Posts Tagged ‘research’

Is some knowledge ever enough? A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association begs that question. Researchers found that patients with diabetes and obesity were less likely to die or have other major bad outcomes if they have bariatric surgery. The list of bad outcomes includes heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, kidney […]

Believe it or not, your body has an organ that serves as an efficient little heater. It’s brown fat. Obesity geeks might call it brown adipose tissue. Or BAT for short. For some time now, BAT has fascinated obesity scientists. Adding to their excitement is a new study last week in Nature. The research documents […]

Tall tales are not just for the literature of Mark Twain. In fact, you can find a few in childhood obesity. A new paper in Obesity Reviews offers an inventory of ten methods for exaggeration of effectiveness in childhood obesity studies. Andrew Brown and colleagues (including ConscienHealth’s Ted Kyle) provide examples of each. Checklists can […]

Maybe the screen can wait. A pair of recent studies tell us that distracted eating might lead people to consume more calories at a meal. Plus, there’s no evidence that people compensate with fewer calories at the next meal. So that extra food could add up over time. Thus it might be smart to put […]

The closing day of YWM2019 began and ended with acceptance and commitment. First, Jason Lillis presented a brilliant session on using our own values to empower healthy changes. Then, at the end, attendees told their own true stories of acceptance and commitment to live their best lives. It was a perfect pair of bookends for […]

Four principles describe a common framework for healthcare ethics: autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. That first one, respect for autonomy, requires telling the truth. But unfortunately, it can come into conflict with beneficence – the moral obligation to do good for others. So which comes first? Tell the truth as you find it? Or look […]

Are we doomed to complete the full cycle of macronutrient obsession? First it was fat. Starting in the 1980s fat was at the root of all our dietary woes. Next came carbs. Low carb and keto diets are still a hot topic of discussion and debate among folks who are certain they have the answer […]

Cutting as few as 300 calories from the daily diet might offer significant health benefits –  even for people with a BMI in the normal or only mildly overweight range. That’s the primary finding of a new 2-year RCT in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology. Is this groundbreaking research? Or, is restricting calories an impractical option […]

Regarding obesity as a disease is associated with lower weight bias among physicians. That’s the title of a new study in Stigma and Health. Before now, researchers have had experimental evidence. They’ve shown that positioning obesity as a disease could reduce weight stigma and bias. Now, in addition, this new study gives us real world […]

It’s all so simple. We can fight obesity with a single cup of coffee! It’s a “fat-burning, obesity-fighting beverage.” So say the headlines about a study of brown fat activation with caffeine. This new study in Scientific Reports, hyped by a press release from the University of Nottingham, has unleashed a flood of sensational headlines […]