I heard Derek Yach speak at Albert Einstein’s Global Diabetes Summit last September. He presented a case to curb obesity, hunger and diabetes that we don’t often hear: turn our agricultural policies around and work more closely with farmers. Mr. Yach — a physician and epidemiologist — is a noble fish trying to change the sea around him and around us. Formerly an Executive Director at the World Health Organization (WHO), Yach is Senior Vice President of Global Health and Agriculture Policy at PepsiCo. Yach’s...

Obesity is the main culprit in the worldwide avalanche of type 2 diabetes. But how excess weight drives insulin resistance, the condition that may lead to the disease, is only partly understood. Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center now have uncovered a new way in which obesity wreaks its havoc, by altering the production of proteins that affect how other proteins are spliced together. Their finding, published in Cell Metabolism, may point toward novel targets for diabetes drugs. Scientists in the lab of Mary-Elizabeth Patti, M.D.,...

Last month the Obesity Society held its 28th Annual Scientific Meeting, Obesity 2010, in San Diego. A number of prominent researchers, physicians, advocates, and business leaders in the rapidly growing field of obesity research came to discuss and present their recent work and insight into the nature of the global obesity epidemic. Why was ASweetLife there, and interested? Well, as most of you know, the obesity epidemic, with over a third of America labeled overweight and the rest of the world falling into step, is closely tied to...

According to a new study published online in Diabetologia, obese adolescents with type 2 diabetes may experience changes in their brains that affect how well they are learning in school. Cognitive and brain impairments, have been documented in adults with type 2 diabetes who also have multiple co-morbid disorders that could contribute to these observations. The new study focused on obese teenagers with type 2 diabetes and compared them with a control group of obese children who do not suffer from type 2 diabetes....

An advisory committee just warned the FDA against approving a new weight-loss pill that many were pinning their hopes on. Health advisors said safety concerns outweigh the drug’s ability to help obese patients shed pounds. Shares of Vivus, the company developing the weight-loss pill, sank 62%. While the drug appears to work, side effects of depression, memory loss, increased heart rate and birth defects were a top worry; and as evidenced by one of the clinical trial participants who lost 50 pounds on the drug, once off...

In the last decade, we’ve seen new sections created in grocery stores, natural product expos and magazines as they cover the latest and greatest in protein powders, shakes and bars. So what’s the scoop? Let’s start by looking at sources, then forms, and finally rationales to determine what’s good for us (and for the environment) versus what falls into my “just because we can (make it, eat it), doesn’t mean we should (make or eat it)” category. Quick Review: What Is a Protein? Proteins are...

Novo Nordisk today announced the decision to re-initiate the global phase 3 development program of liraglutide for the treatment of obesity. Following the US approval of Victoza for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, Novo Nordisk has been in dialogue with the FDA regarding the further progression of the development program investigating the potential of liraglutide within obesity. Based on the feedback from the FDA, Novo Nordisk now plans to re-initiate the global phase 3 program in the first half of 2011 in clinical trials comprising...

Diabetes UK reports that a group of over 100 diabetes experts from across Scotland and the UK has called for legislative action to ban all forms of advertising of unhealthy foods to children in order to reduce increasing obesity levels and risk of  type 2 diabetes. The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) convened a UK-wide meeting of diabetes experts in order to reach a consensus on how best to tackle this major threat to the nation’s health. After considering the evidence, and in addition to making a number...

Obesity, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes, now appears to be associated with another health problem, but one that affects men only – low testosterone levels. A new study conducted by University at Buffalo and published online ahead of print in the journal Diabetes Care, showed that 40 percent of obese participants involved in the Hypogonadism in Males (HIM) study, had lower-than-normal testosterone readings.  Results also showed that men with diabetes, whether obese or not, showed lower levels of testosterone...

Call me late to the game, this book came out last year, but I just read Dr. David Kessler’s The End of Overeating, Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. Wow! If you haven’t read it, you should. It’s never too late to tell someone about a good book. I can no longer look at food as anything but salt loaded on fat loaded on sugar. It is a refrain throughout this in-depth work that pulls the curtain open to reveal, among other things, how manipulated we are into over-eating by food manufacturers. The book...