June 26, 2024 — One of the four dimensions that sum to a terrible problem of inadequate scale in obesity care is cost. Right now, the list prices for obesity medicines like semaglutide and tirzepatide in the U.S. put them out of reach for all but the wealthy and the well-insured. So will it help that a generic GLP-1 agonist – […]
June 15, 2024 — For decades now, thinking about obesity that pits treatment against prevention has hampered efforts to “tackle” obesity. At the Boston Course in Obesity Medicine yesterday, ConscienHealth founder Ted Kyle examined this either/or thinking and suggested it is a mistake. In fact, it is becoming apparent that obesity care is a critical tool for prevention of […]
April 27, 2024 — To open Obesity Medicine 2024 yesterday, David Arterburn presented a brilliant perspective on the radical paradigm shift and price wars that lie ahead in obesity care. Along the way, he explained how he believes that better obesity medicines can help meet a fundament goal of healthcare: to improve population health. He described the future of […]
December 12, 2023 — An amicable discussion about evidence for the effectiveness of soft drink taxes can be, well, somewhat taxing. Scientists with genuine curiosity about this subject often seem harder to find than true believers. But disappointment has come for those true believers. Because some of the evidence to back their firm beliefs in soft drink taxes recently […]
December 9, 2023 — Yesterday, we had the opportunity to offer (and gain) perspective on stigma and discrimination related to obesity. It came in the rich context of a three hour discussion on “Ethics, Equity, and Stigma in Obesity Treatment and Policy.” The Division of Medical Ethics of NYU School of Medicine co-sponsored the discussion with the Comprehensive Program […]
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 28, 2023 — Up front, we want to say that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are incredibly important and we are very grateful for the diverse and talented experts who are working on scientific input for the 2025 edition. They offer a framework for healthy nutrition that guides U.S. (sometimes even global) food policy in ways that are […]
September 14, 2023 — Epidemic, pandemic, syndemic, crisis, emergency: well-meaning people attach these words to obesity in general and often to childhood obesity in particular. Two decades ago, Cara Ebbeling, Dorota Pawlak, and David Ludwig proclaimed in Lancet that childhood obesity was a “public health crisis” and prescribed a “common sense cure.” But a new perspective published yesterday in Pediatrics […]
July 23, 2023 — Slowly, but surely, the world is waking up to realize that obesity is not a problem of bad behavior by the people who live with it. Of course, this is not to say that healthy behaviors are unhelpful for our well-being. Good health habits can benefit anyone. But thinking that behavior change can reverse obesity, […]
May 16, 2023 — For decades, faith that healthy eating and active living would be sufficient to prevent obesity has motivated an impressive array of obesity prevention programs and research. But it has yielded very little in terms of measurable progress for reversing unhealthy trends. In the face of treatment options with dramatic efficacy gains, a crisis of faith […]
