News Archive for August, 2014

In a week of much news about e-cigarettes, the American Heart Association (AHA) has carefully conceded that e-cigarettes might have a role as a last option for quitting smoking. Specifically, the AHA statement says: If a patient has failed initial treatment, has been intolerant of or refuses to use conventional smoking cessation medication, and wishes […]

A new analysis of potential policies for reducing childhood obesity is generating headlines saying that “Taxing sugary sodas could help fight childhood obesity.” This is one time that the media isn’t hyping what the authors say. In their paper, Kristensen et al follow their hearts and conclude that “a national $0.01/ounce SSB [sugar sweetened beverage] […]

Obesity and eating disorders are a complex collection of diseases that get tied together through food, culture, and social pressures, with the potential to activate someone’s biological susceptibility to one of these conditions. The links are especially evident for adolescent girls, who face enormous social pressure regarding weight. A new study published in the American Journal […]

A new study just published in Pediatrics documents a nearly six-fold increase over six years in serious eating disorders (EDs) among adolescents with a normal BMI. Experts in the field have been quietly expressing concern about this trend for some time. These patients present with serious medical signs and symptoms typical of anorexia (AN) after losing significant […]

Many people with obesity still find themselves locked out of healthcare for the biggest threat to their health — obesity. How can this be, you ask? Didn’t the Affordable Care Act (ACA) solve all those problems? Not quite. Don McNay’s story illustrates the problem quite well and it’s well worth reading over at the Huffington […]

Some app designers have decided that obesity is great “for entertainment.” The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) and a substantial group of organizations concerned about health, obesity, eating disorders, and women’s health disagree in the strongest possible terms. These organizations have banded together to petition Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to remove remove offensive fat-shaming applications from […]

Immortal words: “Don’t eat that, you’ll get fat.” Increasingly, parents are warned about the impact they have on their children’s body image. Leslie Sim, clinical director of the Mayo Clinic eating disorders program, recently told USA Today: Zero talk about dieting, zero talk about weight. Zero comments not only about your daughter’s weight, obviously, but zero talk […]

The Almond Board of California is doing a pretty good job of positioning almonds as a superfood, the ticket to good health. Just keep eating them and you’ll keep the Almond Board happy. Almonds are riding a wave of popularity, fueled by their growing, glowing healthy halo. Peanuts are so passé. Yet another study — […]

Hugs and kisses and health fit together neatly through some entertaining experiments by marketing professors and published in the Journal of Consumer Behavior. They conducted three experiments demonstrating that symbols of compassionate love — agape for you Greek fans — can provide effective cues to select healthier snacks, like an fruit. Symbols of sexual love — eros […]

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