October 5, 2024 — The remarkable power of an open-label placebo comes through in a new study appearing in Scientific Reports. The power is remarkable simply because “open label” means that everyone receiving a placebo knew that it had no medicinal effect whatsoever. And yet, compared to usual care for overweight and obesity, people lost more weight after four […]
September 30, 2024 — The abrupt and immediate departure of Sima Sistani as CEO of Weight Watchers prompts us to ask: Is the diet industry dead? Weight Watchers grew from its origins in the early 1960s to become the iconic brand that dominated this field. For decades now, the popular impulse to reject diet culture has been growing. In […]
July 19, 2024 — “If we were just to get a fraction [of potential members] to engage in the way that we do things differently with GLP-1s – it’s an insane opportunity for the company.” These words come from the Life Time chain of fitness clubs about the “Miora” wellness clinics they are now putting inside their facilities. It […]
July 12, 2024 — Reuters has a news flash for us. People are quick to quit taking GLP-1 medicines. In an “exclusive” story, the Reuters report comes from a analysis from Prime Therapeutics and Magellan Rx (Prime/MRx) – a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM). The headline finding is that 85% of people who start on GLP-1 medicines have quit taking […]
July 10, 2024 — The headline is compelling. “Zepbound outperforms Ozempic and Wegovy in head-to-head weight loss study.” It certainly confirms the bias of a lot of people in the field. But is it true? Did tirzepatide (Zepbound) really beat semaglutide (Wegovy) in a head-to-head comparative study for obesity? In a word, no. Uncontrolled, Observational, and Inequivalent Dosing The […]
May 22, 2024 — In a certain way, Ozempic and TikTok were made for each other. One is the most viral social media of the moment. The other is an omnipresent sensation in medical therapy. Both of them fill a vacuum in popular culture. For TikTok, the vacuum might be boredom – though we admit that this assessment comes […]
January 27, 2024 — Zeal is thrilling. “The solution is at hand” for type 2 diabetes, says Professor Roy Taylor. “If a person has T2DM, they have become too heavy for their own body.” Losing weight with his very low calorie diet will put that diabetes into remission, he says. “A simple bottom line.” Except that a new study […]
January 4, 2024 — It is beginning to seem like an anachronism. January has long marked the beginning of “diet season.” Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, Atkins, and many other businesses depend on this annual weight loss ritual to rack up their biggest sales of the year. Diet resolutions typically stick for only a few months, though. Some time […]
December 28, 2023 — This was a year of great progress in obesity, and with that progress came frustrations and angst. So finding the best and worst of 2023 in obesity and health is actually quite an easy and interesting task. Let’s dig right in. #1 Best: Cardiovascular Outcomes Benefit Data for Semaglutide Above all else the landmark findings […]
December 15, 2023 — It’s long been overdue. For as long as we can remember, one presumption has been dominant. The real cure for obesity is (supposed to be) a change in lifestyle. It is the “foundation of obesity treatment” says just about everyone, even today. But the sand underneath that foundation is shifting. So the time has come […]
