Archive for October, 2015

An Epidemic of Food Intolerance and Obesity

October 21, 2015 — How can it be that we have an epidemic of food intolerance and obesity at the same time? The explanation might be be found if you consider the messaging about obesity that bombards us daily. Some people have referred to it as a moral panic and they have a point — even though they take […]

Weight Watchers and Oprah: Who Bought Whom?

October 20, 2015 — Did Oprah just buy Weight Watchers? Or did Weight Watchers just buy Oprah? Weight Watchers announced Monday that Oprah Winfrey would be buying 10% of the shares of the company, with an option to buy another 5% at a price of $6.79. The value of the stock immediately doubled and Oprah has a profit on […]

Arkansas Plan for Health Instead of Obesity

October 19, 2015 — Late last week, Arkansas unveiled a brand new 10-year plan to promote health instead of obesity. Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson was responsible for re-branding the initiative, which was originally called the “obesity plan.” At a news conference, he explained: I wanted this to be a positive value set for the state of Arkansas. This is not […]

Back in the Day, Enough Sleep Was Still a Problem

October 18, 2015 — Folks from UCLA are poking a hole in the popular notion that getting enough sleep is a particular problem of modern industrial societies. By studying hunter-gatherers in three remote communities of Africa and South America, they found that even in a pre-industrial society, getting that magic eight hours of sleep is not really typical. Instead, they […]

The Screen Time Generation

October 17, 2015 — Are the glowing rectangles winning? The American Academy of Pediatrics seems to think so. In their official newsmagazine, Ari Brown and colleagues report that the pace of change in digital media technology is stretching the ability of their professional advice to keep up. And from doctoral research at the University of Ottowa, Allana LeBlanc concludes: The […]

The Krispy Kreme Clinic for Children

October 16, 2015 — Charlie Greer was right when he was pitching his famous line: “Where money talks, nobody walks.” So it is that $2 million from a doughnut fundraiser led the North Carolina Children’s Hospital to rename its clinic to become the “Krispy Kreme Challenge Children’s Specialty Clinic.” Seriously. Never in a million years would we make this […]

What Does Self Harm Tell Us About Bariatric Surgery?

October 15, 2015 — A recent study of self harm after bariatric surgery might be telling us more about how we care for people with obesity than it does about this surgical procedure. A new study in JAMA Surgery found an increased risk of intentional self harm after bariatric surgery. Junaid Bhatti and colleagues followed 8,815 people for three years before and […]

Looking Under the Hood in Nutrition and Obesity

October 14, 2015 — Looking under the hood is a messy business, whether you’re doing it literally with you car or figuratively with nutrition and obesity research. It’s much easier to take glib assurances at face value. But ignoring deeper problems in either case can be costly. In a thoughtful commentary published by the New York Times, Aaron Carroll observes: […]

Does Leptin Explain a Runner’s High?

October 13, 2015 — The notion of endorphins kicking in to produce a runner’s high at the end of a good run is an enduring legend taken as an absolute truth by most runners. The catch is that no real evidence exists to prove that’s how it works. But in the last week we’ve had a flurry of animal research suggesting […]

Shockingly, Money Influences All Research

October 12, 2015 — Today we are going to resolve a question that seems to be rising to the top of the list every time someone evaluates a new study. Has money had any effect on these findings? The answer is always yes. Money influences all research. We know it’s shocking, but it is true. Research doesn’t get done […]