December Lifestyle Medicine Insider News and Updates

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.

Trends

• Business Group on Health highlights nine trends to watch in 2024.

Medical Economics

• It isn’t big pharma that profits most from the American healthcare system, according to this recent article in The Economist.
• The topic of pretax dollars to pay for certain types of healthful foods, gym memberships and even fitness trackers is featured in this Washington Post article.

Reimbursement

• In case you missed last week’s ACLM advocacy update email, here is ACLM Deputy Director Kaitlyn Pauly’s interpretation of the 2024 Medicare fee schedule and Quality Payment Program final rule for lifestyle medicine practice.
• AAFP discusses one item in the rule, G2211, a Medicare add-on code designed to pay more accurately for the complex, high-value visits that primary care physicians provide as part of a continuous relationship with a patient.
• The National Academy of Medicine has just published “Valuing America’s Health: Aligning Financing to Award Better Health and Well-Being (2023).”

Workforce

• AAMC has published its 2023 U.S. Physician Workforce Data Dashboard.

Primary Care

• Food as medicine is highlighted in this Fierce Healthcare article as one of four ways advanced primary care helps people thrive.

Health Equity

• The White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), releasing the first- ever U.S. Playbook to Address Social Determinants of Health- PDF.

White House Conference Update

• ACLM has introduced availability of the second part of its $24.1 commitment made at the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. The National Training Initiative is a matching scholarship for one primary care physician at each of the nation’s 1,400 Federally Qualified Health Centers to be trained and certified in lifestyle medicine.
• The first part of ACLM’s commitment, the complimentary 5.5-hour CME/CE-accredited “Lifestyle Medicine and Food as Medicine Essentials” online course, has had 34,000 registrants and remains available until September 2025.

Chronic Diseases

Hypertension

• The results of a crossover trial recently presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and published in JAMA showed that switching to a low-sodium diet conferred blood pressure benefits similar to that of hydrochlorothiazide.

Obesity

• Mayo Clinic is the latest employer to limit weight loss drug coverage for employees, says this Becker’s Hospital Review article.
• Drugmaker Novo Nordisk paid U.S. medical professionals at least $25.8 million over a decade in fees and expenses related to its weight-loss drugs, a Reuters analysis found.
• The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force (USPSTF) has called for lifestyle, not medications, for kids with obesity, as reported in MedPage Today.
• A MdEdge Endocrinology commentary provides insights on fructose and obesity.

Dementia

• A newly published study of the effect of lifestyle changes on cognition and dementia risk in JAMA Internal Medicine earned this Medical News Today article headline: “Personalized lifestyle changes could improve Alzheimer’s risk profile by 145%.”
• A study published in Cell Metabolism showed time-restricted feeding recovered sleep and activity rhythms and improved cognition in mouse models of Alzheimer’s.

Atrial Fibrillation

• The American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have issued a new guideline for preventing and optimally managing atrial fibrillation (AFib) that calls for a stronger, more prescriptive focus on healthy lifestyle habits as well as early and more aggressive rhythm control.

Cancer

• This article from the European Journal of Nutrition discusses the role of adiposity in the associations between ultra-processed food consumption and head and neck cancer and oesophageal adenocarcinoma.
• A new study from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the Journal of Oncology sheds light on the incidence of prediabetes and diabetes in childhood cancer survivors.

Pillars

Nutrition

• In a randomized clinical trial of 22 healthy, adult, identical twin pairs published in JAMA Network, those consuming a healthy vegan diet showed significantly improved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, fasting insulin level, and weight loss compared with twins consuming a healthy omnivorous diet. This study, by Christopher Gardner, a professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, will soon be the subject of a Netflix documentary featuring many other familiar ACLM faces.
• A recently published study in The Lancet Regional Health suggests that higher consumption of ultra-processed food increases the risk of cancer and cardiometabolic multimorbidity.
• This Gaples Institute podcast discusses diet quality as a key determinant of health in the age of weight-loss drugs, including for patients who have achieved their target weight.
• NPR Health News highlights that some fiber-rich foods can naturally boost levels of semaglutide.
• A national experiment comparing food labels found people were less likely to select products described as “vegan” and “plant-based” than those touting health and sustainability benefits, according to a study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Physical Activity

• New research published in Atherosclerosis and reported on in Fortune Well now backs up the tip to choose the stairs over the elevator.
• The Federation of American Scientists has published a strong argument that, similar to other public health issues over past decades such as sanitation and tobacco use, federal policies may be the best way to coordinate large-scale changes empowering Americans to move more.
• USA Today highlights the optimal frequency of workouts.

Social Connection

• A new study published in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences shows that the influence of friends – for good and for well, mischief – extends into our older years, as well.

Healthy Aging

• This National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health Science Blog article talks about older workers, including tips for creating a work environment that is supportive of workers of all ages.
• This article published in Metabolites explores in depth why the klotho protein could be a promising lifestyle biological marker used to monitor the effectiveness of a health program, given that the protein is directly involved in all of the six pillars of lifestyle medicine.

Planetary Health

• The American Medical Association (AMA) passed a resolution calling for increased regulation of industrialized farms.
• The Protein Problem is an Associated Press series that examines the question: Can we feed this growing world without starving the planet?

Members in the News

• Bradley Biskup, PA-C, MHS, MA, DipACLM, was interviewed by Hartford Healthcare for its article on working out on the weekends versus daily workouts.
• Linda Shiue, MD, Chef, DipABLM, director of Culinary and Lifestyle Medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, talks about ways to keep up healthy eating habits during the holiday season on this Fox 2 KTVU segment.
• Philip Clerc, MD, is highlighted for his successful use of food as medicine to treat and reverse type 2 diabetes on this “5 on Your Side” feature on KSDK in St. Louis.
• Jacob Mirsky, MD, MA, DipABLM, and Kristi Artz, MD, DipABLM, were published in ScienceDirect for their article on lifestyle medicine shared medical appointments as a proposed framework for high-value chronic disease care.
• Supriya Rao, MD, DipABLM, DipABOM, was interviewed for Well + Good’s “How a Gastroenterologist Eats for Digestive Balance During Stressful Meals (and Holidays).”
• Joy DeBellis, DNP, DipACLM, provided an expert opinion answer on health during the holidays for Auburn University.
• Robyn Tiger, MD, DipABLM, wrote on recognizing and recovering from burnout for Thrive Global.

Residency News

• ACLM Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum trainee Cindy Ciccotelli, MD, a third-year resident with the UPMC Williamsport Family Medicine Residency program, wrote on holiday health that was published in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

Partner News

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office has reported that since the New York City Public Schools’ Cafeteria Enhancement Experience was announced in June, there has been a 25% increase in student lunch participation, staff ability to serve 300 students in just 15 minutes, and an exponential increase in the selection of fresh fruits and vegetables.
• NYC Health + Hospitals has announced that its nationally recognized Lifestyle Medicine Program has expanded to NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull in Brooklyn. This is the second of six new sites to make the program available citywide.
• Local 5 Live in Green Bay featured Bellin Health’s Lifestyle Medicine Program in a segment about losing weight by replacing unhealthy behaviors with good ones.
• Blue Shield of California has announced members now have virtual access to Ornish Lifestyle Medicine, an innovative intensive cardiac rehab program designed to help prevent, treat, and even reverse heart disease through lifestyle change.
• Rooted Santa Barbara County has launched online resource libraries to foster community health and wellness.

Resources

• The Center for Food as Medicine, a nonprofit working to bridge the gap between traditional medicine and the use of food as medicine, publishes a weekly newsletter on food and nutrition.

Calls for Application

• CMS is now accepting applications for the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model. Eligibility requirements and additional model details can be found in the Request for Applications (RFA) (PDF). Interested applicants should submit their application via web portal by Tuesday, January 30, 2024, at 11:59 pm EST.

Food for Thought

• A  five-part USA Today series investigated why America hasn’t solved its long struggle with type 2 diabetes.
• Key physical health metrics have notably worsened since before the COVID-19 pandemic, including obesity, diabetes and eating habits according to a Gallup survey report.