September 3, 2025 — The magical Mirror of Erised can drive people mad by showing them their deepest desires. Judging by the flood of papers in recent days, it seems that one such desire is to find consensus for a clinical definition of obesity. In the past week alone, three such publications have crossed our screens. In the past […]
July 31, 2025 — It was fascinating yesterday hearing former FDA Commissioner David Kessler close out a symposium on food noise, chatting about his views on healthy weight. He marvelled at the size of the problem and how, after years of studying it, people have difficulty with agreeing on a definition for “clinical obesity.” How hard can it be? […]
July 8, 2025 — Half a year has passed since the Lancet Commission on Clinical Obesity published its attempt to build a global consensus around a definition for obesity that distinguishes clinically significant obesity from preclinical obesity. Three new publications in Annals of Internal Medicine make it clear that this task is incomplete. Despite heroic efforts, consensus for distinguishing […]
January 15, 2025 — We’ve been waiting for this. And judging by the initial responses, the world is ready for it. The Lancet Commission on Clinical Obesity has made it official: The clinical disease of obesity is all about health. Not size, not appearance, not BMI. This global consensus report published at long last late yesterday in Lancet Diabetes […]
January 11, 2025 — Yes. This is a relief. We are in the midst of what used to be called “diet season.” Yet we are not getting an onslaught of advice about Atkins, paleo, vegan, or an assortment of obscure dietary approaches for fast weight loss. Instead, we are getting tips for healthy eating – such as this advice […]
July 6, 2024 — We’ve been hearing quite a lot about this on many levels. For years now, obesity thought leaders and even the public have had an increasingly sour relationship with BMI. It’s been misused, abused, detested, and even accused of racism. Yes, the love is gone. On Friday, the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) […]
February 25, 2024 — Are we cynical? We can surely find excuses to be. Examples of cynicism pop up at every glance. Certainly we see it in politics and public policy. Closer to home at ConscienHealth, people routinely find reasons for cynicism about all kinds of medical research and advice – especially nutrition and obesity. This is a real […]
