Women Gaining Weight with Partners

Women living with partners may be more likely to gain weight.

The New York Times (1/5, D5, Bakalar) reports that "a large study" published in the Jan. issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine "has found evidence that" women "who live with a mate put on more pounds than those who live without one." Studying "more than 6,000 Australian women," researchers found that "the 10-year weight gain for an average 140-pound woman was 20 pounds if she had a baby and a partner, 15 if she had a partner but no baby, and only 11 pounds if she was childless with no partner." The authors suggested that "weight gain among childless women with partners was almost surely caused by altered behavior," and that "metabolic adjustment" may go "on when women are pregnant."
Talk therapy superior to behavioral weight-loss program for binge eating. The Los Angeles Times (1/4, Healy) "Booster Shots" blog reported that, according to a study published in the Jan. issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, "binge eaters who get a specialized form of talk therapy aimed at reducing their bingeing behavior are more likely than those who participate in a weight-loss program to shed their eating disorder two years after treatment." After comparing "interpersonal therapy, a form of cognitive behavioral therapy described as 'guided self-help,' and a behavioral weight-loss program against each other for 24 weeks," researchers found that "all three appeared to have roughly equal success in reducing...psychological symptoms of binge eating disorder." But, two years after treatment, "the two forms of talk therapy appeared far superior to the behavioral weight-loss program in maintaining a remission of binge-eating symptoms."
Financial incentives may inspire some Americans to lose weight. Time (1/4, Sayre) reported, "Financial incentives are the latest wellness craze, inspiring" some "overweight or obese" Americans "to try to" lose weight. Currently, "an independent website," HealthyWage.com, "is offering to pay anyone who drops a certain amount of weight over the course of a year." The site "gets corporate sponsors to give a cash reward to obese users who, during a specified time period, move from an unhealthy to a healthy body mass index." Notably, "a 2008 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association" found that "dieters who had a financial incentive to lose weight were nearly five times as likely to meet their goal."
More vigorous exercise may offer greater health benefits. In the Wall Street Journal (1/4) Health Journal column, Kevin Helliker wrote that, according to Dr. Paul Williams, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, encouraging people to exceed federally recommended exercise guidelines may be as important as urging sedentary Americans to begin working out. His research has shown that more vigorous physical activity may cut the risk of stroke, heart attack, glaucoma, and diabetes, among other diseases, by 70 percent in addition to the benefits gained from meeting exercise guidelines. Still, some public health officials say touting Dr. William's approach may discourage sedentary Americans from exercising.
Regular exercise may help fight upper respiratory tract infections. In the Wall Street Journal (1/5) Informed Patient column, Laura Landro writes that, according to experts, regular exercise can help fight upper respiratory tract infections, such as colds and flu. In fact, research shows that people who walk briskly for 30 to 45 minutes five times a week may boost their immune systems, which increases the circulation of cells that fight viruses and bacteria. Meanwhile, studies have found that being sedentary may contribute to heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, depression, arthritis, and osteoporosis. Researchers have also found that regular exercise may help protect against certain forms of cancer.