Obesity | featured news

Should overweight passengers pay more for their flights than skinny fliers? One Norwegian economist thinks so. In an article in this month's Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Bharat P. Bhatta writes that "All passengers are not alike in terms of their weight and the space they take in a plane." Weight and space, he said, are the major concerns on board an aircraft."

Health-care facilities are making accommodations to take care of their heaviest patients.

Coca-Cola became one of the world's most powerful brands by equating its soft drinks with happiness. Now it's taking to the airwaves for the first time to address a growing cloud over the industry: obesity.

The number of low-income preschoolers who qualify as obese or "extremely obese" has dropped over the last decade, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.

A soda that claims to prevent the absorption of fat in your body is launching in Japan this week. What’s next, cavity-reducing candy?

Even a few nights of sleep deprivation, according to a new study, can make your fat cells behave like they're much older and less responsive to the hormone that controls metabolism.

Kids with higher levels of the widely used substance BPA in their bodies are more likely to be obese, according to the first large-scale, nationally representative study to link an environmental chemical with obesity in children and teens.

About two-thirds of adults in Mississippi and several other states will be obese by 2030 if obesity rates continue to climb as they are now, an analysis reports today.

Finally, there’s good news on the child obesity front. A new study published online today suggests that inexpensive, community-based obesity intervention programs can work very well for kids who struggle with weight issues.

American children eat as much salt as adults - about 1,000 milligrams too much, or the same amount as in just one Big Mac. Extra salt is linked with higher blood pressure, even in kids, but government research says those who are overweight and obese may be most vulnerable to its effects....