March 13, 2025 — Over the last few decades, there have not been a lot of bright spots for metabolic health. But here’s one. A new paper in Diabetes Care tells us diabetes mortality actually dropped between 2000 and 2019. The authors, led by Hasan Nassereldine, suggest that the decline in diabetes deaths could be due to the adoption […]
December 8, 2024 — A man was murdered this week in a manner of cold determination. As of this writing, we do not know why. But because he was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare – America’s largest health insurer – many people are interpreting this murder as an expression of rage and contempt for the health insurance industry. Some are […]
August 18, 2024 — The mental health of youth is in serious decline around the world – a decline that is a mirror image of rising obesity. These overlapping tragedies may be independent. But common threads are easy enough to find. An editorial from the Lancet Psychiatry distills perspective from the new Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Youth Mental Health: […]
July 20, 2024 — In a perverse way, policies to address obesity have been effective in the U.S. But only for specific communities. As the recognition of obesity as a threat to public health has grown, some communities have grown more resistant to it. Others have not and disparities in obesity have grown steadily – between rural and urban, […]
December 5, 2023 — Let’s call this a half step. During the pandemic, Americans lost almost two and a half years in life expectancy. Men did worse than women. Now the news from CDC is that in 2022, we got back just a little more than a year of that loss – a meager regain in life expectancy. Jacob […]
November 12, 2023 — For some time to come, we will be learning more and more about the details and implications of the landmark SELECT study published yesterday in NEJM and presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia. A massive crowd packed the meeting hall yesterday for good reason. These results will change the practice of […]
June 8, 2023 — Typically, Ruth Marcus writes about justice for the Washington Post. But this week, she posted a very personal essay – “the most personal piece I have ever written” – about her experience with taking Ozempic. More than just a testimonial about the life-changing effects of better obesity care, it became an exploration of the interaction […]
October 29, 2022 — 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 […]
April 2, 2022 — If you had any doubt that the last two years have been a trial for young people, new research from the CDC should put that to rest. In the MMWR yesterday, CDC published striking data on the mental and behavioral health of teens in the midst of the pandemic. In short, researchers found them in […]
August 14, 2021 — A new study in JAMA this week tells us that American youth get two thirds of their calories from ultra-processed foods. Is the response to this moral panic? Or does this observation document a serious threat to public health? It is easy to find responses on both ends of this spectrum and everything in between. […]
