2020 Year in Review

COVID-19 Resources

My Learning Center

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) is in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institute of Health (NIH) positions and recommendations regarding population health and the importance of COVID-19 vaccination.

RESEARCH

• Proceedings of the seminal Lifestyle Medicine Research Summit, convened at the University of Pittsburgh December 4–5, 2019, have just been published by Frontiers in Medicine. Forty subject matter experts invited to the Summit reviewed current status and defined research priorities in the six core areas of lifestyle medicine: plant-predominant nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress, addictive behaviors, and positive psychology/social connection.
• Nearly 40 percent of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms in U.S. women could be prevented by adherence to five lifestyle factors, according to a research letter published online Jan. 4 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

 MEDICAL EDUCATION

• A letter to the editor by ACLM member Rahul Anand, MD, and a third-year medical student published this month in the Association of American Medical Colleges’ journal, Academic Medicine, highlights the need for preclinical training on value as an embodiment of the outcomes that matter to the patient divided by the cost of their care.
• Lifestyle Medicine programming at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, a pioneer in Lifestyle Medicine training, is featured in this video.

 INSURANCE

• MedPage Today recently issued a cautionary op-ed based on a new study linking health insurance broker commissions and incentives to premiums.

TELEHEALTH

• As part of its recently announced 2021 Physician Fee Schedule guidelines, Medicare will continue to reimburse Diabetes Prevention Program providers who use certain telehealth services - but only for the duration of the public health emergency and that coverage doesn’t include providers who offer only a virtual DPP program.

DIETARY NEWS

• The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans were released in December. The final document did not follow quantitative recommendations in two key areas -- alcohol and sugar intake -- addressed by the advisory committee's scientific report. ACLM partner American Institute for Cancer Research’ s Dr. Nigel Brockton was quoted in several major news outlets such as CCN.
• The Ornish Diet continues to be featured in various categories of U.S. News & World Report’s annual review of best diets.
• Johns Hopkins University has developed a dashboard that addresses the interplay between natural resources, climate, agriculture, policy, commerce and culture that allows examination of the forces that determine availability, value and health consequences of food resources for every nation. The dashboard is described here.

OBESITY

• The U.S. adult obesity rate now tops 40 percent of the population, the highest ever recorded. COVID-19 related food insecurity puts more Americans at risk for obesity or worsening obesity. These facts and more are found in the Trust for America’s Health recent State of Obesity Report.

 ACLM IN THE NEWS

• ACLM Executive Director Susan Benigas was recently interviewed about the power of Lifestyle Medicine by KMOX radio in St. Louis, one of the nation’s largest CBS affiliates.

COVID-19

• ACLM strategic partner the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, has released this COVID impact infographic.