How About Those Phthalates?

July 31, 2017
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Evidence points to phthalates being endocrine disruptors. Their presence is associated with allergies, asthma, diabetes, some kinds of cancer, and obesity.

Significant Developments in Treating Obesity

April 18, 2017
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Dr.Pretlow be conducting a workshop on Tuesday, April 18, on “Treatment of Obesity Using the Addiction Model” for a conference in the U.K.

Ten Points for Health From the U.K.

April 14, 2017
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Childhood Obesity News has been following the history of how the U.K. deliberated along the way to finally instituting a sugar tax.

Dr. Pretlow Speaks at ICBA 2017

February 24, 2017
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Dr. Pretlow gave an oral presentation in Haifa, Israel, at the 4th International Conference on Behavioral Addictions, on a pilot study of obesity treatment.

Motivational Interviewing, Doctors, and Parents

November 2, 2015
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Motivational interviewing is one of the tools of choice in the childhood obesity field. Why? Dr. Martin T. Stein suggests that, in primary care settings, childhood obesity is relatively unresponsive to more customary interventions. Doctors are urged to …

Teaching Professionals to Deal with Weight Bias Issues

October 27, 2015
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Earlier this year, The Lancet published a six-part series on the obesity epidemic, recommended several changes,  including improved training of health care professionals, especially in the areas of counteracting bias and improving care-delivery strateg …

Professionals Struggle with Weight Bias Issues

October 26, 2015
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The destructive effects of fat-shaming have been observed in many ways. For instance, Sharon Begley reported for Reuters.com that physicians tend to spend less time with an obese patient, and don’t bother to offer counsel on achieving a healthier lifes …

Fat-Shaming—Why Not?

October 5, 2015
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On behalf of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, Joanne Ikeda made an unambiguous statement: The whole ‘war on obesity’ has focused a whole lot of attention on fat people and the general impression of the public is they can be shamed or …

Assessing the Flab Quotient

October 24, 2014
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Last time, Childhood Obesity News looked at body mass index as the standard of obesity measurement. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the specific question of whether BMI or waist circumference (WC) measurement is …

Doubts About BMI

October 23, 2014
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Science marches on, which sometimes causes embarrassment when new information emerges. This might be the case with body mass index or BMI, which is generally taken to be the best feasible way of measuring the risk and degree of obesity in children. A d …

Childhood Obesity’s Urgent Message

August 12, 2014
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Last time, Childhood Obesity News looked at part of the conversation between author Michael Prager and Dr. Christopher Ochner, a researcher in obesity and nutrition. They touched upon many points, but the big takeaway from Dr. Ochner’s studies has to d …

Younger Kids and Motivation

February 12, 2014
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Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News discussed how Dr. Pretlow was interviewed for a school assignment by 13-year-old Heidi Zahnleuter. In the finished paper, she writes of the importance of motivation: The key factor to losing weight is to be motivated. …

Sean Croxton on Motivation

January 28, 2014
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Sean Croxton is being listened to by a lot of people these days. They even wear shirts emblazoned with the letters JERF, an acronym for his slogan “Just Eat Real Food.” He promotes the idea of personal responsibility because it’s so obviously the fines …

Waiting for the Tipping Point

December 24, 2013
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“Waiting for the tipping point” — what does that mean? According to Jacques Peretti, host of the third episode in the BBC TV series The Men Who Made Us Fat, it means that eventually the British government will realize that it is paying out more for th …

Childhood Obesity, Co-Morbidities and Surgery

December 19, 2013
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Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News talked about morbid or severe obesity. Another important term is “co-morbidity.” In the realm of obesity, co-morbidities can include the well-known insulin resistance syndrome (or metabolic syndrome), Type 2 diabetes a …

What’s Bugging the Gluten Blamers?

December 11, 2013
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In November, Dr. Tom O’Bryan of theDr.com gathered 29 researchers, clinicians and nutritionists to pool their intellectual and experiential resources for a Gluten Summit. Rye and barley also contain the protein they deem toxic, but wheat is by far the …

What’s So Bad About Gluten?

December 10, 2013
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What’s so bad about gluten? Well, nothing, according to mainstream medicine and Dr. Pretlow. The idea that gluten has particularly harmful qualities is not universally accepted. The majority opinion is that obesity results from eating too much food, i. …

9 Ways Gluten Goes Undercover

December 6, 2013
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In the science of forensics, transfer theory holds that a criminal will always leave trace evidence at the crime scene. A person with celiac disease has to be as suspicious and hyper-vigilant as a detective dusting for fingerprints. If the grocery stor …

Dr. William Davis Warns of Gluten

December 5, 2013
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In 2011, William Davis, M.D., published the book Wheat Belly, whose message is that “over-consumption of wheat is the main cause of the obesity and diabetes crisis in the United States.” Some of his medical peers are uncomfortable with assigning so muc …

Dr. Daniel Amen Identifies 5 Brain Patterns of Overeaters

December 4, 2013
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As we have seen, one school of thought holds that gluten is addictive. A lot of foodstuffs (as well as myriad other products) contain gluten, and gluten critics say the substance is what causes so many people to be addicted to certain foods. Any doubt …

Dr. Mark Hyman Indicts Gluten

December 3, 2013
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The best way to avoid foods that are bad for you is to stay away from foods with health claims on the label. They are usually hiding something bad. What a powerful quotation! These are the words of Dr. Mark Hyman, who, like Dr. Pretlow, has written and …

Is Gluten a Childhood Obesity Villain?

December 2, 2013
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As a childhood obesity villain, gluten is one of the “usual suspects” and Childhood Obesity News has looked at the case against it before. InsuliteLabs.com takes an especially dim view of gluten: As many as 75% of overweight and obese people in the U.S …

Health Professionals and Compensation

November 27, 2013
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Although obesity is the second most widespread cause of preventable death in the United States, many people still disagree over the American Medical Association’s June decision to classify obesity as a disease. Licensed mental health counselor William …

Childhood Obesity Payment Systems Catching Up

November 26, 2013
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Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News discussed a Contemporary Pediatrics article in which Dr. Pretlow was generously quoted. The substantial piece, by Lisette Hilton, went on to examine an aspect of treatment that’s not often mentioned — the difficulty d …

Dr. Pretlow in Contemporary Pediatrics

November 25, 2013
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The September issue of Contemporary Pediatrics rounded up the opinions of several experts on the question of how to make a difference in reducing the alarming rate of childhood obesity. The author, Lisette Hilton, found that they agree on one thing: te …

Singapore Addresses Eating Habits

November 22, 2013
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As Childhood Obesity News has been discussing, the city-state of Singapore is quite serious about lowering its childhood obesity rate, and is pursuing that goal with a two-pronged strategy. One prong is more physical fitness for all citizens — regardl …

Singapore Says Childhood Obesity Is Environmental

November 21, 2013
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KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Singapore identifies the primary causes of childhood obesity as environmental: An abundance of food allows for excessive intake of food from all food groups, especially fats. A diet high in fat is associated with i …

Singapore’s Vision 2030 Project

November 20, 2013
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Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News looked at some of the programs implemented by the government of Singapore over the past few years to prevent childhood obesity. We also got a glimpse of the future plan slated to begin in the new year, a physical educa …

Singapore Sets Childhood Obesity Example

November 19, 2013
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In 2010, the Asian Journal of Exercise & Sports Science published a lengthy report authored by eight experts titled “Obesity Prevention in Singapore: Collaborative Efforts Among Government, Health Professionals and the Community.” The authors ident …

Singapore’s “Trim and Fit” (TAF) Program

November 18, 2013
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Childhood Obesity News has been looking at Singapore’s 15-year experiment that ended when a government that is often perceived as oppressively authoritarian made a surprising reversal. Under the “Trim and Fit” (TAF) program, the policy had been to clos …

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Profiles: Kids Struggling with Weight

Profiles: Kids Struggling with Obesity top bottom

The Book

OVERWEIGHT: What Kids Say explores the obesity problem from the often-overlooked perspective of children struggling with being overweight.

About Dr. Robert A. Pretlow

Dr. Robert A. Pretlow is a pediatrician and childhood obesity specialist. He has been researching and spreading awareness on the childhood obesity epidemic in the US for more than a decade.
You can contact Dr. Pretlow at:

Presentations

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the American Society of Animal Science 2020 Conference
What’s Causing Obesity in Companion Animals and What Can We Do About It

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the World Obesity Federation 2019 Conference:
Food/Eating Addiction and the Displacement Mechanism

Dr. Pretlow’s Multi-Center Clinical Trial Kick-off Speech 2018:
Obesity: Tackling the Root Cause

Dr. Pretlow’s 2017 Workshop on
Treatment of Obesity Using the Addiction Model

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation for
TEC and UNC 2016

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the 2015 Obesity Summit in London, UK.

Dr. Pretlow’s invited keynote at the 2014 European Childhood Obesity Group Congress in Salzburg, Austria.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2013 European Congress on Obesity in Liverpool, UK.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2011 International Conference on Childhood Obesity in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2010 Uniting Against Childhood Obesity Conference in Houston, TX.

Food & Health Resources