COAST: UCSF Center for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment (Video)

Ashley Gearhardt describes significant differences between natural food and the modern food environment and how the human brain could be affected. Gearhardt developed the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) to operationalize addictive-like eating behaviors, which has recently been linked with more frequent binge eating episodes in clinical populations, increased prevalence of obesity and patterns of neural activation implicated in other addictive behaviors. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Show ID: 36381]

Four leaders in food policy and law discuss troubling trends of food insecurity, poor diet, chronic disease and obesity along with novel strategies that can be implemented locally and globally. Panelists: Kelly Brownell, Duke University; Laura Schmidt, UCSF; Allison Korn, UCLA; Breanna Hawkins, LA Food Policy Council. Moderated by Emilie Aguirre, Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy at UCLA Law. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 33241]

Closing comments by Elissa Epel, PhD, UCSF, Professor, Director at COAST and SSEW. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34095]

Wolfram Alderson, MS, a social impact innovator and expert, discusses how we can remove toxins from our personal ecosystems and our communities. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34091]

Dale Bredesen, MD, UCSF and UCLA, discusses how environmental toxins may lead to Alzheimers disease. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34090]

Moderated by Laura Schmidt, PhD, MSW, MPH, UCSF, Co-Director of the SSEW Initiative. Panelists include Lauren Zeise, PhD, Director of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), Jeanne Rizzo, RN, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, and Meg Schwarzman, MD, MPH, UC Berkeley, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34089]

Jenny Jay, PhD, UCLA Professor and Researcher at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, provides perspective on how processed foods and water use impact the environment and public health. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34088]

Michele La Merrill, PhD, MPH, UC Davis Professor of Environmental Toxicology, discusses how calories are burned and whether some chemicals make it harder for us to burn calories and stay slim. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34086]

John Balmes, MD, UCSF Professor, gives insight into how air pollution may impact obesity and metabolic health. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34087]

Bruce Blumberg, PhD, UC Irvine Professor of Developmental and Cell Biology and leader in the field of "obesogens," discusses the role of exposures that disrupt our endocrine systems in the obesity epidemic. Obesogens are a chemicals that can interfere with hormones and can cause weight gain. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34085]

Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH, UC Berkeley, explores the compounding impact of social inequity and environmental exposures on health. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34084]

Barbara Laraia, PhD, UC Berkeley, reveals why neighborhoods and stress have a major impact on obesity and pregnancy. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34083]

Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH, Director of the UCSF Environmental Health Initiative, offers an overview on the field of toxic exposures and their impact on health outcomes. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 34081]

Elissa Epel, PhD, and Dan Lowenstein, MD, open the symposium that explores how social, psychological and physical environments create metabolic disease. This is the 12th annual Consortium for Obesity Assessment Study and Treatment (COAST)/Sugar Stress Environment, and Weight (SSEW) Symposium. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34080]

Aric Prather, PhD, UCSF Professor and Co-Director of the Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study, and Treatment (COAST) discusses how social stressors and relationships can act like environmental toxins, a concept called the “social exposome." Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 34082]

Expert panel explores the relation of food insecurity, stress and nutrition. Panelists: Janet Tomiyama, UCLA – The Stigma of Obesity; Deborah Cohen, RAND Corporation – Stress and Built Environments; Barbara Laraia, UC Berkeley – Food Insecurity During Pregnancy; Annie Gupta, UCLA – Stress, Food, and Reward System; Emeran Mayer, UCLA- Stress and Microbiome. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 33237]

Cindy Leung explains the novel mechanism of stress in the relation between food insecurity and health. Food insecurity has direct negative effects on health from infancy into adulthood, most in importantly on cardiovascular health. Food insecurity is a also form of toxic stress that has negative psychological effects. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 33236]

Kelly Brownell explores why research doesn’t get turned into policy and why perfect research may not create systemic change. He also explains why it is imperative for the growing population and for the environment that our research is effectively implemented to create change. Brownell is the Duke University Dean of the School of Public Policy. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 33235]

Dr. Neal Baer is a pediatrician, researcher and director at UCLA’s Global Media Center for Social Impact. He explores what scientists, public health advocates, and policy makers must continue to do today to address obesity, food insecurity, and other public health challenges of our time. He also talks about the role big corporations have in the global obesity problem, and their economic benefit from creating goods that perpetuate the obesity problem. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 33234]

Dr. David Ludwig, Professor of Pediatrics and Nutrition at Harvard Medical School, explains the connections between overeating, dieting, weight loss and weight gain. He debunks the popular myths about dieting by explaining how the body metabolizes and how sugar and fats are used as energy. Series: "UCSF Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study and Treatment" [Health and Medicine] [Education] [Professional Medical Education] [Show ID: 33238]