May 24, 2021 — Few subjects rouse more passion than the role of carbs in obesity. Legions of tweeters on Twitter will swarm when the subject comes up. They’re eager to prevail when anyone questions the universal effectiveness of low carb diets. A more nuanced but equally passionate (both pro and con) version of this struggle swirls around the […]
May 4, 2021 — Patterns of disparities surround us so completely that we become immune to them. In fact, disparities even extend to the air we breathe. People of color have dirtier air to breathe and that contributes to disparities in health in countless ways. New research offers evidence that air pollution contributes to the risk of childhood obesity. […]
May 3, 2021 — Obesity is a highly heritable condition. But in the general population, genes only explain about 40 to 50 percent of the variability in BMI. How can both of these things be true? Work to understand the causes of obesity spans a century. So scientists have learned a great deal about the genetic inheritance of obesity […]
April 2, 2021 — A good friend once told us, “Obesity is not a disease. You can’t catch it.” We won’t deny that his comment reflects the feelings of many people. But on the facts, he was simply wrong. A new systematic review in the International Journal of Obesity tells us that, indeed, it is possible to catch obesity. […]
March 20, 2021 — Some time ago, the Beatles told us that money can’t buy us love. Now a new study from Molly Martin at Penn State suggests that it also may not buy a community less obesity. Martin is a researcher with a keen interest in social inequality, families, and child well-being. Her research examines data from a […]
March 8, 2021 — The overlap between systemic racism and obesity is unmistakable. Obesity is a condition that burdens the health of Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people more than others. It is a key factor that has made these communities more susceptible to severe symptoms and death from COVID-19. A new paper in the Journal of Internal Medicine offers […]
February 12, 2021 — Once again, we see the impulse rise to catastrophize obesity. A new study in BMC Public Health offers up a comparison of deaths due to smoking and adiposity. So naturally, this sparks splashy headlines. Obesity kills more than smoking! Scary stuff. But not terribly helpful. Because the subtext of this sort of hype is finger […]
February 8, 2021 — In the popular imagination, obesity is simple. Many people presume that the root cause is obvious. But the presumptions vary. Some like to blame the food industry – for junk food, too much sugar, and predatory marketing. In the UK, where weight bias is common, the NHS is blunt. “Obesity is generally caused by eating […]
January 3, 2021 — Food addiction is a concept that sticks to the popular psyche. Yet it remains scientifically controversial. True believers will tell you that eating addictive food “lights up” parts of the brain involved in addiction. But then, just about anything that brings a person pleasure does that. So this is not an especially persuasive argument to […]
December 23, 2020 — China is going to eliminate food waste and fight obesity in a single stroke of regulation. How, you ask? Operation Empty Plate will expand into law. China will make it a crime to promote food waste, including overeating. The hilarity of naive efforts to regulate food marketing never disappoints. Stiff Fines for Bad Marketing Right […]
