Posts Tagged ‘innovation’

Spilling blood is never a good thing. But for people living with diabetes, pricking a finger and getting a drop of blood is an all-too-frequent ritual. Now, that ritual may start to fade. Late on Wednesday, FDA approved the first system for monitoring blood sugar levels without the need for routine finger sticks. The FreeStyle Libre […]

It’s an odd balance. Icebergs are melting. But the biggest fatberg ever recorded has congealed in London’s sewer. It’s 130 tons and 250 yards of cooking fat, wipes, diapers and other stuff folks should never have flushed down the drain. Breaking it up and removing it will take three weeks of hard, smelly work. An […]

How did chicken take over the world’s diet? Industrial farming is a big part of it. But secret sauce is 63,000 tons of antibiotics every year. This insight comes from Maryn McKenna in her new book – Big Chicken. Before those innovations, hens were just leftovers from egg production and “a chicken in every pot” […]

So many food products call out to us with health claims. Lowfat! Light and fit! No added sugar! The not so subtle suggestion is to buy more, and thus, eat more. But there’s another strategy under consideration by industry and health advocates: stealth health. A new study in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition suggests that […]

Weight Watchers seems to be finding life for its brand despite the demise of dieting in popular culture. Business results for the company, released yesterday, show remarkable new vitality. Profits for the company are up by 48% for the second quarter of this year. Memberships are up by 20%, now totaling 3.5 million. CEO Mindy […]

Almost ten years ago, FDA set a new hurdle for approving new diabetes drugs. Before one of these new drugs could be approved, the sponsoring company would need an expensive cardiovascular safety study. How expensive? The price tag might run as high as a billion dollars. FDA laid this same requirement on new obesity drugs, […]

Campbell Soup is walking away from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and tired old food fights. Campbell’s aim is to become the leading health and well-being food company. And in light of this intention, said CEO Denise Morrison, the GMA no longer represents her company’s interests: This is not a financial decision. It’s a decision […]

Anyone remember the Apple Newton? Or the Palm Pilot? Maybe you were once addicted to a Blackberry – also known as the crackberry because people just couldn’t put them down. Well, it looks like Fitbit might be on its way to technology oblivion – just like all three of those once hot personal tech innovations. Does […]

Here’s a fascinating new way to look at health disparities. How much disparity does a place have in walking? Does everyone take many steps per day? Or do some take a lot while others take very few? A new study in Nature finds that disparities in opportunities to walk predict higher obesity rates.  Big Data […]

More than 20 years ago, discovery of the ob (obesity) gene and the protein that it encodes – leptin – was a breakthrough for obesity science. Mice that lack the gene develop extreme obesity. And giving them the protein reverses it. Some people misleadingly dubbed it a satiety hormone. In Cell Metabolism, a new commentary by Jeffrey […]