January 20, 2022 — After four decades of agitation about childhood obesity it seems like we might safely assume that scientists can measure and track it with confidence. But it turns out that this is not exactly true. Why? Because of flaws in something called the BMI z-score. Body fat quite normally changes in children with age. What’s healthy […]
January 17, 2022 — The track record for preventing obesity in childhood is not especially impressive. Could it improve with objective measures to identify babies most at risk for obesity as they grow up? A new study of data from the INSIGHT program has found a new polygenic risk score that might help with this. There’s just one little […]
January 15, 2022 — A new study this week in the New England Journal of Medicine brought home a basic fact. Severe illness and deaths from COVID in adolescents are almost entirely preventable. This is especially true for youth with conditions – like obesity – that would otherwise put them at risk. In a case-control study of 1,222 adolescents, […]
November 26, 2021 — Vaccinating children against COVID-19 is on parents’ minds, now that Australia’s rollout is open to those aged 12 and over, and regulators are actively considering vaccination for five to 11 year olds.[Note: in the U.S., FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine for children as young as five on October 29.] Many parents will be thinking about […]
November 6, 2021 — It’s all over – except for the replays and reviews. ObesityWeek® 2021 wrapped up yesterday and with any luck (we’re looking at you, COVID) this will be the last purely online week of obesity research, policy, and practice for a while. Next year, the plan is for a hybrid meeting. So now it’s time to […]
November 3, 2021 — It’s unmistakable. COVID is influencing everything at ObesityWeek® once again this year. To start with, we’re doing this on our glowing rectangles, cut off from the stresses and joys of a live meeting. But even more important is the fact that COVID is influencing obesity and obesity care – interacting with the disease and helping […]
October 12, 2021 — Progress is all around us but it’s not always obvious. Explicit weight bias is getting better, but implicit bias is as bad as ever – perhaps worse. So when people catch themselves and walk back from implicit expressions of bias, we find cause for celebration. Making errors is easy, but to correct errors – especially […]
October 10, 2021 — The numbers make it crystal clear. One of the long-term effects of the COVID pandemic will be a jump in child obesity. And it’s not hard to trace that back to the mental health of children and families. Late last week a new report in Pediatrics provided a stark reminder about the impact of COVID […]
October 2, 2021 — Healthy eating patterns improve health. Right? So when a new study in Clinical Pediatrics tells us that kids with obesity who follow any of three healthy eating patterns will improve their cardiovascular health, should we believe it? Unfortunately not. Because in fact, the statistical significance of their findings about healthy eating reflects an error. Not […]
September 29, 2021 — As severe obesity has grown to take a toll on a growing number of children and teens, clinical care is evolving. In 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics said it plainly. Youth with severe obesity need better access to bariatric surgery. The authors of that position statement conceded that most of the young patients for […]
