January 29, 2023 — Reading about the heated and not terribly well-reasoned arguments people are having about obesity prompts a sad conclusion. A history of ineffective and, at times, harmful anti-obesity campaigns may have poisoned the well of public sentiment about obesity. People have such strong feelings that facts and reason become irrelevant. Aggrieved Advocates for People with Eating […]
December 13, 2022 — The American Diabetes Association is out with their new standards of care for 2023 and at the top of the list of seven major changes is a refined focus on obesity. Changes in medical care are subtle and slow. But when you look at how it has evolved over recent years, the shift in views […]
October 24, 2022 — On Friday, ASMBS and IFSO announced new clinical guidelines for obesity surgery – the first update to guidelines in more than 30 years. Way back in 1991, NIH published a consensus statement that established bariatric surgery as a safe and effective option for treating severe obesity. Needless to say, we’ve learned a lot about metabolic […]
July 3, 2022 — The script is clear enough. Childhood obesity is a “serious and growing concern.” Its effects can be “devastating,” say the authors of a recent commentary on USPSTF guidelines for it. So the script from the USPSTF tells pediatricians that they should screen for obesity starting at the age of six and refer children to behavioral […]
March 1, 2022 — The care in Obesity Care Week (OCW2022) is all about offering real care for real persons facing real harm from obesity in their lives. Yet more than nine out of ten people living with obesity never get any real medical care for this complex, chronic disease. We have good clinical guidelines for obesity care, but […]
September 21, 2021 — To say that our culture obsesses about weight and body image is possibly an understatement. Athleisure togs serve to emphasize it. People dress to look like they’re going for a run, to the gym, or a yoga class. And yet, this obsession divides us. Two new publications today offer a sharp contrast on this subject. […]
January 8, 2021 — For decades now, we’ve been talking lots about preventing childhood obesity, but not doing much. Could it be that a shift is beginning? Two papers this week tell us this is possible. For too long, we’ve drawn an arbitrary line between obesity treatment and prevention. But the truth is that for women having children, the […]
September 4, 2019 — Is some knowledge ever enough? A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association begs that question. Researchers found that patients with diabetes and obesity were less likely to die or have other major bad outcomes if they have bariatric surgery. The list of bad outcomes includes heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, kidney […]
June 25, 2019 — Until recently, the bar has been very low for obesity care in most of healthcare. “Instruct the patient to lose weight” is the most common guidance. However, three new publications in Obesity make it clear how much that’s changing. It’s clear that healthcare is setting a higher bar for obesity care. A Proposed Standard for […]
March 8, 2018 — Recent news makes it clear. You can be sure that relentless change lies ahead for type 2 diabetes care. The American College of Physicians (ACP, representing 152,000 internists) is fighting with the American Diabetes Association and other experts over the standard of care. And Scandinavian researchers have found that we might do well to split […]
