Does it really matter what you eat? Does it really have an impact on your health?

The answer is an emphatic "yes." There is plentiful evidence that the food we eat does have an impact on our health -- especially our risk of developing cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, obesity and the myriad of medical problems associated with these conditions.

 

"BE MINE" is a common message found on candy hearts at Valentine's, but it's not the most important message to heed during February's "Healthy Heart Month." That message is "Take Care of Your Heart."

It was a beautiful afternoon in downtown Winter Haven on Saturday, as no fewer than 60 eager pooches and their masters took the line for the fifth-annual Jog with Your Dog event, part of the Rock, Walk & Run benefit for the children's division of the Winter Haven public Library.

Over the past two to three decades, people in western countries have been getting fatter, and the phenomenon is spreading to some industrializing countries, too, such as China and India. Doctors are particularly concerned about the skyrocketing numbers of overweight and even obese children.

Justin Cessna appeared before the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Monday less of a man than he was a year ago -- more than 125 pounds less.

The Wichita man spoke to lawmakers last year about his struggle to get insurance to cover weight-loss, or bariatric, surgery. At the time, Cessna was morbidly obese, walked with a cane and took a panoply of medications for health complications such as diabetes, blood pressure and heart problems.

Growth hormone treatment for six months after weight loss surgery reduces patients' losses in lean body mass and skeletal muscle mass, according to a new study.

Researchers at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt are taking the fight against childhood obesity straight to the cradle.

They have been awarded $3 million from the National Institutes of Health to study ways physicians can help curb obesity in children age 2 and younger.

CHILDHOOD obesity is now a serious problem affecting the whole of Merseyside.

Doctors are seeing more children suffering from disorders and complications associated with their weight coming into hospital.

Being forced to trim household budgets hasn't stopped Australians forking out for weight-loss surgery in record numbers.

There has been a 40 per cent rise each year in the number of gastric banding and bypass procedures performed in Australia since 2006, Medicare data shows. If rates continue, the figure could reach more than 50,000 a year by 2012.

SHE was warned by her doctor that she was facing an early death and was so unhappy about being overweight she was prescribed anti-depressants.

But after a complicated £10,000 operation, Sharon Cartledge has lost nine stone in a year and says she no longer has any interest in junk food.

Sharon, 38, from Rhoose, said: “At my heaviest, I weighed 21.5st, and was a size 24. It really got me down, even though every other aspect of my life was going well.