Archive for the ‘Health Policy’ Category

Slashing Research, Censoring Scientists, Sacrificing Lives

April 19, 2025 — This is an odd way of making America healthy. In fact, the recent, chaotic actions of the new administration seem destined to do precisely the opposite by slashing research and censoring scientists who labor long and hard to advance medical knowledge. A new letter in Lancet puts it bluntly: “In the setting of stalling life […]

Drawing Closer to a Once-Daily Oral GLP-1 That Works

April 18, 2025 — The news in obesity research these days is so full of headlines about a multitude of new medicines in development that it is easy to lose count. All too often, these are early stage or even pre-clinical notions of a potential treatment. So yesterday, it was good news indeed to hear that a once-daily oral […]

Kevin Hall Leaving NIH, Cites Food Addiction Narratives

April 17, 2025 — The author of some of the most compelling scientific research on ultra-processed foods, Kevin Hall, is leaving NIH because of censorship of his science at the agency. “I experienced censorship in the reporting of our research because of agency concerns that it did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency’s leadership about […]

New Canadian Pediatric Obesity Guidelines Meet Scarce Options

April 14, 2025 — The first update to Canadian guidelines for pediatric obesity in two decades is out today. The authors grounded them in the best available science. They crafted them with the values of children and families at the center of their process. In short, these are very solid guidelines. But there’s just one little problem. The scarce […]

The Problem When Cynicism Proliferates: Everything Is B.S.

April 13, 2025 — “Political cynicism is rising in many democracies throughout the world.” Explaining this, Ariel Hasell, Audrey Halversen, and Brian Weeks ascribe it to the influence of social media and demonstrate it with data from the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The trouble is that when cynicism proliferates, everything seems like B.S. So this week when Education Secretary […]

Shall We Work to Raise or Lower Drug Prices?

April 11, 2025 — It’s hard to miss the headlines about wild gyrations in financial markets and tariff policies that have been coming in and out of view. We’re doing our best to stay out of those crosscurrents which threaten to become riptides. But the threat to place “a major tariff on pharmaceuticals” is hard to ignore, simply because […]

Nailing Down the Health Effects of Microplastics in Our Brains

April 10, 2025 — It’s a fact. We are eating, drinking, and breathing microplastics. They are accumulating in our bodies – even in our brains. It took painstaking work to figure that out, but even more challenging is the task of nailing down the health effects of all those microplastics. Researchers are doing their best to figure this out. […]

No, the Door Is Not Closed on Obesity Medicines at CMS

April 9, 2025 — As everyone digests the news that CMS has chosen not to expand coverage of obesity medicines under Medicare and Medicaid “at this time,” it is becoming clear the door is not closed. HHS told Bndpoints News: “CMS may consider future policy options for obesity medications pending further review of both the potential benefits of these […]

The Unlikely Alignment of MAHA with Marion Nestle

April 8, 2025 — We find ourselves wondering, as Marion Nestle does, about the unlikely alignment of RFK’s MAHA concept with some of the ideas about food policy she has been advocating for decades. We do not always agree, but we have long admired Nestle’s convictions in taking on problems with food systems and the business model of the […]

Global Poverty, Food Markets, and Healthy Nutrition

April 7, 2025 — Efforts to improve global nutrition often run up against an inescapable truth: poverty, more than preference, limits healthy food choices. Two new studies highlight the complexity of this challenge and suggest that simply making nutritious foods more available or promoting dietary change isn’t enough – especially for the world’s poorest communities. Healthy Nutrition Out of […]