Posts Tagged ‘bias’

The overlap between systemic racism and obesity is unmistakable. Obesity is a condition that burdens the health of Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people more than others. It is a key factor that has made these communities more susceptible to severe symptoms and death from COVID-19. A new paper in the Journal of Internal Medicine offers […]

This is not hard to see. But recognizing and dealing with effects of systemic racism in obesity care is not so easy. Black and Hispanic communities have a much higher prevalence of obesity and its complications. But they have much less access to effective obesity care. The outcomes for that care are worse in these […]

Appearance has come to dominate our concept of what is healthy. And in turn, our culture links both appearance and health to virtue. Thus, when Cosmopolitan invites 11 women with wildly different appearances to describe their personal journeys to good health, Twitter has a fit. The cardinal sin seems to be declaring This Is Healthy! […]

In a world of divisions, one sentiment seems to unite us: joy in being done with 2020. Thus we say that we look to this new year with a measure of hope for better days ahead. Even for a stern realist, hope is important. Monica Hesse explains: I am not a superstitious person and I […]

Soda taxes are a favored tool for fighting obesity around the world. The World Health Association is totally on board with this taxing sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs). But there’s just one tiny problem. The promise that these taxes will improve health feels great, but fulfillment of that promise is elusive. In fact, evidence for an […]

“Any belief worth embracing will stand up to the litmus test of scrutiny. If we have to qualify, rationalize, make exceptions for, or turn a blind eye to maintain a belief, then it may well be time to release that belief.” Laurie Buchanan, PhD. This year has been a exploration of the capacity of humans […]

What we have here is a bit of a love-hate story. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, Britain’s NHS has received an outpouring of love. But for folks living with obesity in the UK, it’s a little harder to find some of that love. Our own research suggests that some of the strongest weight […]

Type 2 diabetes can be a brutal disease. It often, but not always, goes hand in hand with obesity. Thus, both of these conditions are rising throughout the world, exacting a terrible toll on human health. Once again, though, research tells us that a good option exists to turn this back for many people. A […]

Make no mistake about it. The times are changing. A new order is coming and old ways of doing things will not suffice. We are not merely talking about a change of leadership in Washington. We are talking about bigger changes. These changes come from people fed up with an old order of things that […]

RT-Mart is a hypermarket chain in Taiwan, having a measure of success in mainland China. But last week it set off a furor about fat shaming. For reasons unknowable, the chain replaced the usual S-M-L-XL-XXL clothing sizes with a shaming scheme. Slim, beautiful, rotten, extra rotten, and rotten to the core was the chain’s not […]