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The keynote speaker at Queensland's first obesity summit says the notion of "puppy fat" in children is a myth. Dozens of health and associated professionals have gathered at Brisbane's Parliament House for the two-day forum. Professor Louise Baur say research shows at least one in five children entering school is already overweight or obese. She says puppy fat leads to a minefield of social and medical problems later in life. "The child will not necessarily grow out of it, in fact they're highly likely not to," she said. "Overweight and obesity in children and young people is associated with very...

THE US obesity problem might be more serious than previously believed and most adults in the United States were at risk of becoming overweight or obese, US researchers said today. In a government study that followed 4000 participants over 30 years, researchers found that 90 per cent of men and 70 per cent of women were overweight or later became overweight. "National surveys and other studies have told us that the United States has a major weight problem, but this study suggests that we could have an even more serious degree of overweight and obesity (cases) over the next few...

A STUDY published today found that people who sleep less tend to be fat, and experts said it was time to find out if more sleep would fight obesity. "We've put so much emphasis on diet and exercise that we've failed to recognise the value of good sleep," said Fred Turek, a physician at Northwestern University in the US. "In fact society emphasises just the opposite", he said, pointing to workplaces where long work days were common. Today's study from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk covered 1000 people and found that total sleep time decreased as body mass index...