Weight Management

Has the obesity epidemic finally plateaued? Fat chance, says a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on 2013-2014 national nutrition survey data.

While theres something to be said for clean eating, the "detox" fad needs a reality check. "First, your body already has a highly effective system for removing toxins, principally the liver and kidneys," explains Irwin H. Rosenberg, MD, University Professor of Medicine and Nutrition at Tufts. "Second, diets and products that claim to detox the body do not identify what supposed toxins are being targeted."

Products sold as "dietary supplements" lead to about 23,000 emergency-room visits and more than 2,100 hospital admissions every year, a new government report estimates.

That old joke about being on the "See-Food Diet" ("I see food… and I eat it") is no laughing matter, according to new research at Cornell University. Brian Wansink, PhD, and colleagues studied 210 kitchens and the women who use them.

You already know that fruits and vegetables are good for you - but did you know they might also be good for avoiding extra weight as you age? A new study analyzing data on 133,468 men and women over up to 24 years reports that eating more fruits and non-starchy vegetables is associated with modest weight loss.

Is your reusable grocery bag making you fat? A new study published in The Journal of Marketing reports that people who go green and bring reusable bags to the supermarket are more likely to reward themselves for their environmentally friendly behavior by indulging in ice cream, cookies and potato chips.

Its not news that Americans have been packing on the pounds, but a new CDC report puts that weight gain into eye-opening perspective: The average US woman now weighs as much as an average man did in the early 1960s, while the average 2015 man weighs almost as much as 1.5 women from the 1960s. Women have gained an average of more than 26 pounds, up from 140 to just over 166 pounds. In the same timespan, the average man has put on nearly 30 pounds, going from about 166 pounds to 195.5 today.

For the first time, Americans are spending more money eating out at restaurants than buying food in grocery stores. According to the US Census Bureau, consumer spending at restaurants narrowly edged grocery-store purchases in December 2014, $50.4 billion to $50.2 billion. That tiny gap has widened, with restaurant spending exceeding groceries by nearly 3% as of April. Factors driving the switch included an increasing trend to buying groceries in warehouse and club stores, with cheaper prices, and lower gas prices freeing up funds for eating out. The total doesnt include ready-to-eat dishes purchased at upscale supermarkets, which further diminish what were cooking from scratch.

Popular coverage of diet and weight-loss strategies often summarizes the bottom line with a twist on President Bill Clintons campaign mantra, Its the economy, stupid. When it comes to managing your weight, as this line of thinking goes, Its the calories, stupid.But a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition challenges this conventional wisdom. It builds on earlier work that suggests all calories are not the same, says Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH, dean of Tufts Friedman School and senior author of the study. All foods have complex mechanisms that help or hinder weight long-term. The simple math of calories in versus calories burned is true if youre testing food in a test tube. But human beings are not just inert buckets to put calories in.

Nobody questions the health benefits of even just a little exercise, but you may wonder about what might be called the Goldilocks question: How much physical activity is just right? And is it possible to get too much or to overdo the intensity? Two large new studies, both published in JAMA Internal Medicine, attempt to answer such questions and identify the sweet spot of the ideal amount of exercise.