The amino acid arginine could help fight the rising tide of obesity. Research at Texas A&M University found that arginine, which is commonly available as a supplement, reduced fat mass in obese rats caused by diet.

“Given the current epidemic of obesity in the U.S. and worldwide, our finding is very important,? said Dr. Guoyao Wu, an ArgiLife research animal nutritionist in College Station and Senior Faculty Fellow in the department of animal science at Texas A&M. “This finding could be directly translated into fighting human obesity.?

Breast size usually isn't considered an appropriate topic for social conversation. But for a woman suffering the medical and social consequences of having large, pendulous breasts, talking with someone who has undergone breast reduction can be a "life-changing experience," says Mary-Margaret Richardson, a public affairs specialist with the Food and Drug Administration in St. Louis, Mo.

There are no magic bullets to losing weight -- the way to shed pounds is to burn off more calories than you take in.

However, too many Canadians are being duped--and even endangered--by the allure of quick-fix weight-loss programs, according to the Canadian Medical Association.

Research shows that one in three likely will die of cardiovascular disease. Heart disease claims the lives of about 500,000 women a year.

NEW figures for the region show a big increase in the number of operations on dangerously overweight patients and a doubling of outpatient appointments.

Following a national decision to step up operations on grossly obese patients, the bariatric surgery unit, at Sunderland Royal Hospital, has seen an increase in patient numbers.

The numbers are growing so rapidly that surgeons are having to train more colleagues to cope with demand.

During 2007-8 the unit carried out 208 operations – at a cost of between £5,000 and £8,000 a time – to reduce the weight of grossly obese patients.

But the life of this 52-year-old man from Boksburg could soon change radically if his medical aid approves crucial life-saving surgery that could help him to eventually weigh less than 100kg instead of the 350kg he weighs now.

The first step would be a stent implantation to remove a life-threatening blood clot.

Other than placing a fork into your mouth, in your wildest dreams, did you ever imagine that to avoid the high cost of health insurance, one day you’d have to learn how to eat all over again?

For decades we’ve flung whatever foods looked good into our eagerly awaiting, often indiscriminate mouths. Embracing a family eating strategy makes sense in the shadow of recent discoveries regarding the deleterious health effects from the foods we traditionally wolf, munch and chomp.