Lifestyle Medicine Insider News and Updates – May 2024

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.

NOTEWORTHY

• In case you missed it, ACLM has announced an historic 10-year partnership with Blue Zones to combine proven, powerful efforts inside and outside hospital and clinic walls to ignite health transformation and reduce the epidemic of chronic disease. Media coverage to date included stories in HEALIO and WebMD plus a WebMD podcast with ACLM Executive Director Susan Benigas hosted by ACLM Board Director and WebMD Chief Physician Editor, Health and Lifestyle Medicine Neha Pathak, MD, FACP, DipABLM.
• ACLM has announced a unique screening tool for clinicians to efficiently assess patient dietary patterns. Here is a HEALIO Q&A interview about it with ACLM member Susan Friedman, MD, MPH, DipABLM, FACLM.
• A large-scale study just published in the British Medical Journal showed a healthy lifestyle could offset genetic risk by 62%. The findings received wide media pickup, such as this article in Forbes and this one in Prevention.
• The Food is Medicine Coalition has announced its Medically Tailored Meal (MTM) Intervention Accreditation Criteria and Requirements for agencies to ensure standard service. The first to earn accreditation is Food & Friends in Washington, DC.
• The USDA announced that for the first time, added sugars will be limited in school meals nationwide, with small changes happening by Fall 2025 and full implementation by Fall 2027.

HEALTH EQUITY

• The Commonwealth Fund has released its 2024 State Health Disparities Report.
• A new original video docuseries from the American Heart Association, “Health Wanted: Finding Care in Rural America,” sheds light on the unique health equity barriers faced by rural communities across America from Alaska to Appalachia.
• ACLM partner The Root Cause Coalition seeks nominations for its 2024 Health Justice Award, recognizing organizations that have successfully implemented a program or intervention to reduce health disparities within the past three years. The winner of the award will receive $25,000 and recognition at TRCC’s annual conference. To learn more about the award, guidelines, and to nominate a program, click here. All nominations must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. PT on Friday, May 31, 2024.

PRIMARY CARE

• On April 23, 2024, ACLM partner the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC) held a webinar about reimagining primary care to better integrate lifestyle medicine, behavioral health, and non-pharmacological interventions. ACLM President Beth Frates, MD, FACLM, DipABLM, was a panelist. Click the following link to view the webinar recording.

PEDIATRICS AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH

• Data being presented this week at Digestive Disease Week 2024 and reported in Fortune Well show colorectal cancer rates among kids between 10 and 14 and teens from 15 to 19 have risen by 500% and 333% percent, respectively, over two decades. The data also showed an 185% rise of colorectal cancers among young adults ages 20 to 24.
• According to a recent Finnish study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, high levels of sedentary behavior and physical inactivity from childhood strain the heart in adolescence.
• A study of the impact of the world’s first regulatory, multi-setting intervention for sedentary behavior among children and adolescents was just published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

HEALTHY AGING

• An ACLM-produced poster, “6 Ways to Take Control of Your Health,” and ACLM Past President Cate Collings, MD, FACC, MS, DipABLM, were highlighted by the AMA.
• Even lenient plant-based diets can help older adults live longer, according to this study published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.

WOMEN’S HEALTH

• A report just published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics shows a decrease in U.S. maternal mortality rates in 2022, with 817 maternal deaths and a rate of 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, down from 1,205 deaths and a rate of 32.9 in 2021.

INFERTILITY

• A systematic review published in Human Reproduction Update explores the relationship of lifestyle behaviors to infertility.

MILITARY AND VETERAN HEALTH

• A veteran who found support and changed his life thanks to the Iowa City VA Lifestyle Medicine Clinic was featured by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in this story. The Iowa City clinic model will become a national curricular offering for VA facilities and staff.

CHRONIC DISEASE

HYPERTENSION

• The role of plant-based nutrition in the management of hypertension is explored in this Current Cardiology Reports article, whose authors include ACLM trainee members Justin Charles, MD, and Saul Bautista, MD, MPH, plus members Brenda Davis, BASc, RDN, and Shivam Joshi, MD.
• This study published in Archives of Public Health evaluated the cost-effectiveness of providing monthly boxes of healthy, culturally tailored foods and checks to buy produce to Native American adults with hypertension.

ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

• Modifiable lifestyle factors, and the lifetime risk of atrial fibrillation in White Europeans compared with East Asians, was explored in this study published in BMC Medicine.

ALZHEIMER’S

• CNN’s documentary “The Last Alzheimer’s Patient,” features several patients (here’s one and another) whose symptoms have been reversed after participating in Dr. Dean Ornish’s clinical trial on the effects of intensive lifestyle changes on the progression of mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. That peer-reviewed study will be published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy on June 20. The full documentary on CNN’s “The Whole Story” premiered May 19th and will stream on MAX June 18th.

PILLARS

NUTRITION

• Plant-based diets appear beneficial in reducing cardiometabolic risk factors, as well as CVDs, cancer risk and mortality according to this review published in Plos One. ACLM member Matt Landry, PhD, RDN, DipACLM, FAND, FAHA, a co-author on this paper, was one of ACLM’s 2023 trainee research grant winners.
• The fifth meeting of the HHS 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee will be held Wednesday, May 29, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET and Thursday, May 30, 2024, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. The meeting can be viewed online by registering here and will be recorded for later viewing. The Committee will share details on its progress including protocol development, evidence review and synthesis, draft conclusion statements, and plans for future Committee work.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

• This opinion piece published in Stat concludes that health care professionals can be at the center of maximizing the value of digital measurement to improve their patients’ health. 
  

MEMBER NEWS

• Satheesh Kathula, MD, DipABLM, president-elect of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), will take the reins of president this summer.
• Lydia Alexander, MD, DipABLM, FOMA, is the new president of the Obesity Medicine Association.

MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

• Jennifer Trilk, PhD, FACSM, DipACLM, shares information on FOX Carolina about lifestyle medicine and the University of South Carolina Greenville’s Platinum Plus designation for ACLM Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Curriculum Certification.
• Loma Linda Health highlighted Sylvia Cramer, DrPH, DipACLM, FACLM; Kelsey Cherepuschak, MD, MPH; and Brenda Rea, MD, DrPH, PT, RD, DipABLM, Lifestyle Medicine Intensivist, FACLM, for Loma Linda University’s Platinum Plus designation for ACLM Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) Curriculum Certification.
• Dan Fosselman, DO, MBA, wrote a guest piece on budgeting for personal development for White Coat Investor.
• Jake Veigel, MD, was interviewed for Intermountain Health’s Health News and Blog on the topic of ice baths.
• Michael Stack, ACSM-EP, ACSM-EIM, ACSM-PAPHS, CSCS, penned this column on expanding the fitness marketplace in ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

• Former ACLM President David Katz talks with podcaster Marc Perry, CSCS, CPT, on how to eat healthy and save the planet.
• Japan, it seems, is “the land that doesn’t need Ozempic.” Learn more in this TIME article.