September 16, 2023 — The question that fuels much curiosity about obesity seems simple enough. What is it that sparked an increase in the prevalence of obesity beginning in the 1980s? But a new paper in Science Advances suggests this may altogether be the wrong question. That’s because Mads Møller Pedersen, Claus Thorn Ekstrøm, and Thorkild I.A. Sørensen have […]
May 7, 2023 — One of the fundamental assumptions we make about the origins of the rise in obesity is that the food supply has changed in ways that trigger more obesity in more people. You might say it is the foundation upon which most public health experts and policy makers build their thinking about this problem. But what […]
April 15, 2023 — New surveillance data from the U.S. Defense Health Agency tells us that the pandemic brought a large jump in diabetes, obesity, and eating disorders in the military. Between 2018 and 2021, the prevalence of obesity rose from 16 percent to 19 percent. The incidence of type 2 diabetes jumped by 25 percent and new cases […]
October 4, 2022 — Patterns. Much of what helps people form their ideas about the source of rising obesity around the world is the patterns they observe. Right now, patterns of ultra-processed food consumption over time – together with some impressive experimental evidence – leads many people to speculate that rising consumption of these foods might explain at least […]
July 9, 2022 — Obesity prevalence is rising all over the world. But in different cultures and different countries, tremendous variations in obesity are striking. Countries of eastern Asia tend to have very low obesity prevalence. Japan, for example, has an obesity rate of just five percent, according to the World Obesity Federation. Meanwhile, obesity prevalence stands at 43 […]
April 7, 2022 — An appealing narrative is hard to resist. When it’s grounded in facts, it can be a powerful way to inform people. But it can just as easily be a tool for misinformation. All too often, a storyline forms around an anecdote or mere speculation. Such is the case with the one about a spike in […]
December 6, 2021 — “Normal” has a very succinct definition: usual, typical, or expected. So a recent publication in JAMA reminds us that the definition of “normal” weight is seriously broken. A weight in the range of a “normal” BMI (18.5 – 24.9) is no longer normal for young adults. The normal, typical, or average weight for an American […]
November 17, 2021 — This was not entirely unexpected, but the jolt is remarkable. New stats are out for the rates of child obesity in England for 2021 and the numbers are up even more than we might have expected. For children aged four to five years, prevalence jumped from 9.9 to 14.4 percent between the 2019/2020 school year […]
September 18, 2021 — In our weight-obsessed culture, the talk about weight gain during the pandemic has been incessant. So the presumption is that obesity has risen in the pandemic. But the data to tell us if this is true is slow to emerge. And like everything else about this pandemic, it’s very likely that the effects have been […]
July 19, 2021 — You might think that weight gain during the pandemic is simply a matter of fact. The editor of the Harvard Health Letter tells us it’s widespread. Speculation started early in the pandemic. With everyone cooped up at home, people spoke with certainty and derision about the quarantine 15. Or pandemic pounds. One paper even proclaimed […]
