Second Opinion Live!

Guest: David A. Kessler, MD Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Host: Michael Greenberg, MD We know that the basic ingredients in our food have played a major role in the progression of our country's obesity epidemic -- it's not all about our genetics and our sedentary lifestyle. Yet, armed with this knowledge, and amid a bevy of weight loss pills, exercise routines and diet fads galore, we continue to have trouble controlling what we eat and how much of it we eat. One competing strategy to beat these struggles centers on brain circuitry and how we respond to food: the activation of reward neurocircuitry, increasing attention to and arousal by food stimuli and other food-related cues like advertising. Can we impart several simple ideas on our patients to improve their control mechanisms for food desires and food intake? Dr. David Kessler says we can. Dr. Kessler, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 1990 to 1997, former dean of the medical schools at the University of California, San Francis