October 4, 2018 — It’s a familiar debate. Is energy balance governed by physiology, thermodynamics, and calories? Or does dietary quality – perhaps an excess of refined carbs – tell you more? It’s possible that this tired debate is missing an important point. Recent research suggests that consumption patterns might be at least equally important. When you eat and […]
August 8, 2018 — At the National Academy of Sciences yesterday, the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions got a bit of a jolt. It came in the form of an afternoon spent reflecting on the counterintuitive physiology of obesity. One roundtable member summed it up nicely. “This way of thinking about obesity just smashes our old models for solving the […]
July 21, 2018 — On the opening morning of YWM2018, Kevin Hall offered some remarkably clear science to refute a number of bogus weight loss clichés. Number one on the list: cut 3,500 calories from your diet and you’ll lose a pound of fat. Cut back 500 calories a day and you’ll lose a pound per week. After four years, […]
July 5, 2018 — JAMA Internal Medicine has just published the latest chapter in a hot debate about insulin and sugar as culprits responsible for obesity. David Ludwig and Cara Ebbeling present the prosecution’s case. A spike in highly processed carbs – like refined starches and sugar – is giving us a high glycemic load, they say. And in turn, […]
June 11, 2018 — Sunday morning at Nutrition 2018, the seemingly endless pursuit of good and bad calories continued. Five distinguished scientists presented diverse views. But it all adds up to the same thing. All calories make a difference. Energy balance is a helpful concept. And physiology usually wins. Jim Hill: A Complex Adaptive System Hill offered a detailed […]
May 22, 2018 — The science of fat tissue has progressed in quite an impressive way over the last decade. And just yesterday, researchers added a new milestone to that progress. With a new paper in Nature Medicine, Heejin Jun and colleagues identified a neurological pathway that may be critical for activating beige fat cells to burn energy. And […]
April 23, 2018 — You’ve probably heard that dieting can wreck your metabolism. It’s a simple way to explain repeated cycles of losing and regaining weight. But it’s a pretty poor explanation for the complexity of metabolic adaptation. A new study in Obesity asks us to consider an alternate view. Calorie Restriction or Overfeeding? It’s true enough that when […]
January 30, 2018 — The range of health benefits from exercise is really quite remarkable. A longer, happier life, better sleep, better memory, and better health – just to name a few. But how can using your muscles have such a profound effect on your whole body? Well, it turns out that your muscles talk to the rest of your […]
May 10, 2017 — What could be simpler than salt? Plenty, it seems. New research in the Journal of Clinical Investigations suggests that some basic concepts about dietary salt are way off the mark. You think it makes you thirsty so you’ll drink more water? As it turns out, that’s not how it works. Instead, salty food and drink […]
October 28, 2016 — In the complex jungle of systems that influence the development and prevalence of obesity, two physiologic mechanisms stand out: metabolic rate and appetite. In new research from NIH to be presented at ObesityWeek 2016, Kevin Hall and colleagues have put a number on the role of appetite in making sure that people regain most of the […]
