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Eating breakfast causes obese people to be more active, according to the latest research published from our health researchers. The study, from health scientists based within the  Department for Health and published in the leading diet and nutrition journal the  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , analysed the links between breakfast and health for individuals classed as 'obese', comparing the results from a fasting group with a breakfasting group.

New research at the University of Liverpool has confirmed that unhealthy food advertising increases food intake in children. Researchers, led by Dr Emma Boyland from the University's Institute of Psychology, Health & Society , reviewed and analysed 22 separate studies that had examined the impact of acute, experimental unhealthy food advertising exposure on food consumption.

Suppressing levels of a specific brain receptor can help to protect against diet-induced obesity as well as health concerns such as type-2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.‌ Lower levels of p75 neurotrophin receptor (NTR) - a receptor involved in neuron growth and survival - has been shown to "put the brakes" on the body's metabolism of fat.

People have evolved to have subconscious urges to over-eat, and limited ability to avoid becoming obese, especially in winter, a study by the Universities of Bristol and Exeter has found. There is not yet an evolutionary mechanism to help us overcome the lure of sweet, fatty and unhealthy food and avoid becoming overweight for understandable and sensible reasons, according to researchers.

Droughts hit cereal crops harder since 1980s, study shows Drought and extreme heat events in Europe slashed cereal harvests in recent decades by up to 20 per cent according to new research by the University of Sussex and Canadian academics. At a time when global warming is projected to produce more extreme weather yields and production around the world.

New research published in The Lancet has shown that a drug, currently used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, can be effective in clearing fatty liver disease from some patients. The researchers from the University of Birmingham believe that the findings present the possibility of new therapies for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, for which there is no current licensed treatment.

Use of low energy sweeteners (LES) in place of sugar, in children and adults, leads to reduced calorie intake and body weight - and possibly also when comparing LES beverages to water - according to a review led by researchers at the University of Bristol published in the International Journal of Obesity today.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool, working with a global healthcare company, have helped develop a new treatment for obesity. The treatment, which is a once-daily injectable derivative of a metabolic hormone called GLP-1 conventionally used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, has proved successful in helping non-diabetic obese patients lose weight.

Metabolic or bariatric surgery may be more effective than standard medical treatments for the long-term control of type 2 diabetes in obese patients, according to a new study by King's College London and the Universita Cattolica in Rome, Italy. The study, published in the Lancet , is the first to provide data on five-year outcomes of surgery from a randomized clinical trial specifically designed to compare this new approach against standard medical therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

A new study led by scientists at King's College London shows that preserving the natural structure of dietary fibre during food production can help to slow the rise in blood sugar levels after a meal. This finding may lead the way for the development of a new generation of food products that contain similar ingredients to existing products, but with a more natural, enzyme resistant structure around the starch that enables it to be digested more slowly.

Research has shown that a regular dose of aspirin reduces the long-term risk of cancer in those who are overweight. Researchers found that being overweight more than doubled the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch Syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder which affects genes responsible for detecting and repairing damage in the DNA.

Imperial researchers have shed new light on the link between obesity and breast cancer in post-menopausal women. "The link between obesity and breast cancer in post-menopausal women has been identified, but is not fully understood," says Dr Marc Gunter, from Imperial's School of Public Health, who led the research.

A new study suggests that women may not need to 'eat for two' during pregnancy because the body could adapt to absorb more energy from food. The findings, which are based on hormone research carried out in fruit flies, may also help to explain why some women struggle to lose weight after giving birth.

A new pilot study from Karolinska Institutet and the University of Oxford has shown how important the support from grandparents could be in protecting against child obesity. According to the study, published in Pediatric Obesity , emotional support from grandparents may have a preventative effect against child obesity, even with the presence of other risk factors.

Sugar sweetened drinks may give rise to nearly two million diabetes cases over ten years in the US and 80,000 in the UK, estimates a study published in the BMJ.

Have you ever found yourself preferring to eat with one spoon rather than another? Or maybe you've found yourself pondering which is the best set of cutlery to buy for your home, by judging how good it 'looks', or rather, how good it 'feels' in the hand? While the design (think shape, material, ergonomics) of the cutlery is what we all think that we are judging, maybe what drives our preference for one eating utensil over another is an often overlooked but substantial characteristic: Its weight.

A diet and exercise regime for high-risk obese pregnant women, whilst effective in promoting a healthy lifestyle, does not prevent gestational diabetes, finds a study led by King's College London. The findings, published in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, suggest that programmes promoting healthy behaviours are unlikely to be effective in preventing gestational diabetes in obese women; instead, resources should be directed towards better screening and treatment, including the use of a more stringent threshold for diagnosis.

A study co-authored by Oxford researchers says spikes in food prices during the last global recession can be linked with the increase in malnutrition among children in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 2009. The researchers examined the proportion of children who experienced 'wasting', a widely used measure of malnutrition that shows a child has a lower than expected weight given their height (based on World Health Organization standards).

Dr Richard Coulton, based at QMUL's School of English and Drama, reflects on the discovery of Britain's oldest tea. Dr Coulton is one of three authors of a forthcoming book, Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World. Last week we released a news story about our discovery of Britain's oldest tea leaves alongside colleagues at the Natural History Museum in London.

Drinking water or unsweetened tea or coffee in place of one sugary drink per day can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to research published today in the journal Diabetologia . Our study adds further important evidence to the recommendation from the World Health Organization to limit the intake of free sugars in our diet Nita Forouhi The study indicates that for each 5% increase of a person's total energy intake provided by sweet drinks including soft drinks, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes may increase by as much as 18%.