Obesity

Letters to the editor from the February 2011 issue of Scientific American

Shared attitudes might not be the only force shaping women's weight gain in social circles

A volunteer effort to map all the food stores in Brooklyn, N.Y., is an example of two rising trends: citizen mapping and increasing scrutiny of urban Americans' access to healthy food

Although science has revealed a lot about metabolic processes that influence our weight, the key to success may lie elsewhere

Take our obesity poll

Animals in human care are fatter than they were 20 years ago.

San Francisco may stop restaurants from offering toys as an incentive to buy unhealthy food aimed at kids. One professor of nutrition, food studies and public health says this is a pretty good start, but more can be done

Ever-fatter Americans risk much higher rates of disease and death

As the obesity epidemic accelerates, more researchers are looking to prenatal risk factors

For healthy body weight, the brain's reward system may need to be 'just right'

Defining obesity in children and recalibrating the caloric needs of overweight kids are key steps in shrinking the epidemic, researchers say

Could added incentives and other changes to the federal food stamp program trim rampant obesity rates among low-income groups?