Topic Library
Clear answers to the questions patients actually ask
Short, evidence-based explainers on conditions, treatments, and the science worth knowing. Browse by category or search by keyword.
- Treatments
Do GLP-1s Help Lipedema?
The first study of any size to ask whether incretin therapy helps lipedema: 2,719 women surveyed, with current users reporting better PROMIS physical and mental health scores and less pain, swelling, and functional limitation than never-users. This page covers what the survey found, the biology that makes it plausible, why a cross-sectional survey cannot prove causation, how to separate lipedema from obesity and lymphedema, and how to frame a GLP-1 conversation honestly when no guideline exists.
lipedemalymphedemaGLP-1tirzepatide - Myths Misconceptions
Is Obesity Really the No. 1 Driver?
A fact-check of the claim that 70% of U.S. health care spending is caused by chronic disease and that obesity is its number one driver. Where the numbers hold, where they don't, why overlapping risk factors mean no single driver can honestly be crowned first, and the nine outcomes the international standard says obesity care should actually measure.
myths-misconceptionsinsuranceICHOMpatient-reported-outcomes - Insurance Access
Medicare Covers Obesity Now. Almost Nobody Knows.
On July 1, 2026, Medicare began paying for obesity medication for the first time in its history, through a temporary GLP-1 Bridge at $50 a month. This page covers what Medicare and Medicaid actually pay for now: the 2006 statute that still bars weight-loss drugs, the Bridge's eligibility grid and expiration date, the behavioral counseling benefit covered since 2011 that goes almost unused, the dietitian asterisk, what is proposed for 2027, and an interactive map of where each state's Medicaid program stands.
MedicareMedicaidinsuranceprior-authorization - Condition
PMOS: The New Name for PCOS
In May 2026 a global consensus published in The Lancet retired "polycystic ovary syndrome" in favor of polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS). This page covers what the rename did and did not change, insulin resistance as the engine of the syndrome, the 2023 diagnostic criteria that still stand, the 5 to 7 percent weight-reduction threshold that restores ovulation, what the metformin meta-analytic data actually supports, and the gap between the early RESTORE semaglutide signal and the pooled GLP-1 randomized evidence.
PMOSPCOSname-changeLancet-consensus - Condition
Sleep, Sleep Apnea, and Obesity
A patient-facing guide to sleep as a pillar of metabolic health. Six changes you can make tonight, each with the mechanism behind it, plus three bigger-picture concepts and two walkthroughs: how to actually get tested for obstructive sleep apnea, and how 2026 treatment options compare.
sleepobstructive-sleep-apneaOSACPAP - Myths Misconceptions
Beyond the BMI Cutoff
"BMI ≥27 with a comorbidity" is no longer how the field decides who has obesity. Three major 2025 guidelines—the Lancet Commission, the AACE/ABCD algorithm, and the joint OMA/TOS/OAC pharmacologic guidance—replaced the number with a question: is there confirmed excess adiposity, and is it harming the body? A plain-language explainer of the shift, the new diagnostic criteria, and the gap between the guidelines and what the FDA label and insurers still require.
BMIobesity-diagnosisclinical-obesitypreclinical-obesity - Treatments
GLP-1 Medications and Hair Loss
If you've noticed more hair in the brush after starting semaglutide or tirzepatide, you're not imagining it — and you're not alone. A plain-language guide to why it happens, what the research actually shows, and what helps, plus a clinician section on evaluation and management.
GLP-1semaglutidetirzepatidehair-loss - Treatments
GLP-1 Medications and NAION
You may have seen headlines linking GLP-1 medications (semaglutide, tirzepatide) to a rare eye condition called NAION. A plain-language guide to what the research actually shows, who may be at higher risk, and the warning signs worth knowing — adapted from Dr. Maready's patient handout.
GLP-1semaglutidetirzepatideNAION - Treatments
Bariatric Surgery's Cardiometabolic Benefits
Five decades of evidence have established bariatric surgery as one of medicine's most powerful disease-modifying interventions — far beyond weight loss. A quick clinical reference to the mortality and cardiometabolic data anchored by SOS and the Lancet 174,772-patient meta-analysis.
bariatric-surgerymortalitycardiometabolicSOS - Condition
Cushing's Syndrome
Hypercortisolism — when too much cortisol, for too long, rewires almost every system in the body. Frequently missed, often misdiagnosed, and deeply underappreciated as a driver of difficult-to-control diabetes, hypertension, and weight gain.
cortisolhypercortisolismendocrineMACS - Lifestyle Medicine
The Many Benefits of Exercise
Why physicians who care about whole-person health keep returning to the same prescription. Mood, brain, beauty, metabolism, sleep, and the part of obesity care no medication can replace — synthesized from John Ratey's Spark, OMA 2026, and the 2024-2026 obesity-medicine literature.
exerciselifestyle medicinesparkratey - Case Study
Hidden Metabolic Dangers of Obesity
This 48-year-old man knew he was at risk — three first-degree relatives had had heart attacks and diabetes. He walked in at 210 pounds with a BMI of 31 — the lowest threshold the medical system calls obesity. What he didn't know was that his triglycerides were over 700, his blood pressure was already high, and his coronary arteries already showed calcium buildup (a marker of blockage). Three years later, the picture had been rewritten.
metaboliccase-study - Nutrition
Ultra-Processed Foods
Industrial formulations now make up the majority of calories in modern diets — and the evidence increasingly points to them as the leading driver of the obesity epidemic and a host of metabolic diseases.
- Lifestyle Environment
How Walkable Is Your City?
Three trips, three cities, three walks. A doctor's-eye field report on whether American cities are designed to move you — or move past you.
- Lifestyle Medicine
Walking
The most accessible, evidence-based intervention in medicine — and in 2022–2025 the data finally caught up to the common-sense advice. From mortality to mood to memory, the dose-response is real.
- Condition
Weight Loss, GLP-1 Therapy, & Gallstone Prevention
Rapid weight loss has always caused gallstones. GLP-1s add two more mechanisms on top of that — and the same prevention tool, at the same dose, works.
- Condition
Lipedema
A distinct, painful, progressive adipose disease — not obesity, not lymphedema. Recognizing it changes everything about how you treat the patient in front of you.
- Treatments
Menopause Hormone Therapy in Weight Management
MHT supports body composition and quality of life — but it's not a weight-loss drug. Where it fits, where it doesn't, and how to talk about it with midlife women.
- Treatments
Male Obesity-Associated Hypogonadism
Distinguishing true hypogonadism from low testosterone in men with obesity — and what to actually do about it.