Reconnecting at ObesityWeek: 10 Ideas to Start

We totally understand. ObesityWeek is coming up in San Diego and it’s a little overwhelming. For lots of us, this will be the first time in quite a while to connect with colleagues who share a hunger for insights into the complex chronic disease of obesity. Plus, a lot is happening in the field. Both the scientific understanding of obesity and options for dealing with it are growing rapidly. There’s a lot to absorb in this coming week. So here are 10 ideas to get you started on navigating ObesityWeek.

No way is this a comprehensive list. It’s just a starting point – ideas from which you can build your own agenda for ObesityWeek.

1. The Presidential Plenary

Tuesday at 5 pm, it all starts with the Presidential Plenary. In just two hours, you’ll get a grand tour of what’s new and what to expect as the week unfolds. Expect new insights from some really great scientists and advocates for the field. Our own Ted Kyle will be offering a little perspective, too.

You can be sure this plenary will be a rich source of information.

2. New Treatments

Obesity treatment is improving rapidly and this has big implications for the whole field. This week will be full of new information on new drugs like semaglutide, tirzepatide, bimagrumab, and other innovative approaches to reducing the harm of obesity for people who are living with it. A lot of that action will happen on Friday.

3. Pediatric Obesity

For years, the options for most kids living with significant obesity were not great. Help with lifestyle, diet, and exercise was about it. That’s changing fast as clinician scientists are developing a deeper understanding of how to change the course of this disease for kids who are deeply affected. We expect a big reveal of results from a rigorous study of semaglutide in teens on Wednesday at 1:45 pm. But we’ll also get a peek at the process of developing the new clinical practice guideline, which is coming soon from the American Academy of Pediatrics on Thursday at 10 am. Pediatric obesity care is advancing rapidly. The meeting will be brimming with content on this.

4. The Obesity Journal Symposium

Some of the best papers that appear in the flagship journal of the Obesity Society get selected for the annual journal symposium. This year it’s Friday at 8

am. We’re particularly looking forward to a paper from the University of Sydney on macronutrient imbalance in an obesogenic food environment.

5. Where Are We with SSB Taxes?

One of the key lectures not to miss is by Lisa Powell on Thursday at 1:30. She’ll be giving an assessment of where we are with SSB taxes and what will come next. Both fans and skeptics can learn a lot from this one.

6. A Healthy Food and Physical Environment?

The week holds some good content for insights into the food environment. Wednesday at 10 am, an excellent symposium will examine environmental barriers to childhood obesity prevention. Also, given a new FDA proposal for putting a “health halo” on packaged foods like nutrition bars, we’re especially interested in a study from Arizona State that links some of these bars to weight gain in a randomized crossover trial.

7. Precision Nutrition

Many people have been trying to tell us that they can prescribe the uniquely perfect approach to diet and health through precision nutrition. Christopher Gardener will be taking a critical look at this subject on Thursday at 1:30 pm.

8. Barriers to Care

The obstacles to getting good obesity care are slowly giving way. This will come up in Kyle’s presentation during the Presidential Plenary. But a whole Presidential Symposium will cover it in much greater depth on Thursday at 7 am. An equally important part of that story is the barriers that disparities in healthcare create. Sessions on culturally competent care (7 pm Wed) and on health disparities (8 am Thu) will dive into this challenge.

9. Many Fine Abstracts

With many hundreds of studies and posters being presented, it’s really helpful that organizers have combed through all of them to identify the top 40 abstracts at the meeting. It’s a good place to start for building your own ideas about the most important science at ObesityWeek.

10. Connecting

If you’re fortunate enough to be in San Diego for ObesityWeek, perhaps the best part of the week will be connecting with respected colleagues you may not have seen for years. We’ll be there and we’ll be looking forward to this aspect of the meeting most of all. Please take time to connect.

For all the scoop on ObesityWeek, start here.

San Diego Skyline, photograph by Whoismanu / Wikimedia Commons

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October 29, 2022