The new report adds to the growing body of evidence indicating that childhood obesity is linked to a lack of exercise, and not to caloric consumption. Echoing recent studies published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the new report shows that regardless of food intake, exercise is the central determinant of whether kids are overweight.

"The clear evidence showing physical activity levels to be the prime determinant of childhood obesity has not prevented groups like the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) from trying to impose its puritanical diet on the rest of us," said Dan Mindus, senior analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom. "Just yesterday the group launched a campaign to have warning labels placed on soda cans."

Among the findings of the new Lancet report:

"These results suggest that habitual activity plays an important role in weight gain, with no parallel evidence that energy intake had a similar role." "The composite findings from NGHS so far indicate that the drastic decline in habitual activity during adolescence might be a major factor in the doubling of the rate of obesity development in the USA in the past two decades, since no concomitant increase in energy intake was apparent." "Our results provide evidence that physical activity plays a substantial and independent part in the rate of gain in BMI during adolescence."

Mindus continued, "This study is one more brick in the wall of evidence showing that physical activity -- not caloric intake -- determines obesity levels in children. It should give pause to the groups that use the so-called 'obesity epidemic' as an excuse to tax, regulate, and litigate away our food and beverage choices."

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit coalition supported by restaurants, food companies, and consumers, working together to promote personal responsibility and protect consumer choices.

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He noted that bone fracture is a serious problem for elderly people, especially those with osteoporosis. Bone fracture is one of the leading factors in decreasing quality of life for the elderly. "Cancer and heart disease can kill you but bone fracture and arthritis make you miserable," he said. "Once a serious bone fracture occurs, then quality of life goes down. Less than one-third of elderly women who have a hip fracture return to previous function. More women die within a year of hip fracture than die after a heart attack. So it's a very serious problem and a lot of work has been done to develop good diagnostics. The leading diagnostic is bone mineral density."

Measuring bone mineral density is valuable because it reveals how much bone a person has left. The amount of an individual's bone mineral density peaks around age 30, then decreases for the rest of his or her life. By the time the person becomes elderly, very serious bone loss may have occurred.

"As if this weren't bad enough, it is also true that the materials properties of the bone decrease with age," said Hansma. "Not only is there less bone, but what exists is less strong. The cause of this is not well understood. Our research is aimed at understanding that."

Hansma noted that bone has been studied extensively since Galileo. "Galileo wrote a really nice paper about bone, describing why elephants need thicker bones than small animals." He said that a paper on bone is published every six minutes. And although bone is extensively studied, little is known about how it works at the molecular level. "Our paper is the beginning research on this."

Hansma and his colleagues at UCSB have pioneered the use of the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) in looking at the nano-scale level of biological materials “ down to a billionth of a meter. Before the use of the AFM, it was impossible to see these tiny molecular structures.

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