Bias, BMI, and Bad Medicine: Neur...

Bias, BMI, and Bad Medicine: Neurobiological Struggles with Obesity

Explicit
The Plasticity Podcast by Santina Duarte
E17
Feb 2, 2026
34:59

Episode notes

Obesity is one of the most misunderstood—and most stigmatized—medical conditions we treat. In this episode, we dismantle the idea that body weight is simply a matter of willpower, discipline, or personal responsibility and replace it with what the science actually shows. Using evidence from neuroscience, endocrinology, and metabolism research, we explore how the brain regulates weight, why the body fiercely defends stored energy, and why long-term weight loss through lifestyle intervention alone is statistically unlikely for most people. We also examine how medical anti-fat bias has shaped clinical care, research priorities, and patient outcomes—often causing more harm than the disease itself.

As per usual, I release a new episode every Monday at 7:00 am EST. You can find me on all podcast platforms and on Instagram at @theplasticitypodcast. Thank you so much for another week of listening. This week, if you are interested in any resources, please check out obesity.ca below, which has many incredible resources for understanding obesity and weight loss.

Obesity Canada – Evidence-based resources, clinical guidelines, and patient education https://obesitycanada.ca

Keywords

Neuroscience
Academic Journey
Neural Networks
Graduate School
University
Science communication
science and tech
dissemination
women in science
blood flow
cognition
neurochemistry
neural encoding
reward pathways
depression
mental health
in vivo
in vitro
genetics
research
clinical trials
human research
health
womens health
womens research
misdiagnosed
underdiagnosed
obesity
weight loss
GLP-1
Ozempic
BMI