Posts Tagged ‘health outcomes’

Forget Cake – Let Them Eat Whole Foods

February 1, 2025 — The sincerity and passion of Dariush Mozaffarian is easy to recognize and admire. His deep belief in the opportunity for good food to make us healthier is familiar. It echoes the impassioned pitch of a politician before Senate hearings this week. Too many Americans have too many “diet-related” diseases. Time’s a wastin’! Let them all […]

FDA Approves Ozempic to Prevent Kidney Failure and Death

January 29, 2025 — FDA yesterday approved Ozempic (semaglutide) to prevent kidney failure and death in persons with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease. This fits with one of the five trends for this year: the steady expansion of health benefits for advanced medicines used in obesity and diabetes. But note that this approval covers the use of […]

Interrupting Liver Disease in Obesity

January 27, 2025 — A new paper this morning in Nature Medicine tells us that interrupting liver disease in obesity is possible with metabolic surgery. More specifically, in an observational study of patients with obesity and cirrhosis due to MASH, Ali Aminian and colleagues found a 72% lower risk of major complications from liver disease in patients who received […]

Pediatric Obesity Treatment Can Improve Health in Adulthood

January 24, 2025 — An important new paper in JAMA Pediatrics this week tells us that pediatric obesity treatment can improve a person’s health into young adulthood. Anecdotally, health professionals have seen it. Logically, many have long believed it. But this is the first time we have clear evidence for the health benefits of effective pediatric obesity treatment. In […]

FDA Plans to Require Front-of-Pack Labels. Hooray?

January 18, 2025 — In the midst of lot of news about obesity this week came a pretty big announcement from FDA. The agency is proposing to require front-of-pack nutrition labels for most packaged foods in the U.S. FDA is optimistic. Food policy advocates are cheering. This will be a big opportunity to reduce obesity says FDA: The U.S. […]

What Does the New Definition of Clinical Obesity Really Mean?

January 17, 2025 — Obesity is linked to many common diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease and knee osteoarthritis. Obesity is currently defined using a person’s body mass index, or BMI. This is calculated as weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of height (in metres). In people of European descent, the BMI for […]

Food Is Medicine? Maybe Money Is Medicine

January 5, 2025 — In Nature Medicine on Friday, a striking new study from Brazil suggested that a conditional cash transfer program might have a strong effect on reducing incidence and mortality from tuberculosis in persons with extreme poverty and disadvantaged ethnic backgrounds. In fact, researchers documented more than a halving of risk. It’s quite popular to argue that […]

Get Ready for a Big Fuss About Alcohol and Health

December 18, 2024 — The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued a new, exhaustive report yesterday on alcohol and health. Anticipating pressure for stronger advice against drinking alcohol in the 2025 edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Congress asked for this report – perhaps to provide a rationale for toning down any such strong advice. More or […]

Five Stories That Defined 2024 in Obesity and Health

December 16, 2024 — The closing days of 2024 give us a moment to reflect on the stories that defined this year in obesity and health. It’s been a big year, with no shortage of news on this subject. But the major themes stand out very clearly. Health Outcomes Beyond Weight Loss This was the year that objective evidence […]

My Dog’s Better Than Your Dog: Tirzepatide vs Semaglutide

December 5, 2024 — Bragging rights. Yesterday, Lilly claimed them for its obesity medicine, the Zepbound brand of tirzepatide. The company announced topline results from a head-to-head trial of tirzepatide vs semaglutide for weight loss in persons with obesity or overweight and at least one obesity-related complication. It should be no surprise that tirzepatide won this narrowly-defined contest. In […]