Archive: Obesity
More fodder for the fat-but-healthy debate
One of the most divisive and emotional debates regarding obesity is whether being fat automatically equals being unhealthy. While many experts point to mounds of evidence linking excess weight to such life-shortening conditions as cancer, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, others argue that those conditions aren't necessarily caused by...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | November 5, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (8)
Kids, Calories and Corner Stores
Trying to get kids to eat more healthfully is like trying to keep kittens in a box: You make progress in one area -- say, school lunches -- only to find that the kids jump for the junk food first chance they get. But in too many instances, kids seeking...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | October 12, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
First Look: Calories on Fast-Food Menus Don't Change Choices
Oops. Remember how requiring fast-food chain restaurants to post calorie counts for food items on their menu boards was supposed to help people make better food choices? If the results of the first study to measure the impact of that initiative are any indication, we might want to rethink the...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | October 7, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (14)
Mid-Life Obesity Predicts Women's Later Health Woes
Women, want to enjoy good health in your golden years? Lose weight. Now. A study published online last night in the British Medical Journal shows that women who are overweight in midlife are at increased risk of various health problems, from chronic diseases to cognitive impairment, once they pass age...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | September 30, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
What's for (School) Lunch?
(Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post) This week's "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy" column about school lunches encourages parents who are concerned about what their kids are eating at school to go see and taste for themselves. The experience might be reassuring -- or eye-opening. If you can't carve out...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | September 8, 2009; 10:15 AM ET | Comments (1)
Is That Right? Alli Weight-Loss Drug is Safe
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced August 24 that it's reviewing cases of liver injury among people using the weight-loss drug orlistat, found in the prescription drug Xenical and the over-the-counter product Alli. The FDA says it received 32 reports of serious liver injury among patients using those drugs...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | September 4, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Kids Should Get Moving -- But With Supervision
Kids who sit around a lot -- especially in front of television and computer screens -- tend to have higher blood pressure than their more active peers, whether they're chubby or thin. That's what one new study shows. And kids in school gym classes are getting injured much more frequently...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | August 5, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
How Much Does Obesity Cost?
Here, from the Weight of the Nation conference underway today in D.C., is new fodder for the debate as to whether being obese really compromises one's health: A study published online today estimates the cost of treating obesity-related ailments in 2008 at $147 billion. The study, which compared medical costs...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | July 27, 2009; 12:28 PM ET | Comments (14)
Why Are We Fat?
This blog will take a bit longer to read than most -- if you take time, that is, to read this article from the July 20 issue of The New Yorker in its entirety. In it, Elizabeth Kolbert explores various theories as to why Americans are so fat. Is our...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | July 27, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (5)
CDC: Childhood Obesity Epidemic Slowing
The epidemic of obesity among American children appears to be slowing, federal health officials are reporting today. An analysis of data collected nationally about low-income preschool-aged children ages two to four years old found the prevalence of obesity increased from 12.4 percent in 1998 to 14.5 percent in 2003, but...
By Rob Stein | July 23, 2009; 12:02 PM ET | Comments (1)
Should the Surgeon General be Slender?
Regina Benjamin is President Obama's nominee for surgeon general. (Photo By Marvin Joseph) By all accounts, Regina Benjamin is a smart, accomplished person, a caring and skilled physician and a real go-getter. Yet, by all appearances, she also is overweight. Does that make her a poor choice for the...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | July 22, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (44)
Cutting Calories Might Extend Life -- For Monkeys, At Least
Cutting way back on calories may make for longer life. So suggests a study of rhesus monkeys published today in the journal Science. The new research shows that fewer rhesus monkeys who ate a calorie-restricted diet had died in a 20-year period than those whose diets weren't restricted (only 50...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | July 10, 2009; 12:17 PM ET | Comments (5)
Judging Fat People
Be honest: What's your first reaction when you encounter an obese person? I'm guessing it's not sympathy. Don't think the fat person doesn't notice. According to The STOP Obesity Alliance, a nonprofit organization headquartered at George Washington University, the stigma associated with being overweight or obese is enormous and has...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | June 23, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (16)
Fighting the Post-Grad 15?
There's plenty of information on the Web and elsewhere about fighting the Freshman 15, those pesky extra pounds that some first-year college students pack on as they adjust to dining-hall food and other exigencies of campus life. But there's not much out there about what happens to folks' eating and...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | June 16, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (10)
Is That Right? "Real Sugar" is Everywhere. But is it Better for You?
If, say, five years ago you had tried to sell a product by announcing it was made with "real sugar," everyone would have called you crazy. But "real sugar" and its cousin "natural sugar" have become selling points for many products these days, from Snapple to Starbucks. Snapple now offers...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | June 12, 2009; 07:15 AM ET | Comments (20)
TV's Ruby Comes to Town
Ruby will continue her national walking tour Saturday, June 13, at Georgetown University. (Courtesy of the Style Network) Since November 2008, viewers of the Style Network's reality show "Ruby" have followed the weight-loss journey of Ruby Gettinger, a Savannah, Ga., resident who weighed about 500 pounds when the show...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | June 10, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
How Much Weight Should Pregnant Women Gain?
The National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine released new guidelines today for how much weight women should gain during pregnancy. And the biggest change in the guidelines--the first revision since 1990--is that they for the first time include specific recommendations for obese women. The addition is a nod to...
By Rob Stein | May 28, 2009; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (8)
Weigh in on Plus-Size Yoga Classes
Kay Adcock, left, and Paula Leonardo, right, stretch along with yoga instructor Joy Anandi at the Rice Diet Program in Durham, N.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey A. Camarati) A story in last week's New York Times drew attention to yoga classes designed specifically -- and solely -- for overweight and obese...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | May 20, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
Do Plus-Size Clothes for Teens Endorse Obesity?
The news that Target and Forever 21 are launching lines of plus-size clothes for teens has ruffled some emotions. Some argue that providing Size 30 or 2XL clothing for young women is akin to telling them it's fine to be fat. Others say young women of all sizes and shapes...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | May 4, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (19)
Soda Tax, Food Policy and Politics
That Kelly Brownell is at it again. Brownell, a professor of psychology at Yale University and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, has written much about what he thinks the government should do to cinch in America's ever-widening waistlines. Co-author of the 2004 book Food Fight:...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | April 10, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (29)
Too Much TV? Feed 'em Donuts.
Asma Attaoui holds a rack of donuts at a Dunkin' Donuts franchise in Boston. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole) You'll want to watch the new Dunkin' Donuts TV ad more than once, just to be sure you've got it right. Three kids (and a dog) are in a darkened room, watching...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | April 6, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (19)
A Warning on 4,800-Calorie Burger? Lighten Up!
Josh Kowalczyk, an intern with the West Michigan Whitecaps, holds the massive, 4800-calorie burger. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Rex Larsen) A Michigan minor-league baseball team's scheme to sell a big honkin' burger totaling 4,800 calories as a concession-stand promotion has drawn the ire of a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | April 3, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (15)
Does Baby Fat Lead to Obesity?
There's new evidence that baby fat may not always be so cute after all. Babies that gain a lot of weight quickly in their first six months of life are at increased risk for becoming obese by the time they become toddlers, according to new research. Obesity rates among children...
By Rob Stein | April 2, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (5)
Meet Dr. Ian
(Courtesy of Dr. Ian Smith) Ian Smith has never had to diet. At 39, he's fit and trim, a life-long athlete and healthful eater. But he understands how hard it is to lose weight. As a medical doctor and media voice on nutrition issues (he is, for instance, the...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | April 1, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Barbie, Mom and Body Image
In Barbie's 50 years as the doll America loves to hate, there's been lots of hand-wringing over the fashion icon's role in shaping girls' self-image. Do those big breasts, wasp waist and mile-long legs make us gals feel so inadequate that we fall into punishing dietary habits and other self-destructive...
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | March 3, 2009; 07:20 AM ET | Comments (12)
Which Diet Works?
Anyone who has battled their waistline has asked the same question: Which diet works best? Low-carb? Low-fat? High-protein? A new government-sponsored study out today finally tries to offer a definitive answer. The study, published in today's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine and sponsored by the National Institutes...
By Rob Stein | February 26, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
New Initiative to Fight Childhood Obesity
A new initiative billed as the first of its kind was unveiled today to help battle one of the nation's biggest health problems--childhood obesity. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a joint effort between the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, announced the Alliance Healthcare Initiative, which...
By Rob Stein | February 19, 2009; 01:36 PM ET | Comments (3)
Why Men Are Better Dieters
Why do women seem to have a much harder time sticking to their diets than men do? A new study provides a provocative clue: Women's brains appear to have more of a mind of their own, so to speak, when food beckons. Gene-Jack Wang of the Brookhaven National Laboratory and...
By Rob Stein | January 22, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Just How Useful Is Exercise at Controlling Weight?
One of the assumptions about why Americans are increasingly overweight is that we've become a nation of couch potatoes, burning far fewer calories in our daily lives than we used to. But a new study is challenging the idea that a drop in physical activity is one of the key...
By Rob Stein | January 8, 2009; 11:59 AM ET | Comments (11)
Couch Potatoes Work Up An Appetite
Couch potatoes apparently work up a big appetite. That, at least, is what a new study suggests. Barry Braun of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his colleagues studied six young, lean and fit men and women in three one-day experiments. On one day the volunteers spent 12 hours...
By Rob Stein | September 25, 2008; 07:45 AM ET | Comments (2)
Do Plastics Cause Obesity, Too?
The evidence keeps mounting that chemicals may be playing a role in the obesity epidemic. The obesity epidemic? Isn't obesity caused by eating too much and not exercising enough? Well, yes. But a growing body of evidence suggests a role for some chemicals, including bisphenol A or BPA ....
By Rob Stein | May 15, 2008; 07:03 AM ET | Comments (4)
Are You Secretly "Obese?"
When it comes to obesity, you probably feel like you've heard it all. Well, here's a new idea for you: "Normal weight obesity." OK, so you're thinking: "That's a contradiction in terms. How can someone be both 'normal weight' and 'obese?' " It's a term coined by Mayo Clinic...
By Rob Stein | April 10, 2008; 02:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
