December 23, 2021 — The New York Times has a wellness column called Phys Ed. Weekly it brings us factoids from mostly positive studies in kinesiology. “Staying physically active may protect the aging brain,” says one. “300 minutes a week of moderate exercise may help ward off cancer,” says another. Gretchen Reynolds feeds us quite a stream of good […]
October 30, 2021 — The Nutrition Source at Harvard makes one thing clear enough. Potatoes are a problem. They can give you obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Skip across town and you’ll get a very different story from Boston University. “Nutrient-rich potatoes can be part of a healthy diet in young girls.” This kind of whiplash tells us that, […]
September 22, 2021 — We have an opportunity before us, say Thiago Gagliano-Jucá and Caroline Apovian. They are writing in Annals of Internal Medicine to reflect on the implications of words we use in healthcare. Specifically, they are talking about the words providers attach to obesity – words like morbid. These are words that leave patients feeling judged. Such […]
September 17, 2021 — For some time, it’s been clear to mental health professionals that social media could be a problem for teens. Facebook, which owns Instagram, has long minimized the issue. But reporting this week from the Wall Street Journal tells suggests that Facebook knows from its own research that Instagram promotes self-stigma for teenage girls. Slides from […]
April 7, 2021 — As Alice discovered in Wonderland, it helps to have a plan. For clinical research it’s especially important to know where one is going with research. This is precisely why medical journals require that clinical researchers register a protocol for their studies before they start. If a study lacks that, a reputable journal will not publish […]
December 26, 2020 — Some mistakes are hard to correct. Sometimes, it’s even hard to figure out where the mistake lies. Thus, retractions can be quite messy when a problem arises with a scientific publication. Two recent examples illustrate just how complicated retractions can become. Do Women Need Male Mentors? Back in November, a paper in Nature Communications started […]
February 14, 2020 — FDA yesterday requested that Eisai withdraw lorcaserin (Belviq®) from the market due to a small increase in cancer observed in a large cardiovascular safety study. Eisai disagreed with the request but complied with the request nonetheless. We have no data to help us understand what is going on. Is FDA over-reacting to a spurious observation? […]
May 14, 2018 — Bariatric centers of excellence now perform most bariatric surgeries. So if all those centers are excellent, how much does it matter where someone has a surgery performed? Quite a bit. A new review by Tapan Mehta and David Allison in JAMA offers an important conclusion. Accreditation might be a good idea, but by itself, it doesn’t […]
January 8, 2018 — With much fanfare, 23andMe recently announced a massive study of the interaction between a person’s genetic profile and weight management. The company has recruited 100,000 customers with excess weight. The study will randomize those people to three different treatment strategies. One of the treatment groups will follow a low-carb diet. Another will cut animal fat and […]
September 2, 2015 — PR, research, and transparency keep crashing together with unpredictable results. One outcome is an ample supply of indignation, but a relative trickle of pragmatic critical thinking. The indignation comes from activists certain that nothing good could ever come from Big Food. Indignation also comes from folks from within Big Food who find themselves under siege by activists who are aided by […]
