John Ditraglia News Today

It’s time to review the 5 conundrums. It’s been awhile. The mysteries of obesity can be organized into my 5 conundrums. I don’t have the

Ted Kyle’s the best of 2021 list has a report that was missed until now by me since I can’t keep up with my email. It was much acclaimed back i

Semaglutide (and other drugs like it that imitate the intestinal hormone GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1)) has been hailed as the holy grail, the gastric-by

Ever since our ancestors crawled out of the ocean we have had to maintain the salt water constancy of our milieu intérieur, our inside juices. This pr

Those of you who avidly read my column may have noticed a lapse in the last few weeks. There is a simple explanation. Nothing I have read has inspired me.M

We’ve talked variously about the interrelations between smoking cigarettes and fat accumulation, most recently on June 25, 2019. (“As if smokin

The fat cell flux explained By John Ditraglia - Contributing Columnist I just listened to Peter Attia’s latest ask-me-anything podcast (AMA#22 April 12, 2021) where together with superhero assistant Bob (I can’t find his last name) they analyze how fat gets into and out of fat cells. This flux is the crux of the issue for fat science aficionados but for these guys it is a sidelight of their main interest in studying how to live longer and better. You can’t listen to the entire podcast wit...

Your Glycemic index reminder By John DiTraglia - Contributing Columnist We were reminded about this thing called the glycemic index, which is probably really a thing, by the April 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. (1) The glycemic index, which we have belabored before (The glycemic index doesn’t matter, Portsmouth Daily Times 2-2-15), is defined as how much 50 grams of food containing carbohydrates raises the blood glucose level. It might be thought of as the sugar spikiness of ...

Yet another magic bullet By John DiTraglia - Contributing Columnist You’re probably tired of me proclaiming magic bullets for the cure of obesity which is still pretty intractable. But one day one of these magic bullets is going to be the one. I need to do a list of all the magic bullets so far but before that there’s yet another to talk about. There is this recently discovered enzyme called nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) that is very abundant and busy in white adipose tissue and s...

Semaglutide for obesity By John DiTraglia - Contributing Columnist In this randomized clinical trial that included 611 adults with overweight or obesity, 68 weeks’ treatment with 2.4 mg once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide vs placebo, combined with intensive behavioral therapy (and a low-calorie diet for the initial 8 weeks), resulted in reductions in body weight of 16.0% vs 5.7%.(1) Drugs whose names end in “tide” are peptides. Peptides are little proteins but they are still big molecule...