Oct 20th, 2021 - Patients with active nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) who received the investigational oral drug lanifibranor (IVA337) showed greater reduction in disease activity compared to placebo, a randomized phase IIb trial found. In a three-arm analysis involving nearly 250 patients, 55% of those who received 1,200 mg of lanifibranor for 24 weeks experienced a 2-point decrease on the activity part of...

Oct 20th, 2021 - COVID-19 patients classified as overweight or obese had more symptoms of the illness, and their symptoms tended to last longer, researchers found. In a prospective study, 59% of COVID-19 patients who were overweight or obese were symptomatic versus 47% of those who were not, reported Pia Pannaraj, MD, of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues. These patients also s...

Oct 17th, 2021 - Higher levels of fasting ghrelin helped induce abdominal visceral fat loss and improved insulin sensitivity in people who followed the green-Mediterranean diet. "The findings suggest fasting ghrelin levels may serve as a valuable indicator of cardiometabolic health following weight loss," said senior study author Iris Shai, PhD, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, in a state...

Oct 15th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. American children gained a lot of weight in the last year, setting a dangerous trajectory towards metabolic disease that requires urgent policy change, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "Our nation's safety net is fragile, outdated, and out of reach for millions ...

Oct 13th, 2021 - A new study that looked at a large database of privately insured Americans has found that transgender individuals have a higher risk of chronic disease than their cisgender counterparts. Transgender people had higher rates of cardiovascular, neurologic, and endocrine conditions, mental health and substance use disorders, chronic pulmonary disease, anemia, liver disease, renal failure, rheumatoi...

Oct 13th, 2021 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued voluntary, short-term sodium reduction targets for food manufacturers, chain restaurants, and food service operators for processed, packaged, and prepared foods, with an eye toward reducing diet-related conditions such as heart disease and obesity. According to the FDA, more than 70% of total sodium intake is from sodium added during food man...

Oct 12th, 2021 - Takeaway Overweight/obesity was very common in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and was associated with double diabetes (DD). Body mass index (BMI) was positively associated with total daily insulin dose in patients with T1DM. DD was linked to an adverse cardiovascular risk profile and was common in lean patients with T1DM. Why this matters Findings warrant further research to dete...

Oct 11th, 2021 - Taking high-doses of marine omega-3 fatty acids, more than 1 gram daily, may raise the risk for atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a meta-analysis of relevant research.  However, the risk of developing AF appears to be "relatively small" for those taking 1 gram or less of fish oil per day, Christine Albert, MD, chair of the  Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Si...

Oct 11th, 2021 - Taking high-doses of marine omega-3 fatty acids, more than 1 gram daily, may raise the risk for atrial fibrillation (AF), according to a meta-analysis of relevant research.  However, the risk of developing AF appears to be "relatively small" for those taking 1 gram or less of fish oil per day, Christine Albert, MD, chair of the  Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Si...

Oct 10th, 2021 - Babies born via cesarean delivery had significantly higher measures of lean mass, fat mass, and central adiposity compared with those born by vaginal delivery -- but this was likely related to the mother's prepregnancy weight. (JAMA Network Open) In a pre-specified analysis from the DAPA-CKD trial, dapagliflozin (Farxiga) significantly reduced albuminuria in chronic kidney disease patients both...

Oct 7th, 2021 - Takeaway Overweight or obesity may be linked to a more favourable prognosis for subsequent major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and mortality in stroke survivors, regardless of confounding variables at the time of stroke. The authors warn that the stroke–obesity paradox is strictly an association and should not be considered causal. Why this matters Ther...

Oct 6th, 2021 - GNAS mutations in kids with severe obesity may go undetected, researchers suggested. In a study of 2,548 children with severe obesity in whom genetic causes of obesity were not suspected, a total of 22 were found to have heterozygous GNAS mutations -- the gene responsible for encoding Gαs (stimulatory G-protein alpha subunit), according to I. Sadaf Farooqi, MB, ChB, PhD, of Addenbrooke's Hospit...

Oct 6th, 2021 - Paul Russo, MD, FACS Obesity increases the chance that someone will get the clear-cell form of renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). But once an obese patient has the disease, he’s likely to survive longer than a non-obese patient. A study that sought an answer to that obesity paradox found a genetic difference: In obese patients, ccRCC tumors express less fatty acid synthase (FASN) than do tumors fo...

Oct 6th, 2021 - Clifford A. Hudis, MD, chief, Breast Cancer Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the challenges with approaching the topic of obesity in patients with cancer. One of the challenges with scientifically approaching overweight patients with cancer is lacking the quality evidence needed to provide them with meaningful advice. There is debate on if all overweight pati...

Oct 6th, 2021 - Clifford A. Hudis, MD, chief, Breast Cancer Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, professor of medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, discusses obesity and its relation to breast cancer. Hudis says there is an obesity problem in the United States. Obesity leads to a variety of general health issues including cardiac problems, endocrine problems, and cancer. It is believed...

Oct 6th, 2021 - Jennifer Ligibel, MD Obesity has long been linked to poor outcomes in various cancers, including breast cancer. Studies have shown that weight can affect a patient’s risk of recurrence and mortality, driving researchers to develop weight loss intervention techniques for this at-risk population. The Breast Cancer Weight Loss Study (BWEL; NCT02750826) is looking to identify the relationship bet...

Oct 6th, 2021 - Bariatric surgery patients who opted for sleeve gastrectomy saw a lower risk of death, a new study found. In a retrospective cohort study of nearly 100,000 Medicare patients with severe obesity, those who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy had a lower cumulative mortality incidence over 5 years compared with patients who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (4.27% vs 5.67%), r...

Oct 6th, 2021 - By 2030, it is projected that most Americans will be overweight, and of those, nearly 50% of adults will be obese. Although the majority of Americans are aware that obesity can have adverse health consequences, survey findings show that few are aware that it can increase cancer risk. The link between weight and cancer may not be linear, yet large-scale epidemiologic studies have demonstrated a ...

Oct 6th, 2021 - Nearly 1 in 10 of the UK's adult population will be living with diabetes by the end of the decade, if further action to prevent and treat both type 1 and type 2 diabetes is not taken, shows an analysis by Diabetes UK. Further to the projected 5.5 million adults (10% projected adult population) who could be living with diabetes by 2030, an extra 17 million people could also be at increased risk ...

Oct 5th, 2021 - Prurigo pigmentosa, an uncommon inflammatory skin condition also known as Nagashima disease, is growing in frequency, possibly as a result of increased interest in the ketogenic diet, according to a dermatologist, who reviewed skin conditions common to patients of Asian descent at the Skin of Color Update 2021. "Ketogenic diets are gaining popularity globally for weight loss. After 2-4 weeks [o...