December 26, 2022 — This has been a good year in so many ways. COVID has moved into the background and people have been reconnecting. We’ve seen remarkable progress in understanding and care for obesity. Of course, we’ve hit some low points that help us to appreciate highlights even more. So here for your consideration is our short list […]
December 24, 2022 — For some of us, gaining weight (especially at this time of year) is a metabolic curse. But there are individuals for whom gaining weight is a metabolic gift and, in fact, essential for surviving in good health. In this case, we are thinking about grizzly bears. These animals gain tremendous amounts of weight every year […]
December 11, 2022 — “Let’s just agree to disagree” is an expression of utter nonsense, says Professor David Allison in an introduction to the concept of adversarial collaboration. Of course, he is describing this in the context of scientific controversies. And in obesity and nutrition research, it’s quite easy to construct a list of subjects on which the disagreements […]
November 2, 2022 — Opening ObesityWeek with a quick succession of pithy talks to set the agenda for the week seems to be a good way of getting getting the attention of the diverse audience focused on obesity. Last night, it worked. A series of talks served to focus the group on the theme for OW2022 that President Dan […]
October 22, 2022 — Perhaps the most basic question behind this week’s extraordinary meeting at the Royal Society is how did we wind up with so much obesity? John Speakman addressed this on the final day, explaining that the thrifty genotype hypothesis has been popular ever since James Neel proposed it 60 years ago. But it turns out that […]
October 20, 2022 — Frustration or amazement. Take your pick. John Speakman brought a close to three days of some of the best presentations ever on the causes of obesity and summed things up nicely: “The causes of obesity turn out to be exceedingly complex. Although I’ve learned a lot, we’ve not reached any sort of conclusion about what […]
October 17, 2022 — “This [obesity] is an important problem and we really still don’t know what causes it,” said John Speakman this morning to open a meeting of the Royal Society in London. Three days of presentations and discussion with some of the most brilliant scientists in the world lie ahead. It”s unfolding on YouTube and a dedicated […]
October 11, 2022 — The toughest question about obesity is also the simplest and most basic. Why do we have so much more of it now? In the spirit of H.L. Mencken, most people presume the answer is also simple. People are just eating too much, moving too little, and they should change their ways. Problem solved. But in […]
September 12, 2022 — In popular culture right now, it seems that ultra-processed foods are the bad boys. “Ultra-processed foods linked to heart disease, cancer, and death, studies show,” says one recent headline. Scary stuff, eh? Targeting ultra-processed foods for scorn wins approving nods. But even if it supports a favored narrative, looking closely at research on ultra-processed foods […]
September 11, 2022 — Candid conversations about obesity prevention can be difficult. Longstanding prevention strategies are not really working too well. “It’s so hard to change BMI at the population level,” said Marlene Schwartz of Yale’s Rudd Center recently at the National Academy of Sciences. She’s right. We know that many factors all around us are driving more obesity […]
