October 6, 2024 — Change is in the air at this year’s FNCE – the annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This is the world’s largest meeting of food and nutrition experts, registered dietitians, and nutritionists. But this year, we are seeing a subtle shift in the agenda at FNCE: less […]
September 27, 2024 — After a day of a National Obesity Policy Forum at the Top of the Hill in Washington, it was plain that we have witnessed a profound shift in the conversation about policy to address obesity. No more lip service about nudging America to “eat healthy” as the answer to a high prevalence of this disease. […]
July 16, 2024 — Looking for some naturally fast food? Minimally processed, but exquisitely prepared? Delicious, but not hyper-palatable? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration would like to help. According to Stat News, the agency is looking hard for ways to regulate ultra-processed food. It leaves us wondering if ultra-processed food can cause people to lose their minds. It […]
June 28, 2024 — With a bipartisan a vote of 36-4 yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee passed an amended version of TROA – the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act. Honestly, after a decade of toiling away to educate legislators about the need for this, we need a pinch to assure ourselves it’s real. This is great news […]
June 27, 2024 — Today for the first time ever, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee will be marking up the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act on Capitol Hill. This is a big deal simply because it means that finally, after a decade of advocacy efforts, Congress is getting serious about obesity care in Medicare. Technically, what the […]
May 21, 2024 — We are witnessing a conversion experience. With the publication of a new policy statement yesterday, the American Heart Association jumped in with both feet to call for closing the gap between obesity science and the typical care that people with obesity receive. Their statement says: “Experts have learned a great deal about the causes of […]
May 5, 2024 — “Drug compounding with semaglutide and tirzepatide is a public health emergency,” said a respected obesity medicine physician to us this week. They were right. Most of the compounded drugs people encounter when they are desperate to obtain these life-changing medicines are sketchy at best. This week, FDA announced the arrest of a TikToker for selling […]
January 26, 2024 — The calls are growing louder and more frequent to include people living with obesity in clinical trials and drug labels. Of course trials and labels for drugs that treat obesity include these patients. But the huge problem is that for everything else, more often than not, drug studies and labels exclude them. Now, the American […]
September 22, 2023 — We are at the very beginning of a revolution in obesity treatment. A new perspective article in Nature Medicine points to this and notes that with the great power of new obesity medicines comes great responsibility to fully understand how to best utilize them. All very true. But more to the point, the greatest responsibility […]
July 24, 2023 — Sloganeering inevitably plays a role in advocating for policy changes. But it can be a very blunt tool. Food Is Medicine is one of these blunt tools, currently popular with some nutrition policy advocates and it got a good hearing at Nutrition 2023 in Boston yesterday. Underneath the problematic umbrella of this slogan, enthusiastic advocates are […]
