Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Types Of Obesity Mean Same Weight Loss Approaches Don't Work For All
The New York Times: One Weight-Loss Approach Fits All? No, Not Even Close
Dr. Frank Sacks, a professor of nutrition at Harvard, likes to challenge his audience when he gives lectures on obesity. “If you want to make a great discovery,” he tells them, figure out this: Why do some people lose 50 pounds on a diet while others on the same diet gain a few pounds? Then he shows them data from a study he did that found exactly that effect. (Kolata, 12/12)
San Jose Mercury News: Original Fake News Of Medicine: Drinking Eight Glasses Of Water A Day
Drinking eight glasses of water a day is a health myth and it is one of the hardest to undo. It is the original fake news of medicine. How it began isn’t really known, however some medical sleuthing published in the American Journal of Physiology in 2002 and in the British Medical Journal in 2007 suggested that it came from a 1945 Food and Nutrition Board recommendation that the body uses about 85 ounces of water a day. (Gunter, 12/12)
