May 21, 2020 — Evidence continues to accumulate that obesity is not helpful when a person develops COVID-19. Four new publications point to added risks. One of them documents higher prevalence of obesity in ICU patients with COVID-19 in France. Then a pair of studies in China finds triple the risk for severe symptoms in COVID patients with obesity. […]
May 20, 2020 — It seems like conspiracy theories are enveloping us. The new coronavirus was hatched in a lab and foisted on us by China! The one percent is manipulating the economy! Oh, my. It’s a long list that we can read and smugly think, we’re too smart to fall for that. Right? But on the other hand, […]
May 19, 2020 — Common ground is awfully hard to find right now. But here’s an easy one. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a D or an R or anything else. Fat shaming is never cool. It just happened last night when Speaker Nancy Pelosi made an off-handed remark about President Donald Trump being “morbidly obese.” Please, people. This […]
May 18, 2020 — We call it stealth progress. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals last week gained approval from FDA for a priority review of setmelanotide for rare genetic forms of obesity in children. The indications are for obesity treatment in POMC and LEPR deficiency. Furthermore, the FDA has indicated it doesn’t plan to hold a public hearing on this drug This […]
May 17, 2020 — We’re in the midst of a health crisis. And yet, oddly enough, healthcare has come to a halt in many ways. Dental offices are closed. People are staying away from their doctors. Emergency rooms are deadly quiet. Outside of the intense activity required to save the lives of people suffering severe encounters with COVID-19, healthcare […]
May 16, 2020 — A near death experience with COVID-19 has made Boris Johnson a sudden believer in policies to address obesity. “It’s all right for you thinnies,” says Johnson in discussing the matter. Apparently, he attributes the seriousness of his encounter with the coronavirus to his own obesity. (His BMI was approximately 36 at the time.) So now, […]
May 15, 2020 — It’s fascinating how readily people agree with the truth that correlation does not prove causation. Talk is cheap. But throw a study of correlation at them and poof! Caution evaporates. People leap from correlation to causality. So it is with a new study of pre-op weight loss and mortality after bariatric surgery. In JAMA Network […]
May 14, 2020 — Yesterday the process of a slow reveal began. Novo Nordisk released the first pivotal results in studies of semaglutide for obesity. This new drug, already available for diabetes, has potential to bring us closer to truly effective obesity treatment without surgery. This was merely a first glimpse – topline results from only one of four […]
May 13, 2020 — Two new papers give us a mixed picture of results from the holy war to drive sweet drinks from the American diet. On the front lines in Oakland, California, economists tell us that a beverage tax has had negligible effects. But the good news is that perhaps that doesn’t matter. Researchers have discovered that sweetened […]
May 12, 2020 — Living through this pandemic may leave us feeling isolated and separated. So maybe it’s ironic that it seems to bring a sharper focus onto disparities that have kept us apart for far too long. As we’ve noted, the coronavirus is an acute problem. But as it takes the lives of people we love, it is […]
