September 11, 2017 — Over and over we hear it. The physical changes that come with bariatric surgery are obvious. But the biggest challenges are inside our own heads. And it shows up in research. Rarely, but significantly, substance abuse, alcohol use, depression, or even suicide can follow in the years after surgery. Though we know much about this […]
September 10, 2017 — Sprinkled through the the health news this week, the miraculous keto diet was offering up some wonderful benefits. A longer life, greater strength, and better memory can all be yours – if you’re a lab mouse. Cell Metabolism published two studies in mice and unleashed a torrent of frothy health reporting. Arcane Nutrition Science Meets […]
September 9, 2017 — How did chicken take over the world’s diet? Industrial farming is a big part of it. But secret sauce is 63,000 tons of antibiotics every year. This insight comes from Maryn McKenna in her new book – Big Chicken. Before those innovations, hens were just leftovers from egg production and “a chicken in every pot” […]
September 8, 2017 — “Don’t trust research funded by industry.” Suspicion runs deep about commercial funding for research, especially in nutrition. So, we imagine many heads were nodding recently when Justin Rankin and colleagues reported a signal of funding bias in obesity studies. Consistent with prevailing beliefs, their report suggested that industry-funded studies were the most likely to selectively report […]
September 7, 2017 — We live in a polarized age of brittle ideologies. Is the connection between obesity and health merely a product of ideology? A new paper in Critical Public Health argues for that view. And the authors propose “an end to seeing obesity as a significant health issue.” Right now, we need more respect for diverse views on difficult […]
September 6, 2017 — When it comes to BMI, everyone is a hater. Even so, most people are content to keep using it as an easy number to screen adults for obesity. But for kids, everyone knows BMI just doesn’t work. In Pediatrics this month, Bill Dietz describes “widespread agreement” that BMI scores for kids with severe obesity are […]
September 5, 2017 — The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has a rising concern about children with high blood pressure. So they have issued new guidelines that could lead to a million or more new diagnoses. Rising in Parallel with Severe Childhood Obesity The best estimates suggest that 3.5% of children in the U.S. have high blood pressure. That […]
September 4, 2017 — The subject of weight and health and obesity can be a great way to shut down a conversation. Or really stir it up. It all depends on whether people are ready to listen to each other. Does Overweight – Not Obesity – Cause a Shorter Life? A lengthy article in The Atlantic illustrates how quickly people can stop […]
September 3, 2017 — More and more, studies are telling us that sleep, stress, and obesity are tightly bound together. And the link is tough to unravel. Over recent decades, concerns about sleep, stress, and obesity have been rising in parallel. Also, they seem to affect each other. Could it be that stress and sleep should play a bigger […]
September 2, 2017 — We have breaking news from Barcelona! Headlines from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress this week tell us: “Everything the government teaches us about eating is wrong.” Normally sober and cautious, Stat tells us: “Huge new study casts doubt on conventional wisdom about fat and carbs.” But you needn’t be alarmed. This is just […]
