Posts Tagged ‘bias’

Like a dog with a bone, Nina Teicholz is not ready to let it go. She has a point to make and a book to sell. It’s all about pushing everyone to eat a low-carb diet. No matter what the problem, we find her telling us that low-carb diets, with plenty of saturated fats, are […]

On Friday, the BMJ released the largest peer-reviewed prospective study of risk factors for severe symptoms or death with COVID-19 to date. Age over 50, being male, obesity, and other chronic diseases stand out as important risk factors. By now, this is a pattern that is quite familiar. But it does more than just make […]

Common ground is awfully hard to find right now. But here’s an easy one. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a D or an R or anything else. Fat shaming is never cool. It just happened last night when Speaker Nancy Pelosi made an off-handed remark about President Donald Trump being “morbidly obese.” Please, people. This […]

So…this happened. The Journal of Internal Medicine published an open-source article on race and obesity. In doing so, the journal paired it with an infographic incorporating a racial stereotype, apparently lifted from a movie. Furthermore, the imagery depicted a diet of honey, soda, and cupcakes. Our primary conclusion is that the journal has published an […]

Alternative facts are never helpful. This is especially true in the midst of a health crisis. People need actual, reliable facts to make good decisions – not a self-serving story. And yet, we see facts dismissed in discussions of discrimination, obesity, and COVID-19. Yet another large study emerged this week that points to real risks […]

What is the line that separates critical thinking from unreasonable doubt? A contrarian can save us from making grievous errors by failing to question false assumptions. But sometimes a contrarian view and insistent bias are nearly impossible to distinguish. COVID-19 is offering us many such examples. One of them comes at intersection of COVID-19 with […]

We are in the midst of an intense learning experience. We’re learning how to live in physical isolation. At the same time, we’re also gathering as much knowledge as we can about a new virus that can be both sneaky and nasty. But most of all, we’re getting a hard lesson about the cost of […]

Health disparities are an ever-present feature of American healthcare. Money, race, and ethnicity have long been deciding factors in who lives and who dies. Chronic diseases have their greatest impact on black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged communities. Prevalence is higher. But access to treatment is lower. It’s equally true for diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. […]

New Orleans is in a world of hurt right now. That’s because COVID-19, obesity, disparities, and denial have come together and contributed to a grotesque catastrophe. The city leads all other cities in the U.S. on deaths per capita from COVID-19. Obesity and the complications of untreated obesity are important factors. As of yesterday, out […]

We’re witnessing some intense interchanges on health policy right now. Reason and emotion are in vivid conflict. Jolting comments collide with disturbing facts. The new coronavirus “will disappear like a miracle,” says one policymaker. In addition, we hear promises of “packed churches all over our country” in just a couple of weeks. But then, a […]