Obesity

This year, Healio covered major developments in research on ultraprocessed foods, which continue to have a significant and polarizing presence in nutrition and health.

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.

More than 80% of adults who are prescribed an obesity medication discontinue taking them at 1 year, though persistence rates are higher for adults receiving semaglutide and liraglutide, according to study data.

Earlier this year, a national report card noted the primary care field is headed for a crisis due to underinvestment, poor accessibility and other factors.

Twenty minutes of vigorous physical activity per week was associated with a lower risk for cardiac arrest, according to a European study.

Women who underwent bariatric surgery gained less weight during pregnancy compared with matched controls, and weight gain was lower in those who conceived shortly after surgery, according to data in JAMA Network Open.

Young adults who consumed tree nuts as snacks had a lower risk for metabolic syndrome than those who did not, as well as improvements in waist circumference, visceral fat and blood insulin levels, a study found.

Lung transplant recipients with extreme low or high BMIs had heightened risks for death due to acute respiratory failure and chronic lung allograft dysfunction, according to results published in Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

An analysis of global conversations involving more than 1,600 health care professionals on social media in November has revealed collective optimism in response to the approval of a new weight-management option for adults with obesity.

The AMA has adopted a policy in support of insurance coverage parity for evidence-based weight-loss medications “without exclusions or additional carve-outs,” the organization recently announced.