Blogs / Reality Base

Here’s some good news about that new “Get Fit” program at work: A review of studies from the University of Cincinnati has found that employer-based weight-loss programs are effective, leading to a consistent, albeit modest, loss of extra pounds.

The review, which examined 11 studies published since 1994, found that programs such as nutrition education and diet/exercise counseling generally worked. Those in “higher intensity” programs such as frequent face-to-face counseling saw the best results, with an average loss of 2.2 pounds to nearly 14 pounds. Given the high costs of obesity for employers—not to mention the government—this is some pretty heartening news.

Unfortunately, there’s more.

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Over at Wired, Nature Network blogger and Harvard Ph.D. Anna Kushnir has questioned the disparity between the number of women in science graduate programs (more specifically, the number of women in her graduate program) and the women in senior teaching and research positions. Women equal or outnumber men in the former, she observes, and are dwarfed in the latter. As such, she says, somewhere along the line (usually around the time of childbirth) female scientists are dwindling, and she concludes that forces such as motherhood, societal discouragement from an academic career, or lack of self-confidence are “applying this pressure to force women out of a career in science.”

Kushnir’s point is neither incorrect nor new, for scientists or the rest of the working world.

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