January 26, 2020 — Back in October, the American Academy of Pediatrics made a bold statement. Teen bariatric surgery is an important, safe, and effective option for youth with severe obesity. Thus, we must solve problems with access to this care for many young people who need it. But a new study tells us that mere access to the […]
January 25, 2020 — Some people call it the macronutrient wars. We call it a relentless pursuit of macronutrient magic. Consumers want to eat healthy, whatever that is. In the 1980s and 90s, it was low fat. In this millennium, that’s shifted to low-carb and keto approaches. But a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine offers a clue that […]
January 20, 2020 — Skim milk can be whatever you want. To some people (we confess) it seems like a disgusting example of fake food. To others it’s an exemplar for healthy nutrition. For that latter crowd, a new study points to an association of slower aging with drinking skim or low-fat milk. Is this a benefit you can […]
January 17, 2020 — Trust and vulnerability are two closely related dimensions of the relationship between healthcare providers and patients. Trust arises from vulnerability, wrote Mark Hall. But when providers judge patients, they violate that trust. New research in JAMA Network Open tells us that this breach of trust might be relatively common. And it has serious consequences. That’s […]
January 11, 2020 — A new study in the January issue of Diabetes Care makes one thing very clear. We pay a steep price for untreated NASH – nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. This is a disease that starts with fat tissue building up in the liver. Then inflammation develops. After that, it can progress to liver damage and failure, ultimately requiring […]
January 10, 2020 — One of the few things in obesity that people agree upon is that BMI has serious limitations for the diagnosis of obesity. It’s great for epidemiologists. But it causes problems for clinicians and patients. While it’s useful as a crude measure of weight status, it doesn’t provide much insight into a patient’s clinical status. So […]
January 4, 2020 — Research, nutrition, and politics. It’s a formula for seemingly unending debates. Now, a recent analysis of data on whole-fat and low-fat milk is adding fuel to the fire. Even before this, dairy farmers were agitating to end the ban on whole-fat milk in schools. Now, this new data adds one more reason to suspect that […]
January 3, 2020 — Earlier this week, a court ruling told us that the word diet doesn’t really mean much. Now the U.S. News report on best diets reminds that best doesn’t mean all that much, either. You might have thought that being best was a singular accomplishment. After all, Merriam Webster defines best as something that is better […]
December 20, 2019 — One and done is a lovely turn of phrase. It’s also one of those sweet little lies about dealing with obesity. “You can lose the weight and keep it off for good.” That’s the seductive promise of a currently trendy weight loss app. It’s also implicit in the false positioning of bariatric surgery as a […]
December 17, 2019 — All right. Who broke the global food supply? With a press event and seven new articles in Lancet yesterday, the World Health Organization put a spotlight on the double burden of malnutrition. Yes, it’s true. More than one in three low and middle-income countries now face health threats from both undernutrition and obesity. Babies and […]
