Lifestyle Medicine News and Updates – Insider August 2023

Disclaimer: The information included in Insider is intended to give our readers a sense of what is happening in the news, research journals and other channels related to lifestyle medicine. Inclusion does not imply ACLM endorsement. Note that some links may require registration or subscription.

TOP NEWS:

• Lifestyle medicine champion Hans Diehl, DrHSc, MPH, FACN, 77, a member of the ACLM Advisory Board and founder of the Lifestyle Medicine Institute and the Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP), passed away at Loma Linda University Medical Center on August 2, 2023, due to an AFib-related stroke. Read his full obituary here.
• Availability of ACLM’s 5.5-hour complimentary CME/CE/MOC Lifestyle Medicine & Food as Medicine Essentials course, a commitment highlighted at last fall’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, has been extended to September 14, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Learn more and enroll here.
• Newly published research is the first to show success of a dietary intervention to reduce the need for insulin without drugs or surgery. The crossover trial, which showed effects of a DASH diet and a whole food, plant-based diet on insulin requirements and related cardiometabolic markers in individuals with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes, was explained in this Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice article by the research team spearheaded by ACLM members Thomas Campbell, MD, and Erin Campbell, MD, MPH, DipABLM.

PAYMENT

• LM2022 keynote speaker Robert Pearl, MD, was featured on a recent segment of the “Evolution of Medicine” podcast highlighting payment models that support lifestyle medicine.
• ACLM is hosting a members-only Lifestyle Medicine Reimbursement Summit on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, from 7:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. PT.

HEALTH STATISTICS

• In a study published in JAMA Network Open comparing National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey trends in lifestyle factors among U.S. adults from 1999-2000 with those from 2017 to March 2020, improvements occurred in smoking habits, diet quality, and physical activity levels. However, a decrease occurred in healthy weight and there was no significant change in moderate or less alcohol consumption. It also showed worsening disparities by age group and persistent disparities by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic level.
• The American College of Sports Medicine has released its 2023 ACSM American Fitness Index. The index aims to quantitatively measure the overall health and fitness level of the 100 largest cities by population in America based on 34 personal and community health indicators, including physical activity levels, access to parks, recreational facilities, and healthy food options.

MEDICAL EDUCATION

• Medscape Medical News asked physicians what they learned in med school that they now contest. Interviewees included ACLM members Dolapo Babalola, MD, FAAFP, DipABLM, DipABOM; Bisi Alli, DO, DipABLM; and John McHugh, MD, FACOG, DipABLM, FACLM.

PRIMARY CARE

• Healthcare Dive recently published an op-ed, “Strengthening primary care key to fix healthcare system woes,” authored by ACLM strategic partner Primary Care Collaborative’s President and CEO Ann Greiner and AAFP EVP and CEO Shawn Martin.

CHRONIC DISEASE

OBESITY

• Intensive lifestyle intervention was one of three keys for obesity treatment recommended in this recent AMA article.
• Strategies to improve the implementation of intensive lifestyle interventions for obesity are explored in this Frontiers in Public Health opinion piece.

DIABETES

• ACLM member Rob McNab, DO, FACP, FACOI, writes about how he uses lifestyle medicine for his own diabetes over the course of a day in this Joplin Globe article.

ADHD

• The use of lifestyle medicine for ADHD is discussed in this Medium story.

PILLARS

NUTRITION

• What to eat in hot weather was examined in this Time article.
• Each 50 mg higher intake of dietary nitrate from vegetable sources per day was linked to an 8% lower dementia risk, according to this study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
• Ultra-processed foods may raise mortality risk in patients with type 2 diabetes and healthy diet may not be enough to overcome the negative effects, according to this study published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
• All things fiber are discussed in this recent article published in The Conversation.

SLEEP

• The American Academy of Sleep Medicine offers tips to help you talk to your patients about healthy sleep.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

• Weekend warriors are supported by a new study published in JAMA that shows efforts to optimize activity, even if concentrated within just a day or two each week, should result in improved cardiovascular risk.
• Research from Poland published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology has shown that as few as 3,967 daily steps reduce your risk of early death from any cause, and if you only do 2,337 steps, you still decrease your risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.

SOCIAL CONNECTION

• In a nationally representative study of 11,517 older adults published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, social isolation was significantly associated with higher odds of skilled nursing facility stays and nursing home placement, but not with hospitalization.

AVOIDANCE OF RISKY SUBSTANCES

• Drinking just one alcoholic beverage a day is enough to raise blood pressure (BP) in healthy adults, results of a “dose-response” meta-analysis published in Hypertension
• Just how bad is alcohol? NBC News had eight experts weigh in on the risks and supposed benefits of drinking.

HYDRATION

• Fortune examines how much water to drink in this feature.

WELL-BEING

• ACLM staff and members published a study in the American Journal of Health Promotion showing those clinicians using a greater proportion of lifestyle medicine in their practice experience less burnout.

PLANETARY HEALTH

• Oxford scientists say a vegan diet is massively better for the planet, in a study published in Nature Food.

PARTNER NEWS

• Bitewell, a food-as-medicine marketplace for employers, has closed a $4 million seed round of funding. The Denver-based company is the first-ever corporate food health benefits provider, according to this Axios Pro article.

MEMBER NEWS

• Lifestyle medicine luminaries Michael Parkinson, MD, MPH, FACPM; Ron Stout, MD, MPH-HA, FACLM; and Wayne Dysinger, MD, MPH, DipABLM, FACLM, have authored an article on lifestyle medicine for prevention, treatment and reversal of chronic disease.
• Naomi Parrella, MD, chief of lifestyle medicine at Rush University in Chicago, was interviewed for this Women’s Health article on menopausal weight gain.
• ACLM members Terri Stone, MD, FACP, DipABM; Milette Siler, RDN; and Jaclyn Albin, MD, DipABLM, were part of a team that authored an article in Dove Press on the case for culinary medicine in teaching kitchens.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

• An analysis published in European Heart Journal and reported on in MDedge that was based on the international Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study as well as data from five other international trials showed things that don’t usually end up in heart-protective recommendations.
• A writer in ConscienHealth says that although nutrition is quite important for managing diabetes and obesity, it is not a substitute for medicine and challenges sloganizing “food is medicine.”
• The food-as-medicine movement is gaining momentum, but there are several challenges, according to a PitchBook report that was reported on by MedCity News.
• Stanford nutritional scientist Dr. Christopher Gardner offers thoughts on whether a plant-based or animal-based diet is better in this Clinical Endocrinology News commentary interview.
• A recent study published in The Lancet indicates that advanced agers share three significant things in common regarding movement, sleep, and mental health.
• Laughter really is the best medicine, says University of Warwick researcher Dr. Stephanie Schnurr.