TUESDAY, Feb. 14 -- People who drank water or diet beverages instead of calorie-laden drinks lost 4 to 5 pounds over half a year, according to new research.

The study included 318 overweight or obese people divided into three groups: those who switched to water from high-calorie beverages; those who switched to diet soft drinks; and those who weren't advised to change beverages but were given general information about healthy choices that could help them lose weight (the control group).

Over the six-month study, all three groups had small reductions in weight and waist circumference. But those who switched to calorie-free beverages were twice as likely to lose 5 percent or more of their body weight than those in the control group.

In addition, the investigators found that people who drank mostly water had lower fasting glucose levels and better hydration levels than those in the control group.

Percentage of weight loss and lower blood-sugar levels are important because they're associated with improvements in risk factors for obesity-related chronic diseases, according to study author Deborah Tate, an associate professor of nutrition and of health behavior at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health and member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Substituting noncaloric beverages -- whether it's water, diet soft drinks or something else -- can be a clear and simple change for people who want to lose or maintain weight," she said in a university news release. "If this were done on a large scale, it could significantly reduce the increasing public health problem of obesity."

The study appears online and in the March print issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Weight loss among the participants in this study was less than that seen in more intensive, clinic-based behavioral lifestyle modification programs, the researchers said. However, they noted that asking people to change just one part of their diet (in this case, beverages) is consistent with previous findings recommending small but potentially more sustainable lifestyle changes to improve health.

"Substituting specific foods or beverages that provide a substantial portion of daily calories may be a useful strategy for modest weight loss or weight gain prevention," Tate said. "Beverages may be ideal targets, but keep in mind, the strategy will only work if the person doesn't make up for the lost calories some other way."

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, news release, Feb. 13, 2012

FRIDAY, Feb. 3 -- A smaller plate won't help you eat less, says a new study that challenges a widely held belief.

"Smaller plates are often recommended as a way of controlling intake, but that simply isn't an effective strategy," senior researcher Meena Shah, a professor of kinesiology at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, said in a news release. "There was no plate size, weight status, or plate size by weight status effect on meal energy intake."

The study included 10 overweight or obese women and 10 normal weight women who were randomly assigned to have lunch using either a small (8.5-inch) or large (10.8-inch) plate. The women were told to serve themselves and eat until they were satisfied.

The women did this on two different days, using a different-size plate each time.

"It is possible that plate size does not have an impact on energy intake because people eat until they are full regardless of what utensils they are using," Shah said.

She noted that overweight and obese women "reported lower levels of hunger and prospective consumptions before the meals and felt less full after the meals compared to normal weight subjects despite no difference in energy consumption between two groups. This suggests that overweight/obese individuals may have a lower ability to sense hunger and fullness than normal weight adults."

The study was recently published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Texas Christian University, news release, January 2012

THURSDAY, Feb. 2 -- A warning to certain types as those Super Bowl parties approach: People with a need to please others are more likely to eat too much in social situations, a new study suggests.

"People pleasers feel more intense pressure to eat when they believe that their eating will help another person feel more comfortable," study lead author Julie Exline, a psychologist at Case Western Reserve University, said in a university news release. "Almost everyone has been in a situation in which they've felt this pressure, but people pleasers seem especially sensitive to it."

But there's an emotional cost to this behavior, according to the report published in the current issue of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

"Those who overeat in order to please others tend to regret their choices later. It doesn't feel good to give in to social pressures," Exline said.

The study included 101 college students who completed a questionnaire that assessed their characteristics for having a people-pleasing personality, such as putting others' needs before their own, worrying about hurting others and being sensitive to criticism.

Each of the participants was then seated alone with a female actor who posed as another study volunteer. The actor was given a bowl of candy and took a small handful (about five pieces) before offering the bowl to the study participant.

Being a people pleaser was associated with taking more candy, both in the laboratory experiment and in a second study involving the participants' recollection of real-life eating situations.

People pleasers "don't want to rock the boat or upset the sense of social harmony," Exline explained.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Case Western Reserve University, news release, Jan. 31, 2012

Study: Obese People Are in Pain More Often, Even if They Are Healthy

By Brenda Goodman, MA
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Jan. 30, 2012 -- A large new study shows that obesity and pain often go hand in hand. That appears to be true even if an obese person is otherwise healthy.

Researchers say that begs some questions: Can extra pounds cause pain? If so, how does fat make us hurt?

A slew of chronic conditions that cause pain are also more common in people who are overweight and obese. Those conditions include arthritis, depression, fibromyalgia, type 2 diabetes, and back pain.

So the assumption has been that being obese makes a person more likely to have multiple medical problems, and many of these conditions may cause pain.

The new survey, however, which included responses from more than 1 million Americans, found that the relationship between obesity and pain persisted even after researchers tried to account for the influences of other pain-causing health problems.

"Being sick can cause pain, but that doesn't necessarily take care of the relationship between obesity and pain," says researcher Arthur A. Stone, PhD, distinguished professor and vice chairman of the department of psychiatry at the Stony Brook University Medical Center in Stony Brook, N.Y.

The study is published in the journal Obesity.

Obesity and Pain in America

For the study, researchers relied on data collected by telephone surveys conducted by the Gallup organization from 2008 to 2010.

The majority of survey participants were white (85.1%) and had at least a high school education (94.2%).

Every survey participant was asked to report their height and weight. Based on that information, 36.8% of people in the study fell into the low or normal body mass index (BMI) category, 38.3% were considered overweight, and 24.9% were considered obese.

People were asked if they had experienced physical pain the previous day. They were also asked if they had neck, back, leg, or knee conditions that had caused pain during the last 12 months, or if they'd experienced any other condition that caused recurring pain.

They were also asked about the presence of a variety of other medical conditions, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, diabetes, heart attack, and depression. Researchers found that as weight increased, so did the likelihood that a person would be experiencing pain.

Compared to normal-weight people in the survey, people in the overweight group -- those with BMIs between 25 and 29 -- had about 20% more pain. People with BMIs between 30 and 34 had about 68% more pain. Those with BMIs between 35 and 39 had 136% more pain, and those with BMIs over 40 reported having 254% more pain.

As expected, chronic pain conditions accounted for a good portion of those results.

And researchers recognize that the relationships between chronic health problems and pain and obesity are complex. In some cases, it could be that having arthritis makes a person less likely to move around, which makes them more likely to gain weight. In others, it may be that being overweight puts strain on the joints, which leads to joint problems that cause pain.

When researchers accounted for the influences of other health problems and pain causing conditions, being overweight was no longer associated with being in pain.

But people who were obese still reported more pain than those with normal BMIs. Researchers caution that their findings are just an association. They don't prove that fat alone causes pain.

But they mirror a handful of other, smaller studies that have also found links between pain and obesity, even when there were no other chronic conditions to explain the findings.

So they say it makes sense that there might be another mechanism connected to having a lot of fatty tissue or to problems with the body's metabolism that might explain the pain.

Can Fat Cause Pain?

The study wasn't able to explain how fat might cause pain.

But Stone says that fat cells are known to make chemicals that increase inflammation. "And we know that inflammation is very closely linked to pain perception, so there's the possibility that there's some connection through that kind of process."

He says those questions will ultimately need to be addressed by other researchers.

SOURCES: Stone, A. Obesity, published online Jan. 30, 2012.News release, Stony Brook University.Arthur A. Stone, PhD, distinguished professor and vice chairman, department of psychiatry, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, N.Y.