“Not surprisingly, there is plenty of research going on to help understand this deadly trend, but last week, a healthcare provider friend related a disturbing incident. He has been active for years on the prevention and wellness side of things, and was interested in pursuing a PhD focusing on methods to reverse obesity in children, with innovative diet and exercise approaches. He felt that his clinical setting would be an ideal laboratory, and the methods — if borne out over the time of his study — would be valuable to the medical community. However, his thesis project was rejected, since ‘There are already plenty of studies of childhood obesity.’ His protests that his project was looking at TREATING the condition, rather than just studying it, fell on deaf ears.” (08/03/08)