NEWS

Novo Nordisk made a bold gamble on oral semaglutide for delaying the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Yesterday, as can happen with bold gambles, it did not pay off. A daily 14 mg oral dose of semaglutide was no better than placebo for preventing disease progression as measured by the Clinical Dementia Rating – Sum of […]

Americans are only barely aware of the role that pharmacy benefit managers play in health insurance. But what they do know is not good. To the extent that most people know anything about these shadowy players in health insurance, they know PBMs control which drugs they can get, how much hassle it is to get […]

A new study suggests that, however painful it might be, a root canal might serve to improve a person’s metabolic health. The study appears in the Journal of Translational Medicine, authored by Yuchen Zhang and colleagues from King’s College London and the University of Helsinki. It is observational and thus cannot establish cause and effect […]

A rupture of public trust occured this week. Information on the CDC website changed overnight, without input from scientists, to espouse the anti-vaccine agenda of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Specifically, the website now says “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the […]

The sprint to the finish for orforglipron is picking up pace with a pivotal trial in obesity and diabetes published yesterday in The Lancet. Things are looking good for this relatively simple GLP-1 agonist in a tablet. The presentation of these results from ATTAIN-2 were a highlight of ObesityWeek earlier this month, but having this […]

“Big food is taking over,” says Barry Popkin, adding an exclamation point in the New York Times to a growing roar of condemnation for ultra-processed foods. The occasion for this is the publication of three new papers – plus an editorial – all at once in The Lancet this week. Popkin was an author on […]

For some time now, we’ve been pointing out that the obsessive demonization of dairy fat in dietary health guidance really doesn’t make much sense. Skim milk doesn’t taste as good as whole milk. The evidence for better health outcomes from reducing dairy fat consumption is flimsy. In fact, a dozen years ago, Walter Willett and […]

An important new study in Nature Medicine yesterday gave us a unique view of food noise at a source deep within the brain. Researchers implanted electrodes in the nucleus accumbens of a single subject to monitor brain activity in that region of the brain. The subject had a history of severe obesity and distressing preoccupation […]

Marion Nestle has a new book that reflects decades of insights gleaned from navigating the perverse economy of food. It is well worth your time. Not because we agree with every word. But precisely because we do not and you may not either – yet her words reflect careful thought and consideration of how our […]

“Studies show food is medicine” says WBUR, with Allison Aubrey quoting studies that suggest a benefit from prescribing healthy food to people at risk for metabolic and diet-related diseases. Under the Food Is Medicine banner, hyperbole is easy to find. The people who have taken up this cause are selling hard. So the headlines that […]