Losing weight is mental as well as physical, and a five-step formula offers guidance.

Overweight children and adults are at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure and even heart problems.

A new study in the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience has shown that using artificial sweeteners does not prevent weight gain and actually induces a whole set of physiologic and hormonal responses that make people gain weight.

Lead researcher of both studies, Katherine Flegal, PhD, cautions that "the take-home message is that the relationship between fat and mortality is more complicated than we tend to think."

A Doctoral student at the University of Colorado at Boulder conducted a study about the rate of walking and how it affected obesity. One-half of the 40 patients were obese and the others had normal weight. The study found that people who walked slowly for longer periods lost more weight than those who walked quickly. Additional benefits from strolling may include fewer joint injuries and a lessened chance of contracting arthritis.

Stanford University researchers found that the biochemical risk of heart disease lessens with gastric bypass surgery more than was previously thought.