November 11, 2023 — Newly published in full, the results of the SELECT study of semaglutide for cardiovascular outcomes in persons with obesity but not diabetes makes one thing undeniable. Obesity is a chronic, treatable disease. Treating obesity requires more than just telling a person to change their lifestyle. It involves addressing the disease pathology that is at work, […]
June 30, 2023 — At the ASMBS Annual Meeting this week, a new study of major bad outcomes in people with both obesity and sleep apnea reminds us why metabolic surgery remains an important option for comprehensive obesity care. The risk of death, heart attacks, strokes, and other major bad cardiovascular outcomes is 37 percent lower if a person […]
May 16, 2021 — Stroke is generally a problem for older persons. Nonetheless, as much as 15 percent of all strokes happen to people between the ages of 18 and 50. What’s more, incidence is rising for younger people. A new study in Stroke offers good reasons to believe that rising obesity in young persons may account for some […]
July 3, 2020 — The cost of delayed care for chronic diseases – such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes – is steep in this pandemic. In fact, three separate analyses this week give us a glimpse of excess deaths in the early months of this continuing tragedy. But unfortunately, pinning these numbers down is a tricky business. However, […]
October 9, 2019 — A pair of studies and an editorial published in Circulation yesterday reinforce a long-standing observation. People live longer with a dog in their lives. So is this cause and effect? Maybe. These two very substantial studies support a growing body of evidence. In fact, the relationship between owning a dog and risk of death from […]
September 7, 2019 — Do vegetarian diets pose little more risk of strokes and a little less risk of heart disease? That’s the possibility researchers are raising in the BMJ this week. So what’s a committed vegetarian supposed to do with this information? Advice in an editorial from Mark Lawrence and Sarah McNaughton seems solid to us. Keep this […]
November 14, 2018 — On Tuesday in Nashville, Steven Nissen delivered the opening keynote lecture. From beginning to end, he told us, obesity is all about the heart. “Heart disease is how obesity kills most of our patients,” he said. “It is still the leading cause of death, and we’re going to have to tackle this.” Halting Progress Against Heart […]
April 16, 2017 — Admittedly, we’ve fed you many glowing words about the Mediterranean diet. So if you’re looking for something different, consider The Nordic Way. Like the Mediterranean diet, the Nordic diet is a satisfying way of eating, with deep roots in culture. And it has an impressive body of science to document health benefits. Arne Astrup, Jennie Brand-Miller, and […]
May 14, 2016 — The rate of hospitalization for strokes in young people is rising at a time when the rates on older people is on the decline. This observation, from two new studies in the Journal of the American Heart Association this week, should serve as an early warning. Stroke is just one of a myriad of chronic […]
March 17, 2015 — Preventing strokes for just a penny a day is a pretty good deal. It took a very careful study design and execution to finally prove that folic acid could reduce the risk of strokes by 21% in people with hypertension. The study that did it was a randomized, controlled study of 0.8mg of folic acid […]
