Early in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration obligingly began to allow the marketing of laparoscopic gastric banding surgery  to people who were not morbidly obese and whose lives were not immediately threatened by their weight. As the L.A. Times pu …

Yesterday, we started to examine a lengthy article by Debra Sherman, part of which concerned two bariatric surgeons who ran a clinic under the auspices of New York University, and another doctor who brought them unwelcome publicity. A reader might have …

By way of tracing the recent history of bariatric surgery as applied to teenagers, Childhood Obesity New looked at a comprehensive special report compiled by Debra Sherman for Reuters more than five years ago. It begins by recounting the ordeal of a co …

Over in the United Kingdom, Steve Miller is known for several activities. As a Weight Loss Master, he teaches mindset and motivation, and is a great believer in willpower as the impetus and fuel for weight loss. A person can buy a series of personal co …

It is a challenge to find a source that has a good word to say about the future of globesity. Mostly, the prognosis is grim and the predictions are dire. The World Obesity Federation predicts that by the year 2025, one billion of Earth’s grownups will …

Ms. Pat projects the opposite of approved corporate image. Comedian Ms. Pat talks about how the local kids participate in the time-honored mischief of ringing doorbells and running away. She tells her son to stay out of it because, being so fat that hi …

For anyone who hasn’t had enough Halloween lore in our recent compendia of past Halloween posts, there is plenty more where that came from. At this time of year the blogosphere, the zeitgeist, and the cultural milieu all seem to focus intensely on Hall …

It seems like every time you turn around, another bleak prediction appears. In 2014, The Lancet revealed that about 2.1 billion of the Earth’s inhabitants—about one-third of the entire population—were overweight. And of that number, about 670 million q …

WALL-E (released in 2008) won both critical and popular success, making good money and winning several important awards. It inspired the manufacture of action figures, a video game, and even a specialized Lego set. Although it is classified as a scienc …

When the Australian firm Canstar Blue surveyed parents about baby food and related topics, Simon Downes wrote up the results. Nearly 60 percent of Australian parents admit to having given fast food—such as can be found at McDonald’s and similar establi …

We live in the midst of a worldwide trend toward ever-increasing obesity. Imaginative observers have compared it to speculative fiction classics such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Orson Scott Card’s story of a planet where everyone suffers from …

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 …

The ungrammatically titled web page “Photos: 7 Women You Won’t Believe They Actually Exist” features a woman who is literally wider than she is tall. With a height of only 5’4”, Mikel Ruffinelli weighs 420 pounds and measures 8′ around the hips. This i …

Earlier this month, there was a big media flap when Canadian comedian Nicole Arbour posted a 6-minute video titled “Dear Fat People” on YouTube. People reacted by calling it all kinds of names including “most offensive video EVER,” and both YouTube and …

Sadly, childhood obesity is inextricably connected with bias, stigma, discrimination, blaming, and shaming. “Obesophobia” is an actual word. It is an intense and abnormal fear of weight gain that might be caused by family influence or a distorted self- …

The latest candidates for childhood obesity villains in the media are chubby cartoon characters such as Homer Simpson and Peppa Pig. Homer Simpson is perhaps over-familiar, but childless people might not be cognizant of the 5-year-old little British gi …

The ability to think rationally and the ability to rationalize are quite different. Rational thinking starts with observing the world, before drawing conclusions about it. Conversely, rationalization starts with conclusions that a person has already co …

We already had racism, faith-based bigotry, and several other varieties of divisive doctrines. Wasn’t that enough to deal with? Apparently not, because now fat-shaming has become a “thing.” One of the weird aspects of this type of prejudice is that obe …

One of the most popular fatlogic tropes is the genetic theory. It is true that a certain amount of obesity is genetically determined. However, this is often seen as a poor excuse—not only by people who have no weight problem, but by formerly obese peop …

Shouldn’t every person have the right to feel good about herself or himself? One of the great paradoxical tenets of the psychological health profession is that change must be preceded by self-acceptance. You have to be okay with yourself as you are bef …

Recently, to the astonishment of some and the relief of others, the gigantic Reddit website permanently banned five forums, or subreddits, of which two were devoted to fat-shaming. One of them, r/HamPlanetHatred, had only about 3,000 members while the …

Childhood Obesity News has been discussing how, for some time now, people have been referring to obesity as “the new normal.” This normalization is related to the growth of the “Goldilocks Syndrome.” The term has more than one meaning, but in the conte …

“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” That saying has been around since before the year 1500. Such proverbs live so long in the human consciousness because they are adaptable to many situations. For instance, a paraphrase could be, “In …

We are familiar with the idea that in the United States, children of color are more susceptible to forces, including their own genetic makeup, that cause childhood obesity. There is another demographic whose vulnerability has nothing to do with race: t …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking back at some of the attempts to curb obesity by making it more expensive, a tactic that seems to have had success with smoking. There are obvious differences between the two behaviors. Nicotine is a substance tha …

Not long ago, Childhood Obesity News looked at the calorie counter and energy expenditure tracker MyFitnessPal. Many technological aids are available to consumers for their weight-loss needs, and some of these inventions have capabilities that border o …

Childhood Obesity News  has been speculating about whether such cultural phenomena as the plus-size fashion industry are, overall, beneficial or detrimental to society. Journalist Ellen King wrote about someone who is probably very uncomfortable in the …

That is a trick question, because fat acceptance has always had a platform, so there is no need to ask. A more useful question would be, “Is it okay that acceptance is tolerated? How much acceptance should be extended, and in what ways?” Maybe all airp …

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 …

Health at Every Size is not an organization, but a concept and a movement. There are, however, organizations that promote size tolerance, whether healthy or not. One is the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, for which Joanne Ikeda speaks: …