July 26, 2024 — The rousing success of GLP-1 medicines for obesity and overweight evokes a wide range of feelings. At the National Academy of Sciences this week we heard lamentations from a scholar in exercise physiology. To him, these highly effective treatments are a distraction from the importance of focusing in healthy eating and active living. We hear […]
July 25, 2024 — It has been ten years that diverse stakeholders have been meeting at the National Academy of Sciences in the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions. In our role as advisor to the Obesity Society, we participated in a symposium at the Academy focused on looking back and moving forward. A Fraught History of “Solutions” For looking back, […]
July 14, 2024 — It is hard not to think we are seeing a subtle shift in prevailing bias about obesity. Almost a decade ago, Health Affairs saw merit in publishing projections to say that taxes and other restrictions on unhealthy foods and beverages were more important than providing medical care for children with obesity. The argument was that […]
July 9, 2024 — If one is looking for a hint about the cluelessness of the NHS in dealing seriously with obesity, they can find a double dose in reporting on priorities of England’s 42 integrated care boards. First there is the analysis. More than 85% of those boards think obesity is not a priority for health. Two of […]
June 29, 2024 — The revolution in obesity treatment has brought surprising new discoveries along with a lot of unsettling change. Among those discoveries is that food noise is a big part of living with obesity for many people. The noise of food cues all around us sets up intrusive thoughts. It can come to dominate the lived experience […]
June 15, 2024 — For decades now, thinking about obesity that pits treatment against prevention has hampered efforts to “tackle” obesity. At the Boston Course in Obesity Medicine yesterday, ConscienHealth founder Ted Kyle examined this either/or thinking and suggested it is a mistake. In fact, it is becoming apparent that obesity care is a critical tool for prevention of […]
June 13, 2024 — In the prevention of childhood and adolescent obesity, let us have our wishes and beliefs, but distinguish them from facts in evidence. Wishes are good things. They are the muses which impel us to action to work for a better future. Belief is a good thing. Our staunch belief that something can work gives us […]
June 2, 2024 — The Obesity and Energetics Offerings from the Indiana University School of Public Health and the University of Alabama at Birmingham NORC certainly got our attention this week with an entry titled “Cherished Hypotheses Meet Hard Facts.” That entry links us to two new systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials to assess prevention of obesity in […]
May 13, 2024 — Compelling new research presented at ECO2024 implicates obesity in nearly half of all cancer cases. Researchers from Lund University in Sweden analyzed data from more than four million adults to find an additional 19 types of cancer for which obesity likely plays a significant role. They explained: “The findings of this study have important public […]
May 8, 2024 — Eight years ago, Chile implemented a sweeping food policy initiative to fight obesity. Many public health advocates quickly endorsed these policies. Researcher Deborah Cohen praised this as a success and called it a four-point lesson plan for the U.S. and other countries to follow: “Chile recognizes obesity rates are a crisis that demands urgent action. […]
