July 12, 2017 — Coffee just traded up to a brighter halo of health. In Annals of Internal Medicine yesterday, two studies found an association between drinking the brew and living a little bit longer. Should everyone drink deeply of this “elixir”? Our advice? Drink it if you like it. A Modest Benefit These two studies cover diverse populations. […]
July 11, 2017 — President Trump has finally appointed a new CDC director. Brenda Fitzgerald, an OB/GYN, is already on the job. Before she took this assignment last week, she was Georgia’s public health commissioner. From colleagues and non-partisan policy folks, we hear high praise. From more ideological folks, we hear a little grumbling. “An Ideal Leader from the […]
July 10, 2017 — “We know what to do to reduce obesity,” says public health professor Simon Chapman. It’s a common sentiment. But data don’t always line up with that sentiment. When that happens, spinning the data – putting negative results in a positive light – becomes tempting. The PR team at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health provides […]
July 9, 2017 — Wonder blob. Lindsay Averill received that nickname from middle school frenemies. They even made up a little song about it. Averill, now a women’s studies scholar and activist, has grown to be a closer friend with the woman who made up that song. And new research tells us that her experience is pretty common. Having […]
July 8, 2017 — Here’s a bit of simple advice for eating healthy. Don’t eat in front of the TV. The advice is simple enough. But reality is not so simple. In a new study, Holly Raynor and Rachel Rosenthal found – to their surprise – that watching TV during a meal did not lead people to eat more. […]
July 7, 2017 — Today’s question crops up in many ways. We see research papers expressing fear that obesity is “becoming the new normal” or that parents are insufficiently concerned about their children’s weight. In this weight and fitness obsessed culture is it possible that people are not worrying enough about obesity? Fewer People Trying to Lose Weight Both […]
July 6, 2017 — Add authenticity to the list of fake gimmicks. It was supposed to be a watchword for millennials, but now it’s just a stale notion of the 2000s. So who cares if soy milk is about as fake as can be. It’s not milk, but only FDA and the European Union care about that. Court documents […]
July 5, 2017 — More than 20 years ago, discovery of the ob (obesity) gene and the protein that it encodes – leptin – was a breakthrough for obesity science. Mice that lack the gene develop extreme obesity. And giving them the protein reverses it. Some people misleadingly dubbed it a satiety hormone. In Cell Metabolism, a new commentary by Jeffrey […]
July 4, 2017 — On this most American of holidays, perhaps we should reflect upon two icons of the American food environment: hot dogs and apple pie. Do these represent wholesome American nourishment with cherished histories? Or are they fixtures in a toxic food environment, loaded with processed meat and added sugar? The American Hot Dog Frankfurters date to […]
July 3, 2017 — Superficial thinking begets superficial solutions. And superficial solutions don’t solve many problems. Yet again, we’re learning that this is the case with superficial thinking about food deserts. A new study in Health and Place finds that simply planting a supermarket in a food desert does little to address problems with access to healthy food. Complex […]
