News Archive for November, 2012

A new study published in Neurolmage suggests the brains of people with obesity react to food the same way the brains of alcoholics react to alcohol and the brains of addicts react to drugs. The researchers performed MRI scans on the brains of 26 people with obesity who reported binge-eating symptoms as they consumed their […]

November 29, 2012 — Leaders of top health systems in the U.S. — Geisinger, Penn, Hopkins, Mayo, Kaiser, the VA, and more — seem to agree: Obamacare is now driving sweeping change in the systematic delivery of healthcare across America, and will keep it going at an accelerating pace over the next few years. The […]

November 29, 2012 — The recent approval of two new obesity medications was good news for patients with obesity, but scant health insurance reimbursement of the products has limited physician prescribing and patient use. The news that Aetna, the third largest U.S. insurer, will provide coverage for these drugs marks another important step forward.

November 28, 2012 — In a recent broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition, Patti Neighmond talked about some changes she made to integrate more physical activity into her workday.  Neighmond, who works from home, first raised her desk high enough to accommodate standing for a month, getting used to being on her feet while she worked. […]

November 27, 2012 — We might be surprised to learn that physicians carry our society’s negative biases toward people with obesity. But how widespread it this bias? PLOS ONE recently published a study designed to determine the pervasiveness of negative attitudes about weight among MDs. The study examined implicit and explicit anti-fat bias among a […]

November 26, 2012 — In a study published in Teaching and Learning in Medicine, researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center found that few programs training doctors today offer "adequate, effective" training in how their students can help patients with obesity.

 November 25, 2012 — Two new reviews explore another realm of what we need to study in obesity: changes in the microbes in the intestines of people with obesity. We have many tantalizing clues, but we still don’t know whether these altered bugs are a cause or an effect of obesity.

November 24, 2012 — In an airline industry full of inconsistent policies that sometimes humiliate people with obesity, it’s encouraging to hear that Air Canada will now accommodate obesity as a medical condition.

November 23, 2012 — That’s right. We said "deserts" as in the Mojave, not the treat that’s served at the end of a meal. Food deserts are places where the lack of a variety of readily-available fresh fruits and vegetables means people have a hard time eating in a healthy manner.

November 21, 2012 — In a thoughtful consideration of factors causing America’s obesity epidemic, TEDMED’s Great Challenges program gathered perspectives from leaders in advocacy, academia, and public health who address the problem every day. They present varied perspectives on the top 10 contributing factors to this critical health issue.