Posts Tagged ‘childhood obesity’

Will Shutting Out Fast Food Reduce Childhood Obesity?

November 1, 2024 — A new study in Obesity caught our attention with a claim that “restricting fast food outlets in areas with a high concentration of such outlets as part of a package of policies to reduce childhood obesity may help to reduce prevalence and inequalities.” So we looked a little closer and found a different story in […]

Spin with a Pretense of Journalism in Pediatric Obesity

September 16, 2024 — The difference between investigative journalism and opinion writing is enormous. Both are valuable. But not interchangeable. So when Stat News publishes a lengthy opinion piece on pediatric obesity guidelines and labels it as investigative journalism, they are unfortunately dispensing spin. This is the case of a report published yesterday under a headline reading: “Pediatricians’ Obesity […]

NEJM: A GLP-1 Effective for Obesity in Children as Young as Six

September 11, 2024 — In every way we look at this study, it is a remarkable milestone. With a randomized, controlled trial, Claudia Fox and colleagues have shown that a GLP-1, liraglutide, is effective for obesity in children as young as six years of age. In this year-long study, children who received liraglutide for obesity reduced their body mass […]

Overlapping Tragedies in Youth Mental Health and Obesity

August 18, 2024 — The mental health of youth is in serious decline around the world – a decline that is a mirror image of rising obesity. These overlapping tragedies may be independent. But common threads are easy enough to find. An editorial from the Lancet Psychiatry distills perspective from the new Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Youth Mental Health: […]

Has USPSTF Lost Touch with Reality on Obesity in Youth?

June 21, 2024 — This week in JAMA, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published an evidence review and recommendation for youth with obesity. In a word, it is disappointing. The task force seems to have completely lost touch with advances in obesity care in young persons. They recommend only that youth with a BMI in the […]

Distinguishing Wishes and Beliefs from Facts in Evidence

June 13, 2024 — In the prevention of childhood and adolescent obesity, let us have our wishes and beliefs, but distinguish them from facts in evidence. Wishes are good things. They are the muses which impel us to action to work for a better future. Belief is a good thing. Our staunch belief that something can work gives us […]

Five Things to Seek at ECO 2024

May 9, 2024 — We’re packing our bags for Venice, where the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2024) will start in just a few days. A lot will be coming at us in a short space of time, so taking time to set some priorities is essential. Thus, we have a short list of things that we’ll be seeking […]

Looking for Black and White Answers in a World of Gray

April 22, 2024 — Virginia Sole-Smith has black and white answers for the world of gray nuances that define the relationship of nutrition, obesity, and health. She is an outspoken advocate for fat acceptance and body liberation. Restraint is something she rejects. In a very personal profile for the New York Times, Lisa Miller describes her as both inspirational […]

Arkansas Led with BMI Letters from School. Obesity Rose.

April 11, 2024 — Two decades ago, the state of Arkansas became the first in the nation to require every school to send parents BMI report cards – also known as fat letters. Back then, in 2003, the obesity rate for children in Arkansas was 17%. Since then, obesity in Arkansas public school students has risen dramatically. In the […]

Obesity Care Week: Five Enduring Principles

March 5, 2024 — On this, the second day of Obesity Care Week, let’s step back from all the complexity of obesity and focus on five simple principles that hold great promise for improving the way we care for people with this disease. It really doesn’t have to be so hard. 1. It Is Undeniable That Obesity Is a […]