All posts in tag: obesity

Dan Farber Why I’m boycotting Coke

Dan Farber, professor of law | 3/19/13 | 2 comments

 Why Coke, you might wonder.  Why not Pepsi?  The answer is that diet coke is my soft drink of choice.  It’s easy for me to boycott other soft drinks since I don’t drink them anyway. I like diet coke, so that’s the subject of my boycott.

But why boycott soft drinks … More >

Dan Farber The NAACP and the politics of race and regulation

Dan Farber, professor of law | 1/29/13 | One comment

There’s a bit of a kerfuffle going on about the NAACP’s defense of over-sized soft-drinks.  In an amicus brief challenging New York City’s new ban on the super-size, the NAACP (joined by the Hispanic Federation and an association of Korean grocers) takes a surprisingly libertarian stance against government regulation.  It … More >

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton On prejudice against fat people

Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, associate professor of psychology | 7/10/12 | 18 comments

Anderson Cooper’s coming out was important for the shaping of the discourse around sexual orientation. Public figures’ attitudes around same-sex couples (including President Obama’s) have real psychological power to change the public’s own attitudes. A turn in attitudes in this domain is evident even in Robert Spitzer’s apology for his support of a … More >

Dan Farber Fat City, U.S.A.

Dan Farber, professor of law | 7/6/12 | Leave a comment

The graphic below, from the Economist, shows the amount of excess biomass due to obesity and overall population.  As the chart shows, obese North Americans are carrying around an extra 263 million kilograms of fat — or just about 290 thousand tons of fat.  That’s a daunting thought.

The Blue/Orange … More >

Barbara Abrams Our entire nation needs to become “metabolically fit”

Barbara Abrams, professor of public health | 11/4/09 | 10 comments

Although there is an enormous body of epidemiological studies that link obesity with poor health, a 2009 review by Wildman* concluded that a third of obese people have normal levels of metabolic markers that would suggest no increased risk of heart disease.  This field of study is in its infancy, … More >

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