Childhood Obesity News rounds up the posts that deal with morbid obesity in children and adults, its causes and treatment possibilities.

Fat rejection is out of the question, but if the alternative is to buy into fat acceptance — is that also unhealthy?

Ghrelin, the “hunger hormone,” reminds us to eat, in case we forget. It’s like the warning light on a car’s dashboard that tells you to add oil before the engine seizes up. Face-to-face with an opossum, “yum yum” would not be a person’s first thought. …

There is a difference between recognizing that a condition is unhealthy and demonizing people who live with that condition. Many dedicated scientists, medical professionals, therapists, and others are vitally interested in helping people escape from mo …

The human digestive tract has its own ecosystem inhabited by trillions of beings whose ability to influence our health appears stronger with every new study. In particular, the organisms inside the gut seem to wield uncanny power over the presence or a …

The majority of babies are born with a powerful drive—the desire to fit in, be accepted as part of the community, and recognized as a legitimate and valued member of it. They quickly learn that a sure way to get attention and approval is to imitate the …

Humans are so clever, they can talk themselves into just about anything. The fatlogic mindset is not just one set of beliefs, but a spectrum that ranges from hostile defensiveness on one end to self-deprecating humor on the other. Some fat-logicians ar …

This is a continuation of the collection of various Childhood Obesity News posts about sugar, a substance considered by some to be a white drug as dangerous as cocaine or heroin. “When Practice Does Not Make Perfect” looked at the historical significan …

Halloween isn’t here yet, so there is still time to consider new strategies. But maybe the super-size sacks of candy have already been bought. That particular type of early preparedness is definitely not a good idea, by the way. As we have mentioned be …

There is still time to plan for a reasonable response to the annual sugar festival known as Halloween. Childhood Obesity News has amassed a great number of hints and strategies that an overwhelmed parent or teacher might find useful to help do things d …

In 2011, Hungary bit the bullet and began taxing sugar, fat, and caffeine, as a way for the government to take in some money for treatment of the damage caused by those substances. Several other European countries sat up and took notice. “Globesity—the …

A while back, Childhood Obesity News featured a four-part series about the many costs, both obvious and obscure, of sugar addiction. The toxicity of sugar is not a new concept. In the 1960s, Prof. John Yudkin sounded the alarm and was universally regar …

Sugar cane crystals “Should sugar be the boss of us?” is a pertinent question, and Childhood Obesity News asked it in a post that featured actor, photographer, writer, and sugar addict Jennifer Walker. We also quoted from Dr. Pretlow’s guest appearance …

150 pounds per year—that’s how much sugar the average American was eating a few years ago. Or maybe it was 130 pounds, according to a fascinating infographic on this page, a section of which is shown in the illustration. A more recent estimate claims t …

  In reviewing the Childhood Obesity News posts concerned with sugar, we suggested that the discovery of how to extract and refine sugar from plants might be the cultural equivalent of humankind’s discovery of how to obliterate itself with nuclear …

Why partial? Because Childhood Obesity News has published so many posts about sugar that it might take a while to recap all of them! As long as sugar is on the market, writers about health will never run out of material. A piece titled, “Add Fat, Sugar …

Remember all the disdain that our posts have heaped onto fatlogic proponents who convince themselves that food snuck from someone else’s plate doesn’t have calories, or food eaten on an airplane is calorie-free? Maybe Childhood Obesity News should apol …

A fecal bacteria transplant, to make an obese human lean—what a bizarre notion! But what if it turns out to be valid? Should we all immediately rejoice and declare the war on obesity won? Absolutely not. Even when equipped with winning microbes, people …

People in cold climates today are at a disadvantage because there is not as much opportunity to be active outdoors. In the old days, they didn’t have a choice. Going from place to place often involved walking, even with shoeshoes. Try it some time—it’s …

Childhood Obesity News has presented quite a few posts about obesity around the world. What other health issue is so all-encompassing? It brings all of humanity together in a way that rarely happens. News of efforts to reverse childhood obesity comes f …

A week ago, Childhood Obesity News explored the parameters of globesity. Many posts have taken a closer look at specific places. Today, let’s recall some of them. In general, the United Kingdom’s childhood obesity rate is similar to ours, although the …

We don’t know who invented the term, but globesity has to do with the world-wide problem of obesity, and these days it is indeed a rare corner of the earth that is not affected. Humans always have a great need to compare and rank things, but globesity …

When obesity is the topic, cheese is destined to be a star. In Dr. Pretlow’s very useful booklet, “Addiction Model Intervention for Obesity in Young People” it holds a prominent place on the list of problem foods (see page 33). Since last discussing ch …

Childhood Obesity News, like the rest of America, has been interested in the conjunction between celebrity and obesity. We have asked such questions as “Who can get away with being fat?” “Childhood Obesity, Celebrities, and Eating Disorders,” which app …

Welcome to Childhood Obesity News, the blog of Dr. Robert Pretlow. This site explores the many physical, social, political, and personal effects of the global childhood obesity crisis. We look at new research that points toward addictive eating behavio …

If the Battle of the Bulge had a patron saint, it would be Oprah Winfrey. Famous, wealthy, and unprecedentedly influential, Oprah touched the hearts of millions as the play-by-play description of her ups and downs filled more magazine pages than possib …

Coca-Cola just might be the single corporation most mentioned by Childhood Obesity News, which can hardly keep up with the never-ending flow of bad behavior manifested by the world’s most hated beverage manufacturer. Coca-Cola’s flagship product, of co …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking back at Dr. Pretlow’s presentations at various conferences throughout the years. Let’s resume with 2011, when “Addiction to Highly Pleasurable Food as a Cause of the Childhood Obesity Epidemic” was the topic at t …

The conjunction of two topics, food and children, is where Cookie Monster lives. Although unnamed, he was present from the first episode of Sesame Street 45 seasons ago, and went on to become famous for devouring anything edible or inedible—but especia …

One week ago, Childhood Obesity News looked back at some of Dr. Pretlow’s presentations to various professional groups, leaving off in October of 2010, at the Royal College of Physicians National Obesity Forum. Today the retrospective continues. We alr …