- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Happy New Year and welcome back to the ANR News Blog.
It's common for people to resolve this time of year to lose weight. Appropriately, the lead story in Sunday's Los Angeles Times reported on what might be a controversial new way to shed a few pounds. In clinical trials, scientists are studying the use of weight-loss surgery - a practice more common for the morbidly obese - on moderately overweight people.
The article opens with the story of a 48-year-old woman struggling to lose a stubborn 50 pounds. Not heavy enough for traditional weight-loss surgery guidelines, she enrolled in a clinical trial for a new, less...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
"Our sodium intake is regulated by the brain, and your brain won't let you go very far outside of that boundary," the Bee quoted study co-author David McCarron. "You may eat that whole bag of chips, but it just means that as you sit down you'll unconsciously go toward foods that are lower in sodium."
McCarron conducted the research with Judith Stern, an ANR academic. She said lawmakers should focus on...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A long, slightly irreverent diatribe on brain fitness in the independent online local news conduit the Sacramento News & Review does two things: it offers a UC expert the opportunity to present scientific information and it makes the old-school reader wonder, "Is this really the future of news?"
The article, by Matt Perry, annihilates the rules of conventional journalism:
- Written for the infinite scope of cyberspace, the harangue rambles on for more than 1,500 words.
- Science writing about aging is peppered with teenage slang. Who will read it?
- The writer inserts himself into the piece. To wit: "My eyes shift to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The study, by UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, says 24 percent of California adults drink at least one sugary drink every day, according to news stories published by media outlets throughout the state.
Sacramento Bee reporter Anna Tong sought comment about the trend from Judith Stern of the UC Davis Department of Nutrition.
"When you eat food, it makes you full," she was quoted. "When you drink a soda, it doesn't make you feel...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
This week's Time magazine cover feature doubles as an opinionated rant about what ails the US food system. Perhaps some of it should be taken with a grain of salt; but there are plenty of ideas that make sense, even if they aren't scientifically proven.
I confess it is something of a stretch to include it in the ANR news blog, which covers news of ANR activities and experts. (It wasn't until the final page that I found information sourced from the University of California, perhaps from this ANR news...