NHS trial has been started in attempt to halt obesity epidemic If it is a success, treatment could be widespread in five years But there is unease over problem that could be solved by exercise and diet

By Julie-anne Barnes and Fiona Macrae

PUBLISHED: 16:33 EST, 1 April 2012 | UPDATED: 16:33 EST, 1 April 2012

Babies are being medicated in the womb in an attempt to prevent them from being born obese.

In a world first, dangerously overweight mothers-to-be in four British cities have started taking a diabetes drug during their pregnancy.

The doctors behind the controversial NHS trial say that obesity among pregnant women is reaching epidemic proportions and they need to act now to protect the health of tomorrow's children.

Overweight mothers-to-be are being allowed to take diabetes drugs to treat their unborn children in the womb to prevent them being born obese

However, there is likely to be unease about resorting to medication in pregnancy for a problem that can be treated through changes in diet and exercise.

If the strategy is a success, the treatment could be in widespread use in as little as five years, with tens of thousands of overweight but otherwise healthy mothers-to-be drugged each year.

The Daily Mail recently revealed the rise of the 'sumo baby', with the number of newborns weighing more than 11lb soaring by 50 per cent over the last four years.

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Babies treated in the womb for obesity: Overweight mothers-to-be get diabetes pill to cut the risk of having a fat child

Every other week, it seems as if theres a new study cautioning people against the health risks of diet soda.

But just how dangerous is soda especially for a person who drinks it every day? Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com, answers one viewers concern.

Hi Dr. Manny, I drink a few cans of diet soda every day. Could this be bad for my health? Thanks, Beth

According to recent studies, diet soda may be linked with an increased risk of stroke. Prior research has already linked soda with obesity, kidney damage and certain cancers.

Just because it says diet, doesnt mean its healthy or the key to losing weight, Alvarez warned.

While making the switch from regular soda to diet may save on calories, drinking more than one per day may actually increase a persons risk of type 2 diabetes.

Patricia Bannan, a registered dietician, offered a second opinion:

While I think having a regular diet soda once in a while is OK, I recommend people limit them as much as possible, she said. The reason for that is twofold number one, both regular and diet soda is very sweet and it can trigger your sweet tooth and get you accustomed to eating very sweet foods and craving more sugary foods. The second reason is that both regular and diet soda have undesirable ingredients. Regular soda is packed with sugar, packed with empty calories, and diet soda has a lot of artificial ingredients.

Bannan recommended drinking flat or sparkling water with a splash of fruit juice, or making infused water using cucumbers, berries, limes or mint.

For more health questions and concerns, email drmanny@foxnews.com or join Dr. Mannys weekly health live chat Wednesdays from 2-3pm.

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Daily Diet Soda Danger?

For the last couple of days Ive been talking about weight issues. For once, however, it isnt my weight Im talking about, but the weight issue of a 7-year-old girl named Bea, who is at the center of a multi-faceted controversy, the likes of which hasnt been seen since Suri Cruise wore high heels.

In case youve been in spin class for the last five days, let me recap:

New York City mother Dara-Lynn Weiss put her daughter Bea on a diet and wrote about it for Vogue magazine. The child lost 16 pounds over the course of a year, and went from obese to normal. At first, during discussions with friends, it was hard to tell what outraged people, the fact that she put a child on a diet or that she wrote about it.

What people didnt talk about, outside of the accompanying and de riguer tsk tsk, was the fact that what Weiss was doing, was being a parent. Its always a crappy, under-appreciated job, its hard to do well, and even when near-perfection in child-rearing has been achieved, youll get blamed for everything bad.

There are 70-year-old men out there who are still blaming their mothers for their relationship problems. Trust me, I know.

Weiss, who cruelly, evilly, gave her child the best possible start in life, was playing the hardest card in the Mom deck: the No card.

(Well, you just go ahead stick your tongue out at me, but your face will freeze like that).

But she has the rest of her life to be on a diet, one of my friends said. Shes just a little kid.

All that was missing from the conversation was a well-seasoned, They grow up so fast. Yes. Yes they do. Sometimes you have to.

One of the secret, half-whispered concerns were that Weiss didnt make her daughter lose weight for health reasons, that she didnt put her overweight daughter on a diet because 80 percent of overweight adolescents are obese at 25, and that 25-year-olds are at great risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, not to mention a lifetime of joint problems and high cholesterol. What people were worried about was that she did it so her daughter would be pretty.

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In Defense of 'Diet Mom'

The Forsyth County Health Department has been picked to run a nurse-family partnership program that advocates say will reduce infant mortality and improve child health and the lives of mothers pregnant with their first child.

The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust has awarded the county $2.5 million over five years to carry out the program.

The program focuses on low-income first-time mothers. They will get help with prenatal care, improving their diets and reducing any use of cigarettes, alcohol or illegal drugs.

The program works by pairing the mother-to-be with a registered nurse, who will make home visits that continue through the child's second birthday. A national group, Nurse-Family Partnership of Denver, developed the program and authorizes local agencies to run it.

Bob Whitwam, the environmental health director of the Health Department, said the agency has been getting ready to run the program for a couple of years.

"Nurse-Family Partnership can substantially reduce infant mortality rates," Whitwam said. "The target is first-time moms, making sure they understand what the doctor tells her, developing parenting skills."

The program is not a cure-all for infant mortality because there are other causes, and the new program addresses only first-time mothers, not women with other children.

"It is a little piece of a complex infant-mortality issue," Whitwam said.

Forsyth has the highest infant-mortality rate among the 10 most populous counties in the state, health statistics show.

Whitwam told the Board of Commissioners on Thursday that he wants the program to start work July 1, when the new budget year starts. Staffing would include four nurses to be home visitors as well as a data entry position and a nurse supervisor.

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Program will aid first-time moms

A new study shows that junk food may have effects beyond expanding your waistline and upping your sodium levels -- it might also be sabotaging your mental health.

A new study in the journal Public Health Nutrition shows that regularly eating commercial baked goods -- including doughnuts and croissants -- as well as fast food -- pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs -- is linked with an increased depression risk.

Researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada found that the people who regularly eat these foods are also more likely to be more sedentary, smoke, eat other not-so-nutritious foods and work 45 or more hours a week.

"Although more studies are necessary, the intake of this type of food should be controlled because of its implications on both health (obesity, cardiovascular diseases) and mental well-being," study researcher Almudena Snchez-Villegas said in a statement.

The study included 8,964 people who didn't have depression (and weren't taking any antidepressant drugs) at the start of the study. Their depression statuses and diets were tracked for an average of six months.

At the end of the study period, 493 people were depressed or were taking antidepressants. The researchers found that the ones who ate the most junk food were 51 percent more likely to develop depression, compared with people who ate the least of these foods.

The Mayo Clinic reported on a previous study also showing a similar link. That study showed that people whose diets are high in fried foods, processed meats, desserts and high-fat dairy had an increased risk of depression symptoms, compared with people who eat lots of fruits, veggies and fish.

And earlier this year, a study in the journal PLoS ONE showed that there may be a link between eating trans fats -- common in a lot of junk foods -- and being irritable and aggressive.

The researchers of that study, from the University of California, San Diego, found that greater trans fats intake seemed to predict whether a person was more aggressive. The finding held true even after taking into account factors like sex, age and ethnicity.

Also on HuffPost:

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Junk Food Linked With Increased Depression Risk: Study

It's pretty hard to do your job well if you are at home sick in bed. Doing your best to stay healthy is an important part of producing good quality work and conducting it safely. Making time for wellness won't necessarily add more years to your life, but it could add more life to your years. Taking good care of yourself can help you avoid or at least delay chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and others. Good health practices can also boost your energy so you get more enjoyment out of life.

Consider these ideas for improving your health:

- Eat regular, nutritious meals. Start your day with a good breakfast such as fruit and whole-grain cereal or toast. A breakfast of a sweet roll and coffee might perk you up at first, but you'll be dragging later in the morning when your blood sugar drops. The traditional hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and fried hashbrowns can contribute to illnesses such as heart disease and cancer.

- Eat a variety of healthy foods. Throughout the day, eat a variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, bean dishes and whole grains such as rice and pasta. Every day have some citrus fruit or another food high in vitamin C. Get a variety of vitamins in your diet by choosing fruits and vegetables of different types and colors. Be sure to include some dark yellow and dark green vegetables for important nutrients. High-fiber vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are highly recommended.

- Hydrate. Drink plenty of water, especially in hot weather or dry environments. Other beverages such as coffee and soft drinks are not a substitute.

- Exercise regularly. You need three kinds of exercise. You need some type of activity which will raise your heart rate for at least 20 minutes, several times a week. A brisk walk or bike ride would accomplish this. Swimming, dancing, hiking and aerobics are also activities to improve the capacity of your heart and lungs.

- Strengthen your muscles. You need to keep your muscles strong. Aerobic routines, certain sports and weight training can all contribute to muscle strength.

- Increase your flexibility. You also need exercise which keeps your muscles and ligaments flexible. Yoga routines and stretching exercises before and after a workout are examples.

- Get enough sleep. Studies have shown North Americans are chronically deprived of sleep and the result is decreased productivity as well as increased illness and accidents. You need enough sleep to do your job well. Adequate sleep is needed to keep your body's immune system in good working order.

- Learn to handle stress. Everyone has things which go wrong in their lives; how we accept and handle these problems can sometimes make the difference between illness and health.

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Safety Tip - Stay healthy to do your job safety and well