Please note: Times listed are in ET.
Topic: Updates in the Pathophysiology of Obesity and Implications for Public Health Practice
Presenter: Donna Ryan, Professor Emeritus, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Description: Obesity, excess abnormal and dysfunctional body fat, is a chronic disease affecting more than 42% of US adults and driving risk for most non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Despite this recognition, no effective approaches to clinically meaningful weight loss and maintenance of weight loss have been implemented in modern medical practices. In fact, interest in managing obesity as a modifiable risk factor for cardiometabolic disease has been tepid – until the advent of GLP-1 receptor agonists for obesity treatment. These powerful agents and those using the GLP-1 backbone to target multiple receptors have the ability to transform our approaches to the NCDs – the public health challenge of the 21st century. This talk provides the background to understand obesity, as well as the potential of these tools, while acknowledging the challenges of access to and affordability of these agents for a population that carries a high chronic disease burden.
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