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Mar 22

6 Lessons From Oprah’s TV Special on Weight Loss Drugs – Everyday Health

Oprah Winfrey has once again taken to the airwaves to talk about her experiences with weight loss, this time focusing on how medications like Wegovy and Zepbound can transform the lives of people with obesity.

During the hourlong ABC broadcast, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution, the media mogul stressed how stigma shaped her struggles with weight and how medications changed not just her body size, but also her understanding of what causes obesity and what to do about it. She didn't say which medication she takes, but the special did highlight newer injected weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound.

In my entire life, I never dreamed that we would be talking about medicines that are providing hope for people like me who have struggled for years with being overweight or with obesity, Winfrey said during the special, which is now available on Hulu.

RELATED: Everyday Health's Survey and Special Report: Weight Loss Reframed

So I come to this conversation in the hope that we can start releasing the stigma and the shame and the judgment to stop shaming other people for being overweight or how they chose to lose and not lose weight, Winfrey said. And more importantly, to stop shaming ourselves.

Here are some key takeaways from the special, including tips from Oprah and several medical experts who joined her for the conversation about weight loss.

One message came through loud and clear: Shame doesnt solve anything.

During the special, Winfrey recalled how she used to think about herself and her body, and how weight loss medications helped her move away from those negative thoughts.

There is now a sense of hope, number one, and number two, you no longer blame yourself," she said of her experience with weight loss drugs. When I tell you how many times I have blamed myself because you think, I'm smart enough to figure this out, and then to hear all along, it's you fighting your brain.

In the past, Oprah said she thought about dieting and weight loss as an exercise in willpower.

She recalled that what was cast as a triumph over obesity earlier in her career the day in the late 1980s when she wheeled out a wagon of fat on her talk show to represent her wildly successful weight loss efforts happened because she starved herself for five months.

After losing 67 pounds on a liquid diet, the next day, the very next day, I started to gain it back, Winfrey said.

Theres a name some people have for obsessive thoughts about what to eat: food noise. In a nutshell, food noise involves intrusive thoughts about eating that can contribute to disordered eating.

Oprah said that, looking back on her previous struggles with her weight, its possible food noise played a role. Medications helped quiet that noise, she said.

For the people who think that this could be the relief and support and freedom that youve been looking for your whole life, bless you, because theres space for all points of view, she says of people who think medicines might help silence their own internal monologues about food.

During the special, Winfrey, who left the board of WW (Weight Watchers) last month after a decade promoting the brand, said she invited Sima Sistani, the chief executive of WW International, to join her onstage to tackle a really tough topic: why some people succeed with weight loss and others dont. Sistani described why WW now embraces weight loss medicines along with its long-standing support for lifestyle changes.

We are the most clinically tested, evidence-based, science-backed behavior change program, but we were missing the third prong, which was biology, Sistani said. There could be somebody who needs medication because they have that biological underpinning, and what was so important is for us to provide that care and also to help people release the shame.

Echoing Oprahs message throughout the special, Sistani also acknowledged that dieting isnt necessarily enough on its own for people to manage their weight.

For all those people who came side-by-side and took on the behavior change, some of them walked away without the success, Sistani said. And to those people I want to say, its not your fault.

Two physicians also joined Oprah for the special, W. Scott Butsch, MD, the director of obesity medicine at the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and Amanda Velazquez, MD, the director of obesity medicine at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. They both have financial ties to companies that make weight loss drugs, and they talked about how these medicines can address the biological underpinnings of obesity.

Theres a spectrum of obesity; its not one disease, its many different subtypes of a disease, Dr. Butsch says. Without recognizing this, its easier to believe the false idea that people with obesity made poor choices that failed to control their weight with good eating and exercise habits.

This is just a reflection of someones uneducated belief that this is a self-inflicted condition, as if people who have obesity want to have obesity, Butsch added. That these are weaker people who have no willpower and who cant cut it and people who are thin have willpower and can cut it.

After years of thinking that gaining and losing weight was a matter of willpower, Oprah now has a new perspective. And with that knowledge, she said shes found a new way to combat the shame and stigma that can come from having obesity or taking weight loss medicines to treat this condition.

All these years, I thought all the people who never had to diet were just using their willpower and they were for some reason stronger than me, Winfrey said.

But now I realize y'all weren't even thinking about the food, Oprah said. It's not that you had the willpower. You weren't even thinking about it. You weren't obsessing about it.

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6 Lessons From Oprah's TV Special on Weight Loss Drugs - Everyday Health


Mar 22

How to Watch Oprah Winfrey’s ‘Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution’ Special: Air Times, What to Know and … – Yahoo Life

Oprah Winfrey will return to the small screen on Monday to debut an hour-long television program entitled An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution. The new special follows Winfreys exit from the board of WeightWatchers, where she served for nearly a decade after acquiring a 10% stake in the company.

I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity, Winfrey said in a statement.

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In December, Winfrey spoke to People about her use of weight-loss drugs, though she didnt specify which ones she used.

The fact that theres a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for, she told the magazine.

Ahead, learn more about Winfreys upcoming special.

Taped in front of a live studio audience, Winfrey will sit down with medical experts to discuss a variety of weight loss medications including Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy.

Winfrey will be joined by Cleveland Clinics Dr. W. Scott Butsch, ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News medical correspondent Dr. Darien Sutton and Cedars-Sinai Medical Centers Dr. Amanda Velazquez. Winfrey will also speak to patients from around the country about their experience using weight loss drugs.

Questions addressed in the special include: Who are the medications really intended for? Who is eligible to receive weight loss drugs? What are the short-term and long-term side effects?

We are thrilled to work with Oprah and the voices she has assembled to open a dialogue that destigmatizes and educates viewers on the important and polarizing topic of weight loss, said Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group, in a statement. I can think of no one better to lead this meaningful conversation about such a critical issue that touches all of our lives.

It is a very personal topic for me and for the hundreds of millions of people impacted around the globe who have for years struggled with weight and obesity, said Oprah in a statement. This special will bring together medical experts, leaders in the space and people in the day-to-day struggle to talk about health equity and obesity with the intention to ultimately release the shame, judgment and stigma surrounding weight.

An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution airs Monday, March 18 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution will be available to stream on Hulu starting March 19.

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How to Watch Oprah Winfrey's 'Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution' Special: Air Times, What to Know and ... - Yahoo Life


Mar 22

Intermittent fasting may raise risk of heart disease death, study shows – The Washington Post

Intermittent fasting when people only eat at certain times of day has exploded in popularity in recent years. But now a surprising new study suggests that there might be reason to be cautious: It found that some intermittent fasters were more likely to die of heart disease.

The findings were presented Monday at an American Heart Association meeting in Chicago and focused on a popular version of intermittent fasting that involves eating all your meals in just eight hours or less resulting in at least a 16-hour daily fast, commonly known as time-restricted eating.

The study analyzed data on the dietary habits of 20,000 adults across the United States who were followed from 2003 to 2018. They found that people who adhered to the eight-hour eating plan had a 91 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease compared to people who followed a more traditional dietary pattern of eating their food across 12 to 16 hours each day.

The scientists found that this increased risk also applied to people who were already living with a chronic disease or cancer. People with existing cardiovascular disease who followed a time-restricted eating pattern had a 66 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease or a stroke. Those who had cancer meanwhile were more likely to die of the disease if they followed a time-restricted diet compared to people with cancer who followed an eating duration of at least 16 hours a day.

The study results suggest that people who practice intermittent fasting for long periods of time, particularly those with existing heart conditions or cancer, should be extremely cautious, said Victor Wenze Zhong, the lead author and the chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China.

Based on the evidence as of now, focusing on what people eat appears to be more important than focusing on the time when they eat, he added.

Zhong said that he and his colleagues conducted the new study because they wanted to see how eating in a narrow window each day would impact hard endpoints such as heart disease and mortality. He said that they were surprised by their findings.

We had expected that long-term adoption of eight-hour time restricted eating would be associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular death and even all-cause death, he said.

The data didnt explain why time-restricted eating increased a persons health risks. But the researchers did find that people who followed a 16:8 time-restricted eating pattern, where they eat during an eight-hour window and fast for 16, had less lean muscle mass compared to people who ate throughout longer periods of the day. That lines up with a previous clinical trial published in JAMA Internal Medicine, which found that people assigned to follow a time-restricted diet for three months lost more muscle than a control group that was not assigned to do intermittent fasting.

Holding onto muscle as you age is important. It protects you against falls and disability and can boost your metabolic health. Studies have found that having low muscle mass is linked to higher mortality rates, including a higher risk of dying from heart disease, said Zhong.

He stressed that the findings were not definitive. The study uncovered a correlation between time-restricted eating and increased mortality, but it could not show cause and effect. Its possible for example that people who restricted their food intake to an eight-hour daily window had other habits or risk factors that might explain their increased likelihood of dying from heart disease. The scientists also noted that the study relied on self-reported dietary information. Its also possible that the participants did not always accurately report their eating durations.

Intermittent fasting has been widely touted by celebrities and health experts who say it produces weight loss and a variety of health benefits. Another form of intermittent fasting involves alternating fasting days with days of eating normally. Some people follow the 5:2 diet, in which they eat normally for five days a week and then fast for two days.

But time-restricted eating is generally considered the easiest form of intermittent fasting for people to follow because it doesnt require full-day fasts. It also typically doesnt involve excessive food restriction. Adherents often eat or drink whatever they want during the eight-hour eating period the only rule is that they dont eat at other times of day.

Some of the earliest studies on time-restricted eating found that it helped prevent mice from developing obesity and metabolic syndrome. These were followed by mostly small clinical trials in humans, some of which showed that time-restricted eating helped people lose weight and improve their blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels. These studies were largely short-term, typically lasting one to three months, and in some cases showed no benefit.

One of the most rigorous studies of time-restricted eating was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2022. It found that people with obesity who were assigned to follow a low-calorie diet and instructed to eat only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily lost no more weight than people who ate the same number of calories throughout the day with no restrictions on when they could eat. The two diets had similar effects on blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and other metabolic markers.

The findings suggest that any benefits of time-restricted eating likely result from eating fewer calories.

Christopher Gardner, the director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said he encouraged people to approach the new study with healthy skepticism. He said that while the findings were interesting, he wants to see all the data, including potential demographic differences in the study subjects.

Did they all have the same level of disposable income and the same level of stress, he said. Or is it that the people who ate less than eight hours a day worked three jobs, had very high stress, and didnt have time to eat?

Gardner said that studying intermittent fasting can be challenging because there are so many variations of it, and determining its impact on longevity requires closely following people for long periods of time.

But he said that so far, the evidence supporting intermittent fasting for weight loss and other outcomes is mixed at best, with some studies showing short-term benefits and others showing no benefit at all. I dont think the data are very strong for intermittent fasting, he added. One of the challenges in nutrition is that just because something works really well for a few people doesnt mean its going to work for everyone.

He said that his biggest complaint with intermittent fasting is that it doesnt address diet quality. It doesnt say anything about choosing poorly when youre eating, he said. What if I have an eight-hour eating window but Im eating Pop Tarts and Cheetos and drinking Coke in that window? Im not a fan of that long term. I think thats potentially problematic.

Do you have a question about healthy eating? Email EatingLab@washpost.com and we may answer your question in a future column.

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Intermittent fasting may raise risk of heart disease death, study shows - The Washington Post


Mar 22

Shocking dangers of intermittent fasting diet revealed in new study – Yahoo Singapore News

Certain fasting diets can nearly double your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a shock new study has claimed.

The 16:8 diet where you eat all your food in an eight hour window and fast for the remaining 16 hours has been used by actress Jennifer Aniston, model Heidi Klum, and singer/actress Jennifer Lopez.

But researchers who studied 20,000 US adults on intermittent fasting, the majority of whom used the 16:8 plan, found it was not a good long-term option.

This style of eating is popular among those trying to lose weight, and studies have previously suggested it can improve blood pressure, blood glucose, and cholesterol levels.

But there is not much information on the long-term effects, which the research team wanted to investigate.

Results of their study, published in the American Heart Association Journal, found that those who limited their eating to eight hours a day were 91 per cent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than those who ate across 12 or 16 hours.

Among people already living with a cardiovascular disease, eating for more than eight but less than 10 hours a day was associated with a 66 per cent higher risk of death from heart disease or stroke.

Meanwhile, people with cancer who ate for more than 16 hours a day were less likely to die from the disease.

Time-restricted eating did not reduce the risk of death from any cause.

Senior author Dr Victor Wenze Zhong, a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, said: Restricting daily eating time to a short period, such as eight hours per day, has gained popularity in recent years as a way to lose weight and improve heart health.

However, the long-term health effects of time-restricted eating, including risk of death from cardiovascular disease or any other cause, are unknown.

We were surprised to find in our study that people who followed an eight-hour, time-restricted eating schedule were more likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

Even though this type of diet has been popular due to its potential short-term benefits, our research clearly shows that, compared with a typical eating time range of 12 to 16 hours per day, it may have long-term drawbacks.

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A shorter eating duration was not associated with living longer.

Professor Zhong said the study should be of particular interest to those with existing heart conditions who are already predisposed to cardiovascular death.

Our findings encourage a more cautious, personalised approach to dietary recommendations, ensuring they are aligned with an individuals health status and the latest scientific evidence, he explained.

The team also made sure to draw attention to the limitations of their study.

Prof Zhong highlighted that the study does not mean time-restricted eating causes cardiovascular death, while Dr Christoper Gardner, a professor at Stanford University in the US, pointed out that researchers relied on self-reported dietary information.

This may be affected by participants memory or recall, and therefore may not accurately assess typical eating patterns, he said.

Professor Gardner also suggested that future studies should consider how healthy the participants diets were.

Without this information, it cannot be determined if nutrient density might be an alternate explanation to the findings that currently focus on the window of time for eating, he said.

It will also be critical to see a comparison of demographics and baseline characteristics across the groups that were classified into the different time-restricted eating windows.

For example, was the group with the shortest time-restricted eating window unique compared to people who followed other eating schedules, in terms of weight, stress, traditional cardiometabolic risk factors, or other factors associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes?

This additional information will help to better understand the potential independent contribution of the short time-restricted eating pattern.

The study analysed 20,000 US adults, with an average age of 49, over a median time period of eight years.

Approximately half of the participants were men and half were women.

Around 73 per cent of participants were non-Hispanic white adults, while 11 per cent were Hispanic, eight per cent were non-Hispanic black adults, and just under seven per cent were from another racial category.

People who practice a type of intermittent fasting popular with celebrities nearly double their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, a new study claims.

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Shocking dangers of intermittent fasting diet revealed in new study - Yahoo Singapore News


Mar 13

Experimental weight loss pill seems to be more potent than Ozempic – New Scientist

An oral weight loss drug could help people with obesity who dislike needles

Kseniya Ovchinnikova/Getty Images

An experimental pill looks set to cause more weight loss than existing injectable treatments such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, based on early trial results reported on 7 March.

The medicine, called amycretin, caused people to lose 13 per cent of their weight over three months, more than twice the amount seen with Ozempic and Wegovy specifically. This approach seems to be a little bit more exciting, from the limited data that we have, says Daniel Drucker at the University of Toronto in Canada.

The results are from a placebo-controlled trial lasting three months, so it is too soon to know how amycretin stacks up against the other medicines for long-term effectiveness and safety, says Drucker, who wasnt involved in the trial but has consulted for the manufacturer Novo Nordisk, as well as other pharmaceutical firms.

The diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight loss drug Wegovy are two brand names for the compound semaglutide. They work by mimicking a gut hormone called GLP-1 that is normally released after eating. This makes people feel full, reduces their appetite and boosts the release of the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin.

Semaglutide leads to the loss of about 15 per cent of body weight after it has been taken for one year, although weight then plateaus and people need to continue the injections long term or it tends to creep back up.

Another weight loss injection was launched last year, called Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide or Zepbound. This mimics GLP-1 and an additional gut hormone called GIP. Mounjaro seems to lead to people losing about 21 per cent of their weight over the first year and five months of use, before their weight loss plateaus.

Amycretin, however, mimics GLP-1 and a different hormone called amylin, which seems to make it more potent still at least over the first three months of treatment. People taking amycretin lost 13 per cent of their weight in this period, Novo Nordisk announced today, according to a report by Reuters. Those taking placebo pills lost 1 per cent.This is more than the equivalent figures for Wegovy and Ozempic, of 6 per cent, and for Mounjaro, of about 7.5 per cent.

However, we can only know for sure how the drugs measure up long term when they are compared under exactly the same circumstances in a single study, says Drucker. These are not head-to-head trials.

Another caveat is that medicines that work by mimicking GLP-1 have been used for more than a decade to treat type 2 diabetes and so their safety profile is well understood, which isnt the case for an amylin mimic.

Novo Nordisk has also said that amycretins side effects were similar to those of Wegovy, which tend to be nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, especially for people who increase the dose too quickly.

Being available in tablet form would be a great advantage for people who dont like injections, says Daniel Chancellor at global pharmaceutical business analysts Citeline. An oral pill is very attractive.

As well as these three medicines, other weight loss drugs that mimic other gut hormones are also in development.

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Experimental weight loss pill seems to be more potent than Ozempic - New Scientist


Mar 13

Running may not help lose weight but it’s very good for you long-term – ZME Science

After the January rush of motivation, most people simply give up on their new-year-new-me fitness goals. But those that persist and stick with it are likely to see some noticeable results.

Take running, for instance. When someone whos unfit or overweight starts running and keeps up with it for a little time, they may see some quick results. But after a few months, most people start to hit a plateau both in performance, and in physical improvement. In fact, a new study suggests that running doesnt help you lose a lot of weight long term. However, it does keep you healthy and prevents you from gaining fat long-term.

Our data clearly shows that lifelong running exercise, be it long-distance or repeated short-distance sprinting, maintains lower fat mass levels than a typical physically active lifestyle and also more than participating in competitive strength sports. says Dr. Simon Walker, a Docent in Exercise Physiology from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences.

The researcher added that this is excellent motivation for himself as a runner.

Absolutely this result motivates me to continue running. Id certainly be happy with a fat percentage of 1618% when Im in my 70s and 80s, continues Dr. Walker.

The study involved 109 participants aged 20-39, 147 participants competitive male athletes aged 70-89, as well as 147 healthy age-matched controls. The athletes were separated by their focus (on strength, sprint, and long-distance running). Researchers assessed the body composition of all participants (fat mass, muscle mass, etc).

The study made several important findings. For starters, individuals participating in lifelong resistance training maintained their muscle mass much better than those participating sprinting. In addition, the older strength trainers had a similar amount of muscle mass as their young counterparts. Also, people who engaged in lifelong running had less fat than other participants.

So, if you want to get the best of both worlds, you need to get involved in both worlds. Essentially, in order to maintain a higher muscle mass and a lower fat mass, the best approach is doing both strength and resistance training.

In terms of enhancing body composition through both heightened muscle mass and maintenance of a non-health affecting fat mass, it seems that a combined approach is recommendable.

We know that both tissues, fat and muscle, influence overall health and function opposingly. Therefore, the best strategy would be to optimize both.

However, there are limits to what exercise alone can achieve. All older athlete groups showed higher average fat mass than the young groups, suggesting that you need more than just exercise to keep fat under control.

Nevertheless, this research shows just how much physical activity matters in remaining healthy as one ages.

The key is perhaps to prevent a rise in fat mass or loss in muscle mass in the first place and maintain exercise throughout the lifespan. Thus, lifelong engagement in regular exercise does help to maintain a healthy body composition. That is no myth.

There are some limitations to the study. For starters, its a pretty small sample size. All the study participants were also all males, although Walker says he expects the findings to carry over to everyone just as well.

While we studied males only, I see no reason why our results would not be applicable for females too, especially considering the effects of menopause and other age-related effects.

Plenty of different studies have highlighted the beneficial effect of endurance and strength training. Different types of exercise help in different ways, but the overarching theme is clear: a balanced approach to physical activity is crucial for long-term health and fitness. Incorporating a mix of endurance and strength training can help individuals achieve a healthier body composition, improve cardiovascular health, and maintain mobility as they age.

The study was published in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.

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Running may not help lose weight but it's very good for you long-term - ZME Science


Mar 13

Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy are meant for long-term use. Some patients want to stop – Herald Palladium

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Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy are meant for long-term use. Some patients want to stop - Herald Palladium


Feb 29

Exercise helps keep pounds off after taking a weight-loss drug, study shows – The Washington Post

The new weight-loss drugs that suppress appetite and reduce food cravings can be quite effective at helping people drop pounds, with many losing at least 10 or 20 percent of their body weight while they take the medications.

But in the real world and despite the drugs effectiveness, as many as half of users quit the drugs within a year, studies show, because of their expense, side effects or for other reasons.

Afterward, the pounds almost invariably creep back, and, almost as worrying, the weight people regain tends to be almost exclusively fat, with little muscle. The result is that they are often metabolically less healthy than before theyd begun the drugs.

But an important, new, long-term study of people who used and then quit one of the weight-loss drugs suggests there may be a simple, accessible way to stave off unhealthy weight regain after stopping the drugs: exercise.

In the study, people who exercised while using a weight-loss drug kept off far more of their weight after quitting the medication than people who didnt work out, and they maintained more muscle.

Signe Srensen Torekov, a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and senior author of the new study, said the results strongly indicate that people using the drugs may be able to preserve a healthy weight, even after they quit the medication. But they do need to do exercise.

Most obesity experts agree that the holy grail of healthy, long-term weight loss is maintenance. Shedding pounds is possible for many people, in the short term. Keeping it off can seem almost impossible.

The new class of GLP-1 diabetes or weight-loss drugs, with brand names such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro, seem to be intensifying that dynamic. GLP-1 is short for glucagon-like peptide 1 agonist; these drugs mimic the effects of the substance GLP-1.

Most people lose substantial weight rapidly on these drugs. But if they stop, the pounds typically return almost as quickly.

But is this rebound inevitable?

Torekov and her colleagues devised a multiyear, multipronged effort to find out.

It began with 195 Danish adults with obesity but no other major illnesses. They were put on an extremely low-calorie diet, under the supervision of the scientists, to rapidly lose about 30 pounds. Since this was to be a weight-maintenance study, the scientists wanted them to drop pounds fast, and then move to the maintenance phase.

For that phase, the researchers assigned some of the volunteers to start taking Saxenda, known generically as liraglutide, an early GLP-1 medication, to see if the drug would help them maintain and even augment their dieting weight loss. Saxenda is made by Novo Nordisk, the company that also makes two similar drugs the diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight-loss drug Wegovy.

(The study was funded in part by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, a charitable organization affiliated with Saxendas maker. The pharmaceutical company itself had no oversight of the study or its results, a company spokesperson said.)

A separate group of volunteers started the same drug, but also a supervised exercise program, with twice-weekly, half-hour group spinning classes and 15 minutes of high-intensity, full-body resistance training, along with two at-home jogs or similar workouts. The exercise was mostly vigorous, meaning strenuous enough that people could barely talk while they were working out.

A control group didnt exercise and received a placebo, instead of liraglutide. (Although the prescribing information for Saxenda says it should be used in conjunction with a low-calorie diet and increased physical activity, that recommendation is often ignored.)

After a year, almost everyone who took the drug had maintained the lower weight or lost more weight.

Those combining the drug and exercise had lost the most, though. Theyd dropped about six pounds more than those on the drug alone, and more of those pounds consisted of fat, instead of muscle.

The researchers published those results in 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Then they began the most revelatory aspect of their study. They ended the medications and exercise sessions for everyone, leaving people to maintain or regain their weight-loss completely on their own.

After a year passed, the researchers invited all the volunteers back to the lab. One hundred and nine returned and researchers checked their body weight, body composition and current exercise habits.

For some, the year had been discouraging. Those whod earlier taken the weight-loss drug without exercise regained about 70 percent or more of all the weight theyd lost since the start of the study. Most of these regained pounds were in the form of fat, not muscle, so they wound up with relatively higher percentages of body fat than before starting the drug.

Theyd gained weight in an unhealthy manner, Torekov said.

But those whod exercised while taking the drug had maintained considerably more of their weight-loss during this phase. Many remained at least 10 percent lighter than at the studys start, and at least some of the weight theyd regained was muscle, leaving them with a healthier body composition than the other groups.

Its easy to understand why the exercisers added fewer pounds after stopping the drug, Torekov said. They were still exercising, even without supervision or nudging from the scientists. According to questionnaires and activity trackers, they generally continued to work out for several hours a week, voluntarily.

These findings suggest about two hours a week of vigorous exercise, may be a good goal for staving off weight regain after ceasing a weight-loss drug, she continued. Mixing aerobic and resistance exercise is probably best.

Meanwhile, those whod taken the drug without exercise were almost completely sedentary now, averaging fewer than 30 minutes of exercise a week.

More of the ones who had not exercised while medicated had complained of fatigue during treatment and afterward, Torekov said, which may have contributed to their inactivity now.

Overall, the results make a strong case for the importance of adding exercise to a regimen that includes a GLP-1 medication, said Daniel Drucker, a diabetes expert and senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto, whose research helped pave the way for the GLP-1 drugs. He wasnt involved with the new study.

The results are very encouraging, agreed Robert Kushner, an endocrinologist and professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who specializes in weight loss. But further studies will need to be performed to see if a less intense exercise routine has similar effects on weight maintenance when people stop a GLP-1 drug.

The study has other limitations. It used liraglutide, which is not as potent as more-recent obesity drugs. But I would expect the results to be directionally similar with the newer GLP-1 drugs, Drucker said.

It also involved relatively healthy Danes, who may not be typical of other people hoping to lose weight. And the studys exercise routine wasnt merely vigorous, which can be challenging. It was also free and closely supervised during the first year, a luxury unavailable to many of us.

Still, for now, the study tells us that to stave off weight regain and hold onto muscle during and after treatment with an obesity drug, its really important you have an exercise program, Torekov said.

Do you have a fitness question? Email YourMove@washpost.com and we may answer your question in a future column.

Originally posted here:
Exercise helps keep pounds off after taking a weight-loss drug, study shows - The Washington Post


Feb 29

Weight loss surgery has long-term benefits for people with diabetes, study finds – WVTM13 Birmingham

Bariatric surgery, also called weight loss surgery, leads to better blood sugar control and less medication use long-term in people with type 2 diabetes than non-surgical management with medications such as insulin and metformin, a new study found.Related video above: Am I a candidate for weight loss surgery?The study, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA, compared the blood sugar levels and medication regimens of 262 people who were randomly assigned to undergo weight loss surgery or non-surgical medical management, such as medication and lifestyle changes, for type 2 diabetes after seven to 12 years.Participants who had weight loss surgery had significantly lower blood sugar levels and were on fewer diabetes medications than those who did not undergo surgery, the researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh and other institutions, wrote. They were also more likely to achieve diabetes remission, which is defined as having non-diabetic blood sugar levels for at least three months without medication.This research "provides the most robust evidence to date of the long-term efficacy of bariatric surgery for improving control of type 2 diabetes," Dr. Thomas A. Wadden, a professor of psychology and former director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an editorial that was published along with the research.Weight loss surgery is a procedure in which the digestive tract is altered typically, the size of the stomach is reduced to help a person lose weight, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.The resulting reduction in food intake and neurohormonal changes also lower blood sugar and thereby treat type 2 diabetes, Dr. Marilyn Tan, chief of the Endocrinology Clinic at Stanford Health Care, who was not involved with the research, wrote in an email to CNN."Though it's a more invasive option than traditional diabetes medications and is a large commitment, it's also an investment in long-term health," Tan said.Most health-care providers don't currently recommend weight loss surgery for type 2 diabetes unless a person has a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher, and less than 1% of those people end up pursuing surgical treatment, according to the study.However, Wadden said in an email to CNN that the new findings support the expanded use of bariatric surgery for those with a BMI less than 35 who have trouble controlling their blood sugar with medical management alone."I hope these results will encourage more insurers and payers to cover bariatric surgery for patients with type 2 diabetes and a BMI of 30 to 34.9," he said. "It is a highly effective, long-term therapy for these individuals."Non-surgical medical management for type 2 diabetes involves lifestyle changes like reducing carbohydrate intake and increasing exercise, and using medications like metformin and occasionally insulin, Tan said. The goal is to lower hemoglobin A1c, the measure of average blood sugar levels over three months, below 7%."I've had multiple patients where despite hundreds of units of insulin a day, and despite their best efforts, they are unable to get their A1cs below 10%," Tan said. "Then, after bariatric surgery, they can maintain A1c levels below the diabetes range without any medications. They also note that with the weight loss, they can be more active."Further research is needed to compare the clinical outcomes and cost efficacy of weight loss surgery and the new generation of anti-diabetes medications, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, the editorial says.The weight loss people have after surgery is key to improving diabetes outcomes as well as heart health, Tan said. Weight loss improves the body's response to insulin, reduces inflammation and helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol. It can also improve arthritis so people can exercise more, she added.The findings from this study also support the heart health benefits of weight loss surgery. People in the surgery group had significantly higher HDL or "good" cholesterol and lower triglycerides, a type of fat that can raise the risk of heart disease and stroke.Despite the benefits, people are often hesitant to have weight loss surgery because it is invasive and comes with some risks, Tan said.The study found that anemia (a lack of healthy red blood cells), bone fractures and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting were more common in people who had weight loss surgery.These known complications result from nutritional deficiencies that can happen when the digestive tract is surgically altered. People who have surgery must change their diet and take vitamins regularly to avoid these problems, Tan said.People who have the surgery can also gain back any weight lost, Tan added."Despite having the surgery, weight regain is possible if patients revert back to prior eating habits and quantities," she said.The study found that 51% of surgically treated participants achieved full remission of type 2 diabetes one year later, but only 18% maintained remission at seven years. This reduction in remission after surgery, which has been observed in previous research, is probably due to a combination of weight regain and the loss of insulin-producing cells over time, according to the editorial.Even short-term diabetes remission has benefits in terms of reducing diabetes-related complications, such as eye, kidney and peripheral blood vessel disease, the editorial says.Although bariatric surgery has a higher upfront cost than medical management about $33,000 before insurance coverage it is considered to be more cost-effective about five years after surgery, according to the editorial.

Bariatric surgery, also called weight loss surgery, leads to better blood sugar control and less medication use long-term in people with type 2 diabetes than non-surgical management with medications such as insulin and metformin, a new study found.

Related video above: Am I a candidate for weight loss surgery?

The study, published Tuesday in the journal JAMA, compared the blood sugar levels and medication regimens of 262 people who were randomly assigned to undergo weight loss surgery or non-surgical medical management, such as medication and lifestyle changes, for type 2 diabetes after seven to 12 years.

Participants who had weight loss surgery had significantly lower blood sugar levels and were on fewer diabetes medications than those who did not undergo surgery, the researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh and other institutions, wrote. They were also more likely to achieve diabetes remission, which is defined as having non-diabetic blood sugar levels for at least three months without medication.

This research "provides the most robust evidence to date of the long-term efficacy of bariatric surgery for improving control of type 2 diabetes," Dr. Thomas A. Wadden, a professor of psychology and former director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in an editorial that was published along with the research.

Weight loss surgery is a procedure in which the digestive tract is altered typically, the size of the stomach is reduced to help a person lose weight, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

The resulting reduction in food intake and neurohormonal changes also lower blood sugar and thereby treat type 2 diabetes, Dr. Marilyn Tan, chief of the Endocrinology Clinic at Stanford Health Care, who was not involved with the research, wrote in an email to CNN.

"Though it's a more invasive option than traditional diabetes medications and is a large commitment, it's also an investment in long-term health," Tan said.

Most health-care providers don't currently recommend weight loss surgery for type 2 diabetes unless a person has a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher, and less than 1% of those people end up pursuing surgical treatment, according to the study.

However, Wadden said in an email to CNN that the new findings support the expanded use of bariatric surgery for those with a BMI less than 35 who have trouble controlling their blood sugar with medical management alone.

"I hope these results will encourage more insurers and payers to cover bariatric surgery for patients with type 2 diabetes and a BMI of 30 to 34.9," he said. "It is a highly effective, long-term therapy for these individuals."

Non-surgical medical management for type 2 diabetes involves lifestyle changes like reducing carbohydrate intake and increasing exercise, and using medications like metformin and occasionally insulin, Tan said. The goal is to lower hemoglobin A1c, the measure of average blood sugar levels over three months, below 7%.

"I've had multiple patients where despite hundreds of units of insulin a day, and despite their best efforts, they are unable to get their A1cs below 10%," Tan said. "Then, after bariatric surgery, they can maintain A1c levels below the diabetes range without any medications. They also note that with the weight loss, they can be more active."

Further research is needed to compare the clinical outcomes and cost efficacy of weight loss surgery and the new generation of anti-diabetes medications, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, the editorial says.

The weight loss people have after surgery is key to improving diabetes outcomes as well as heart health, Tan said. Weight loss improves the body's response to insulin, reduces inflammation and helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol. It can also improve arthritis so people can exercise more, she added.

The findings from this study also support the heart health benefits of weight loss surgery. People in the surgery group had significantly higher HDL or "good" cholesterol and lower triglycerides, a type of fat that can raise the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Despite the benefits, people are often hesitant to have weight loss surgery because it is invasive and comes with some risks, Tan said.

The study found that anemia (a lack of healthy red blood cells), bone fractures and gastrointestinal complications such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting were more common in people who had weight loss surgery.

These known complications result from nutritional deficiencies that can happen when the digestive tract is surgically altered. People who have surgery must change their diet and take vitamins regularly to avoid these problems, Tan said.

People who have the surgery can also gain back any weight lost, Tan added.

"Despite having the surgery, weight regain is possible if patients revert back to prior eating habits and quantities," she said.

The study found that 51% of surgically treated participants achieved full remission of type 2 diabetes one year later, but only 18% maintained remission at seven years. This reduction in remission after surgery, which has been observed in previous research, is probably due to a combination of weight regain and the loss of insulin-producing cells over time, according to the editorial.

Even short-term diabetes remission has benefits in terms of reducing diabetes-related complications, such as eye, kidney and peripheral blood vessel disease, the editorial says.

Although bariatric surgery has a higher upfront cost than medical management about $33,000 before insurance coverage it is considered to be more cost-effective about five years after surgery, according to the editorial.

Here is the original post:
Weight loss surgery has long-term benefits for people with diabetes, study finds - WVTM13 Birmingham


Feb 29

The Morning Banana Diet is the latest weight-loss craze, but what is it? – South China Morning Post

The diets appeal lies in its flexibility and simplicity. The official website says followers can start their day by eating as many bananas as they like for breakfast, and drinking room-temperature water.

The diet also allows one snack a day, preferably Japanese confectionery or chocolates.

There are no recommended strict meal plans; for lunch and dinner, followers can eat what they like apart from the restricted items.

Want to live longer? 10 diet secrets of people living longest and healthiest

However, it is advised not to eat anything after 8pm, and not to have alcoholic or caffeinated drinks. Water is the suggested beverage of choice.

Those following the diet should stop eating when they are 80 per cent full a principle in keeping with the ancient Japanese concept of hara hachi bun me.

Residents of Okinawa one of the worlds five Blue Zones, where residents are known to live to 100 years or beyond practise this.

Indian sages living in the Himalayas were known to live a long, disease-free life in cold climes by following this discipline.

Nutritionists say the heart of the morning banana diet is healthy eating habits such as portion control, and eating nutritious foods while avoiding unhealthy ones.

Can a juice cleanse really reset your body? Experts weigh in

The diet is premised purely on common sense and a traditional Japanese lifestyle, which is considered healthy, says Delhi-based nutritionist Ruchika Sodhi.

Like any other diet, its success depends on an individuals overall lifestyle, metabolism and physical activity levels.

While it might be a good kick-start to a weight-loss journey, long-term success necessitates a more inclusive approach, like the inclusion of regular exercise and a balanced and diverse diet for optimal benefits, Sodhi adds.

As bananas are rich in fibre and nutrients, they offer a healthy morning boost of energy while contributing to a sustained feeling of fullness potentially curbing excessive food consumption, she says.

Bananas are a good source of potassium and soluble and insoluble fibre, which regulates body fat, fights toxins and energises the body. The fruit is also very low in cholesterol, sodium and saturated fats, she adds.

The fruits fibre, she explains, bulks up in the stomach, triggering a longer feeling of satiety. Bananas also have resistant starch, which begins to ferment in the digestive tract, she says, and accelerates fat burning.

Freeze your nuts, eat green bananas: 10 ways to max out nutrients in food

Sodhi recommends consulting a healthcare professional before making significant changes to ones diet and eating bananas daily.

Follow the diet only after this, to ensure that your weight-loss journey is safe, sustainable, and customised to your individual needs and health requirements.

Since bananas are also loaded with sugar, diabetics should avoid the diet, Sodhi says. An average banana has about 120 calories, so overindulging may result in weight gain instead of loss.

New Delhi-based homemaker Sushma Gupta, 33, who lost 8.5 kilograms (18.7 pounds) in a year by following the banana diet after her second pregnancy, says that it worked wonders for her.

Adopting the diet not only helped her lose weight, she says, but also helped improve her overall lifestyle, which had lacked discipline.

Inspired by her weight-loss success, two of Guptas friends also started following the banana diet but could not maintain it.

They gave up after two weeks. The diet seems simple, but what it actually entails is a lifestyle modification, which some people find tough to adhere to, Gupta says.

Short, intense workouts can be as healthy as 30 minutes of daily exercise

However, those who persevere are richly rewarded.

Read the original post:
The Morning Banana Diet is the latest weight-loss craze, but what is it? - South China Morning Post



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