August 6, 2023 — On Friday, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released remarkably detailed results from a survey of public awareness and beliefs about new obesity medicines. It offers much for us to think about. But at the very top line it puts some solid numbers on a basic fact about the public response to breakthrough medicines for obesity. […]
September 2, 2020 — At ECOICO 2020 today, we’re releasing new research on weight bias. Specifically, we surveyed adults in the U.S. and U.K. about their beliefs regarding obesity and the people who have it. We looked for indications that these beliefs might have changed between 2017 and 2020. In fact, we did find some indications of progress toward […]
March 14, 2018 — It feels like we’re threading a needle anytime we’re addressing obesity. BBC asks, “Is it wrong to be blunt about obesity?” And the short answer is, probably so. That’s because blunt usually means rude. And rude means you’re adding to the problem. But the answer is not to avoid the subject. The answer is to […]
March 2, 2018 — Public concern can be a potent force for action. Former First Lady Michelle Obama used her Let’s Move! campaign to rally concern about childhood obesity into action for better childhood nutrition. Unfortunately, recent studies have made it clear that the number of children living with obesity is not declining. This seems to be true across all […]
February 2, 2018 — Well, actually now it’s officially a pandemic. Nevertheless, it’s pretty clear that the language of obesity panic is totally unhelpful. Unfortunately, what it does accomplish is the promotion of bias and discrimination. The Language of Moral Panic More than a decade ago, Paul Campos published a commentary that described the response to obesity as a […]
March 3, 2017 — How can it be that obesity is a hidden disease? In a 2009 study of patient records, Jun Ma and colleagues found that healthcare providers seldom diagnose obesity. Of patients with a BMI in the range of obesity, 70% do not receive a diagnosis. Misperceptions in Rural Patients In self reports, people consistently say that […]
