Weight Control
Make Sure Your Vegetarian Diet Is High Quality
A vegetarian diet can be beneficial. Scientists who want to know more about the value of vegetarianism often study groups that avoid eating meat, such as Seventh Day Adventists. Many Seventh-Day Adven…
Will Artificial Sweeteners Help You Lose Weight?
Many people assume that artificial sweeteners are a good way to cut calories and lose weight. However, some studies suggest that assumption may be misplaced. What Is Acesulfame K? Q. I found acesulfam…
Show 1372: Breaking the Cycle of Food Cravings (…
This week, our guest is renowned addiction psychiatrist Jud Brewer. He teaches at Brown University in both the School of Public Health and the Medical School, and he has developed programs that utiliz…
What Is the Outcome of Prediabetes?
Doctors are increasingly diagnosing people with prediabetes. These individuals have slightly elevated blood sugar levels that don’t yet meet the criteria for frank diabetes. Some studies have used a…
Show 1395: Gut Check–How Digestive Health Infl…
This week, we talk with integrative gastroenterologist Robynne Chutkan about why our digestive health is so important. Of course, our digestion provides us with the nutrients that power our bodies, in…
Is Stevia a Safe Sugar Substitute?
Artificial sweeteners have been controversial for decades. In the 1960s, when the idea of low-calorie substitutes for sugar was still fairly new, animal studies suggested that saccharine and cyclamate…
Will Ozempic or Wegovy Weight Loss Last?
The hottest drug for weight loss these days is semaglutide (Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy). Don't let the three brand names confuse you. They are all the same medication. The FDA approved the self-inje…
Fasting to Reduce the Risk of Diabetes
Public health officials concerned about the epidemic of diabetes and pre-diabetes have focused on weight loss through exercise and healthy eating. Increasingly, evidence suggests that intermittent fas…
Can Olives in a Mediterranean Diet Help You Cont…
A Mediterranean-type diet has lots of vegetables, fish rather than meat and olive oil instead of butter. Olives are also a staple, along with other flavor ingredients. Such a regimen has been shown to…
Are Non-Sugar Sweeteners a Healthy Choice?
When people hear that sugar-sweetened beverages pose health hazards, some respond by switching to diet soft drinks. That certainly seems reasonable, but evidence now suggests it might not be the best…
Will Boosting Your Step Count Save Your Life?
How many steps do you take a day? You may have heard that you should be taking 10,000 steps a day. Initially, that ideal step count was not based on evidence, but rather was a marketing maneuver. Howe…
Show 1383: How to Calm Your Mind with Food
Plenty of issues in the public eye could well make anyone anxious. Some people suffer more than others, however. What we feed our gut microbes–and ourselves–can make a big difference. In this epis…
If You Are on Medicare & Overweight You May…
Juliette Cubanski, Tricia Neuman, Nolan Sroczynski, and Anthony Damico Published: Apr 24, 2024 This article was originally published on the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) website at this link. The FDA…
What Could a Ketogenic Diet Do for You?
Diets come and diets go with amazing predictability. The standard American diet has shortcomings, so people are frequently eager for an approach to nutrition that will be healthful. A ketogenic diet h…
Show 1367: How to Evaluate Prescription Drugs
In this week’s interview, Dr. Aaron Carroll of Indiana University discusses what we should take into account when we evaluate prescription drugs. How can we tell if the benefits would outweigh the r…
Is the Diabetes Drug Mounjaro (Tirzepatide) Bett…
Ever since social media started describing weight loss associated with semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), these drugs have become hot commodities. As I write this, both Ozempic and Wegovy are, according t…
How Well Does the New Weight Loss Medicine Work?
After months of headlines about the weight-loss drug Wegovy (pronounced wee-GOH’-vee), the latest entry in the anti-obesity sweepstakes is now available in the United States. Wegovy captured plenty …
Does the Name Zepbound Signal Huge Weight Loss?
Two drugs have been flying off pharmacy shelves: Ozempic and Wegovy. They are injectable forms of the same medicine: semaglutide. The FDA states that it remains “Currently in Shortage.” Why so pop…
Can Restricting Eating Time Help Control Blood S…
People at risk of developing type 2 diabetes may be able to reverse this process by restricting eating time to a nine-hour period every day. One reader embraced this approach and was thrilled with the…
Show 1362: Lowdown on New Medicines for Treating…
This week’s radio show is the second of a two-part series on new medicines for treating obesity. This episode features Dr. Robert Lustig, neuroendocrinologist and anti-obesity crusader. He discusses…
Does Time-Restricted Eating Help With Weight Los…
Intermittent fasting has become a popular approach for weight control. Some people see this as fasting for a few days a week and eating on the others. Another approach, however, is to practice time-re…
Show 1361: The Lowdown on New Medicines for Trea…
This week’s radio show is the first of a two-part series on new medicines for treating obesity. This episode features obesity expert Dr. Jamy Ard. He’ll describe how he uses drugs such as semaglut…
Is Wegovy Wonderful for Women with PCOS?
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a troublesome condition affecting some women. Although doctors do not know what causes PCOS, they hypothesize that an imbalance of hormones may be to blame. Women w…
Curcumin from Turmeric Helps People Manage Their…
Recently, there has been a great deal of excitement about prescription drugs to promote weight loss. Drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic are expensive, however, and they are not available everywhere. Tha…
The Dark Side of Cortisone Shots: Joint Deterior…
You have no doubt heard about “steroids.” By the way, this is a terrible term! It causes nothing but confusion. We promise not to overwhelm you with chemistry. The core structure of steroids can b…
Is It Safe to Take Alli for a Long Time?
We love the idea of losing weight with less effort. Perhaps that is why people seem to embrace new diet drugs when they become trendy. Although all the attention these last several months has been on …
Show 1332: What Everyone Gets Wrong About Weight…
In this week’s episode, find out what everyone gets wrong about weight loss. Why don’t diet and exercise work very well? Do official guidelines and weight loss drugs offer a clearer path to succes…
Are People More Likely to Stick to Their Diets I…
Losing weight is hard work, and many people who try get discouraged and give up. Healthcare experts wondered if the motivation for weight loss would make a difference in helping people stick to their …
Show 1279: Challenging Dietary Dogma on Weight G…
We hear a lot about the obesity epidemic in the United States and around the world. Scientists acknowledge that this has occurred too rapidly to be explained by changes in genetics. Instead, nutrition…
Could Step Counters Help Us Ward Off Dementia?
Do you wear a FitBit or a fancy watch? What about a lower-tech pedometer? Step counters are popular because they give us feedback on how many steps we have taken in a day. Even if the common goal of 1…
Do People Shop Differently If They See Calorie I…
For decades, weight control experts have emphasized personal responsibility. The idea is that people need to choose to eat less (and presumably move more). There is considerable controversy over this …
Are Your Dietary Supplements Contaminated with D…
The Food and Drug Administration has been testing dietary supplements for years. “From 2007 through 2016, 776 adulterated dietary supplements were identified by the FDA and 146 different dietary sup…
Are American Children Becoming Obese?
Doctors worry when children gain weight, because losing it later often proves difficult. A new analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) shows that more Ameri…
Show 1257: The Metabolical Results of the Americ…
Dr. Robert Lustig has been warning us all about the hazards of sugar since 2009, when his YouTube lecture “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” went viral. As a pediatric neuroendocrinologist, he spent much o…
What Is the Best Diet to Lower Cholesterol?
Have you ever wondered what you should be eating to optimize your health? Nutrition scientists have been arguing that the entire dietary pattern matters more than a handful of individual foods reputed…
Sleeping a Little Longer Can Help You Cut Back o…
People who burn the candle at both ends appear more vulnerable to high blood pressure and heart disease. They may also be more likely to develop diabetes, impaired immunity and obesity. Can strategies…
Should You Give Your Child Skim Milk?
Nearly one child in five in the US is obese, and pediatricians are justifiably concerned. Heavy kids may develop health problems such as type 2 diabetes or even non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. They…
Should We Look at Weight Gain in a Different Way…
What causes obesity? Most health professionals blame weight gain on an imbalance between calories in versus calories out. In other words, eating too much and moving too little. This concept is known a…
Is Inexpensive Food Undermining Public Health?
Are US government agricultural subsidies undermining public health? A study several years ago suggested that people who eat a lot of foods made from subsidized crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat and …
Why Don’t Weights on Doctors’ Scales…
Any time you walk into a doctor's office, one of the first things they do, even before measuring your blood pressure, is ask you to step on the scale. Perhaps the number is what you expected; sometime…