January 13, 2022 — The numbers are stark. More than 80 percent of Americans with diabetes are not meeting clinical targets to reduce heart disease risk. For people with both diabetes and obesity, more than 90 percent are bearing unnecessary risk. These numbers come from a new scientific statement in Circulation from the American Heart Association. On top of […]
January 12, 2022 — It’s been a long haul. But suddenly, we’re seeing a lot of optimism about anti-obesity medicines. Skeptics are yielding to stubborn facts about the impact of obesity on health. They are also yielding to good clinical data about the benefits of sound obesity care. So, too, are they seeing that newer generations of anti-obesity medicines […]
January 8, 2022 — Ten years ago, the American Board of Obesity Medicine was not yet certifying physicians in this specialty. Today, obesity medicine is one of the fastest growing medical specialties in the U.S. A total of 5,242 physicians hold this certification. This is indeed good. But the bad news is that it is far from adequate. That […]
December 30, 2021 — Early in the pandemic, a couple of things were clear about COVID risk. First, and most important, age is a person’s biggest risk factor. But that’s obviously not a modifiable risk. Soon after that was apparent, another risk factor became apparent – obesity. The risk linked to obesity was not as great as age, but […]
December 18, 2021 — Novo Nordisk has a problem. Yesterday its stock lost 16 billion dollars from its value. This is because the company is hitting some bumps in its journey through the uncharted territory of obesity care. For more than a decade now, Novo has been investing in a genuine effort to meet a need for better obesity […]
December 16, 2021 — Stages of Change is is a concept deeply embedded in our thinking about health behaviors and obesity. “How ready are you to change?” is the core question. But when applied to obesity care, it is a model with shameful power to promote implicit bias. A new perspective today in the New England Journal of Medicine […]
December 10, 2021 — A new study revives an old question. Isn’t the benefit of bariatric surgery for people with diabetes more than just weight loss? In the December issue of Diabetes Care, Blandine Laferrère and colleagues write: “Our data show the time course of changes in β-cell function after RYGB. The improvement in β-cell function after RYGB, but […]
December 8, 2021 — This is a time of great change in obesity care. Right now, semaglutide is on its way to becoming a blockbuster new drug. That’s because it can help people with obesity control their condition better – with more weight loss – than older anti-obesity medicines. But at the same time, new non-drug, non-systemic options with […]
November 29, 2021 — We have plenty of reasons to think that COVID might be a spark for growth in obesity care. First of all, untreated obesity leaves a person more vulnerable to bad outcomes with COVID. More data is suggesting that effective obesity care might reduce those risks. And then we have anecdotal reports telling us that uptake […]
November 24, 2021 — New data this week in SOARD tells us once again that gastric bypass can produce impressive results over time for someone with severe obesity. After ten years, Su-Hsin Chang and colleagues found that their cohort of 1,104 patients had maintained an average 31 percent reduction in body weight. Best Results for White Women But it […]
