Posts Tagged ‘weight discrimination’

Forgive the schadenfreude here. But United had it coming. The airline summoned security Sunday to violently toss a doctor out of his seat. They literally dragged him off their plane and bloodied his face in the process. United had oversold the flight and wanted to take the doctor’s seat for one of its employees. The incident makes a perfect ad […]

Seven years of efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) seem to be taking a rest for now. Perhaps the moral outrage on both sides of this debate can take a rest, too. But will we ever get a rest from health and wellness as a tool for signaling virtue? The Epithet […]

Is the fashion industry creeping toward more diversity? Industry analysts at theFashionSpot have been crunching numbers on this for three years now. And following the Fall 2017 season, they say the answer is definitely yes. Diversity in Fashion by the Numbers In their report, they found the greatest progress in racial diversity of runway models. […]

How can it be that obesity is a hidden disease? In a 2009 study of patient records, Jun Ma and colleagues found that healthcare providers seldom diagnose obesity. Of patients with a BMI in the range of obesity, 70% do not receive a diagnosis. Misperceptions in Rural Patients In self reports, people consistently say that […]

The medical benefits of bariatric surgery for teens with severe obesity has become increasingly clear as trials such as the Teen-LABS study are providing more data on long-term outcomes. In Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology this month, two more studies (here and here) provide evidence for long-term benefits. Subjective Resistance But the more difficult hurdle is […]

We now have four decades of dramatic growth in obesity prevalence behind us. We have spent two of those decades bemoaning the problem and calling for urgent action. But obesity policies to date – however well-intended – have not even stopped the upward trend. Reversing the trend seems like a fantasy. Perhaps part of the problem is […]

Solving a problem is tough when you’ve been dismissed. And routinely, in conversations about obesity, we hear the people with obesity dismissed. Here are three popular catchphrases for gently dismissing people with obesity. 1. We can’t treat our way out of the obesity epidemic. The false choice between treatment and prevention surfaces again and again. The […]

Thirty years ago, Sandra Boynton put wisdom of the ages into an amusing book: Don’t Let the Turkeys Get You Down. Today, a new study published in Obesity brings life to the importance of that advice. Rebecca Pearl and colleagues present new evidence that the harm of fat shaming is worse when a person takes it […]

Popular nutrition advice often holds that careful, healthy food choices pave the ideal path to good health. But sometimes, food choices are not entirely a matter of choice. Consider the case of people with ARFID – avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. This diagnosis is relatively new. Before the publication of DSM-5 in 2013, these people might just be labeled […]

If you’re looking for signs of progress in obesity and health, you can find it in 2016. Obesity is a tough nut to crack, so we don’t have breakthroughs and cures to report – yet. What we have is solid advances that will make life and health better for people concerned about obesity. Here’s our […]