Weight Loss & Obesity News & Features

In this WebMD webinar, viewers asked Amanda Velazquez, MD, about what things affect your weight and why weight loss can be challenging.

August 8, 2023 — Study results show semaglutide for weight loss (Wegovy) cut problems in the heart and blood vessels in a 17,000-person trial, which should reframe the health benefit of this weight loss drug.

August 8, 2023 — Identifying specific genes adds to growing evidence that biology, in part, drives obesity. Researchers hope the findings will lead to effective treatments.

August 3, 2023 — A new lawsuit from a woman with type 2 diabetes alleges that the makers of the drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro did not provide adequate warnings for the severity of gastrointestinal problems caused by the popular medicines.

In this webinar, Amanda Velazquez, MD, explained why obesity is a chronic disease and what goes into losing weight without gaining it back.

July 24, 2023 — People who watched a lot of television as a child often have health problems in adulthood, such as high blood pressure and obesity, says a study conducted over 50 years and published in the online journal Pediatrics.

July 17, 2023 — A medical examiner’s report points to small bowel obstruction as the cause of death, but was it caused by bariatric surgery years earlier?

July 12, 2023 — Most people using new, highly touted prescription drugs to lose weight, such as Wegovy, stop taking them after a year, a new report says. People who used the drugs had “a substantial increase in health care” costs over the year, says an analysis by Prime Therapeutics.

July 11, 2023 — The European Medicines Agency is investigating Ozempic and another drug that leads to weight loss amid fears that the medicines may increase the risk of suicide.

July 6, 2023 — New research takes aim at the long-standing measurement of health.

July 5, 2023 — It sounds simple, but the obesity crisis may be one of the most complicated medical problems humans have ever faced. Understanding why we gain weight in the first place may be the key to reclaiming our collective health.

July 5, 2023 — Obesity treatments are more advanced than ever, but the people who need them most can be reluctant to seek care, and may not get the most comprehensive care when they do come in. Here’s why – and what can change.

July 5, 2023 — Doctors and researchers have been trying to end the obesity epidemic for decades – and failed. Can a new set of effective drugs – Wegovy, Ozempic, and others to come – finally succeed?

In this WebMD webinar, viewers asked Carolyn Newberry, MD, about how to create a healthy diet for weight management.

June 26, 2023 — For people who are overweight or obese but are put off by popular weight loss drugs because they need to be injected, there was promising news Sunday out of the American Diabetes Association’s annual conference.

June 23, 2023 — If taking Ozempic or Rybelsus for type 2 diabetes, Wegovy for weight loss, or similar medications, doctors are debating how long before planned surgery you should stop taking the drug to be safe.

In this webinar, Carolyn Newberry, MD, explained the basics of a healthy diet and how to create one that works for you and your weight goals.

In this WebMD webinar, viewers asked Robert F. Kushner, MD, of Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, about living with diabesity.

June 12, 2023 — Insurance companies are starting to send warning letters to doctors and health care providers suspected of a practice known as off-label prescribing for the drug Ozempic.

In this webinar, Robert F. Kushner, MD, explained what diabesity is, what heightens your risk for it, and how weight loss and medication can help.

June 12, 2023 — A new study into how the brains of lean and obese people respond to nutrients may explain why it’s difficult for people to lose weight and keep it off.

June 12, 2023 — Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy can help some people lose weight, but there are still some potential side effects that need to be considered.

May 25, 2023 — Mayo Clinic researchers are working on saliva tests that may help figure out the type of obesity a person has and, based on the results, decide what may be the best course of action to treat it.

May 24, 2023 — Experts consider claims that new weight loss medications cause hair loss. They find that hair loss is unlikely and actually more common with bariatric surgery.

May 23, 2023 — In a trial of 667 people who were overweight or obese, those who took the daily semaglutide pill lost 17% of their body weight after 68 weeks.

May 19, 2023 — Semaglutide represents an effective treatment option for teens with obesity, with the potential to reduce BMI below the obesity threshold.

In the WebMD webinar, attendees asked Joe Nadglowski, President and CEO of the OAC, questions about how weight bias can affect a person’s life.

May 16, 2023 — One-tenth of parents have children who were overweight or obese, and over a quarter worry about their child’s weight, a new survey found.

May 12, 2023 — Adding obesity drugs to weight loss surgery helped patients lose more weight than using either option alone.

In this webinar, Joseph Nadglowski, CEO of the Obesity Action Coalition, spoke about weight bias and the effects it has on our mental and physical health.

May 10, 2023 — A statement from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology addresses weight bias and stigma from health care professionals as well as patients themselves.

May 5, 2023 — Novo Nordisk’s problems keeping up US supply of Wegovy for weight-loss is back after a brief hiatus, as the company says starter doses will again be in short supply through September.

May 5, 2023 — A growing number of people are turning to anti-obesity injections. According to a new survey from the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) and telehealth company Ro, interest in these treatments is soaring among people living with obesity, despite the lack of public awareness just a handful of months ago.

May 3, 2023 — With the blockbuster type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic popular as ever with those just seeking to lose weight, we speak to pharmacists about the drug cost, potential coupons and prescription discounts, and other ways to save money.

May 1, 2023 — Investigators compared almost 56,000 people with obesity who had bariatric surgery to the same number who did not. They tracked how many people developed cancer over the next 10 years. The surgery group had less than half as many cases of cancer.

April 27, 2023 — The drug, tirzepatide, helped patients in the study lose up to 15.7% of their body weight in a phase III trial.

April 26, 2023 — Heavily used “forever chemicals” found in food packaging and other consumer goods are contributing to weight gain, a new study has found.

April 21, 2023 — Some commercial weight loss programs that have long advocated a laser focus on diet, exercise, and behavior change are adding prescription weight loss drugs approved to treat obesity such as Wegovy. And that’s triggering a healthy debate.

April 17, 2023 — Since one of the side effects of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic is weight loss, people without diabetes have flocked to purchase the drug for a quicker way to shed pounds. To prevent widespread shortages, Canadian province British Columbia is banning Americans from purchasing the drug.

April 7, 2023 — A new study of overweight and obese people’s brains using MRIs suggests that future weight loss treatments should take into account whether someone is male or female. MRIs revealed gender-based differences in both the structure and function of the brain.

March 31, 2023 — For the first time, the World Health Organization may add weight loss drugs to the list of essential medicines that it suggests countries worldwide purchase.

March 30, 2023 — Within 5 years of stopping the weight loss drug Wegovy, most people will regain all the weight they lost, and some people may add even more pounds, a senior official from drugmaker Novo Nordisk said at a conference Wednesday.

March 28, 2023 — A new analysis gives a promising answer to the weight loss question: Is it better to have lost and gained, than never to have lost at all?

In the webinar “How Can CBT Help With Weight Management,” Rachel Goldman, PhD, shared some tools that can help you work toward a healthier weight.

March 3, 2023 — More than half the world’s population will be overweight or have obesity by 2035 if current trends continue, with obesity rising at alarming rates among children and adolescents, a new report from the World Obesity Federation says.

February 4, 2023 — Drug maker Novo Nordisk says it is increasing production of Wegovy, a weight loss drug, which has been hard to find in stores.

January 31, 2023 — The brains of obese people go through changes like those of Alzheimer’s patients, a new study shows. This is the first study that directly compared patterns of brain shrinkage in the two groups.

January 9, 2023 — The American Academy of Pediatrics said physicians should no longer wait to see if children with obesity outgrow the condition.

Wegovy, a new obesity drug, works wonders, but patients struggle for insurance coverage.

WebMD explains what the leptin hormone is, how it affects weight, and whether leptin supplements are safe or effective.