Image Courtesy Sydney Morning Herald
Pills and diets and workouts – oh my. Go to the health section at the grocery store and look around. Notice how obsessed we are with weight loss in this society. It may be a good thing, seeing as how obesity is a leading cause of preventable death worldwide, but that’s beside the point.
As obesity is linked to such ailments as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, sleep apnea and osteoarthritis, it should be no surprise that there’s a similar obsession with curbing obesity in the field of medical research. Obviously the best approach to combat obesity is a healthy diet and exercise, but researchers at the UT Health Science Center at Houston are beginning to develop a novel approach to control bulging waistlines. The lab of Dr. Mikhail Kolonin, in a study published in Cell Stem Cell, reports on a technique that can be used to target the stem cells that make fat in the adult. Continue reading
You always used to hear that we would find a cure for cancer out in the rainforest somewhere…some chemical extracted from an unknown plant that looked more at home on the planet of Pandora than earth. Turns out, the secret cancer fighting compounds have been hiding right under our noses, torturing small children for ages.
