September 23, 2018 — Brian Wansink has a gift for conceiving research into eating behavior that has long been “catnip for the media.” Now, after a year of contesting accusations of misconduct, he’s resigned from Cornell University. Last week, JAMA retracted six of his papers in a single day. According to Retraction Watch, that makes a total of 13 […]
September 21, 2018 — Perhaps your mother told you cleanliness is next to godliness. That concept found its way into a 1778 sermon by John Wesley. But it’s even older than that. Ancient Babylonian and Hebrew religious texts have the earliest references. Now, CMAJ wants to put cleanliness next to obesity. Could there be a clean connection? An Association with […]
August 25, 2018 — This week has been long and filled with serious news. So, we’re filled with gratitude for a hilariously absurd story from ITV and the British press. They’ve given us a load of comic relief to end the week. You might think of it as a load of something else, but we’re keeping it clean here. With […]
August 6, 2018 — Every day, our news feeds fill up with sensational headlines about obesity and health. Somewhere in those headlines, important new truths are buried. But mostly, you’ll find hype. When we all have so many things competing for our attention, how can we filter through all this noise? Here are five clues for doing just that. […]
July 28, 2018 — It’s becoming a popular story. Maybe you shouldn’t worry so much about what you eat. Instead you should focus on when you eat. Meal timing is a hot concept among health writers right now. Professor Satchin is selling a new book, The Circadian Code, with a promise to “transform your health.” The New York Times ran […]
July 25, 2018 — This moment seems right for saying it. Thank you! This year is shaping up to be amazing. That’s because more and more of you are reading what we share here every day. So far this year, we have more than 65,000 readers – an increase of 20% over the same time last year. This month, that spike […]
July 16, 2018 — Researchers at York are telling us they have a breakthrough that will change the way we think about obesity. At least that’s what their press release says. And it worked. They made us click the link. Jennifer Kuk and colleagues found that about one in 20 (5%) of people with a BMI over 30 have […]
July 2, 2018 — How can this be? Reporters tell us that Americans are exercising more while obesity rates are increasing. It was the latest National Health Interview Survey data that prompted reporters to write such headlines. Between 2006 and 2017, the percentage of adults who say they meet aerobic exercise guidelines went from 41% to 53%. The numbers […]
May 27, 2018 — Well, at least we have their attention. The Times of London reported yesterday on our presentation at ECO2018 about explicit weight bias in the UK and eight other countries around the world. Chris Smyth wrote a good, brief story and correctly reported that Britain seems to harbor especially harsh weight bias. The Times paired it […]
May 25, 2018 — Public understanding of obesity is fraught by misinformation and stigma. But the subject of weight and health captures public attention like nothing else. So the media faces an ethical choice when reporting on obesity. Yesterday, CEO Joe Nadglowski of the Obesity Action Coalition put his finger on it. Will journalists promote information or stigmatization? This […]
