Sex differences in cardiometabolic risk factors and in response to lifestyle intervention in prepubertal and pubertal subjects with obesity.

Objectives: Childhood obesity is a growing health problem and requires a tailored treatment. This study explored the sex differences in cardiovascular risk factors in children/adolescents with obesity and in response to a weight loss intervention.

Methods: Five hundred and thirty-three children/adolescents with obesity and their parents underwent to a 3-months lifestyle intervention program.

Disability assessment in an Italian cohort of patients with obesity using an International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)-derived questionnaire.

Background: Obesity is a clinical condition that contributes to the development of related disability in different areas (physical, psychological and social). Multidisciplinary treatment calls for specific instruments able to evaluate all related functional problems. We have developed a tool (an ICF-based assessment instrument, the ICF-OB schedule) to evaluate obesity-related disability, composed of an inventory of 71-items from the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).

Ambient Odor Exposure Affects Food Intake and Sensory Specific Appetite in Obese Women.

Food odors are important in food perception not only during consumption, but also in anticipation of food. Even though it is well established that smell is involved in eating behavior, its role in affecting actual food consumption is still unclear, especially in morbidly obese subjects, who are reported to be more affected by sensory cues than lean subjects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of ambient odor exposure on food intake and on sensory specific appetite in obese women.

Effect of a Modest Weight Loss in Normalizing Blood Pressure in Obese Subjects on Antihypertensive Drugs.

Objective: To assess the effect of a lifestyle intervention in lowering/normalizing blood pressure (BP) levels in hypertensive (controlled or not) obese patients.

Methods: In this prospective observational study, 490 obese hypertensive patients, 389 controlled (BP < 140/90 mm Hg; CH) and 101 uncontrolled (BP ≥ 140/90 mm Hg; UH) attended a 3-month lifestyle intervention. Before and after the intervention we assessed weight, waist circumference, fat mass, BP, metabolic and renal variables, and physical activity.

Effects of Greenselect Phytosome® on weight maintenance after weight loss in obese women: a randomized placebo-controlled study.

Background: Most subjects regain weight after weight loss due to compensatory adaptations finalized to maintain stable body energy stores. Green tea (GT) preparations, which help maintain energy expenditure while dieting could be a useful strategy to facilitate weight maintenance. The usefulness of GT preparations in weight maintenance has been poorly studied so far with conflicting results.

Cross-modal interactions for custard desserts differ in obese and normal weight Italian women.

The effects of variation in odors and thickening agents on sensory properties and acceptability of a model custard dessert were investigated in normal weight and obese women. Subjects rated their liking and the intensity of sensory properties (sweetness, vanilla and butter flavors, and creaminess) of 3 block samples (the first varied in vanilla aroma, the second varied in butter aroma and the third varied in xanthan gum). Significant differences were found in acceptability and intensity ratings in relation to body mass index.

Dietary Habits and Cardiometabolic Health in Obese Children.

Background: Prevalence rates of cardiometabolic risk factors vary largely among overweight children. This study investigated the relationships between dietary habits and cardiometabolic health among obese children living in a city of Northern Italy.

Methods: Dietary habits were collected in 448 obese subjects aged 6-18 years, attending an obesity outpatient center in Milan.

Insulin sensitivity deteriorates after short-term lifestyle intervention in the insulin sensitive phenotype of obesity.

Objective: To investigate the effects of a 3-month lifestyle intervention on insulin sensitivity and its related cardiometabolic factors in obese patients.

Methods: Anthropometry, body composition, oral glucose tolerance test, lipids, alanine aminotransferase, insulin sensitivity (insulinogenic index (ISI), homeostasis model assessment, β-cell performance (disposition index)) were evaluated in 263 obese women and 93 obese men before and after 3 months of hypocaloric low fat/high protein diet associated with physical activity 30 min/day.

Results: Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the intervention-induced ISI changes: group 1 (decrease), group 2 (stability) and group 3 (increase).

Quality of life, disability, and body mass index are related in obese patients.

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between health-related quality of life (QoL), disability, and degree of obesity. Adult obese patients (BMI>30) were consecutively enrolled in this cross-sectional observational study. The WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DAS II) and the short version of the impact of weight on QoL (IWQoL-Lite) were administered.

Factors associated with early atherosclerosis and arterial calcifications in young subjects with a benign phenotype of obesity.

We assessed (i) the association between early arterial disease and factors linked to adiposity, dietary habits, and family in a young cohort of 151 obese children and adolescents with less than or equal to one cardiovascular (CV) risk factor, (ii) whether in subjects with carotid calcifications there was an imbalance of calcium-phosphorus homeostasis. Measurement included: carotid ultrasound, oral glucose tolerance test, anthropometry, body composition, dietary history, white blood cells count, lipids, uric acid, adiponectin, insulin, C-reactive protein, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), 25-hydroxyvitamin D, parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium and phosphorus. Obese children with carotid artery intima media thickness (cIMT) values >75° percentile (0.

Childhood obesity: the epidemic of the third millenium.

Background: Italy is the European country with the most obese and overweight children and teenagers. Most of them have a family history of obesity and this condition may increase the risk of many diseases.

Methods: This study involved 52 patients (32 females and 20 males) between 6 and 17 years of age with an average BMI of31.

Nutritional management of anorexic patients with and without fluoxetine: 1-year follow-up.

This study evaluated the efficacy of nutritional management with and without fluoxetine (FLX) in anorexia nervosa diagnosed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria. Twenty-one patients, with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 15.21+/-2.