Staying true to one of the founding missions of the Asylum, there's a YouTube series entitled The Skinny on Obesity, from University of California, that deserves critical attention. If you're going to put forth science to explain obesity and associated disease, especially in the affirmative sense ("fact", "we know", "is" rather than "possibly", "probably", "evidence supports"), it should be correct to the best of current knowledge. I've made it through five of the episodes to date, and sad to say, this series falls far short of that mark.
Thus far, there have been three contributors: Dr. Robert Lustig, Elissa Epel, and Barbara Laraia. Almost everyone is familiar with Lustig, the last two listed as affiliated with The Center for Obesity Assessment and Study at UC but we learn nothing about their backgrounds. By far the major contributor to the science is Lustig and he gets some basic things so horribly wrong they must be called out. Lustig became an instant star in LC circles with his viral fructophobic YouTube video. YouTube fame is one thing, but this series, put out by University of California, and media appearances like on 60 Minutes (that I did not see) are evidence that this man IS mainstream, and his Nature article and recent public statements can leave no doubt he is highly agenda driven with draconian goals. Therefore it is important to examine the evidence he puts forth before we have another Ancel Keys on our hands!
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