All Jacked Up, the Junk Food Documentary

August 4, 2010
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Here’s an irresistible invitation from Mike Adams, a fervent supporter of the documentary film All Jacked Up: Your act of watching this film is, all by itself, an act of passionate protest against the corporations that would love nothing more than to t …

Around the World With Junk Food Marketing

August 3, 2010
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Today’s source article, “Statement on Junk Food Marketing to Children,” was published in 2004. “That isn’t news,” one might say — and one would be mistaken. Every charge it makes about the childhood obesity epidemic still holds true, so what does that …

Solutions: Families and Communities

August 2, 2010
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Health writer Amanda Gardner recently wrote about a report completed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health. As Gardner reminds us in Business Week, Obesity is one of the biggest public health crises in the country. Ri …

Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 2

July 29, 2010
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Childhood obesity is a worldwide problem. Not long ago, Stephanie Nebehay reported for Reuters on the latest World Health Organization guidelines. A WHO spokesperson, Timothy Armstrong, is quoted as saying, The rate of increase in the developing world …

Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 1

July 28, 2010
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Some people in Scotland think that junk food advertising now needs to be completely eliminated from television. Since 2007, such ads have been banned from appearing during children’s programs, but now, […] health campaigners say kids are still suscepti …

Let There Be Dancing – and Fit, Right-Sized Kids

July 9, 2010
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The childhood obesity epidemic is a problem that looms so threateningly that a large variety of methods must be sought to deal with it. That’s why Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” initiative came up with 70 recommendations. A great many of them, of cours …

Add Fat, Sugar, Salt, Sugar, and Fat. Repeat.

July 8, 2010
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Dr. David Kessler’s book The End of Overeating was reviewed by Shannon Brown, who notes that Kessler is the person we can thank for curbing the nicotine industry’s desire to target children in advertising, the crusade he took on as Commissioner of the …

High Fructose Corn Syrup, Humor, and Grandma

July 2, 2010
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Grandma made a wicked pecan pie, and so did Mom, and I’ve baked a pecan pie or two myself. I might bake one again some day. So I was very interested to learn, from Liz Gutman at Serious Eats, the difference between traditional, regular corn syrup, and …

Labels, Food Addiction, and the FDA

June 28, 2010
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Here’s an insightful piece by Adi Narayan, who habitually writes about science and medicine for Time. Called “Building a Better Label,” it is, not surprisingly, all about the rules set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the nutritional …

Can Chefs Solve Childhood Obesity?

June 24, 2010
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Kevin Chappell, senior editor of Ebony magazine, who writes extensively about national politics, recently noted a new phase of the Let’s Move! campaign created by Michelle Obama to end childhood obesity. The First Lady is recruiting the help of cooking …

Child Obesity, Junk Food Tie Worldwide

June 22, 2010
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The bad news: childhood obesity is on the rise in many places around the globe. The good news: it’s not exclusively an American problem. And if that is what we’re willing to settle for in the good-news department these days, we’re in deep chocolate pud …

Why Americans Don't Want to Hear About Food Addiction

June 21, 2010
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In some circles, putting forward the idea that food can be an addictive substance will win a person the reputation of a serious crackpot. This is often the fate of innovators who have more than average awareness, and who see a bit more deeply into soci …

Eat for Success: Part Two

June 18, 2010
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Maybe you thought that yesterday’s post, on tools for dealing with childhood obesity, was the end of covering this subject, but, no — let’s look at a few more ideas. First, a general observation. It’s useful to bear in mind that practically everyone h …

Anti-Obesity Measures Can Lead to Surprises

June 11, 2010
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Michelle Obama has adopted the overcoming of childhood obesity as her special project, which may turn out to be helpful, or not. We will see why in a minute. In any case, there is no doubt of the First Lady’s good intentions, nor does anyone question t …

High-Fructose Corn Syrup = Bad News

June 10, 2010
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Mark Morford’s column in the San Francisco Chronicle takes on several weight- and food-related topics, such as the effect of obesity on the U.S. military, freshness expiration dates, and the unholy alliance between a certain well-known anti-cancer fund …

You and Umami: What the Heck Are We Eating?

June 7, 2010
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We recently commented here on an article titled “Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction,” by Arun Gupta, one of The Indypendent’s founding editors. Democracy Now host Amy Goodman was impressed by that essay too, and consequently invited Gupta to be on h …

TV Makes Kids Fat or Fatter, Take Your Choice

June 1, 2010
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That overweight kids are likely to become obese adults seems to be a fairly reasonable assumption. Of course, whether a person is young or old, excess fat is a liability. It’s just that, as we age, extra poundage becomes even more of a liability. Scien …

The Ultimate Junk Food

May 28, 2010
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This is heartening. In the succinctly-titled “Final Version of Junk Food Essay,” a 19-year-old Malaysian woman, who goes by the pseudonym “ngfeiwen,” speaks of her belief that junk-food sales in school canteens should be banned. Childhood obesity and o …

Is Junk Food Addiction for Real?

May 26, 2010
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A recent study published by Scripps Research Institute indicates that foods laced with fat, sugar, and salt are capable of causing addiction similar to the addiction to nicotine and cocaine. At DiversityInc, Sam Ali quotes one of the researchers, Paul …

Would Junk Food Tax Curb Childhood Obesity?

May 25, 2010
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Extreme measures are needed to deal with the childhood obesity epidemic, there’s no doubt about it, but is taxation a step that would help? For purposes of this discussion, let’s define junk food as whatever the kids find most difficult to resist — th …

HIP HOP Makes Junk Food Unhip

May 24, 2010
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In Overweight: What Kids Say, Dr. Pretlow writes, What is really needed is a cultural shift in regard to highly pleasurable food, so that overeating is ‘not cool’ and so that junk food is ‘yuck.’ If the culture is moldable, these are the very people to …

Task Force Recommends Tracking Body Mass Index

May 14, 2010
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Here, from Huffington Post, is an illumination of one aspect of the proposed Healthy Choices Act. The article was written by Penny Lee, Executive Director of the Campaign to End Obesity. Her job is to cross-pollinate the thoughts of many powerful inter …

Teens Get Their Own Diet Guide

May 13, 2010
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Ever since Barbara Schroeder and Carrie Wiatt first introduced The Diet for Teenagers Only, the book has gained quite a following among the young people it addresses. It has earned the reputation of being a safe and inspirational authority that supplie …

Junk Food Addiction: What Kids Say

May 12, 2010
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Well, this is news that many people don’t want to hear, but, like it or not, we do need to pay attention to scientists like Paul Kenny and Paul Johnson. Victoria Stern has recently reported on fruit flies, personality problems, nanoparticles, and bacte …

Healthy Choices Act Introduced by Lawmakers

May 10, 2010
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The “Healthy Choices Act” was introduced last week by the U.S. Rep. Ron Kind and three other Congressional co-sponsors, journalist Karlene Lukovitz tells us via MediaPost. This bill hopes to address the nation’s obesity epidemic in a thorough and hopef …

Childhood Obesity and Government Regulation

May 5, 2010
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The editors of Scientific American have compiled an interesting article about childhood obesity, which appears in the May issue. The stark reality is that one out of every three kids in America is overweight, and many people believe the government must …

Childhood Obesity Linked to Fast Food Toys

May 3, 2010
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Jesse McKinley, the San Francisco Bureau Chief for The New York Times, keeps the East-coasters apprised of what’s coming at them from the other side of the realm. In this case, it’s an ordinance — with its final vote coming up in May — that would onl …

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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