US FDA approves new orphan drug Kynamro to treat inherited cholesterol disorder – Kynamro – mipomersen sodium – injection approved as an addition to lipid-lowering medications and diet to treat patients with a rare type of high cholesterol called homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). Kynamro is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Fasting Time Prior to Blood Lipid Tests Appears to Have Limited Association With Lipid Levels – Fasting prior to blood lipid tests appears to have limited association with lipid subclass levels, suggesting that fasting for routine lipid level determinations may be unnecessary.
Healthy diets have long-lasting positive effects even with partial weight regain – Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets have lasting, healthy effects, even with partial weight regain. The study is published in a peer-reviewed letter in the current New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) as an update to the landmark study, the workplace-based Dietary Intervention Randomized Controlled Trial (DIRECT), a tightly controlled 24-month dietary intervention.
Over long-term, gastric bypass surgery associated with higher rate of diabetes remission — Improvement in cardiovascular risk factors – Severely obese patients who had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery had significant weight loss that was sustained for an average of 6 years after the surgery and also experienced frequent remission and lower incidence of diabetes, hypertension, and abnormal cholesterol levels, compared to participants who did not have the surgery.
Obesity and metabolic syndrome associated with impaired brain function in adolescents – Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with cognitive and brain impairments in adolescents and calls for pediatricians to take this into account when considering the early treatment of childhood obesity. As childhood obesity has increased in the U.S., so has the prevalence of metabolic syndrome ? a constellation of three or more of five defined health problems, including abdominal obesity, low HDL (good cholesterol), high triglycerides, high blood pressure and pre-diabetic insulin resistance.
Bariatric surgery dramatically outperforms standard treatment for type 2 diabetes — Bariatric surgery superior to intensive therapy for obese patients with type 2 diabetes – Overweight, diabetic patients who underwent bariatric surgery achieved significant improvement or remission of their diabetes.In a randomized, controlled trial, some weight loss surgery patients achieved normal blood sugar levels without use of any diabetes medications.
Sugar-sweetened drinks linked to increased risk of heart disease in men – One soft drink a day raises ‘heart attack danger’ by 20 per cent – Men who drank a 12-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage a day had a 20 percent higher risk of heart disease compared to men who didn’t drink any sugar-sweetened drinks, according to research published in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal.
Regardless of How Much Time Sedentary, Higher Amounts of Time Being Physically Active Associated With Better Cardiometabolic Measures Among Children – Higher amounts of time with moderate to vigorous physical activity were associated with better cardiometabolic risk factors (such as measures of cholesterol, blood pressure and waist size), regardless of the amount of time spent sedentary. National and international public health authorities agree that children and adolescents should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) daily.
Cleveland Clinic researcher reports that evacetrapib can increase HDL (good) cholesterol 128 percent – Researchers at Cleveland Clinic reported that administration of a new drug? evacetrapib ? can dramatically increase HDL (good) cholesterol, while significantly lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol). At the highest tested dosage, the levels of HDL more than doubled.
Sugar-sweetened beverages may increase cardiovascular risk in women – Drinking two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day may expand a woman’s waistline and increase her risk of heart disease and diabetes. In a new study, researchers compared middle-aged and older women who drank two or more sugar-sweetened beverages a day, such as carbonated sodas or flavored waters with added sugar, to women who drank one or less daily.
