News Archive for March, 2013

In a move the company says is a response to growing demand from consumers, PepsiCo has introduced Kickstart from Mountain Dew, a carbonated breakfast soda with 5% fruit juice. The drink, which will come in orange citrus and fruit punch flavors, has the sort of visually distinctive 16 ounce cans usually reserved for energy drinks […]

Does less physical activity cause obesity or does obesity cause less physical activity? It’s a chicken or egg puzzle that many overlook. People generally, and especially advocates for the food industry, are pretty sure that reduced physical activity is a prime cause of the obesity epidemic. New research soon to be published in Obesity shows […]

You’ve heard it over and over. Overpriced American healthcare is devouring our budgets. But just how overpriced is American healthcare? A new report from the International Federation of Health Plans (IFHP) gives us a pretty clear picture. IFHP represents the largest health insurance plans in America and all over the world, so they keep a […]

Novo Nordisk announced positive results last week from a one-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 clinical trial of the potential for liraglutide to reduce and maintain weight in people with type 2 diabetes and excess weight or obesity. Liraglutide is a once-daily injection used to treat type 2 diabetes that has been available in the U.S. […]

Truth, bias, and conflict come together in the field of obesity and nutrition research with astounding intensity. Food and beverage regulation, industry funding for nutrition professionals, and breastfeeding are three examples that come to mind from recent news stories. But we have an abundant supply of other examples. Sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, and processed foods […]

Many articles and studies attempt to explain the rapid increase in obesity in this country. Of the many reasons given for the rise in obesity rates, hunger is rarely if ever mentioned. Yet Randy Oostra, president and CEO of ProMedica, one of the Midwest’s largest medical insurers, claimed just that in a presentation to a […]

Hungary is in the midst of a food tax experiment to shape healthier diets and blunt the impact of obesity with the chronic diseases it brings.  France, Finland, Denmark, Britain, Ireland, and Romania have either tried food taxes or considered them. But right now, Hungary stands out for a particularly ambitious effort. In the last […]

Fabio Sergio, executive creative director at frog, a global innovation company, paints a picture of the future of healthcare, when the natural evolution of data-driven health monitoring leads to a paradigm of consumer-centered care. Sergio argues that the tech revolution that has come to healthcare, in the form of body monitors, apps, and online patient […]

John Ziman, a philosopher of science, once suggested that 90% of what we read in scientific journals is incorrect. This harsh assessment is worth bearing in mind when the subject is obesity. Obesity news presents an unhealthy diet of conflicting information analyzed in two recent publications in the Columbia Journalism Review. Dave Freedman reflected on […]

One of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains has drawn criticism for collecting employee weight and body fat data through a company that runs their wellness plans. Employees that don’t turn over the information face a $600 annual penalty. Adding insult to injury, employees are required to sign a release saying that their participation is voluntary. […]