Opinion - Beyond MAHA: Defeating obesity requires a new strategy
Obesity is a major health problem facing our country. According to the CDC, more than 40 percent of the U.S. population is obese, defined as having a body-mass index above 30. As astounding at that number is, it is perhaps even more surprising that nearly 20 percent of children in the U.S. are obese.
Obesity leads to significant health challenges, including diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease and liver disease. It is clear that as a nation we must face this crisis on multiple fronts. Diet and exercise certainly help, and it's critical to ensure that people of all socioeconomic backgrounds have access to healthy foods (free of preservatives, unnecessary dyes, high fructose corn syrups etc.) and are educated in making healthy lifestyle choices.
The MAHA or 'Make America Healthy Again' movement has highlighted this as one of its key objectives, and if it is successful, we should see an impact on obesity — especially in children, where diet and exercise have a huge impact on weight-related health outcomes.
Obesity in adults, however, is often more challenging. Many adults with obesity struggle to lose weight, despite considerable efforts to modify their lifestyle through diet and exercise. This is because our metabolism changes as we age, and many adults who are overweight develop metabolic dysfunction or 'metabolic syndrome,' which then further perpetuates weight gain and exacerbates the situation.
It has become clear in recent years that many people struggling with obesity require medical intervention – not just lifestyle intervention – and that prescriptions can substantially improve weight loss. The explosion in use of GLP-1 agonists, such as Wegovy and Zepbound, over the last two years has underscored the need for medical intervention in obese and overweight patients.
Currently, about 6 percent of the U.S. population, or 15 million people, are on GLP-1 weight loss treatments, and the numbers are only expected to increase. However, while most patients lose 10 percent to 25 percent of their body weight while on a GLP-1, they do not maintain GLP-1 treatment in the long-term, with approximately 80 percent of patients discontinuing treatment within 1 year.
Gastrointestinal side effects, injectable administration, and high cost have prevented long-term use of GLP-1's for weight maintenance. And unfortunately, most patients gain back all the weight after stopping the medication.
Healthcare professionals and the pharmaceutical industry now recognize that obesity — like most other medical conditions — requires an 'arsenal' of treatments, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Post-GLP-1 weight maintenance is now widely recognized as an emerging unmet need. And patients who are not candidates for or cannot tolerate GLP-1s require alternatives.
Diet and lifestyle modifications are important alongside prescription medications in fighting obesity. If we are going to be successful in overcoming this major health crisis, we need to ensure that both the pharmaceutical industry and groups like MAHA work hand in hand. Both treatment and prevention are critical in order to regain control of our nation's health.
Dr. Shoshana Shendelman, Ph.D. is a scientist and entrepreneur who has founded numerous biotech companies. She is a pioneer in the development of drugs and therapeutics for rare and underserved diseases. Currently she is Vice Chair of the Advisory Board of Columbia University Medical Center and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘It's violently anti-woman': Melissa Murray reflects on the criminalization of miscarriage
One in five women experience a miscarriage according to the National Institutes of Health, and now women who suffer pregnancy loss can face prosecution. One prosecutor in West Virginia even went so far as to suggest women call law enforcement after having a miscarriage to avoid prosecution. Amanda Zurawski, lead plaintiff in the Texas case that included 20 women who were denied emergency care, called this suggestion 'reprehensible' and 'terrifying.' NYU Professor Melissa Murray says that
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Major new study reveals jobs with the highest depression rate in the US
Job seekers may want to consider the toll that specific careers can have on their mental health. A huge new study published on Friday examined the relationship between careers and depression rates. The study analyzed survey data from 536,279 workers across 37 states from 2015 to 2019. Out of half a million U.S. workers, 80,319 of them admitted to being diagnosed with depression at some point during their lives, with women being diagnosed twice as often as men. Separating the results by industry, the study saw that people who worked in community and social services had the highest rate of lifelong diagnosed depression at 20.5 percent. The second highest on the list was food prep and serving jobs at 20.1 percent. Other industries with high lifetime diagnosed depression rates are: arts, entertainment, sports, and media at 18.6 percent; accommodation and food services at 18.4 percent; health and social assistance at 18.2 percent; retail trade at 17.7 percent; and legal, education, and library jobs tied at 16.1 percent. Industries with lower lifetime diagnosed depression rates included mining jobs at 6.7 percent, construction at 8.9 percent, and agriculture and engineering jobs at nine percent. Although mining and construction may have lower depression rates, those industries also have the highest suicide rates among U.S. workers. The researchers suggest that the gap may be explained because blue-collar men are less likely to seek mental services due to a preexisting stigma or limited access in rural areas. Despite the results of the study, there are some jobs out there that are almost stress-free and also come with a large paycheck. Back in December 2024, Resume Genius released its list of the highest-paying jobs that also reported low levels of stress. Their study described 'low-stress jobs' as ones that typically require fewer demands, more predictable work hours, supportive environments, and manageable workloads. All of the jobs on the list required the person to have at least a Bachelor's degree. The list was compiled using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the career site O*NET Online. The high-stress jobs were filtered out using O*NET and then cross-referenced against the BLS's Occupational Outlook Handbook, with the national median salary set at $48,060 and viewing jobs that showed 'faster-than-average growth.' The best jobs included: water source specialist, astronomer, actuary, environmental economist, mathematician, and geographer.
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How will the measles outbreak in Alberta affect kids?
With the measles count inching closer to the 1,000 mark in Alberta, this could mean dire consequences for the province's youngest and most vulnerable. As of Friday, the province has recorded 778 cases of the measles in Alberta, with 364 diagnosed within kids and teenagers aged five to 17 years. Over 200 cases have been diagnosed in children younger than five years old, a demographic Dr. Daniel Gregson, an infectious disease specialist says is especially vulnerable to developing serious complications from the virus. 'Measles complication rates are higher the younger you are and so, under five, you have a much higher incidence of complications which require hospitalizations,' he said. 'Common ones are pneumonia, unremitting diarrhea and then there are some rare complications like encephalitis that can result in admissions as well.' As of the time this article was published, five people are hospitalized, two of whom are in the ICU. For weeks, doctors, experts and government officials have encouraged Albertans to get vaccinated against the measles, attributing the rise in cases to poor vaccination rates over the last two decades. The reason the infection is spreading fastest among kids and teenagers is because of the low immunization rates in that demographic, according to Gregson. 'And transmission also happens when people who are not immunized gather together in large numbers and that's generally in schools.' With school almost out for the summer, that may mitigate the exponential rise in cases but with the count inching closer to 1,000, that increases the possibility of fatalities. But it's a difficult infection to control, Gregson cautioned, because it can be transmitted airborne and can stay in the air for approximately two hours after being released. 'So you can imagine, someone going to a store to pick up something,' he said. 'There could have been somebody in there who had been incubating in that four-day window and breathing in the store and then the store becomes a source of infection for other people, even when that person is no longer there.' Most adults who get the measles would see experience cold-like symptoms and a rash. But the complications arise for children who could also experience ear infections, pneumonia, dehydration and in rare cases encephalitis and blindness. On average, one patient in every 1,000 affected could die from the disease, although it's difficult to predict how that may pattern. 'We may see no deaths for the first thousand and then see three deaths in the second thousand,' he hypothesized. Should cases rise into the quadruples, kids younger than five years are most vulnerable to fatalities, he said. Ontario recorded its first death of the year from the measles outbreak in the province, after an infant born prematurely died from contracting the virus before birth. It is possible for pregnant mothers to pick up the infection and transmit to their babies pre-birth, Gregson said. 'It could be quite devastating.' A pregnant mother infected with the disease could see increased risk of a premature birth, a miscarriage, a stillborn birth or a low baby weight. The infection if passed on, could mean congenital measles for the fetus and respiratory complications post-birth.
