October 18, 2019 — A new study in JAMA will be quite important for thinking about pregnancy and severe obesity. That’s because pregnancies for women with severe obesity carry a high risk for complications. Birth defects are more common with obesity. They’re also more common with poor glucose control that’s more likely when a pregnant woman has obesity. But […]
October 13, 2019 — The fitness industry is booming. But is it promoting fitness and health? Or is it promoting an unhealthy preoccupation with body image? Writing for The Lily, Nicole Chung reflects on this dilemma. Becoming a fitness instructor, she got herself into great shape. However, she found that her body image issues grew worse than ever as […]
October 11, 2019 — Is there such a thing as righteous deception? If you want to make your head hurt, try to ask yourself that in the context of plant-based food alternatives. Fake meat and fake milk are going mainstream. But the folks who make real meat and real milk don’t like it. Not a bit. They think these […]
October 10, 2019 — Debunking the sacred cows of nutrition makes for fabulous clickbait. But we wonder if it’s helping. Right now, two different examples are generating a lot of heat, but not much enlightenment. One is the never ending debate about the role of carbohydrates and insulin in obesity. The other is a recent review of the evidence […]
October 9, 2019 — A pair of studies and an editorial published in Circulation yesterday reinforce a long-standing observation. People live longer with a dog in their lives. So is this cause and effect? Maybe. These two very substantial studies support a growing body of evidence. In fact, the relationship between owning a dog and risk of death from […]
October 6, 2019 — Why is the switch so much more effective for reversing diabetes than gastric bypass? It’s an uncommon procedure more specifically known as biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. New research in Cell Metabolism provides some answers. Hint: it’s not all about the weight loss. Better Insulin Sensitivity Conventional wisdom holds that this procedure is simply a […]
October 5, 2019 — For most of the first 30 years of the obesity epidemic, the response has been simple. Address it as a failure of personal responsibility. But that hasn’t worked out so well. Marion Nestle explained this in her keynote address for the Obesity Medicine Association Fall Summit yesterday in Boston. Today’s food environment makes it socially […]
October 1, 2019 — “I am outraged and bewildered,” says Christopher Gardner. The line forms back there, Professor Gardner. Five – yes, five – papers in the Annals of Internal Medicine today are whipping up a flaming hot controversy about nutrition guidance broadly and red meat specifically. The bottom line from all these papers? Maybe we need to admit […]
September 28, 2019 — Remember the the McDonald’s seaweed burger? It was called the McLean Deluxe. Also later called the McFlopper. To replace some of the fat in a typical burger, food scientists pumped seaweed extract and soy into a modified beef patty. Back in 1991, plant-based diets were not a thing – low fat everything was it. But […]
September 25, 2019 — Oh dear. Low quality carbs are down in the American diet, but it’s not good enough. Nutrition scientists from Harvard and Tufts say the glass is half full. We’re eating too many bad carbs. Fang Fang Zhang, a senior author of a new paper in JAMA, explains: Although there are some encouraging signs that the […]
