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Obesity Updates:

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Daily energy expenditure and holiday weight gain
It is estimated that the average U.S. adult gains ∼0.5 to 1.0 kg annually. Compared with body weight (BW) in late September/early October (pre-holiday), it has been shown that there is a significant average net BW gain (0.5 ± 2.2 kg) in late February/early March (after the holiday). Interestingly, >75% of net BW gain (0.4 ± 1.5 kg) occurs during the holiday period, beginning just before Thanksgiving and ending shortly after New Year's Day. This suggests that a significant percentage of the average annual BW gain in U.S. adults occurs during the winter holiday quarter and is maintained throughout the following year. No one has investigated the effect of free-living daily total energy expenditure (TEE) measured via doubly labeled water on body weight (BW) change during the winter holiday. The purpose of this study was to determine whether adult men and women who burn more total daily calories than predicted for their age, height and BW were protected against holiday BW gain. Results from this study found no correlations between change in BW and TEE. Sixty-five percent of men and 58 percent of women gained ≥0.5 kg BW, with ∼50 percent of both groups gaining ≥1 percent of pre-holiday BW. Obese men (BMI ≥30) gained more BW than did obese women. This suggests that higher baseline pre-holiday daily TEE is not protective of weight gain during the winter holidays; therefore,  it is likely that the gain may be attributed to increased food consumption and/or reduced physical activity during the holiday quarter.

Does dairy affect weight loss?
Dairy consumption has been extensively studied for its possible roles in body weight regulation, but the available data conflict on the effect of dairy product consumption on weight loss. The goals of this report were to conduct a systematic review and a meta-analysis of published randomized controlled clinical trials to summarize the evidence on the effect of dairy consumption on body weight and composition. The results from the meta-analysis indicate that increasing dairy consumption without energy restriction might not lead to a significant change in weight and body composition; however, inclusion of dairy products in weight-loss energy-restricted diets would result in a greater reduction of weight, fat mass and waist circumference and gain in lean body mass compared with the conventional weight loss diets.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme and weight maintenance
Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is a zinc metallopeptidase that is important for blood pressure control, and water and salt metabolism via the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. ACE is an essential metabolic enzyme and is positively associated with obesity. Recently, researchers have found that the circulating level of ACE is an important predictor of weight-loss maintenance in overweight/obese female participants of the Diogenes project, a Pan-European dietary intervention study in overweight/obese families. The authors of this report decided to investigate whether ACE also acted as a predictor of weight-loss maintenance in 125 overweight/obese healthy male participants of the Diogenes project. Serum ACE concentration decreased by 11.3±10.6 percent during the weight-loss period, and a greater reduction was associated with less body weight regain during the weight maintenance period (r=0.227, P=0.012). Modulating ACE activity by using ACE inhibitors may influence weight regulation. This information may help to design personalized weight-loss maintenance programs, because overweight/obese people with little ACE reduction during weight loss may need more guidance and extra measures to maintain their lost weight.