Top in endocrinology: Updates in obesity treatment

Adults with obesity can achieve 15% or more weight loss with nutrient-stimulated, hormone-based therapies, but treating obesity involves more than just reducing a person’s body weight, an expert said.

“There’s no medication that we have that can help us eat more healthfully or exercise more,” Ania M. Jastreboff, MD, PhD, director of the Yale Obesity Research Center and co-director of the Yale Center for Weight Management, said during a presentation at the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes & Cardiovascular Disease. “We need to focus on treating obesity and improving health outcomes.”

It was the top story in endocrinology last week.

Another top story was about data that showed continued treatment with Zepbound (tirzepatide, Eli Lilly) was necessary to maintain weight loss for adults with obesity. Researchers reported that adults who received tirzepatide for 36 weeks and then stopped therapy regained some of the weight at 88 weeks, while those who continued tirzepatide for 88 weeks had continued weight loss.

“These medications mimic the effect of the hormones like GLP-1 and GIP, and when you remove the effect, weight goes back to where it started, like your blood pressure, cholesterol or blood sugar would if you stopped treatments for those, Louis J. Aronne, MD, FACP, DABOM, Sanford I. Weill Professor of Metabolic Research and professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, told Healio.

Read these and more top stories in endocrinology below:

Providers must go beyond weight reduction when treating obesity

Adults with obesity can lose 15% or more of their body weight with nutrient-stimulated hormone-based therapies, but reducing body weight is not the only goal providers should have when treating obesity, according to a speaker. Read more.

Adults with obesity maintain weight loss at 88 weeks with continued tirzepatide therapy

Continued treatment with the GIP/GLP-1 dual agonist tirzepatide is necessary to maintain weight loss for adults with obesity, according to findings from the SURMOUNT-4 trial published in JAMA. Read more.

‘What’s normal has changed’: Navigating menopausal hormone therapy as CVD risk grows

For women experiencing disruptive, bothersome hot flashes, the use of menopausal hormone therapy — a one-time standard but later feared treatment option — is far from straightforward. Read more.

Engaging in light physical activity reduces cholesterol, improves lipids for adolescents

Adolescents and young adults who partake in more light physical activity have lower cholesterol levels, according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Read more.

Disordered eating common for adolescents with type 1 diabetes using an insulin pump

Disordered eating behaviors were reported by 42.5% of adolescents with type 1 diabetes who currently use or previously used an insulin pump, according to findings published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics. Read more.