adequately prepared to deal with this obesity epidemic.

The researches reported that heavy children who had lost weight had kept the kilos off better through weight maintenance follow-up, but even that hadn’t been terribly successful over two years.

Over the past three decades, the rising obesity epidemic has been accompanied by a proliferation of weight-loss plans. However, as a new study by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) reveals, these weight-loss plans vary significantly in their ability to positively affect heart health.

Are your friends making you fat" Or keeping you slender" According to new research from Harvard and the University of California, San Diego, the short answer on both counts is "yes."

University of Illinois researchers Soo-Yeun Lee and Shelly Schmidt are trying to solve a mystery: Why doesn't diet soda taste more like regular soda? Can a well-trained panel of "taste testers" pinpoint the exact problem? And can food scientists do anything to fix it?