Posts Tagged ‘public health policy’

The slate is clean. All is forgiven. We have a fresh new year ahead. So that has us thinking about the trends that are likely to define 2026 in obesity, nutrition, and health. Here are five that floated to the top of our mind. 1. Healthy Weight for Life We have said it before. Weight […]

Shifting paradigms is difficult, but that does not mean we can’t try. Recently, I have been continuing the discussion that I started to think about in 2012 when I started my PhD. It is all about drawing a bright line between health promotion and obesity prevention. We need to be sure to be clear about […]

The new administration in Washington says it wants to Make America Healthy Again by bringing an intense focus on chronic disease. This is a concept we endorse without reservation. But talk is turning into balk when it comes down to following through on the scientific research essential for reducing the burden of chronic disease. A […]

Should this be surprising? Probably not. It had to come to this. But this is a pleasant bend in a long arc toward a more realistic approach for obesity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three leaders at CDC write in Health Affairs Forefront that we need both prevention and care to […]

Breastfeeding is such a good idea. But unfortunately, it doesn’t do much to prevent obesity. No matter. On the subject of breastfeeding and preventing obesity in children, we have policy-based evidence – the answer is preset. A new paper in Pediatrics lines up with this. Based on yet another finding of an association between breastfeeding […]

Over the last four years, we’ve been through a lot – not all of it especially good. But the view from OW2023 as it starts today in Dallas points to a pivotal year for obesity care. A good year. Dare we say it. The world seems to be pivoting toward a much more helpful approach […]

“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 […]

Reuters reported yesterday that the World Health Association is considering, for the first time ever, adding a drug used for diabetes and obesity to the WHO essential medicines list. The specific drug under consideration is liraglutide. This would represent a step toward learning from public health mistakes of the past to make a course correction […]

An interesting collision of stories is playing out in the media today. It comes at the end of Obesity Care Week and on the eve of World Obesity Day. On one hand, the Economist proclaims that “new drugs could spell an end to the world’s obesity epidemic.” On the other, hand the World Obesity Federation […]

“The only way to reverse our obesity epidemic is by preventing obesity in the first place.” This perfect expression of a perfectly unreal approach to obesity appears in The Hill today. Optimism about obesity treatment is “not warranted,” write Anthony Biglan and Diana Fishbein. Instead, businesses must stop selling us food “with an irresistible taste.” […]