hormones

Most people have a sweet tooth. It's the ultimate comfort food. But, that candy bar could make you less manly. A new study claims glucose, i.e. sugar, decreases testosterone levels.

Presented at the Endocrine Society's Annual Meeting, researchers found that of the 74 men tested, 73 had significantly lower levels of testosterone two hours after being administered glucose.

While it may be somewhat apocryphal, legend has it that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon traveled to Florida in search of the Fountain of Youth. And though he was more likely there to search for gold and expand the Spanish empire, the story of vitality-restoring water is one that continues to intrigue us to this day.

The Cheat To Lose Diet is a new book from Body-for-Life Grand Champion Joel Marion.

Body-for-Life (started around 1996) in many ways marked a change in traditional dieting principles. It advocated plenty of aerobic and strength training, along with frequent higher-protein smaller meals, and - of course - the "free" or "cheat" day.

Mr Marion has delved considerably deeper into these concepts - using his own experiences to come up with the "Cheat to Lose" concept.

When I first saw this research - it seemed almost farcical: stressed out mice, eating junk food got fat.

Did the mice work 60 hour weeks - stopping by the McDonald's drive-thru on the way back to the lab? Did they manage to force two cohabiting mice to get a divorce? Or maybe moving from one mouse house to another was enough stress?

Not so farcical - almost all major media outlets around the world heralded this as "landmark" research" heralding a new way to lose fat without surgery.

A new study published in The American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism shows that the Symlin hormone, currently used to treat diabetes, can help people feel fuller and reduce the desire to binge and eat high-fat foods.

According to new research a high-calorie, low-fiber Western diet is the cause of childhood obesity. For some this may sound obvious - however this research digs far deeper into the relationship between our modern diet and what it is doing to our kids.

Researchers are working on a vaccine to prevent obesity. The vaccine will target the hormone ghrelin. This hormone has been the subject of considerable research in recent years, and is (among other things) related to appetite stimulation.

Research shows that body shape varies with the seasons. The changes are not intentional - but are due to seasonal variations in hormone levels. "...women's waist-to-hip ratio (how big the waist is relative to the hips) is highest during autumn, and central measures of fat deposition, like abdominal fat, were also somewhat higher in autumn."