YOU ARE HERE: LAT HomeCollectionsWeight Loss
(Page 2 of 2)

In diet studies, big question goes unexplored

My Turn

After losing weight and keeping it off on the Atkins diet, it seems odd that no one wants to find out why this higher-calorie option appears to be more effective.

August 23, 2010|By Bob Kaplan, Special to the Los Angeles Times

Obesity is now the No. 1 preventable cause of death in America. The CDC estimates that 10% of healthcare costs — about $150 billion annually — are tied to the obesity epidemic. And yet the kinds of studies that speak directly to the question of not just how we lose weight but perhaps why we gain it, and what we may be doing wrong as individuals and as a nation, are mishandled so badly that they border on scientific ineptitude.

Until the press, funding agencies and researchers start asking the obvious questions, we will continually find ourselves in the same predicament.

Kaplan holds advance degrees in exercise physiology and business, an undergraduate degree in nutrition and is a nationally certified personal trainer. He has no financial conflicts of interest, but he'd like to know why it's now so easy for him to stay lean but not for the American public as a whole.

My Turn is a forum for readers to recount an experience related to health or fitness. Submissions should be no more than 500 words. They are subject to editing and condensation and become the property of The Times. Please e-mail health@latimes.com. We read every essay but can't respond to every writer.

Advertisement
Los Angeles Times Articles
|
|
|