Dr. Ann

Chronic stress is an underappreciated, yet powerful driver of pathologic weight gain. Chronic stress is a potent driver of ‘toxic’ fat accumulation, and the stress hormone cortisol is the biochemical culprit.  When we experience persistent, daily stress over months to years, cortisol levels rise abnormally high and remain chronically elevated.  This leads to weight gain, […]

Hot foods like chili peppers have been shown to help us eat less, and scientist have just uncovered a big clue as to how. Apparently capsaicin, the compound in hot peppers that gives them their spicy kick, can activate “stretch receptors” in the lining of our stomachs that send signals to the hunger-quieting parts of […]

Fructose, the notorious simple sugar molecule repeatedly singled out for its unique propensity to induce weight gain and metabolic dysfunction, may have a new rival-soybean oil. In a first-of-its-kind laboratory evaluation that really raised my eyebrows, scientists concluded, “soybean oil (a polyunsaturated fat) is more obesigenic and diabetogenic than coconut oil (a saturated fat) and fructose in mice.” For […]

Dining out in full-service restaurants offers equivalent risks to your health and your bodyweight as noshing on fast food.  That was the sobering conclusion from a new report that followed the dietary habits of a representative sample of 18,098 US adults over an eight-year period. The researchers found that when Americans dine out, whether in a fast […]

    In a powerful, first-of-its-kind evaluation, Harvard researchers recently uncovered some valuable new insights concerning weight control. For this study, the researchers carefully monitored the diets and weights of 120,784 adult men and women over a 16 to 24 year period of time. They were specifically looking for relationships between eating more of various […]

  In addition to packing on the pounds, drinking soda may accelerate aging too. In an eye-opening and first-of-its-kind evaluation, scientists found that regular soda drinkers had significantly shorter telomeres than study subjects who drank soda sparingly or less. Telomeres are the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that are considered the most accurate […]

  Think that putting on a few pounds is harmless – think again. In a sobering new study presented at a recent scientific meeting, researchers demonstrated that gaining as little as five pounds is enough to drive up blood pressure, particularly if the weight is gained in the belly. For this eight-week study, scientists had […]

Want a delicious way to improve your metabolic health and rein in your appetite? Eat more arginine-rich foods. Arginine is an amino acid found in high concentrations in some protein foods, and new research indicates it is a powerful ally to help us fight weight gain and type 2 diabetes. In a series of laboratory experiments, […]

March 21, 2014 • Kids Health

Parent Alert

In a study that included over 6,500 American youth ages 10-14, having a television in the bedroom was a significant predictor of weight gain.  By statistical analysis, bedroom televisions account for over 15 million pounds of excess weight gain per year in American adolescents. (And over half of all teens in the US have a […]

The science supporting the adverse health effects of regular red meat consumption continues to roll in and boosting the risk of type 2 diabetes is especially notable. In a powerful new evaluation from Harvard researchers that included over 149,000 adults whose dietary habits were closely monitored over a 20-year period, even very modest increases in […]

August 22, 2012 • Healthy Living

Dangers of Fast Food

In addition to solid evidence that eating fast food promotes weight gain and obesity, it appears this infamous form of industrial food may also dramatically boost the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. For this new study, University of Minnesota researchers followed the dietary habits of 52,000 Singapore residents over a 16 year […]

Up until now, there has never been credible data to support that calories consumed late at night were any more fattening than those consumed during the day.  An intriguing new laboratory study however, reveals “hard data” to the contrary and should give us reason to be particularly food wary during the wee hours of the […]