Weight Reduction

For a country in which roughly 200 million people are overweight or obese, scientists today have discouraging news: Even those who maintain a healthy weight probably should be eating less. Evidence has been mounting for years that the practice of caloric restriction -- essentially, going on a permanent diet -- greatly reduces the risk of age-related diseases and even postpones death. It has been shown to significantly extend the lives of yeast, worms, flies, spiders, fish, mice and rats.

Casting doubt on the benefit of low-calorie sweeteners, research released Sunday reported that rats on diets containing saccharin gained more weight than rats given sugary food. The study in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience found that the calorie-free artificial sweetener appeared to break the physiological connection between sweet tastes and calories, driving the rats to overeat. Lyn M.

If he's good enough to be Oprah's personal trainer and food muse, surely he's got some tipsfor the rest of us. In his book "The Best Life Diet," exercise physiologist and fitness author Bob Greene expands on his signature concept: Weight loss is a lifetime commitment that starts within. -- Are you seeing changes in the way people are approaching food and exercise?

MOST people who maintain a substantial weight loss work to keep their calories low -- between 1,200 and 1,700 a day for women, and 1,800 to 2,200 for men (depending on factors such as metabolism and amounts of exercise). That's far fewer calories than the amount consumed by most people who have never lost a great deal of weight. So what does a 1,600-calorie diet look like compared with what can be a typical day's worth of food?

Parents WHO think their teenager is overweight are no more likely to banish junk food and keep healthful foods around the house than those who don't -- or to encourage habits such as family meals, less eating in front of the tube and more exercise. But they are more likely to urge their teen to diet. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota and published this month in Pediatrics, was part of a larger one gauging the weight and eating habits of 902 Minneapolis-St.

Weight loss surgery works, but is so invasive and has such unpleasant long-term side effects that it's recommended for only a fraction of the obese population, and even many in that group are reluctant to undergo the surgery. In hunting for a simpler and safer alternative, researchers have zeroed in on a nerve that carries much of the communication between brain and gut.

Americans love eating out -- and that affection for restaurant food is growing. Restaurant industry sales were $379 billion in 2000, reaching an estimated $558 billion in 2008, according to the National Restaurant Assn. But there's a price to pay beyond the tab -- thicker waistlines. Many restaurant items are laden with fat and calories, far more than most people would estimate. But eating out doesn't have to be unhealthful.

A long-running comparison of three diet plans found that the low-carbohydrate Atkins regimen and a Mediterranean diet rich in fish and nuts produced slightly greater weight loss than a low-fat program modeled on American Heart Assn. dietary guidelines.

"Sometimes people don't understand it," said Ruby Gettinger by telephone from Savannah, Ga., where she lives. "I'm a very happy person. They ask me, 'Ruby, if you had to do it all over again, would you be big or small?' I always say I'd rather be big. Because I feel like I'm a better person because of it because I don't judge people. And I'm not mean. I like the person I am.

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday fined the marketers of four weight-loss pills $25 million for making false advertising claims including rapid weight loss and cancer prevention. FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said that the products would remain on store shelves, but that the companies would have to stop making the false claims. "What we challenge is the marketing of the claims," she said.