Sliding Scale

Obesity-related health problems may often lead people to skip work, reports a study in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Researches found that as BMI increased, so did survey respondents’ sick days. Conditions associated with obesity (a BMI of 30 or more) like diabetes, heart disease, and sleep apnea may cause weightier workers to call in sick more often, says lead researcher and economist John Cawley, Ph.D.

Drop Trou... Size

Eat and shed: Whole grains can shrink belly fat, reports a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. One group of obese subjects ate an average of five daily servings of only refined grains, such as white rice, bread, and pasta, for 12 weeks: the second ate a similar number of servings of whole grains for the same period. All the subjects cut 500 calories from their daily diets. Participants lost an average of 8 to 11 pounds, but refined-grain eaters lost less than 1 percent of their ab fat, while whole-grain grazers lost 2.2 percent. It’s unclear why the latter dropped more ab flab, but abdominal fat is associated with a higher risk of heart disease, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes, says lead researcher Heather Katcher, Ph.D. Remember: Grains are our friends! Get at least two and a half servings per day from oatmeal, brown rice, or granola.