Archive for August, 2013

Employers Reformulating Health Benefits for 2014

August 31, 2013 — Employers are planning to begin rolling out strategic changes in health benefits with annual enrollment this fall for the 2014 plan year. Some are looking at the new heathcare exchanges as options. Others are increasingly relying on consumer-driven health plans. Consumer-driven health plans pair high-deductible insurance with a health savings account to cover out of […]

Bringing New Obesity Guidelines Home

August 30, 2013 — New obesity guidelines — now five years in the making — are coming home after a painstaking, rigorous process of evidence review. Don’t expect and A to Z cookbook for managing the chronic disease of obesity. The incomplete state of obesity science and the clinical art of obesity disease management isn’t by any means ready […]

Social Isolation, Obesity, and Health

August 29, 2013 — Social isolation — loneliness — is pretty well established as a risk factor for poor health and a shorter life. Isolation is also linked to obesity — both as a complication of obesity and a potential trigger for obesity. In fact, health, social isolation, and obesity are so tightly bound together that separating cause and […]

Obesity Society: Time to Vote!

August 28, 2013 — OK, guys and gals. If you’re a member of the Obesity Society — now is the time to vote for your leadership. The online poll closes at 11:59pm eastern time on August 30. We have some great people running who devote their time and passion to serving the membership of the leading society dedicated to […]

TXNIP: New Clue from UAB for Treating Diabetes

August 28, 2013 — Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered that a protein called TXNIP may provide important clues for better diabetes treatments. They found that this protein not only plays a role in the destruction of beta cells in the pancreas, but it also controls the ability of those cells to make insulin. […]

How-To: Conversations about Childhood Obesity

August 27, 2013 — While others are debating uncomfortable conversations about childhood obesity, the STOP Obesity Alliance has been quietly working with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to provide outstanding resources for talking about health and weight with your children. Their guide embodies a matter-of-fact approach to talking about weight, health, and the ignorant weight bias that children […]

Uncomfortable Conversations about Childhood Obesity

August 27, 2013 — Concern over uncomfortable conversations about childhood obesity should not be a reason for avoiding the subject altogether, according to a new editorial in the September issue of Pediatrics. Confidential letters from schools in Massachusetts to parents of children with obesity have stirred up controversy. Derisively labeled “fat letters,” these missives have prompted parents to seek […]

A Top 10 List of Wishful Thinking in Obesity

August 26, 2013 — Wishful thinking jumps off the page from a new publication in Health Education Research about the “Measure Up” mass media campaign in New South Wales, Australia. Investigators found that the campaign did a great job of raising awareness for the link between waist size and chronic disease risk, but nothing to change diet or physical […]

More Evidence of Health Cost Constraints

August 25, 2013 — Evidence of health cost contraints is showing up in more economic reports this week. The latest reports show slower growth for health insurance premiums and slow growth in prices for healthcare products and services. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual survey of health benefit costs showed that the average health-inurance premium for working Americans rose by […]

Estimates Grow for Uninsured Covered by Obamacare

August 24, 2013 — Based on a USA Today survey summarizing the results of 19 reporting states, the number of uninsured individuals expected to purchase a health insurance plan through the exchanges established under Obamacare is estimated to top 8.5 million. That number exceeds the government’s original 50-state estimate of 7 million. In 2011, there were 48 million people […]