CardioExchange Archive

October 22nd, 2012

NIH Trial of Lifestyle Intervention for Type 2 Diabetes Stopped for Futility After 11 Years

Larry Husten, PHD

The NIH today announced the early termination of a large randomized trial testing a lifestyle intervention approach to weight loss in type 2 diabetics. More than 5,000 patients with type 2 diabetes were randomized to participate in an intensive lifestyle intervention program or a traditional program of diabetes support and education in Look AHEAD (Action for Health […]

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September 13th, 2012

A Manhattan Project to End the Obesity Epidemic

Larry Husten, PHD

A newly launched nonprofit organization, the Nutrition Science Initiative, will try to find an answer to the question,  “What should we eat to be healthy?” Called NuSI (pronounced “new see”) for short, the organization is nothing if not ambitious: its goal is to seek “the end of fad diets and high obesity rates.” NuSI’s founders are Gary Taubes and Peter Attia. Taubes is the […]

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July 18th, 2012

FDA Approves Another New Weight Loss Drug

Larry Husten, PHD

The US FDA approved on Tuesday a new weight loss drug that will be called Qsymia, the brand name for the combination of two previously approved drugs, phentermine and extended-release topiramate. The drug is manufactured by Vivus, Inc. In a press release, the FDA said Qsymia had been approved for use in obese adults (BMI of 30 or […]

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July 9th, 2012

AHA and ADA Cautiously Endorse Non-Nutritive Sweeteners

Larry Husten, PHD

In a newly released scientific statement, the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association offer a cautious endorsement of the use of non-nutritive sweeteners in the diet. But the statement notes that the products are not “magic bullets” and that there is no strong evidence demonstrating their beneficial effects. Sugar in the diet has been linked […]

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June 5th, 2012

Subway Meals Get American Heart Association Endorsement

Larry Husten, PHD

The American Heart Association (AHA) announced yesterday that it had initiated a new program to help people choose healthy meals at restaurants. The Subway restaurant chain will be the first to display the Heart-Check Meal Certification logo next to certain selected meals. In a press release the AHA’s president, Gordon Tomaselli said the program would make “it easy […]

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May 10th, 2012

FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Approval for Weight Loss Drug Lorcaserin

Larry Husten, PHD

The FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted to recommend approval of lorcaserin (Lorqess, Arena). The vote was 18 in favor of approval, 4 against, and 1 abstention.

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March 26th, 2012

Bariatric Surgery Turns Back the Clock on Diabetes

Larry Husten, PHD

Two new randomized trials offer evidence that bariatric surgery is highly effective in obese patients with diabetes. The results, according to Paul Zimmet and K. George M.M. Alberti, writing in an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, “are likely to have a major effect on future diabetes treatment.” In the STAMPEDE trial, which was presented at […]

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March 5th, 2012

New Insight Into Obesity and Physical Activity in Children

Karen Dorsey, MD, PhD

As obesity has increased among children, a clear link has been established between obesity and cardiovascular risk factors including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. However, less is known about whether being more physically active might protect children from developing these risk factors. Among adults, physical activity has been shown to reduce cardiovascular risk […]

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February 6th, 2012

Selections from Richard Lehman’s Weekly Review: Week of February 6th

Richard Lehman, BM, BCh, MRCGP

This week’s topics include the U.S. obesity plateau, the pros and cons of state-of-the-art CMR, and the MI mortality decline in European countries.

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January 5th, 2012

Diets Differ in Effect on Weight Gain and Fat and Lean Mass

Larry Husten, PHD

A new study published in JAMA demonstrates the various effects of overeating of three diets that differed mainly in protein composition. George Bray and colleagues randomized 25 healthy volunteers to participate in an inpatient study to consume low-, normal-, or high-protein diets that provided 40% more calories than required to maintain one’s normal weight. After 8 weeks, […]

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