The Obesity Society is turning 40: A history of the early years.

The North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO), the precursor of The Obesity Society (TOS), was founded in 1981 and turns 40 years old in 2021. The Society was organized by George Bray along with John Brunzell, C. Wayne Callaway, M.R.C. Greenwood, and Judith Stern. It held its foundational meeting with a theme of "Types of Obesity: Animal Models and Clinical Applications" at Vassar College in the fall of 1982 along with symposia and an NIH workshop titled "Methods of Characterizing Human Obesity." At a follow-up meeting during the Fourth International Congress on Obesity, Barbara Hansen was elected President, Judith Stern Secretary, and Anne Sullivan Treasurer. Incorporation of NAASO occurred in 1984.

Pathways and mechanisms linking dietary components to cardiometabolic disease: thinking beyond calories.

Calories from any food have the potential to increase risk for obesity and cardiometabolic disease because all calories can directly contribute to positive energy balance and fat gain. However, various dietary components or patterns may promote obesity and cardiometabolic disease by additional mechanisms that are not mediated solely by caloric content. Researchers explored this topic at the 2017 CrossFit Foundation Academic Conference 'Diet and Cardiometabolic Health - Beyond Calories', and this paper summarizes the presentations and follow-up discussions. Regarding the health effects of dietary fat, sugar and non-nutritive sweeteners, it is concluded that food-specific saturated fatty acids and sugar-sweetened beverages promote cardiometabolic diseases by mechanisms that are additional to their contribution of calories to positive energy balance and that aspartame does not promote weight gain. The challenges involved in conducting and interpreting clinical nutritional research, which preclude more extensive conclusions, are detailed. Emerging research is presented exploring the possibility that responses to certain dietary components/patterns are influenced by the metabolic status, developmental period or genotype of the individual; by the responsiveness of brain regions associated with reward to food cues; or by the microbiome. More research regarding these potential 'beyond calories' mechanisms may lead to new strategies for attenuating the obesity crisis.

The Childhood Obesity Prevention Task Force (ACT 269): recommendations for obesity prevention in Hawai'i.

Obesity in both adults and children is a critical issue in Hawai'i, as well as nationally and internationally. Today in Hawai'i, 57 percent of adults are overweight or obese as are almost 1 in 3 children entering kindergarten. Each year, obesity costs Hawai'i more than $470 million in medical expenditures alone.(1) These staggering human and economic costs underscore the serious need for Hawai'i to address obesity now. Due to the urgent need to reverse the current trends in obesity Senate Bill 2778 was signed into law, on July 6, 2012, as Act 269 by Governor Neil Abercrombie, creating The Childhood Obesity Prevention Task Force. The task force was charged with developing policy recommendations and proposed legislation for the 2013 legislature. The task force ultimately identified eleven recommendations for the 2013 legislative session and one recommendation for the 2014 legislative session. When implemented together, these recommendations could profoundly reshape Hawai'i's school, work, community, and health care environments, making healthier lifestyles obtainable for all Hawai'i residents.

Public safety and dietary supplementation.

Approximately 6 in 10 Americans report regularly using some type of dietary supplement, and approximately 1 in 6 Americans reports using herbal remedies on a regular basis. The diversity of manufacturers, manufacturing processes, and quality control issues are enormous. As with all plant products, herbal products are complex mixtures of a variety of chemical constituents with considerable variation in the growth, harvesting, and storage conditions, including different extraction procedures. Furthermore, not only is there variation in batches, but also the potential for contamination. In addition, herbal products have the potential to interact with pharmaceuticals. These problems have led to consumer and physician confusion about the use of herbal products and have not been satisfactorily resolved, because the Food and Drug Administration has only very recently started to fulfill its mission of consumer protection in the realm of dietary supplements. More importantly, we provide a working plan for addressing this important issue.