Archive for March, 2021

A Dietary Halo Effect That Can Be Very Real

March 22, 2021 — Food marketers know how to use a dietary health halo. The marketers of California walnuts, for example, are polishing a halo for their brand with great skill. Eat more! They’re good for you! You might even lose weight! In that context, a health halo is all about a little science and a lot of wishful […]

Discerning and Constructive: Building On Our Assets

March 21, 2021 — “You can’t lift people up by putting them down.” As part of a series on the future of advocacy, this is how Trabian Shorters explains the importance of asset framing – building upon a community’s assets. But too often, we start with the deficits. Shorters points this out in the context of racial justice. It […]

Can Money Buy a Community Less Obesity?

March 20, 2021 — Some time ago, the Beatles told us that money can’t buy us love. Now a new study from Molly Martin at Penn State suggests that it also may not buy a community less obesity. Martin is a researcher with a keen interest in social inequality, families, and child well-being. Her research examines data from a […]

One Clear Value for BMI: Ticket to a Vaccine

March 19, 2021 — BMI stinks. That’s the lead on a lot of stories about how to get a COVID-19 vaccine appointment right now. This is a perfect example of mixed messaging. But it also reflects our very mixed feelings about this measure that’s now almost two centuries old. A BMI of 30 is the threshold for a population-based […]

USPSTF: More Screening for Diabetes with High BMI?

March 18, 2021 — This week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published a new draft recommendation on screening for diabetes and pre-diabetes for people with a high BMI. Until now, the recommendation has been to screen everyone with a BMI over 25 at age 40 and up. But the new recommendation, if it becomes final, would expand […]

How Food Insecurity Factors into Obesity Care

March 17, 2021 — It might seem surprising, but rising food insecurity may make public health issues with obesity even worse. Even before the pandemic, declines in food security seemed to be a factor in rising obesity prevalence. But now research is emerging to suggest that food insecurity might make obesity harder to shake. A new analysis in Annals […]

How Weight Bias Infects Diabetes Care

March 16, 2021 — Bias and stigma are not confined to obesity. And in fact, a considerable body of research tells us that far too many people with diabetes experience it and it is greatest in people who require insulin, have more difficulty controlling the disease, and have a higher BMI. Though stigma can be a problem for people […]

Working to Remake Food Systems – Into What?

March 15, 2021 — The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a broken food system, writes Miriam Nelson in the Boston Globe. But she is hardly the only one. A UN Study last week told us that food systems account for a full third of global carbon emissions. The Lancet Commission on Obesity in 2019 morphed into a Global Syndemic commission […]

Defining the Disease of Obesity in Europe

March 14, 2021 — Defining the disease of obesity is quite a struggle. Everybody is certain they know what it is. Thus, many people adopt definitions that suit their purposes. Feelings about obesity run so deep that facts are mere annoyances. But on World Obesity Day, the European Commission published a definition of obesity as a chronic relapsing disease. […]

Is This Progress in Use of Anti-Obesity Medicines?

March 13, 2021 — Eight years have passed since the American Medical Association decided obesity really is a complex chronic disease. For treating this disease, we have more options now. We have a handful of anti-obesity medicines that are new. A new study in Obesity Surgery tells us their use has more than doubled over the last decade. So […]