January 21, 2024 — Seriously, it is not a problem if people living with obesity value their appearance. Do we really have to say this? Apparently we do. Because all too often we see a subtle bias in discourse about obesity that adds up to disrespecting people who want to look and feel their best. Physician and writer Matthew […]
January 20, 2024 — We do admire the tenacity of folks who promote the virtues of a plant-based diet. But that admiration stops when we move on to the dimension of scientific rigor and objectivity. In BMJ Nutrition, Prevention, and Health, a group of researchers are claiming that plant-based diets “may be considered protective against COVID-19 infection.” The only […]
January 18, 2024 — E.B. White is long gone from this life and Block That Metaphor! is dormant at The New Yorker. But we need them back. The Washington Post has a new and twisted metaphor about obesity treatment, casting Ozempic as something like orthodontia. Kate Cohen writes: “I always thought I’d be thin if I were rich. “I’d […]
January 18, 2024 — Cancer is rising in young persons and it appears that obesity is playing a role. Of course, this is not to say that obesity tells the whole story. Cancer prevalence patterns present a complex puzzle – just as obesity prevalence does. A Continuing Shift Toward Younger Persons Yesterday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, […]
January 17, 2024 — Over the past year, as the world has embraced GLP-1 medicines like semaglutide for obesity, we have heard much speculation about dire prospects for the future of metabolic surgery. Stock prices dropped earlier this year for medical device companies with big investments in bariatric surgery when Intuitive Surgical announced they were seeing a slowdown in […]
January 16, 2024 — If you wonder why the Obesity Action Coalition, Obesity Medicine Association, and the Obesity Society all warn against using compounded versions of GLP-1 medicines for obesity, consider the boom and bust story of ACA Pharmacy in Nashville, Tennessee. After semaglutide went into shortage in 2022, it began doing a booming business with a compounded version […]
January 15, 2024 — Gary Taubes has a new book – Rethinking Diabetes: What Science Reveals About Diet, Insulin, and Successful Treatments. The problem of this book is right there in the title. It all but promises the truth about dietary health. Definitive Truth? The problem, of course, is that the science of dietary health is not so good […]
January 14, 2024 — Following in America’s footsteps, the UK applies something of a make-believe approach to dealing with obesity. With furrowed brow, policy makers acknowledge that obesity is undermining the health of the nation – not to mention the financial status of the vaunted National Health Service. The consequences of untreated obesity are multiplying so fast that it’s […]
January 13, 2024 — A new study this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science tells us that every bottle of water we’re drinking has hundreds of thousands of nanoplastics. Should we care? A Blank Slate, Tough to Study This study is important simply because it fills a void in knowledge about how much these nanoplastics are […]
January 12, 2024 — This is a new political fashion we hope will quickly find its place in the discards bin. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is declining federal summer food aid for kids saying, “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.” USDA this summer will launch a permanent […]
