Adolescents with severe obesity who had bariatric surgery showed significant improvements in cardiovascular disease risk factors such as elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol.
A new study finds that people who are overweight, but not obese, have shorter life spans. It's the opposite of a 2013 study that got a lot of attention by finding a few pounds might be good for you.
We're told that it's important to keep body mass index below 25. But a study finds that for the lowest risk of death, the magic number has inched up to 27 — in the "overweight" category.
Proposed federal rules would let employers penalize overweight or obese workers by making them pay more for health insurance. But having a high BMI doesn't mean you're not healthy.
Elias Khoury is a Lebanese novelist, playwright, and journalist. He edited the Al-Mulhaq, which became known as the "tribune of opposition" paper in Beirut, and he's often outspoken about Middle East political issues, like helping to establish the Democratic Left Movement.
Kris Saknussemm fled America in his 20s, thanks to a "youth of crime and drugs," and a rift with his parents. He spent the next 20-plus years in Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum writes stories that border on the supernatural. Her novel, Madeline is Sleeping, focused on a little girl shifting between the dream world and reality.
Blake Butler has been compared with Herman Melville and William Faulkner. His novels are disjointed and fragmentary and weird things often happen as he defies the conventions of traditional story-telling.
Ishmael Reed is one of the most prolific African-American poets and essayists to date, known for stirring controversy when it comes to politics and black culture. He says he "holds up the mirror to hypocrisy.
Writing a memoir can be a raw, very personal process. What does it take to crack open your own life and examine your own family tree? Does everyone have a story to tell? And can anyone learn how to write a memoir? We talk to both a memoirist and an instructor who teaches people to write memoirs.
"Tomorrow begins with shrapnel and blood...." That's the line Brian Turner wrote - about death he saw firsthand.
Brian Turner was a soldier in Iraq when he started writing poetry. He described the rush of bullets, the desert nights in Iraq, and what it's like to see a comrade fall in battle. His first book of poetry, Here, Bullet, skyrocketed him into the limelight - at the same time, he struggled to adjust with his return to America. Brian Turner reflects on the painful beauty of Iraq, and how one finds grace in a time of war. Join us for an in-depth look at the battleground through a soldier-poet's eyes.
When Peter Hessler joined the Peace Corps and taught English in China, he didn't realize those two years would turn into a lifetime of writing about China and its people. But that's what happened.
Cop drives into Vegas, hunting down his ex-wife, who's now married to a Vietnamese crime boss. New movie? Nope - it's the plot for Vu Tran's novel. The UNLV writing fellow talks about his latest projects - and what it's like being a Vietnamese immigrant in Vegas.
Junot Diaz burst onto the literary scene when he was 28, a young Dominican who wrote about growing up poor and fatherless in New Jersey. But when it came time to write a novel, he got stuck on page 75.
