WASHINGTON (AFP) - Americans spoke out strongly against bosses who fire workers who are obese or smoke, a poll showed Thursday.

But around one-third of poll respondents said employers should be allowed to require staff to attend smoking cessation sessions or weight-loss programs.

"Employers have been making headlines recently for adopting stricter wellness policies in order to control healthcare costs," Harris Interactive's head of healthcare research, Katherine Binns, said in a statement.

"Companies such as Scotts (gardening) and Weyco (healthcare) have fired employees who tested positive for nicotine," the statement said.

A Massachusetts man last year sued Scotts for firing him for smoking on his own time, a report in the Boston Globe said.

His suit said he was unfairly sacked for "engaging in legal activities away from the workplace," the Globe report said.

Michigan-based Weyco instituted a policy in 2005 that allows employees to be laid off if they smoke, regardless of whether they engage in the habit at work or at home.

The company subsequently fired four employees who refused to be tested for nicotine, press reports said, with other reports saying Weyco staff members were fired after tests showed they had nicotine in their blood.

The poll conducted for The Wall Street Journal also showed that the number of Americans who feel the obese and smokers should pay higher healthcare premiums than their non-smoking and slim counterparts was significantly down form last year.

Thirty-seven percent said it was fair for people with unhealthy lifestyles to pay more for health insurance than their healthier counterparts, compared to 53 percent last year.

Eight out of 10 of those who said the unhealthy should carry a bigger health insurance burden also said it was unfair to ask people with healthy lifestyles to subsidize those who choose to smoke or pile on the pounds.

Three-quarters of those polled baby items said they believed higher insurance premiums for unhealthy living could encourage people to live more healthily.

 PARIS (AFP) - A quarter of men and women in 63 countries were found to be obese in a massive study of more than 168,000 people, France's top medical research institute said Monday.

An additional 40 percent of men and 30 percent of women were classified as overweight according to the study, published last week in the US journal of the American Heart Association.

"This is the largest study of this kind every carried out that gives a 'snapshot' measure of obesity using the same methods across the world," said lead researcher Beverly Balkau, a scientist at France's National Institute for Health and Medical Research.

The data was collected in over two half-day periods in each country.

"The results show that we are facing a true epidemic: between 50 and 66 percent of the world's population is either overweight or obese," she said in a communique.

Balkau called on governments to be more aggressive in promoting physical exercise and balanced diets.

The benchmark for obesity is the body-mass index (BMI), defined as one's weight in kilograms divided by the square of one's height in meters.

A BMI from 18.5 up to 25 is considered in the healthy range, from 25 up to 30 is overweight, and 30 or higher is obese.

The rate of obesity varied from one country to the next, ranging from seven percent for both sexes in East and Southeast Asia to 36 percent for men and women in Canada.

Obesityart levels for women topped out at 38 and 40 percent in the Middle East and Africa.

But even in Asia, the study found, the proportion of the adult population that was overweight was roughly the same as in other countries with higher rates of obesity.

Lower levels of obesity in South and East Asia "are not necessarily reassuring, as the impact of adiposity" -- the technical term for excess fat -- "is rising and may be more acute in certain populations," the study said.

Called International Day for Evaluation of Abdominal Obesity, the study showed that the accumulation of midriff fat significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and certain forms of diabetes.

Fifty-six percent of men have waist lines more than 94 centimeters in circumference (36 inches), while 71 percent of women have bellies that measure at least 81 centimeters (32 inches) around.

For men, an increase in waist size of 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) above normal increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by 36 percent. An increase of 15 centimeters (six inches) in women enhances the chances of heart trouble by 40 percent.

The corresponding risks for diabetes are even higher: 59 and 83 percent.

The study was based on an arbitrary sampling of doctor's patients in both rural and urban areas.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists have found how to switch hunger on and off using a molecule that targets the brain -- a discovery which could stop weight loss in terminally ill patients or produce weight loss in the morbidly obese.

When normal and obese mice were treated with MIC-1 they ate less and lost a lot of weight, suggesting that MIC-1 may also be used to treat severe obesity, said the Sydney researchers in a statement received on Tuesday.

"This work has given us a better understanding of the part of the brain that regulates appetite," said Herbert Herzog, director of neuroscience research at the Garvan Institute in Sydney.

"Our bodies send complex chemical signals to our brains, which interpret them and send back responses, in this case eat or don't eat. Our research indicated that MIC-1 is a previously unrecognized molecule sending a don't eat signal to the brain," Herzog said.

The researchers said it was hoped that in the near future, the MIC-1 findings will prevent a sizeable proportion of advanced cancer patients from "literally wasting away."

Sam Breit at St Vincent's Centre for Immunology, who originally cloned the MIC-1 gene, said he believed the findings could have a significant impact on a range of appetite-related disorders.

"Injecting mice with MIC-1 protein also made them stop eating, suggesting that it may be possible to use this to advantage for treating patients with severe obesity," he said.antiques

The MIC-1 findings were published in the latest Nature Medicine magazine and the team of researchers led by St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney hope to develop a human antibody and run clinical trials in the next few years.

 MONDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The quality of care received by vulnerable elderly Medicare, Medicaid patients is barely acceptable, a team of U.S. researchers report.

The study found that vulnerable elderly patients -- those at risk of death or functional decline -- received only 65 percent of tests and other diagnostic evaluations and treatments recommended for a number of illnesses and conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.

"Thirty-five percent of the medical care interventions they should have received were not provided, indicating significant room for improvement. We'd much rather have everything higher -- say, at least 90 percent," lead author Dr. David S. Zingmond, assistant professor of general internal medicine and health services research at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.

One specific example cited by Zingmond and his colleagues: Only 42 percent of patients with diabetes were tested to assess their blood sugar control or received an eye examination during the one-year period covered by the study.blushbulgariburgundybuttonscables

The findings are published in the October issue of the journal Medical Care.

 CHICAGO (Reuters) - Patients who undergo weight-loss stomach surgery have a higher death rate than is true for the general population, including more suicides, perhaps linked to depression, researchers said on Monday.

Dr. Bennet Omalu and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh said a review of more than 16,000 bariatric operations done in Pennsylvania over a nine-year period found a "substantial excess of deaths owing to suicide and coronary artery disease" compared to normal death rates found in the population at large.

"It is very likely that the suicide deaths were ... underestimated because some of the deaths were listed as drug overdoses rather than suicide on the death certificate," Omalu's team wrote in their report, published in the Archives of Surgery.

"The large number of deaths due to suicide and drug overdose, in excess of what we expected, is also a cause for concern. Most of them occurred at least one year after surgery, suggesting that careful follow-up, especially the need to recognize and treat depression, should be provided," they added.banglebangle

There were 440 deaths among the patients, who had an average age of 48 when the operations were performed. About 1 percent of the patients in the study died within a year of the procedures and 6 percent died within five years.

Heart disease was listed as the cause of death in 76 patients -- about 20 percent of the group -- a rate higher than would be common in the general population, the researchers found.

There were 14 suicides, compared to two that would be likely to occur in the population at large in a group of people that size, said the study

Omalu's team said surgery is an effective treatment for severe obesity, with heavily overweight patients often losing 80 percent of their excess body weight within one or two years.

The higher death rates found in the study were likely due to complications caused by obesity itself, from both before and after the surgery, they said.purchasingbarrel

In a second study, Dr. Christopher Still and colleagues at the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, found that bariatric surgery patients who lost some weight beforehand get out of the hospital quicker.

The study of more than 800 patients who underwent open or laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery between 2002 and 2006 found that those who lost more than 5 percent of their excess body weight before the operation were less likely to stay in the hospital longer than four days compared to those who did not lose weight beforehand.

It also found that those who shed 10 percent of the excess weight ahead of time were more than twice as likely to have lost 70 percent of their excess weight a year later, compared to those who lost none at all.

The researchers said the effect has to do with the beneficial effects of weight loss on high blood pressure, diabetes and other problems.

 LONDON (Reuters) - Obesity does not result simply from over-eating and a lack of exercise, but is a consequence of modern life, a British government think-tank said on Wednesday.

It found that the technological revolution of the 20th century has led to weight gain becoming unavoidable for the majority of the population, because our bodies and biological make-up are out of step with our surroundings.

"Stocking up on food was key to survival in prehistoric times, but now with energy dense, cheap foods, labor-saving devices, motorized transport and sedentary work, obesity is rapidly becoming a consequence of modern life," said Sir David King, the British government's chief scientific adviser and head of the Foresight program.bagsbag

The British Department of Health-sponsored project is the result of a two-year-long study into the causes of obesity involving almost 250 experts and scientists.

They predicted that the so-called obesity "epidemic" would take at least 30 years to reverse.

The government has, up until now, focused policy designed to tackle obesity on encouraging people, particularly children, to lead a healthier lifestyle, eating less fattening foods and taking more exercise.

But Sir David said a wholesale change in attitudes towards obesity is required to address the problem.

"Foresight has, for the first time, drawn together complex evidence to show that we must fight the notion that the current obesity epidemic arises from individual over-indulgence or laziness alone," he said.

"Personal responsibility is important, but our study shows the problem is much more complicated.

"It is a wake-up call for the nation, showing that only change across many elements of our society will help us tackle obesity."ballsball

The researchers said there was no single "magic bullet" solution; even a new appetite-suppressing drug would not be the answer, because the problem is systemic.

Tackling obesity, like tackling climate change, requires a range of changes in society, from increasing everyday activity through the design of the built environment and transport systems to shifting the drivers of the food chain and consumer purchasing patterns to favor healthier options.

If current obesity growth rates continue, some 60 percent of men, 50 percent of women and 25 percent of children in the country will be obese by 2050, according to the researchers.

Associated chronic health problems are projected to cost society an additional 45.5 billion pounds per year.

Commenting on the report, British public health minister Dawn Primarolo said: "We have made progress with improved physical activity levels at school, healthier school food for children, clearer food labeling and tougher restrictions on advertising foods high in fat and sugar to children -- but we know that we need to go further and faster."

She said tackling childhood obesity remains a "key cross-government priority," with the aim to cut the proportion of overweight children to 2000 levels by 2020.

 LONDON (AFP) - Individuals cannot take all the blame if they are obese -- modern society adds pressure to put on weight, a report said Wednesday.

But it could take 30 years to tackle the problem, it said. Obesity rates have more than doubled in Britain in the last 25 years -- in 2004, nearly a quarter of men and women in England were obese.

"There is compelling evidence that humans are predisposed to put on weight by their biology," the report said.

"Although personal responsibility plays a crucial part in weight gain, human biology is being overwhelmed by the effects of today's 'obesogenic' environment, with its abundance of energy-dense food, motorised transport and sedentary lifestyles.

"As a result, the people of the UK are inexorably becoming heavier simply by living in the Britain of today."

Some experts said the report confirmed what the government had known for years and accused it of failing to act.

Peter Hollins, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said it was "hardly a wake-up call".

"Reports like this, which should have had alarm bells ringing... long ago, have been met only by repeated pushes of the government's snooze button," he said.backpacksbackpack

Britain on Monday launched a campaign for greater participation in sports at school to combat the looming obesity crisis, which Health Secretary Alan Johnson was was potentially on the scale of climate change.

Government-commissioned research suggested half of all Britons will be obese in 25 years if current trends are not halted; furthermore, 86 percent of men will be overweight in 15 years and 70 percent of women in 20, it suggested.

MINNEAPOLIS - For parents concerned about their overweight teens, new research suggests the best tactic might be to just relax and cook a healthy Sunday dinner.

The study of more than 2,500 adolescents over five years reinforced several things that doctors have found among their patients — particularly that destructive behaviors such as vomiting or abusing laxatives are prevalent among overweight teens as well as their too-thin peers, and that body attitudes and perceptions can play a big role in future weight problems.

"This is obviously of concern," Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, lead author of the study at the University of Minnesota, said of the risky behaviors. "We know that these behaviors tend to actually increase weight gain over time. It points to a need to address these behaviors with ... overweight kids."

The research will be published in the November issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The study found that 44 percent of the girls and 20 percent of the boys were either overweight, engaged in binge eating or had used extreme weight-control measures — such as purging or abusing laxatives, diet pills or diuretics.

Of the overweight adolescents, about one fourth of the girls reported using extreme measures, while 10 percent reported using extreme measures as well as binge eating. Only about 12 percent of overweight boys used extreme measures.

Neumark-Sztainer, who is also author of the book "I'm, Like, So Fat!," said she has long been interested in the intersection between eating disorders and obesity, and how both can be prevented. This study shows that problems on both ends of the weight spectrum can stem from the same issues of low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and risky eating behaviors, she said.sellartist

The medical director of the Eating Disorder Center of Denver said the study was well-constructed — using a large number of kids over an extended period. Dr. Carolyn Ross said she was interested in the way the study linked teasing and pressure to lose weight to an increased risk in obesity and binge eating five years later.

The study found that girls who reported being teased about their weight were about twice as likely to be overweight five years later when compared with other girls in the study.

They were also about 1.5 times more likely to binge eat and use extreme weight-control behaviors, the study said.informationglass

Ross said the focus on obesity in children has prompted some negative approaches. For example, a physical education teacher who weighs students in front of their peers.

"This study shows us that we are really going in the wrong direction to put more attention and more pressure on kids to lose weight, which further stigmatizes them," she said.

Dr. Joel Jahraus, medical director of the Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital Eating Disorders Institute in Minneapolis, said parents need to send the right message. Jahraus said kids should not be told to "diet, diet, diet."

"The message should be one of balance," he said.

 PHILADELPHIA - After parachuting into Europe during World War II, battling along a strip of road called Hell's Highway in the Netherlands and surviving the freezing woods of Bastogne surrounded by German troops, William Guarnere and Edward Heffron do not consider themselves heroes.

It is so their sacrifices are not forgotten that Guarnere and Heffron have written "Brothers in Battle: Best of Friends," recently published by the Berkley Publishing Group.

"Sitting there in the plane, you wonder why you're up there," says Heffron. "You could be home, but then when you land there, and you go through these villages and you look at those people's faces ... now you know why we're here."

Heffron sits in Guarnere's Philadelphia house, surrounded by pictures of soldiers the two served with and mementos emblazoned with the Screaming Eagle of the 101st Airborne Division, of which they were part.

The book, with a foreword by actor Tom Hanks, one of the miniseries' producers, tells the story of how the two young men from South Philly became paratroopers, fought in some of World War II's major battles and survived to form a lifelong friendship.

And the book comes at just the right time, says Berkley's Natalee Rosenstein. "It's a period of time when we're all looking for real heroes," she said.

Guarnere was one of the original members of Easy Company who dropped into Normandy ahead of D-Day in 1944, while Heffron, often called "Babe," was one of the replacements who joined the unit later. Guarnere earned the nickname "Wild Bill" because just before D-Day, he discovered that his brother had been killed in Italy and he became obsessed with getting back at the Germans.

Both authors take part in Operation Market Garden, a massive jump into the Netherlands designed to get Allied troops into northern Germany, and the winter Battle of the Bulge in which they were surrounded and outnumbered in a Belgian city called Bastogne but helped repel Hitler's final effort to push into Belgium.

Buried in foxholes as shells exploded above them, the men were dubbed "The Battered Bastards of Bastogne."

It was at the Battle of the Bulge that Guarnere lost his leg saving a friend. Easy Company and Heffron went on to Germany, liberated a concentration camp at Landsberg and captured Hitler's mountain fortress, The Eagle's Nest.

The book began after the two were interviewed for a magazine article in 2001 when the miniseries aired. They hadn't talked to their families much about the war, but as some of the last remaining members of Easy Company — Guarnere estimates about 23 are still alive — they felt an obligation to tell their story.shopinfoarom

The book is told through alternating voices, each man describing his childhood, the war and the years that followed.

Guarnere's voice has a raw, unvarnished "tell it like it was," quality while Heffron's is an often-introspective look at the war and life. But neither is sanitized or rosy-eyed. Both speak plainly about killing German troops, the looting that sometimes occurred and the drinking and partying that went on after the war and when they were on leave.

But they said it was important to give as an accurate picture as they could about what they experienced, saying that they were simply trying to do their job the best they could and protect their friends.

"Once you start lying and trying to change things, it's no good," Guarnere says. "You tell the truth, and that's it."

After the war, Heffron met up with Guarnere in South Philly; he found him on the street, playing craps. Since then, they've talked almost every day, see each other almost as often, travel together, finish each other's bad jokes or roll their eyes when they know a story they've heard before is coming.

When Guarnere had a heart attack this summer, Heffron was at his bedside daily, said Robyn Post, who collaborated on the book with the two men. "It's one of the most profound friendships I've ever seen. They would lay down their lives for each other — even today."

Both Heffron and Guarnere have nothing but praise for the 10-part HBO miniseries. Ever since, they have been swamped with requests for photos and speaking engagements. Letters from fans arrive daily, people drop off gifts of beer on their doorsteps and random strangers want to buy them drinks.

Since the war's end, Guarnere has organized yearly reunions for the men of Easy Company, and Heffron and Guarnere have traveled back to the places where they fought. They've also visited American soldiers in Germany and the United States who have been injured in Iraq or Afghanistan.

During one trip, Heffron recalls how Guarnere talked to a serviceman who had also lost his leg. "This guy had his leg off. Bill said to him ..., 'Next time I see you, I want to see you dancing.'"

Both men constantly wonder how it was that they survived the war and went on to such long prosperous lives, and they say they are left with a sense of war's random luck and of the responsibility to remember the men who were not so lucky. buyitemarrow

"They ain't never going to forgive you if you don't," says Heffron, pointing toward the sky.

   Foxy Brown was singing a different tune Tuesday when she showed up in court four days after refusing to appear to face assault charges. The 28-year-old rapper, who is serving a year at Rikers Island prison for violating probation, arrived at Brooklyn state Supreme Court wearing casual street clothing. She pleaded not guilty to charges that she threw a cell phone at a neighbor who complained about the volume of her car radio. The plea was entered by her attorney, John Sampson, the district attorney's office said. Sampson didn't immediately return a call for comment. Last Friday, Brown twice refused to appear in court for her arraignment. Prosecutors rescheduled her appearance for Tuesday, warning that if she refused to show up, the court would issue an order allowing correction officers to put her in handcuffs and force her onto a bus. Brown was arrested in the New York City borough of Brooklyn in August and accused of striking Arlene Raymond, 25, after the pair got into a fight July 30 over Brown blasting her car stereo near her home.

She was arraigned on charges of assault, attempted assault, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon the cell phone. Justice John Ingram extended Raymond's order of protection to Dec. 18, 2008, and ordered Brown back in court Dec. 17. infoapperel   Brown is in jail for violating probation skipping her anger management classes and traveling out of the city without permission in a Manhattan case involving a fight she had with manicurists in a nail salon three years ago. The rapper, whose real name is Inga Marchand, has a new album, "Brooklyn's Don Diva," due out next month.