Government Official Credits Being Big to Chocolate Milk

May 25, 2017
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Newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue rolled back some Obama-era school lunch rules, but every story has two sides.

New Leadership at USDA

May 24, 2017
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The USDA recently acquired a new Big Boss, Sonny Perdue, who once ran a fertilizer business and then spent several years as governor of Georgia.

Culture, Health, and the Appalling Thing About Teenagers

May 23, 2017
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The kids who are drinking even one sugar-sweetened beverage per week are more than twice as likely already to be obese by the time they start kindergarten.

Coke Again

May 22, 2017
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Drinking, throughout the day, anything but water is a subset of grazing. Excessive eating or drinking is as much an addiction as snorting cocaine or gambling.

The Battle for Impressionable Minds

May 19, 2017
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Let’s continue to slog through the complicated history of the United Kingdom’s effort to quell obesity.

Recent Obesity-Related Kerfuffles

May 18, 2017
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The most recent food-related “scandals” involved the research being funded by the food industry, mislabeled olive oil, shady marketing practices, and more.

Where Did Pokemon Go?

May 17, 2017
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We don’t hear much about Pokemon GO anymore. Did people simply stop wanting to play? Did it have anything to do with the health benefits or lack thereof?

Elusive Motivation

May 16, 2017
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How are kids supposed to know there is something better to reach for? It’s even harder without ever having been introduced to positive feelings.

Microbiota and Their Genes

May 15, 2017
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What causes type 1 diabetes mellitus, or T1DM? There can be a genetic predisposition to it, but other things are going on too.

Shaming Fat-Shaming

May 12, 2017
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Exotic varieties of shame grow around the topic of obesity, from Facebook’s now-abandoned “I’m feeling fat” status update to Nicole Arbour’s YouTube diatribes.

The Revolving Door

May 10, 2017
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We continue discussing the Nutrition Coalition, an influence group financed by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, and dietary guidelines.

Obesity, Epigenetics and a Wild Card

May 9, 2017
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We can influence the impact of DNA methylation by avoiding sugar and stress, and by getting enough quality sleep, among other things.

Fat-Shaming, a Longtime Tradition

May 8, 2017
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A lot of people certainly want fat-shaming to be effective, and, sadly, many of them are parents. There are too many instances where parents damage a child because their own self-esteem and reputation are at stake. They don’t want the world to look dow …

Fat-Shaming in American Culture

May 4, 2017
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From the classic examples of media fat-shaming in the movies to the cliched iconography of obesity, obesity is often portrayed with a strong anti-fat bias.

More About BFRBs

May 2, 2017
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As it turns out, food addiction appears to be not so much a substance addiction as was previously thought. It’s more about sensation than chemistry. Or is it?

Self-Inflicted Wounds

May 1, 2017
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When a person’s coping mechanism is a body-focused repetitive behavior, like shoveling in spoonfuls of sugary cereal, this qualifies as self-sabotage.

The Dietary Guidelines Saga

April 28, 2017
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Is Nutrition Coalition’s campaign “dangerous and harmful” — as some critics claim? The saga of the revision of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans continues.

Lobbyistic Nonsense

April 24, 2017
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Today we consider an example of the type of resistance the Center for Digital Democracy and other advocacy groups have been up against.

The Epigenetics Obesity Dream

April 21, 2017
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Obesity can be a “legacy” passed on to succeeding generations, not only for genetic reasons but for epigenetic ones.

Letting Moms Off the Hook

April 20, 2017
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When people eat real food, and eliminate toxins and stress, less damage occurs and sometimes things happen that seem miraculous.

Rough Seas in the United Kingdom

April 19, 2017
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Science is catching up with the threat posed by sugar, consumers are getting smarter, and the burden of cost to treat obesity-related disease is increasing.

The Universality of Addiction

April 17, 2017
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Is overeating a substance addiction? A mass of evidence points to overeating as a behavioral addiction.

Sugar Tax and Scandal in the U.K.

April 13, 2017
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The U.K. government has been pushing erroneous messages, resulting in increased consumption of low-fat junk food, and people are getting fatter and fatter.

The U.K.’s Long Road to Sugar Tax

April 12, 2017
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Childhood Obesity News has been following the ongoing turmoil in the United Kingdom over the introduction of a tax on sugary drinks and junk food.

Meet the Good Guys — the Center for Digital Democracy

April 11, 2017
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A lot of money is being spent to exert power over unformed, impressionable minds, and for only one reason — profit.

Battle Lines Hotly Discussed

April 10, 2017
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Childhood Obesity News has been looking back at how things were several years ago, regarding the struggle between the government and the food industry. Dr. Pretlow reflected, at the time: Ideally, all food advertising directed at children should be ban …

Government and Corporations Locked in Battle

April 7, 2017
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Giant multinational corporations like Nestle and Coca-Cola decide what is in the food, how much of it to make available, and how much it will cost.

An American Dilemma

April 6, 2017
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Should we criticize the invocation of the First Amendment to safeguard the impunity with which corporations marketed harmful junk food to children?

Advertising Retrospective

April 5, 2017
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To counteract the deceptive and sometimes ludicrous claims that warp kids’ minds and worsen the obesity epidemic, public scrutiny is necessary.

Everything You Know About Fat Is Still Wrong

April 4, 2017
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The subject of body fat has been slowly revealing its secrets, and causing some astonishment along the way.

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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