We’ve long known that too much excess weight increases your likelihood of dying prematurely. Or does it?
A large review of the evidence published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA…
There’s support for a causal role of carbohydrate-rich diets in the obesity epidemic but such diets also tend to be rich in calories.
Felix Cohen
An article published recently in the BMJ argues that we have been pursuing the wrong hypothesis on the causes of obesity. Along with substandard science, this wrongheadedness has apparently exacerbated…
Media stories tend to use the image of a headless fatty as a stand-in for all fat people.
Stocky Bodies
Stories on street harassment are popping up across the fat-o-sphere. Popular bloggers such as the Fat Heffalump are sharing their stories; and Adipositivity Project founder Substantia Jones has created…
Many proposed measures for curbing obesity around the work are aimed at restricting the intake sugar from soft drinks.
Robert Huffstutter
Merely two months into the new year and we have already seen a plethora of local and international efforts aimed at curbing what appears to be the inexorable rise of obesity. Some of these initiatives…
Overweight pets have become collateral casualties in the ongoing war against human obesity.
MrTGT/Flickr
A study published this morning in Nature offers further insight into how dogs became domesticated. The comparative analysis of human, canine and wolf genomes suggests that humans and dogs have evolved…
Christmas is a time of plenty – but to ensure we keep eating well in the future, it’s time to rethink the way we buy and produce food.
Barbeque image from www.shutterstock.com
As we gather to share a meal with friends and family this festive season, it is the ideal time to reflect on our relationship with food, including our dependence on those who grow it for us.
Australians…
We are surrounded by energy-dense foods that result in a positive energy balance.
lordwikket/Flickr
The policies and public health strategies that we have implemented are proving inadequate for controlling the global epidemic of obesity. An effective approach may be for governments to implement radical…
The move to end the tax appears to be a political one.
Sam Howzit
Denmark has scrapped the world’s first “fat tax”, which was charged on foods high in saturated fats, after just one year. Plans to introduce a tax on sugar have also been abandoned.
In making the announcement…
Political responses to obesity have been more about creating a spectacle of “doing something” than solving the problem.
Bruce A Stockwell
There’s no doubt that obesity has received considerable political attention over the past decade. But data recently released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows Australians are losing…
The combination of more access and busier lifestyles has likely contributed to increasing consumption of fast food.
Ben Weston
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has just finished hearing submissions in a case against McDonald’s opening an outlet in the town of Tecoma. The case is part of a growing trend of…
The main sources of fructose in the typical western diet are processed foods and beverages.
Boris/Flickr
Sucrose or sugar has two components – glucose and fructose. Glucose is present in virtually all naturally-occurring sweet foods and also exists as starch (although in a different chemical form, so it doesn…
Print advertising from the LiveLighter Western Australia’s anti-obesity campaign.
The most recent Australian anti-obesity measure, the West Australian LiveLighter campaign, features a series of shocking television advertisements, including one showing a middle-aged man in his kitchen…
Obesity can be seen as a carbon store on our waistlines originally sourced from coal mines and oil wells.
Bobcatnorth/Flickr
OBESE NATION: It’s time to admit it – Australia is becoming an obese nation. This series looks at how this has happened and more importantly, what we can do to stop the obesity epidemic.
Today Anthony…
Labelling a person as “obese” may not always be helpful in prompting positive changes in behaviour.
HighContrast
OBESE NATION: It’s time to admit it – Australia is becoming an obese nation. Today we launch a series looking at how this has happened and, more importantly, what we can do to stop the obesity epidemic…
The poorest people in the world have the largest burden of disease.
Jon Baldock
A somewhat diverting paper on obesity came out earlier this week. It’s based on a cute idea – looking at what overweight people do to global resource requirements instead of the more traditional approach…
Many people blame laziness and ready access to attractive, energy-dense foods for the obesity epidemic.
modenadude/Flickr
By Paul Zimmet, Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute
Like politics, football and global warming, obesity is a topic that attracts huge attention in the media as well as talk on the street and in coffee lounges. This is not surprising since it is the most…
Establishing a bariatric register will provide confidence that bariatric surgery is safe.
flickr/Jacquiscloset
Around 2.6 million or 10% of Australians are obese. Obesity contributes to other diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obstructive sleep apnoea, infertility, depression and cancer. The strength…
Fat discrimination may result from everyday values and practices we use to regulate our relationship to food and public life.
davehighbury/Flickr
The persecution of people for their weight is a serious problem that should be addressed by government and civil society. But the ideal of ending fat discrimination faces some profound difficulties.
This…
There’s a tendency to believe that only obese people need to be educated about unhealthy and unnecessary foods.
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity
Parents in Australia recently made headlines expressing frustration with a health-care system that confuses weight with health.
They’ve been expressing their anger at two related, but separate, offenses…
Focussing on individual behaviour for preventing and managing obesity is simplistic and misleading.
Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity
By Jessica L. Browne, Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes and Jane Speight, Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes
For anyone having doubts about overweight or obese people feeling blamed and shamed, the comments on a recent article about a positive image library should settle the matter. They clearly illustrate the…
The image library presents obese people in positive, natural poses. Here, Zoe prepares for work.
Isaac Brown
Discussions about obesity tend to focus on perceived health risks and the financial drain they pose to the health system. What’s less recognised is that the way we talk about obesity makes the social position…
If we’re to confront obesity and with any real impact, we need to examine the way modern lifestyles have dramatically altered our food intake and energy expenditure.
Darwin Bell
By Paul Zimmet, Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute
By 2025, it’s predicted that ⅔ of the Australian population aged over 25 will be overweight or obese if current trends continue. To paint the picture more crudely, it means that a person of normal weight…
The sooner we understand the risk factors that make children vulnerable to obesity, the more traction we can gain to reduce this number.
D. Sharon Pruitt
In Australia, girls in single-parent families are at a higher risk of being overweight or obese than children in dual-parent families. This fits with recent research findings from the United States showing…
The food industry has won this round but the traffic light labelling fight isn’t over yet.
IJClark
The Federal Government has defied expert advice and rejected a traffic light food labelling system for packaged foods, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to show it would give consumers the information…
While we try to come to terms with the number of obese people, the chance to reverse the growing trend could be lost.
austinevan
This is a shorter version of an article that appears in the latest issue of Perspectives, an opinion-led journal published by Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.
It’s predicted that two-thirds of…
Interventions that influence different aspects of the food and physical activity environments are needed to tackle obesity among children.
wizardhat/Flickr
This is a shorter version of an article that appears in the latest issue of Perspectives, an opinion-led journal published by Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.
The prevalence of overweight and obesity…
The majority of obese people will have at least one other chronic disease.
Mallinaltzin
This is a shorter version of an article that appears in the latest issue of Perspectives, an opinion-led journal published by Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.
Maladaption is the inability of a…
Prescription weight loss medicines are expensive and don’t produce lasting results.
Flickr/Flashstep
Welcome to part nine of The science behind weight loss, a Conversation series in which we separate the myths about dieting from the realities of exercise and nutrition. Here, Lennert Veerman, Senior Research…
How much weight can be lost from reducing calorie intake is generally misunderstood.
Flickr/puuikibeach
Welcome to part four of The science behind weight loss, a Conversation series in which we separate the myths about dieting from the realities of exercise and nutrition. Here, Deakin University Public Health…
Fad diets might give you short-term “results” but they’re unlikely to keep the weight off.
Flickr/HTB
Welcome to The science behind weight loss, a new Conversation series where we separate the myths about dieting from the realities of exercise and nutrition. In our first instalment, renowned nutritionist…
An analysis of newspaper reporting about sweet drinks found coverage was largely positively oriented.
barekim/Flickr
Sugary drinks are very popular, almost entirely unnecessary, and contribute to a number of health problems.
Despite such health risks, these drinks are increasingly marketed as healthy with labels highlighting…
Australia needs a tax on unhealthy foods that covers more than just fat content.
Flickr/ms Tea
Australia should follow the lead of Denmark and consider taxing foods high in saturated fats to curb the nation’s growing obesity problem, Greens leader Bob Brown said at yesterday’s tax forum.
This week…
The most promising interventions to curb obesity’s prevalence target the population as a whole rather than individuals.
Tobyotter
Non-communicable diseases – Lennert Veerman examines the reasons for the obesity epidemic and options for controlling it.
Obesity levels are on the rise the world over. This is a sign that something is…
