January 18, 2020 — Meat mayhem marches on in the arcane world of academic nutrition warfare. Humans have a tough time these days with diversity of thinking. Especially if the subject is nutrition. Or food policy. Thus, Rita Rubin served up a compelling account of the ongoing battles about meat in JAMA this week. Avoiding the Meat of the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
December 9, 2019 — We’re just about done with this decade that started in 2010. And if you look back over these ten years, it’s plain to see that we’ve marked some big milestones in obesity and health. Here are ten that stand out. No doubt, others will seem big to you. So please, use the comment function below […]
December 3, 2019 — How do people with obesity – or any other health condition – become stigmatized? It turns out that words are very important for weight stigma. In Communication Theory, Professor Rachel Smith offers us powerful insight with a classic paper. Four elements are critical. Thus, we should be careful about letting those elements creep into the […]
December 2, 2019 — We have a chronic disease problem. It started in America. It’s spreading all around the world. And already in the U.S. it’s playing a major role in reversing long-term gains in life expectancy. Yet, the response has been tepid, says William Dietz with two commentaries published in the last month. Dietz is Director of the […]
November 13, 2019 — “We can’t treat our way out of this.” That simple declaration about the rising prevalence of obesity among children and youth has profound consequences. One of those consequences is children, youth, and families left without options for dealing with a serious health problem. For one thing, good obesity care is hard to find and hard […]
November 6, 2019 — Bad habits and bad choices. That’s where the public thinking lies on the subject of obesity. So at ObesityWeek yesterday, a string of researchers told us about their efforts to close the information gap on obesity. They’re looking for ways to warn people about sugary drinks. They’re trying to figure out if posting calorie counts […]
November 3, 2019 — It’s fairly easy to spot the people peddling empty hype as the answer for obesity, nutrition, and health. To answer tough questions, they tell us it’s really quite simple. We’re all loading up on too much toxic sugar, they might say. In the Federalist last week, James DeLong wrote that Americans are fat “because they’re […]
