News Archive for June, 2013

Recent business press describes a healthy challenge for restaurants that may have much of the industry painted into a corner. Many restaurant chains are burdened with a well-deserved image of peddling low-quality food that promotes obesity. This burden leaves them noncompetitive in a market increasingly driven by millennials (18-30 year-olds) who are eating out less […]

“It’s not nutrition until it’s eaten.” That’s the philosophy for school food choices of Andrew Hanks, a behavioral economist at Cornell University, and his colleagues Brian Wansink and David Just. New nutritional guidelines, published in 2012, require school cafeterias to offer more whole grains, low-fat milk, and fruits and vegetables. But offering doesn’t always equate […]

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield reports that patient-centered medical homes are saving even more money in their second year than they did in their first. CareFirst launched its patient-centered medical home program in 2011 with primary care providers serving one-third of its 3.4 million members in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and northern Virginia. Savings for the […]

George Bray chose to talk about the relationship between obesity and income disparity yesterday as he delivered the Inaugural Blackburn Lecture at the Blackburn Course in Obesity Medicine. Bray was careful to point out that while the relationship has been observed, the evidence proves nothing about causality. Nonetheless, the prevalence of obesity has followed the […]

Opening the Blackburn Course in Obesity Medicine yesterday, Lee Kaplan painted a clear picture of progress in obesity. We’re making progress on many fronts and it still feels like we’re getting nowhere. Progress comes in the form of the first new obesity treatments in more than a decade, obesity rates that seem to be slowing […]

The latest in a string of impressive studies of gastric bypass surgery was published in JAMA this week. In a randomized, controlled trial of people with mild or moderate obesity and poorly controlled diabetes, gastric bypass gave better diabetes control than intensive medical and lifestyle treatment. After one year, more than twice as many people […]

As patient satisfaction becomes a key measure for success, weight bias in hospitals is becoming an intolerable liability. A recent study published in Obesity demonstrates how physician weight bias can lead to doctor shopping, compromised continuity of care, avoidable emergency department visits, and higher costs. Speaking for the Obesity Society, ConscienHealth founder Ted Kyle offers […]

Don’t look now, but consumer power may be accomplishing what activists like Bloomberg could not do by themselves — a real reduction in sugar consumption. Two recent analyses suggest that consumers are turning away from sugary foods for both adults and children. USA Today and the NPD Group report this week that consumption of almost […]

Many observers have taken Michael Bloomberg to task for his (so far) ill-fated big soda ban in New York City. But two recently have taken a step back to consider the pros and cons of consumer paternalism and even offer some thoughts on how someone with Bloomberg’s expertise and influence might make a difference in […]

This week, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) — an alliance of leading food and beverage companies — held a calorie counting party. Three years ago the HWCF committed to cut 1.5 trillion calories from the American food supply by 2015. And this week they announced they met and surpassed the goal two years early. […]