Top takeaways from ObesityWeek 2017

Endocrine Today has compiled a list of the top five news stories posted from ObesityWeek, held October 30 to November 2 in Washington, D.C.

Healio.com/Endocrinology readers were interested in time-restricted eating, bottle-feeding and its effect on infant weight, magnets playing a role in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and much more.

Time-restricted eating may yield moderate weight loss in obesity

WASHINGTON — Eating only during an 8-hour window for 3 months resulted in a 2.6% weight loss in adults with obesity; however, no effects were found for metabolic disease risk, according to findings from a pilot study presented here.

“Time-restricted feeding is really about confining the period in which you eat into some type of window,” Krista A. Varady, PhD, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois in Chicago, said during her presentation. “What I’ve seen with human time-restricted feeding trials — I believe there are about five to date, and the longest one I think has been 4 months long — there is not much out there. But I believe there are a lot of studies on their way.” Read more.

Bottle-feeding regardless of milk type may affect infant weight outcomes

WASHINGTON — Infants who are exclusively bottle-fed may have an increased risk for rapid weight gain between birth and age 6 months and higher weight-for-length z scores, regardless of milk type, compared with infants who are breastfed, according to study findings presented here.

“The evidence that breast-feeding protects against infant overweight and childhood obesity risk is mixed,” Sally G. Eagleton, MS, a doctoral student in nutritional sciences at Pennsylvania State University, said during her presentation. “One of the reasons for these conflicting results may be due to differences in how previous studies have defined breast-feeding, and studies don’t always distinguish between what infants are being fed or how infants are being fed. More recent studies have started to distinguish between these two unique factors and have shown, irrespective of milk type, that infants experience greater weight gain during the first year when milk feeding comes from a bottle.” Read more.

Magnets may play role in treating type 2 diabetes

WASHINGTON — Researchers are piloting a procedure that employs endoscopically placed intragastric magnets to remodel the small intestine. The novel bypass surgery is aimed at increasing glucose response in people with type 2 diabetes, according to a speaker at ObesityWeek.

The magnets are used to create a side-to-side intestinal anastomosis for intestinal diversion, said Christopher C. Thompson, MD, MSC, director of therapeutic endoscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Read more.

Bariatric surgery effective for remission of new-onset type 2 diabetes

WASHINGTON — Patients with class I and II obesity who underwent bariatric surgery as first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes saw an 89% remission rate after 3 years of follow-up, according to research presented at ObesityWeek.

Surgical treatment for type 2 diabetes is typically attempted after lifestyle and medical therapy fail to control hyperglycemia in these patients, Ali Aminian, MD, associate professor of surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and colleagues wrote in background to their poster. Read more.

Early bariatric surgery benefits adolescents with severe obesity

WASHINGTON — Adolescents with severe obesity should be referred to a program that can provide surgical management before BMI reaches 50 kg/m², and treatment options should also include behavioral and nutritional counseling and medications, according to a speaker here.

“The rationale for treating obesity should be based on obesity as a debilitating disease that is caused by genetic and environmental factors,” Janey S.A. Pratt, MD, clinical associate professor of surgery at Stanford University and member of the adolescent bariatric surgery team at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, said during her presentation. “It’s associated with severe and sometimes unique comorbidities, and long-term sustainable weight loss is very unlikely to be accomplished with lifestyle changes and medication alone in severe obesity.” Read more.