Archive for October, 2014

Headlines of Milk and Chocolate

October 31, 2014 — Headlines about milk and chocolate have been a little bit upside down lately. Some are suggesting that milk might lead to an untimely death, while chocolate will sharpen your memory. How can this be? In the case of milk, epidemiologists in Sweden published a study in BMJ of more than 100,000 Swedish men and women to look […]

Investing in Obesity

October 30, 2014 — Investing in obesity seems like it ought to be a rewarding proposition. So why is it so messy for so many investors? Are we on the brink of better results for investing in obesity? So far, the news has been decidedly mixed for people in businesses related to the surge in obesity rates. Food companies whose brands are […]

Sugar and Candy, Pleasure and Panic

October 29, 2014 — Sugar and candy arouse some complicated responses of pleasure and panic in our pleasure-seeking, puritanical nation. The author of a new book on the subject, Samira Kawash, describes a dietary moralism that developed in 19th century America. It held that some foods were “good and godly.” But she said this thinking also provided that: Other […]

Critical Gap in Understanding the Biology of Obesity

October 28, 2014 — The cover story in the new issue of Health Management call attention to our critical gap in understanding the biology of obesity. On the eve of ObesityWeek 2014, it’s appropriate that it’s authored by Rachel Batterham — who will be awarded the 2014 Lilly Scientific Achievement Award there — along with two of her colleagues, Andrea Pucci […]

5 Things to Look for at ObesityWeek 2014

October 27, 2014 — With less that a week before the start of ObesityWeek 2014 on November 2 in Boston, it’s time to start thinking about how to get the most out of this amazing week. Obesity Science. You can be sure of a rich supply of new basic research. Two distinct tracks are entirely devoted to obesity science — […]

No Smoking at the Cigarette Factory

October 26, 2014 — It looks like Joe Camel might have to give up smoking on the job. RJ Reynolds (RJR), the makers of Camel cigarettes, has announced a no smoking policy for its worksites. People who want a smoke will have to go to a designated indoor smoking area. They can also switch to electronic cigarettes, which is […]

Read and Ride and Raise Your Test Scores

October 25, 2014 — The read and ride program — started five years ago at Ward Elementary School in Winston-Salem, NC — is boasting some impressive results. After filling up some classrooms with recycled exercise bikes where students can read and ride, the school sees students who participate scoring much higher in reading proficiency than those who don’t. And […]

When’s Mealtime?

October 24, 2014 — Mealtime matters. It matters to people with grumbling stomachs, as well as this pup, but it also matters for regulation of your body weight. A new study in the International Journal of Obesity finds that the timing of a meal can have a big effect on your metabolism and thus potentially on your weight. In […]

Great Ideas That Don’t Work

October 23, 2014 — The landscape of obesity treatment and prevention is littered with great ideas that don’t work. The trouble is that rigorous testing is expensive and uncommon, so it’s tough to tell what works from what might work or from what doesn’t work. Just published in Obesity is one of those rare studies that rigorously examines a popular […]

Guerrilla Nutrition

October 22, 2014 — Could it be that guerrilla nutrition will do more to improve public health than all the puffery offered up by government, nonprofits, and the food industry? The tireless Canadian champion of social media Yoni Freedhoff thinks so. In a new commentary published by U.S. News and World Report, he scoffs at Coke and Pepsi offering […]