Archive for December, 2019

A Political Campaign for Dietary Guidelines

December 31, 2019 — A band of low-carb enthusiasts is making it official. They are coming at the process for developing the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans as a matter of politics. Why worry about the nuances of science when you can rally a base of devoted advocates? The Low-Carb Action Network This coalition formed in December with a […]

Ten Big Stories to Watch in 2020

December 30, 2019 — We’re launching a whole new decade on Wednesday. So it makes sense to step back for a moment and think about what the coming year will bring in obesity, nutrition, and health. We’ll be ready for surprises. Those are unpredictable. But we’re pretty sure that these big stories – already in play – will grab […]

Fathers and Daughters, Exercise, and Scientific Rigor

December 29, 2019 — Can fathers have a significant effect on physical activity in the lives of their daughters? This is an important question. Because right now, girls entering secondary school often don’t have fundamental movement skills that predict lifelong physical activity. Though we have plenty of data to say that fathers more often participate in physical activity with […]

Nine Things People Say About Exercise That Aren’t True

December 28, 2019 — It can be hard to include exercise in our busy lives, despite the best of intentions. There are a lot of reasons people don’t exercise, and a lot of misconceptions about exercise. Here are nine common misconceptions and what research actually tells us. 1. I was fit once, so I don’t need to exercise Unfortunately, […]

The Story of the Year for 2019: Seeking Personalization

December 27, 2019 — One size fits all is dead. Everyone is on the hunt for precision, personalized nutrition. Any number of companies will tell you how your unique DNA profile affects your dietary needs. People are finding an identity in their diets. Vegan, keto, low-carb, or whatever fits – increasingly people will fiercely defend the diets that they’ve […]

Did Lizzo Just Prove 2019 Was the Year of Body Positivity?

December 26, 2019 — While many of us hit the pause button for the Christmas holiday, others were following a body positivity drama on Twitter. Economist Boyce Watkins offered a theory about the source of fame for a singer known as Lizzo. Obesity caused it. He was dissing her because of her body size. Without missing a beat, Lizzo […]

They Is the Word of the Year for 2019. Are We Glad?

December 25, 2019 — Merriam-Webster’s word of the year seems perfect for our time. On one hand, it’s very nice to see this humble word rise up from obscurity. English needs a gender neutral singular pronoun. So people are getting comfortable with they for this purpose. It’s also handy for people who want to specify a non-binary pronoun for […]

Can’t Get Enough of Those Correlations

December 24, 2019 — We see a pattern. Take a look at the list of the top attention-getting stories on the JAMA network for 2019. Because if you do, you will see that most of them are about correlations. Or associations. Or links. In other words, they’re not about experimental evidence of causality or effects. It seems that we […]

A Rough Patch for Nutrition Education in Colorado

December 23, 2019 — The Colorado Board of Education will need to wrap its mind around the unintended consequences of good intentions for nutrition education. This comes from the case of a high school student with body image concerns made worse after a calorie tracking assignment at school. As a result, she wound up with a 10-week stay in […]

Raising Blood Pressure with Sugar

December 22, 2019 — We’ve seen people get quite red in the face when they expound on the how toxic sugar is. Or on the necessity of taxing sugar sweetened beverages. So perhaps arguments about the subject of sugar are raising blood pressure. But no, contrary to a press release from the University of Toronto, sugar itself does not […]