June 10, 2021 — New data on deaths for 2020 from CDC present a stark picture. The rate of deaths due to heart disease rose by more than three percent in 2020. This has happened only one other time in the last 20 years. In 2015, the death rate rose by less than a percent. Even more dramatically, the […]
June 9, 2021 — Obesity can cause cancers. But how does this work? And is obesity getting in the way of reducing deaths from cancer? New research sheds light on these questions. It points to the role of immune function in both diseases. It also offers clues for the path to better solutions. Myeloid Cells and Immune Function Much […]
June 8, 2021 — The mantra for the Wegovy brand of semaglutide just approved by FDA for obesity is clear enough – game changer. Great. Obesity is not a game, but health plans treat it like a 19th century game of hot potato: “Jack’s alive, and likely to live If he dies in your hand, you’ve a forfeit to […]
June 7, 2021 — Getting the COVID-19 vaccine is a no-brainer, right? Especially for people living with obesity. So is vaccine hesitancy a problem for us? It turns out that the answer is not a simple yes or no. Vaccine hesitancy is no more and no less of a problem for people living with obesity than it is for […]
June 6, 2021 — Health stigma is sneaky. Because of that, it pops up in places where we never expect it. For example, we find the wellness section of the New York Times offering advice to dump friends with depression or obesity. Obesity researchers use stigmatizing cartoons to tell us about their good work. Perhaps these people don’t even […]
June 5, 2021 — Experts labeled it as a gamechanger months ago. So it is certainly good news to see semaglutide approved by FDA, now with a brand name, Wegovy. With good reason, people see this new drug as something that can bring radical progress to treating obesity. On average, it’s more effective than other drugs for obesity. Compared […]
June 4, 2021 — A new paper in Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism shows an association between obesity and the risk for long COVID. People with moderate or severe obesity have a 28 to 30 percent higher risk of hospital stays after the acute phase of COVID in this study. But it’s not the first study noting this link. In […]
June 3, 2021 — Five years ago, Chile adopted innovative regulations of food marketing to combat the rising problem of obesity there. A year later, Rand’s Debra Cohen wrote that Chile’s programs are a model for anti-obesity policies: “Nearly 30 years into the ongoing global epidemic of obesity and chronic diseases, Chile has taken the lead in identifying and […]
June 2, 2021 — As life comes back to a new sort of normalcy in some parts of the world, we are slowly coming to terms with the full effects of the pandemic. The deaths have been front and center – 3.5 million to date. Though that number is still growing in many places, it is slowing in others. […]
June 1, 2021 — Weight stigma is not just a U.S. problem. A whole series of new studies – two of them coming out just today – tell us that weight stigma is common across six countries. Not only do people find it in personal relationships, but they even find it common in healthcare. In fact, two thirds of […]
