Follow the accumulating evidence and observations that shape our view of health policy and obesity
May 7, 2023 — One of the fundamental assumptions we make about the origins of the rise in obesity is that the food supply has changed in ways that trigger more obesity in more people. You might say it is the foundation upon which most public health experts and policy makers build their thinking about this problem. But what […]
May 6, 2023 — Nope. We are not done with fighting obesity by selling water, fruits, and veggies. Former First Lady Michelle Obama is starting a healthy food and beverage company with the help of private equity. Ordinarily, we’re supposed to think of private equity as the bad guys – helping the rich get richer and driving wider disparities. […]
May 5, 2023 — Yesterday at the AACE 2023 annual meeting and in Endocrine Practice, this society of clinical endocrinologists unveiled a new consensus statement on obesity. The core message is unmistakable: endocrinologists should prioritize reducing the harm of stigma in obesity care. Karl Nadolsky, lead author, presented this new consensus at the meeting and tells ConscienHealth: “This is […]
May 4, 2023 — How can we possibly afford paying for all of the innovation that’s coming in obesity care? This is hardly an academic question. It’s a practical one that flickers in the minds of policymakers who balk at finding ways to make effective treatment for obesity more accessible to the people with great medical needs for it. […]
May 3, 2023 — We have received enough lectures for a lifetime from people who know just what the root cause of obesity is. The lecturers know the cause and they know the solution: tax, nudge, cajole, and educate people to follow a healthier diet. Eat less of that awful ultra-processed food. But the presumption that it’s all about […]
May 2, 2023 — “Especially for children, diet and lifestyle must remain at the forefront of obesity prevention and treatment.” This conviction, summing up a new editorial in JAMA, beautifully captures the discomfort that the availability of more effective treatments for obesity causes. The belief persists that diets and exercise are the right way to reverse obesity. So the […]
May 2, 2023 — Yet again we are reminded that bariatric surgery has quite an impressive record for improving the health of people with obesity. In a retrospective cohort study of 55,789 patients receiving bariatric surgery, risk of obesity-related cancer came down by half. Researchers matched the non-surgical control group using propensity scores for demographics, comorbidity, hormone therapy, and […]
May 1, 2023 — Translating the stunning advances we’re presently seeing in obesity into something that both patients and professionals can appreciate is no small feat. But this is what just happened over the weekend at the Obesity Action Coalition YWM Virtual conference. A planning team led by Bob Kushner and Scott Kahan assembled a small faculty of some […]
April 30, 2023 — Recent advances in medicines for treating obesity are stirring up quite a conversation. The enthusiasm for them is hard to miss. Subway ads, tabloid headlines, and celebrities are putting these meds front and center. From all this enthusiasm for the new GLP-1 medicines, the impression might be something like sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. No doubt, […]
April 28, 2023 — Tirzepatide, marketed by Lilly under the Mounjaro brand, may be gliding toward an FDA approval for obesity later this year. A year ago, the first phase 3 study results for tirzepatide in obesity wowed us. Yesterday, Lilly revealed yet another impressive piece of the puzzle – impressive weight reduction in persons who have both obesity […]
