April 10, 2015 — Participating in Obesity Medicine 2015 is an experience like no other because it’s an intense exposure to hundreds of folks who devote their professional lives to wrestling with personalized obesity medicine. The members of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians (ASBP) at this meeting are at the front lines of translating a finite evidence base into […]
April 9, 2015 — Even knowing the complicated history of dietary supplements for weight loss, current reports of FDA foot dragging on dangerous supplements are nothing short of shocking. In an academic journal this week, a group of scientists revealed that dietary supplements containing an amphetamine isomer are still on the market — two years after FDA first knew […]
April 8, 2015 — In case you missed it, First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! program just hit its fifth birthday and the First Lady used White House Easter festivities as an opportunity to celebrate the occasion. So it seems like the right moment to assess where the program has brought us. Childhood Obesity Rates: C. The explicit goal of Let’s Move […]
April 7, 2015 — Growing questions about the evidence for recommendations to avoid dairy fat make us wonder, does anyone really like skim milk? You’ll find few people who say it tastes as good as real, whole milk. For decades now, low-fat dairy has been recommended as a seemingly immovable nutritional standard. Nutrition rules for school lunches mean that whole milk is […]
April 6, 2015 — Recent headlines about psychotic links to obesity might be a sign. Perhaps the word “link” — indisputably a four-letter word — is becoming offensive in health reporting. The word’s use is growing out of control in stories related to health and obesity. Ask Google for recent news stories about “obesity link” and you’ll get 8.6 million […]
April 5, 2015 — Easter is a bit of a candy festival, surpassed only by Halloween. We’ll be spending $2.2 billion on Easter candy this year, just a hare less than the $2.5 billion Americans spent at Halloween. But it hasn’t always been like this. Before the late nineteenth century, eggs, bunnies, and maybe a few chicks were at the center of […]
April 4, 2015 — Herbal frauds are everywhere, trying to tap into the magical thinking of people feeling that their weight and their health are out of control. This week the attorneys general of 14 states asked Congress to investigate the safety of herbal supplements and to consider giving the FDA more power to regulate them. Talk about magical thinking. […]
April 3, 2015 — The twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous represent a foundational approach to treating alcoholism that’s lately been attracting rational scrutiny and criticism. In the latest issue of the Atlantic, Gabrielle Glaser says that “researchers have debunked central tenets of AA doctrine and found dozens of other treatments more effective.” Sounds a bit harsh, doesn’t it? The twelve […]
April 2, 2015 — We are constantly hearing about obesity and the growing burden of chronic diseases that come from it. So with more than a third of the U.S. population already affected by obesity, it makes sense that access to care to prevent or slow the progression of chronic diseases resulting from obesity is urgently needed. By the […]
April 1, 2015 — Hailed as a logical extension of evidence-based health promotion, major employers are beginning to incorporate standing beds into their employee wellness programs in startling numbers. A recent survey of Fortune 500 corporate benefit programs found that the concept represents the hottest trend in employee wellness. Fully 23% of businesses with outcome-based wellness programs have begun incorporating […]
