News Archive for September, 2019

Business leaders are figuring out that we need more effective strategies for reducing the impact of obesity. New data published in Obesity now adds to the understanding of this need. People with obesity are less likely to have employment. If unemployed, they’re less likely to find work. And if they’re working, absences due to illness […]

The assumption that too much sugar explains our problem with obesity has become ambient white noise. Most people just accept it. Inconvenient facts fade into oblivion. Modelers grab the megaphone claiming to have evidence that sugar is the cause and the key for overcoming obesity. It’s easy enough to solve for the answer you like […]

Remember the the McDonald’s seaweed burger? It was called the McLean Deluxe. Also later called the McFlopper. To replace some of the fat in a typical burger, food scientists pumped seaweed extract and soy into a modified beef patty. Back in 1991, plant-based diets were not a thing – low fat everything was it. But […]

“It’s about time.” That was the instant reaction of Sarah Bramblette upon reading a new review of lipedema science in Obesity. Bramblette is a tireless advocate for people living with lipedema and lymphedema. The title of the review – A Call To Action! – pretty well describes everything she does. But inaction is more typical […]

A new systematic review in the International Journal of Obesity offers a global view on the state of obesity medicine education. It’s definitely a good news, bad news story. The good is that we have plenty of reason to believe that obesity medicine education helps. But the bad news is that the current extent of […]

Oh dear. Low quality carbs are down in the American diet, but it’s not good enough. Nutrition scientists from Harvard and Tufts say the glass is half full. We’re eating too many bad carbs. Fang Fang Zhang, a senior author of a new paper in JAMA, explains: Although there are some encouraging signs that the […]

A professor of pediatrics was visiting patients with her medical students. They saw a patient, a teen with class III obesity that had begun at a very early age. One of her students asked, don’t her parents know their daughter needs to eat  healthy and stay active? Another said, it’s terrible what the food industry […]

A new study in Cell Metabolism tells us that gut bacteria might play a role in the development of fatty liver disease. Jing Yuan and colleagues found that a strain of Klebsiella can cause fatty liver disease in mice. In addition, they found a correlation between the presence of these bacteria in humans and fatty […]

Unsuccessful success is one way to describe the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) in the UK. Many people, like Susan Jebb and Theresa Marteau, call this tax on sugary beverages a success. “The benefit of fiscal intervention is clear,” they say. People are buying less sugar in drinks. In fact, they’re buying about 22 percent […]

Holy grail? Game-changer? These superlatives were flying around as FDA approved Rybelsus – oral semaglutide – yesterday for type 2 diabetes. We don’t know about all that puffery, but it’s clear enough that this approval is a big deal. Oral semaglutide will be the first ever GLP-1 agonist in a pill. Up until now, taking […]