Obesity

Little girls, as the saying goes, are sugar and spice and everything nice. Now, more and more, they're plus-size too. As apparel makers heed the call of increasingly heftier Americans, they're beginning to look to the youngest as well, launching clothing lines for larger girls. Retail experts say the trend is growing, and more stores are now showing an interest in catering to these harder-to-shop-for girls.

THE Sausage Casing Girls are everywhere this summer, their muffin tops hanging over their hip-skimming jeans, clothes shrink-wrapped around fleshy bodies that look as if they've been stuffed -- like forcemeat -- into teensy tops and skintight pants.

Obesity rates for children in low-income communities with few parks are up to nine times higher than for children in affluent areas with abundant recreational access, according to a new report that analyzes childhood obesity in the cities and communities of Los Angeles County.

Stomach stapling surgery to control obesity, which has grown dramatically in the United States, has a death rate for some groups of patients that is as much as five times higher than was previously thought, researchers report today.

Gastric bypass surgery -- a treatment for obesity that is already known to reduce heart disease and diabetes -- decreases the incidence of cancer by 80% over the five years following the procedure, Canadian researchers reported Wednesday.

Xenical, the new prescription fat-fighting pill due to arrive this week in pharmacies nationwide, is already getting mixed reviews. Many who are trying to lose a lot of weight are understandably eager to take the pill, approved by the Food and Drug Administration last month, because it blocks an enzyme in the gastrointestinal tract and decreases absorption of dietary fat by about 30%.