June 10, 2016 — If you’re confused about obesity trends, don’t feel bad. Epidemiologists from the CDC published quite a bit of new data in JAMA this week and you can find a wide range of trends in these publications. Just fish around in the numbers and you’re bound to find something you like. If you want a happy story, you can go […]
June 9, 2016 — Behind the epidemic rates of obesity, mostly hidden from view, lies an epidemic of toxic stress. At the National Academies Roundtable on Obesity Solutions on Wednesday, Bill Dietz led a tour de force of presentations that described the problem with impressive clarity. In people with adverse childhood experiences — such as exposure to abuse, violence, or neglect […]
June 8, 2016 — Maybe seeking out an RDN (registered dietitian nutritionist) would be a better idea than relying on celebrities for guidance about what to eat and drink. A new study in the journal Pediatrics finds that “music celebrities who are popular among adolescents endorse energy-dense, nutrient-poor products.” Marie Bragg and colleagues collected data on endorsements of food […]
June 7, 2016 — UPDATE: Sometime after we published this report at 6am on June 7, the journal editor retracted the original publication in question below. Good decision. Click here for the retraction notice. Flaxseed, if you believe health reporting, is pretty much a health food miracle. The Food Revolution Network is serving up “70 Health Reasons to Eat […]
June 6, 2016 — We have mixed feelings about the comeuppance dished out to the National Obesity Forum in part 2 of an ongoing UK food fight. Their controversial report – Eat Fat, Cut Carbs, and Avoid Snacking to Reverse Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes – has left the organization in a bit of disarray. Four board members have resigned […]
June 5, 2016 — People might literally be scared to death of obesity surgery. New data from the Swedish Patient registry for 48,693 patients with obesity found a mortality rate that was 3.7 times higher in just four years for the patients who did not have obesity surgery than for the patients who did. The authors, Christina Persson and colleagues, concluded: […]
June 4, 2016 — An energetic and well-informed debate at the 2016 Blackburn Course in Obesity Medicine provided a deep dive yesterday into controversy regarding competing ideas about energy balance. Sam Klein presented the view that energy balance is an issue of physics. David Ludwig presented the view that it is an issue of biology. Klein provided an entertaining […]
June 3, 2016 — Opening the Blackburn Course in Obesity Medicine in Boston Thursday, Lee Kaplan presented a compelling rationale for moving past thinking that one size fits all in obesity prevention, diagnosis, or treatment. Kaplan started with a simple definition of obesity – excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health – and presented an expansive overview of the […]
June 2, 2016 — After nearly four decades of fat debates, views are shifting once again. A new study in Appetite paints a fascinating picture of the voices that are rising in this debate. As new stakeholders raise their voices, the balance between science and sensation is decidedly shifting. Certainly the guidance about dietary fats has changed, but in […]
June 1, 2016 — Nutrition superstition is front and center in an absurd fight over nutrition guidance in the UK. On the cover of the report that started the UK’s current tussle, you’ll find one such superstition: “avoid snacking to reverse obesity and type 2 diabetes.” The purveyors of this superstition – the National Obesity Forum and the Public Health Collaborative – […]
