Archive for December, 2018

The Biggest Whoppers of 2018 in Health and Obesity

December 21, 2018 — As we’ve noted, 2018 was a year of toxic misinformation. Scholars from the Rand Corporation warned us about Truth Decay, because misinformation is creeping into every corner of our lives. So let’s take a minute to review some of the biggest whoppers of 2018. One by one, maybe they seemed trivial. But add them all […]

Lap-Band: The Difference Between Efficacy and Effectiveness

December 20, 2018 — Apollo Endosurgery is selling off the Lap-Band just five years after they bought it. This news is the latest chapter in a long story of what might have been. In 2013, Apollo bought this device from Allergan for $75 million in cash up front. Stock and contingencies meant that the price could have gone as […]

Filling Up on Experiences

December 19, 2018 — We are in the midst of a secular holiday season that primes us to fill up on purchases. Stimulate the economy. Seasonal feasts and gift exchanges empty our bank accounts while stuffing our bodies and our lives. But advocates for minimalism emphasize filling up on experiences rather than stuff. Stuffocation In his book Stuffocation, James Wallman […]

What’s the Harm of Hanging On to Weak Dietary Advice?

December 18, 2018 — Two recent articles have us thinking about the harm that might come from hanging on to weak dietary advice. One is all about salt. The other is about dairy fat. But underneath it all is core problem. Some of the dietary advice taken as gospel is grounded in associations and suppositions. It never goes through […]

The Top 10 of 2018 in Obesity & Health

December 17, 2018 — 2018 is quickly fading into history. All in all, it’s been a year of some remarkable progress in obesity and health. Much of it is steady and encouraging. More healthcare providers building skill in obesity care. Less explicit weight bias. More options and a little less misinformation about obesity. Those are some of the good […]

Who Cares About GWAS? Should We?

December 16, 2018 — GWAS is an acronym that’s hard to avoid if you read much about obesity research. It’s shorthand for genome-wide association studies. And for the last several months, some of the brightest people in obesity research have been debating the merits of hammering away at GWAS that focuses on BMI. Does GWAS research miss the mark […]

The New Relationship Between Income and Obesity

December 15, 2018 — We’ve noted it before. The relationship between income and obesity is tricky. And according to a new paper from Alexander Bentley and colleagues, the relationship is very new. As recently as 1990, they say, it simply wasn’t there. Today, it’s quite clear. Less income predicts more obesity. Likewise, the correlation between income and diabetes is […]

Shame for Having Obesity, Shame for Reversing It

December 14, 2018 — A new research letter in JAMA Surgery spells it out. After facing bias and stigma for having obesity, people who seek out the most effective treatment available – bariatric surgery – face public scorn for it. Patrick Dolan and colleagues found that 39 percent of American adults believe that bariatric surgery is “an easy way […]

The Misleading Fast Food Boogeyman

December 13, 2018 — We seem to need the boogeyman. That little hobgoblin who gets the blame for whatever ails us – especially for obesity. So naturally, we have a long list of bad guys to blame for obesity. Fast food has long been one of them. But a new study of portion sizes in the BMJ suggests that fast […]

An Inheritance of Trauma

December 12, 2018 — Epigenetics seems to be growing up and facing the inevitable questions that come to a maturing science. A new study of trauma experienced by POWs in the Civil War adds to the evidence that sons (perhaps even grandsons) can inherit the physical effects of that trauma. So naturally, people are asking hard questions about these […]