While the debate about whether or not obesity merits being called a disease may still be discussed in lay circles (and, unfortunately, even amongst some so-called “experts”), there have been some remarkably forward-thinking policy decisions in the US, that should have long helped lay this “debate” to rest. Here are just some of the policies supporting the idea of obesity as a disease passed by US legislators in recent past, as outlined in the article by Scott Kahan and Tracy Zvenyach published in Current Obesity Reports. In 2002, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) explicitly stated obesity is a disease and codified the right to deduct medical treatment for obesity. In 2004, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revised longstanding national …
One Minute Of Vigorous All-Out Exercise May Be All You Need For Health
In the same week that we learned about the devastating metabolic effects of the weight loss induced by hours-long exhausting workouts in participants in the “Biggest Loser”, a paper byJenna Gillen and colleagues from McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, published in PLOS One, shows that all it takes is one minute of vigorous all out exercise to significantly improve your health. Unbelievable as it sounds, the rather rigorous randomised controlled 12-week trial in 27 sedentary men showed just that. The researchers divided the participants into three groups: three weekly sessions of sprint interval training (SIT) involving a total of 1 minute of intense exercise within a 10-minute time commitment (n = 9), three weekly sessions of traditional moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) involving 50 minutes of continuous exercise per …
5 Things I Wish I Knew in Graduate School
Last week I had the pleasure to give a presentation on careers outside of academia to a group of approximately 100 University of Toronto graduate students during a seminar organized by the Life Sciences Career Development Society. Going back and retrospectively tracing my path to where I am today – on my second non-academic career – was a worthwhile exercise in attaining career perspective. Preparing for the presentation I began to collect my thoughts on a few general truths I’ve come to understand since leaving the university setting. Since I know our blog is read by those currently in graduate school, I thought I’d also share these thoughts here. 1. Tenure-track positions are exceedingly rare: I believe the biggest truth that is rarely shared with those …
The Essential Guide to Science Blogging
Back in the fall of 2008 when Travis and I first decided to emulate Yoni Freedhoff and start our very own science blog, we had no idea what we were doing. I recall writing my first post while sitting in our shared office at Queen’s University, agonizing over the tone of the writing. I spent the better part of an afternoon on that first post, and if you were to go back and read it today (please don’t – even I’m too embarrassed to read it) you might be surprised that it took that long to write something that uninspired. We had countless questions, and few resources from which to draw answers. Should we write only about research papers? Should we get our own url? Should we use …
Participants Wanted
Our lab is recruiting participants for the below study. We are especially looking for participants < 18 years of age, in order to broaden our age range a bit. If you live in the Charlottetown area and are interested in participating, please contact me at the below email address.
April 29 is “On Your Feet” Day
A few years ago Active Working founded Get Britain Standing. Along with Public Health England, they’ve since published guidelines on workplace sitting, and have gone on to create Get Standing organizations in Canada, Australia, and the US. Each of local group is now promoting On Your Feet Day for April 29th (next Friday). Each of the below sites offers posters, suggestions on ways to sit less at work, and ideas for company events. If you are looking to promote a more active/less sedentary workplace, I encourage you to check it out. Get Canada Standing Get Britain Standing Get America Standing Get Australia Standing Travis
Why you should always serve unhealthy snacks in a small bowl
It is often stated that the accumulation of excess body weight is a simple matter of energy intake exceeding energy expenditure. While this notion is certainly correct, it does not account for the myriad of factors that drive one to consume more calories than necessary. Take for example the size of a bowl from which you eat your snacks. Could this simple factor play a role in the number of calories you may consume? Back in 2005, Wansink and Cheney performed a wonderfully simple study and found that when snacks are offered in a large bowl, people take 53{7920e18cf5186565893a18d1f69fa52bf2806dc683a7bfcea51d671d2f7d8125} more food (146 extra calories) and eat 56{7920e18cf5186565893a18d1f69fa52bf2806dc683a7bfcea51d671d2f7d8125} (142 calories) more than when offered the same amount of food but in a smaller bowl (roughly half the size of …
Drinking water prior to meals may help weight-loss
It has often been recommended in popular weight-loss programs that overweight and obese individuals hoping to shed unwanted pounds should drink more water. As is often the case, the evidence base behind this recommendation was rather scant. Fortunately, a study published in the journal Obesity suggests the recommendation may be quite sound. In the study, Dennis and colleagues randomized overweight/obese older men and women to either a hypocaloric diet alone or a hypocaloric diet plus increased water consumption for a duration of 12 weeks. The hypocaloric diet consisted of 1200 calories for the women and 1500 calories for the men. Those in the diet + increased water group were required to consume 500 ml of water (2 cups) 30 minutes prior to each of the 3 large daily meals (breakfast, lunch, …
Obesity not necessarily a disability – Lexology (registration)
Obesity not necessarily a disabilityLexology (registration)Throughout his employment the employee was considered to be obese, as defined by the World Health Organisation, and at the time of his dismissal he had a body mass index of 54. His obesity was mentioned in connection with a meeting regarding the …
New research shows all-cause mortality linked to obesity has decreased over past 40 years – News-Medical.net
Parent HeraldNew research shows all-cause mortality linked to obesity has decreased over past 40 yearsNews-Medical.netNew research from Denmark involving more than 100,000 individuals suggests that the excess risk of premature death associated with obesity has decreased over the past 40 years. All-cause mortality was higher in obese individuals than in normal weight …Obesity May Not Take Years Off Your LifeWebMDThe skinny on obesity: Higher BMI not so badThe Straits TimesEffects Of Obesity: Being Obese May Not Reduce Lifespan After All, Study ClaimsParent HeraldKorea Timesall 57 news articles »
Planning against obesity in Italy – euronews
Planning against obesity in Italyeuronews“We did a series of simulations and they said that if we succeeded in having a population at the age of 50 in better health in terms of the level of obesity compared to the current population, this is how much I would be able to save,” Vincenzo Atella …and more »
Canada Makes Progress: Childhood Overweight/Obesity Declines – Medscape
MedscapeCanada Makes Progress: Childhood Overweight/Obesity DeclinesMedscapeChildhood overweight and obesity in Canada are now declining after years of increase, although Canadian children still remain relatively heavy, a new nationwide study finds. The results, based on data for more than 14,000 children aged 3 to 19 years of …