January 8, 2019 — In 1982, Michael Lyons published the first finding that a virus could cause obesity. More than a quarter century later, quite a pile of evidence has accumulated. And yet, the notion of viruses causing obesity seems far from the mainstream. Why is this so? The Long Road for a Counter-Intuitive Finding It’s been more than […]
December 16, 2018 — GWAS is an acronym that’s hard to avoid if you read much about obesity research. It’s shorthand for genome-wide association studies. And for the last several months, some of the brightest people in obesity research have been debating the merits of hammering away at GWAS that focuses on BMI. Does GWAS research miss the mark […]
December 15, 2018 — We’ve noted it before. The relationship between income and obesity is tricky. And according to a new paper from Alexander Bentley and colleagues, the relationship is very new. As recently as 1990, they say, it simply wasn’t there. Today, it’s quite clear. Less income predicts more obesity. Likewise, the correlation between income and diabetes is […]
December 13, 2018 — We seem to need the boogeyman. That little hobgoblin who gets the blame for whatever ails us – especially for obesity. So naturally, we have a long list of bad guys to blame for obesity. Fast food has long been one of them. But a new study of portion sizes in the BMJ suggests that fast […]
December 7, 2018 — We have not heard the last of an intense and seemingly bitter debate about the role carbs and insulin play in promoting obesity. At ObesityWeek, David Ludwig and Kevin Hall sparred about a new publication by Ludwig and colleagues. Letters to the editor of the BMJ are keeping that hot debate going. At the core […]
November 30, 2018 — The idea that obesity is contagious is a “brilliant analogy,” says a distinguished professor of pediatrics, Leonard Epstein. More and more research supports this view. But the ideas about contagion require careful thinking in this context. Thinking about transmitting obesity from one person to another is not especially helpful. What’s more relevant is thinking about […]
November 13, 2018 — Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Mark Twain understood this bit of wisdom. Thus we felt his influence at a session yesterday on food addiction at ObesityWeek 2018 in Nashville. Sandwiched between three scientists, we enjoyed an engaging presentation by a journalist with a good story to tell. It’s […]
November 5, 2018 — It’s just a week away: ObesityWeek 2018 in Nashville. Some of the brightest minds and most interesting people working on obesity will all be in one place. So grab the OW2018 app and plan ahead. It will come and go in a flash. Here are a few things to look for. We’re calling it a […]
October 25, 2018 — Yesterday, we had an unusual opportunity. We spent the day with a diverse collection of animal scientists – experts in behavior, health, nutrition, and even obesity. One thing was most clear. Pets and humans are on parallel paths for health. And in fact, the parallels in human and pet obesity are quite striking. Can We Talk? […]
October 14, 2018 — Our society seems to have accepted that gaining weight is an inevitable consequence of growing up in a place with easy access to calories and where physical activity plays a declining role in our professional and private lives. Aging just makes weight loss even more difficult. In the short term, the consequences of excess weight […]
