Being told you're fat may make you gain more weight

People's comments affect our health

Women whose loved ones are critical of their weight tend to put on even more, according to a new study on the way people's comments affect our health. Published in the journal Personal Relationships, the study by the University of Waterloo in Canada found that university-aged women who received comparatively few weight acceptance messages from their loved ones gained almost 2kg on average over the five-month study, whereas women who received comparatively more weight acceptance messages lost 450 grams.

Bilberries reduce dangers of a high-fat diet

Eating bilberries diminishes the adverse effects of a high-fat diet, according to a recent study by University of Eastern Finland. In the study, mice were fed a high-fat diet for three months; some of the mice were fed either 5 per cent or 10 per cent of freeze-dried bilberries in the diet. Mice on the high-fat diet experienced significant weight gain and detrimental changes in glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammation factors and blood pressure. Bilberries diminished the inflammatory effects of the high-fat diet and also prevented elevated blood pressure.

Urban stressors may contribute to rising rate of diabetes

As people in developing nations relocate from rural areas to cities, the increased stress is affecting their hormone levels and making them more susceptible to diabetes and other metabolic disorders, finds a new study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Chronic exposure to the stress hormone cortisol may raise a person's risk of developing those conditions. Cortisol can counteract insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar, and slow the body's production of it. The researchers examined about 120 ethnic OvaHimba people of Namibia - half of whom lived in the regional capital and the other half in rural areas. Among the urban residents, 28 per cent had diabetes or other glucose metabolism disorders. The rate was less than half that for rural residents. The urban dwellers also had significantly higher cortisol levels than their rural counterparts.