August 15, 2023 — Can a simple program to promote drinking water prevent obesity in elementary schools? Well, no. But a new study in Pediatrics does tell us that promotion of drinking water can indeed prevent weight gain in elementary school students. Many well-intended childhood obesity programs have a nil effect. So it’s delightful to point to a well-controlled […]
August 5, 2023 — Back in February, we noted a study documenting the effects of a childhood obesity program that, according to its authors, “shows promise.” Since then, much has happened with this study. Scholars from the School of Public Health at Indiana University in Bloomington took a closer look at the statistics in this paper. The authors corrected […]
July 23, 2023 — Slowly, but surely, the world is waking up to realize that obesity is not a problem of bad behavior by the people who live with it. Of course, this is not to say that healthy behaviors are unhelpful for our well-being. Good health habits can benefit anyone. But thinking that behavior change can reverse obesity, […]
June 17, 2023 — “Nutrition policies are intended to improve diet quality and decrease rising obesity prevalence . . . Although obesity prevention policies can improve diet quality, they are not expected to decrease the prevalence of obesity.” These words, from a recent review, lead us to wonder what we really know about preventing obesity. Fortunately, on the closing […]
May 20, 2023 — ECO2023 closed today with a clear focus on future progress in obesity. Lee Kaplan offered a view of what that future might look like with a focus on access and delivery of chronic care for obesity. Kaplan told us the future of obesity care lies in getting beyond merely saying that obesity is a disease. […]
May 19, 2023 — One question that holds us captive in obesity is the question of its origins. Why has its prevalence been rising so relentlessly now for decades? At ECO2023, this question inserted itself into one of the major themes of the meeting – a pursuit of the determinants of obesity. Commercial Determinants Emma Boyland and Aileen McGloin […]
May 16, 2023 — For decades, faith that healthy eating and active living would be sufficient to prevent obesity has motivated an impressive array of obesity prevention programs and research. But it has yielded very little in terms of measurable progress for reversing unhealthy trends. In the face of treatment options with dramatic efficacy gains, a crisis of faith […]
May 15, 2023 — We’re headed to Dublin this week for the European Congress on Obesity – ECO2023. At a pace that will surely be overwhelming, we expect to encounter some of the world’s best researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates bringing us new insights. This comes at an exciting time for the field because advanced treatment options are causing […]
May 14, 2023 — “Fix the food first. Let’s see if these drugs are actually better than real food.” Those words from Robert Lustig (the sugar is poison guy) capture the dissonance obesity medicines are causing for people who believe that obesity is simply the result of bad food. They’re framing care for people with obesity as an obstacle […]
May 3, 2023 — We have received enough lectures for a lifetime from people who know just what the root cause of obesity is. The lecturers know the cause and they know the solution: tax, nudge, cajole, and educate people to follow a healthier diet. Eat less of that awful ultra-processed food. But the presumption that it’s all about […]
