Scientifically Proven Weight Loss Method: Eat Less

Few things captivate the public more than a new diet.  From Atkins to Ornish to the Mediterranean diet, each new theory attracts attention and true-believer adherents and generates lots of book sales and interviews on daytime TV.  People passionately argue about whether a diet low in carbohydrates or low in fat is best for weight loss.  But until now no large trial has ever been done to answer the question. This week’s New England Journal of Medicine published the largest study that di...
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Resolutions for a Healthy 2009

Many people use the occasion of the New Year to reflect on the last year and make specific goals for the next.  Resolutions can be very helpful motivators if they are specific, realistic and written down.  Just as people make goals for their careers and their relationships, resolutions for your health are a smart way to work for achievable targets in the health-related struggles you face. So I encourage you this week to write down your health resolutions for 2009.  Obviously, what progress is a...
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Thank You

Before we gather with loved ones to give thanks for our abundant blessings and eat until we lose consciousness, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to you. To all my readers, thanks for all the medical news articles, the feedback and the encouragement.  The weekly writing would get very dull if I thought I was talking to myself. To all my patients, thanks for granting me the greatest thing anyone can expect from a career – getting paid to do what you love.  I appreciate y...
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Laparoscopic Gastric Banding Can Cure Diabetes in Obese Patients

The scientific evidence for treatment of obesity is trending in a very interesting direction.  For years a safe and effective medication for weight loss has been sought, with only modest results.  (I wrote about orlistat, the medication in Xenical and Alli, a year ago.)  Surprisingly, for obese patients evidence is increasingly mounting in favor of surgery for weight loss, rather than medications or even diet and exercise. In 2006 ...
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May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

... not dark and SAD.   This week I have two quick important points about mood disorders.   First, this Saturday is the winter solstice which is the first day of winter and the day of the year with the shortest daylight.  (It's also my wedding anniversary.  One of you please remind me on Friday!)  Every year in late fall or early winter some people develop increased appetite, sadness, excessive sleepiness and social withdrawal.  These are some of the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD)...
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Ignore Epidemiology, Maybe It’ll Go Away

My regular readers (both of them) have noticed that I spend almost as much time writing about new studies you should ignore as about new studies you should pay attention to.  That's because the media is driven by hype, not by sober science, and there's no incentive for an editor to get rid of a story just because the study is misleading or meaningless.  (I'm not complaining.  That's a consequence of having a free press, and it's muc...
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Some Food Additives Increase Hyperactivity in Children

Food additives are ubiquitous in packaged foods, and they have been blamed for many health problems despite the lack of evidence one way or another.  It's easy to imagine patient groups or physicians noticing that their particular disease of interest is on the rise, whether asthma or breast cancer, and desperately searching for a cause.  Food additives entered the market in the second half of the twentieth century, so they provide a prime suspect for diseases that have worsened during that time....
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