January 14, 2026 — It’s a neat trick. The newest kid on the block in obesity care is part of the oldest in the diabetes neighborhood. It is the Obesity Association of the American Diabetes Association. And yesterday, the OA of the ADA showed that it can play well with others by publishing landmark Standards of Care for obesity […]
October 17, 2025 — When it comes to obesity, it seems everyone is looking for clickbait. Facts are incidental. So this week, we have wildly differing news headlines about U.S. obesity prevalence. The Harvard Gazette tells us we have an “astounding surge” in obesity prevalence. Axios tells us there’s “good news” on obesity prevalence. Where does the truth lie? […]
April 15, 2025 — This is puzzling. When we saw a new systematic review of therapies for childhood obesity, we were intrigued. It popped up in JAMA Network Open on Friday, clearly focused on central (abdominal) obesity in youth. The authors used waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio, waist-to-hip ratio, and WC z-score as measures of this. But there is […]
November 28, 2020 — This is the ultimate Friday news dump. FDA approved a highly innovative, highly targeted treatment for obesity – setmelanotide – Wednesday night. Just before a four-day holiday. The company announced in on Friday – timing one would typically choose for news they want to hide. But this is really good news for the treatment of […]
March 23, 2019 — It’s great to have new options for obesity meds. Since 2010, FDA has approved four of them. But the fact is that the mainstay of obesity meds is still something that’s older than dirt – phentermine. And new data suggests that it can work safely and effectively when used as a chronic med for this […]
February 7, 2019 — Why does bariatric surgery have such a profound effect on diabetes? It’s more than you might expect simply from the effects on weight. A large portion of patients with diabetes and obesity have remissions after surgery. Even before they lose much weight. New research in Cell Reports this week points to GLP-1 secretion as a […]
November 10, 2018 — ObesityWeek 2018 comes just as we are starting to see serious innovation in obesity drugs at long last. After a few flashy launches that went nowhere, we’re seeing more solid progress from Novo Nordisk and even Eisai. Obesity medicine physicians are bringing obesity meds into comprehensive care for obesity. And some exciting new drugs are […]
August 17, 2018 — We’ve been waiting for this. More than a year ago, Novo Nordisk announced very encouraging early results with semaglutide for obesity. It’s one thing to read a press release. But it means a lot more to read the detailed results in a top tier journal. Today, we have that publication. Detailed Efficacy Data in Lancet […]
September 25, 2016 — Why is it so difficult for a person with obesity to find evidence-based care from a knowledgeable physician? For insight, read the moral code for obesity care presented by Gordon Schiff in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Schiff advises for exclusive reliance on prescriptions of diet and exercise. He recommends […]
June 29, 2016 — Late yesterday, expert advisors to the FDA voted by a margin of 12-11 that the diabetes drug Jardiance (emagliflozin) does indeed cut the risk of cardiovascular deaths for patients with type 2 diabetes who have a history of cardiovascular disease. The committee was unanimous in its agreement that the drug offers good cardiovascular safety. But […]
