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A survey of more than 33,000 Italian high school students reveals that both underweight and overweight teens consume 20 to 40% more illegal drugs than their normal-weight peers. The work, led by Sabrina Molinaro and Francesca Denoth of the Italian National Research Council, is reported in the Nov. 16 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE. Check the end of this report for a link to download the full-text article.

Obese patients enrolled in a weight-loss program delivered over the phone by health coaches and with website and physician support lost weight and kept it off for two years, according to new Johns Hopkins research. The program was just as effective as another weight-loss program that involved in-person coaching sessions. A report on the research was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

About 14 percent of Philadelphia’s high school students are considered overweight, and while a myriad of research has been published on what schools, communities and parents can do to help curb these rates, very little information exists on what the teens themselves are doing to lose weight. Research led by public health doctoral candidate Clare Lenhart has found that while most obese teens in Philadelphia report wanting to lose weight, their actions are more of a hindrance than a help.

The potato’s stereotype as a fattening food for health-conscious folks to avoid is getting another revision today as scientists report that just a couple servings of spuds a day reduces blood pressure almost as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain. Scientists reported on the research, done on a group of overweight people with high blood pressure, at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), being held here this week.

States spend up to $15 billion a year in medical expenses related to obesity, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International, Duke University, and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The study, published online in Obesity, updates 2004 state-by-state estimates of obesity-attributable medical expenditures. The report also provides rough estimates of the share of obesity expenditures in each state that are funded by taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid.

Adults rate drug abuse and childhood obesity as the top health concerns for kids in their communities, according to the fifth annual survey of the top 10 health concerns for kids conducted by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health. Check the end of this report for a link to download the complete report.

High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and smoking in middle age can cause vascular damage, decrease brain volume, and cause cognitive decline later in life, a study led by researchers at UC Davis has found. The study is published in the Aug. 2 issue of Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

A new study suggests smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, and being overweight in middle age may cause brain shrinkage and lead to cognitive problems up to a decade later. The study is published in the August 2, 2011, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Current approaches to dietary counseling for obesity are heavily rooted in the notion of personal choice and will power – the ability to choose healthy foods and portion sizes consistent with weight loss while foregoing sweets and comfort foods. According to preventive medicine and behavioral experts at Rush University Medical Center, research supports a new counseling approach that views obesity as a result of neurobehavioral processes – ways in which the brain controls eating behavior in response to cues in the environment.