Tara Parker-Pope, in the health blog section of the New York Times website, addressed in her post “A Diva’s Lessons on Weight and Beauty” the scientifically based concept that controlling body weight is not a matter of will power. Thank G-d, it’s finally dawning on the New York Times’ editors that fat people actually don’t deserve to be punished for their lack of will power (particularly after that awful Times magazine cover touting Clive Thompson’s misguided article (“Are Your Friends Making You Fat?”) on Christakis and Fowler’s research).
What many people …

After acquiring the book almost a year ago, I (again) started reading Gary Taubes’ book entitled Good Calories, Bad Calories. Based on what I’ve read so far, and knowing Gary Taubes’ background, I believe it’s a very scholarly work, and very thoroughly researched. From the title, it’s obvious that this book considers the scientific evidence for specific types of diets and how they affect body weight regulation.
In the first part of the book, in order to draw parallels with current scientific evidence for the “epidemics of obesity and diabetes,” he …

By Caitlin Militello
On March 15, MSNBC had some surprising news about peanut allergies. Thanks to a new treatment by Duke University Medical Center and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, 29 children were able to eat peanuts without any allergic reactions. The treatment is called oral desensitization, a method of gradually introducing a food allergen orally in order to build up immune system tolerance.
Though further study is still necessary, 5 of those 29 children appear to have had their peanut allergies completely cured. This isn’t just good news for …

The recent Sensation to Emotion Conference was packed with scholars and clinicians with an interest in advancing the understanding of how sensory processing and emotion regulation interact, and how these processes affect human behavior. In interviewed Dr. Jennifer Brout, the mother of fourteen-year-old triplets, a clinical/child psychologist, and the founder of the EMB Brout Sensory Processing and Emotion Regulation Program at Duke University. Dr. Brout is also involved with projects at the SPD Foundation (the leading authority on Sensory Processing Disorders), Cal State University Fullerton, and The …

By Kevin Kirshner
This is the first of a three-part series about Breakfast, Obesity & Juvenile Diabetes. Please take the time to write a comment or relate some personal experience — help us make a connection through your stories.
So, Why is Breakfast So Important?
Confused? Well you’re not alone. Over 50% of people regularly skip eating breakfast. At one time or another everyone reading this has done it, and left home for school or work without taking just a few minutes to start the day properly, with …

It has taken me several weeks to post this reply, which Dr. Christakis sent almost immediately after I sent him my email (see previous entry entitled “An Email to Dr. Nicholas Christakis“). During this time I’ve had the opportunity to learn and think more about Dr. Christakis’ work, and was not shocked to discover that my knee jerk response to his NEJM article on the spread of obesity through social networks was premature. However, I was far from alone in this reaction.

By Sam Flatow
Medicine is an interesting field. In fact, it seems to be the only field which stays stagnant no matter what scientific advances have been made, and it seems that the exorcism is back.

In 2007, Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard University, published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine on the effect of social networks on the prevalence of obesity. I recently came across this study online, through links in a post by a friend, and revisited the results of the study. You can view a 3-minute interview with Dr. Christakis about his study and findings here.
After watching this interview and looking over Dr. Christakis’ website, I composed this email to him:

Today I had an appointment with Judith Townsend, the Physician’s Assistant who works with Dr. Louis Arrone, in New York City. Dr. Arrone is an expert in medications to treat obesity. I go there with the intention of trying medications to help me reduce my weight, which is an approach I haven’t yet tried.

Humans, mice — indeed all mammals — have two types of fat cells in their bodies; white and brown. White fat cells store energy. In contrast, brown fat cells dissipate energy as heat, thus counteracting obesity. Much to the chagrin of humans living in industrialized societies,