What does the body of evidence have to say on the topic of obesity? Plus: the on-going downfall of Didier Raoult, purveyor of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, which dovetails into discussions about the Hongcheng magic liquid, the Galileo gambit, gluten and the backfire effect. And Chris answers listeners’ questions about genomics and cardiology and a syndrome called POTS.

 

Block 1:

Obesity myths: the body mass index (2:26)

 

Block 2:

Obesity myths: visceral adiposity, waist-to-hip ratio, obesity as a disease, fat and fit, the obesity paradox, exercising to lose weight, and a calorie is a calorie (10:20)

 

Block 3:

Didier Raoult and hydroxychloroquine (30:46)

 

Block 4:

Q&A: genomics and cardiology, and POTS (42:31)

 

 

* Jingle by Jillian Correia of Roctavio Canada

* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.

* Assistant researcher: Nicholas Koziris

 

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References:

 

1) Is obesity a disease?: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179496/#b9-ms111_p0104

 

2) Different BMI cutoffs in different ethnic groups: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circulationaha.106.635011 & https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(03)15268-3.pdf

 

3) How to measure waist circumference: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/index.html

 

4) Is obesity a disease?: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6179496/

 

5) Metabolically healthy obese: https://www.jacc.org/doi/abs/10.1016/j.jacc.2017.07.763

 

6) The obesity paradox: https://journals.lww.com/epidem/FullText/2013/05000/The__Obesity_Paradox__Explained.20.aspx

 

7) Kevin Hall’s research on isocaloric diets: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/104/2/324/4564649

 

8) Médiapart’s article on Didier Raoult (in French): https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/191121/les-equipes-de-didier-raoult-denoncent-les-falsifications-de-leur-patron-sur-l-hydroxychloroquine?onglet=full

 

9) Our episode on direct-to-consumer genetic testing: https://bodyofevidence.ca/023-direct-to-consumer-dna-testing-and-homeopathy

 

Music Credits:

 

Christmas Theme 3 by Alexander Nakarada

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4776-christmas-theme-3

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

 

Unseen Horrors by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4569-unseen-horrors

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

 

Happy Memory (loopable) by chilledmusic

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/8368-happy-memory-loopable-

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license