Hannah Lindqvist 
A five-day fast produced a fall in body mass index that was still partly present twelve weeks later, and the mix of bacteria in a person’s gut beforehand helped predict how much of it they kept, according to a randomised trial published on 16 September in Genome Medicine. The study involved 38 healthy adults under … Read more
Berberine is sold online as a natural alternative to prescription weight-loss drugs, usually on evidence far thinner than the marketing. A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in Nutrients tested a fixed combination of berberine, white mulberry leaf extract and chromium picolinate in 93 Greek adults with obesity over 12 weeks, and found real differences against … Read more
The FDA on 15 September 2026 told consumers not to buy or use two products sold for weight loss, LUZE Fit Intensity and Beauty 911, after its laboratory found sibutramine in both. Neither label lists it. Sibutramine was the active ingredient in Meridia, a prescription weight-loss drug whose approval the FDA withdrew in 2010 after … Read more
A weight-loss supplement sold directly to consumers online has been recalled nationwide after FDA laboratory testing found two undeclared drugs inside the same box. The daytime tablets of Lipofit Extreme Fat Burner 2.0 contained fluoxetine, a prescription antidepressant. The nighttime tablets contained 2,4-dinitrophenol, a substance the FDA describes as a pesticide, dye, wood preservative and … Read more
A network meta-analysis of 378 randomised trials covering 113,122 adults with prediabetes has ranked what actually prevents type 2 diabetes, and incretin drugs finished first: dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonists cut the risk of developing diabetes by around 90% against control, and single GLP-1 receptor agonists by around 74%. Metformin plus intensive lifestyle change came third. … Read more
A meta-analysis of 19 randomised trials behind semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide reports a gap between what those trials recorded and what their own bloodwork showed. Investigators logged malnutrition as an adverse event in 0.12% of participants. Laboratory screening in the same trials found abnormally low lymphocyte counts in 2.90% of people taking active drug, against … Read more
A study published in Nature on 2 September reports that semaglutide, started late in life, slowed several measures of ageing in mice and extended how long they lived. The comparison arm was calorie restriction — the one intervention that has reliably stretched rodent lifespan for the better part of a century — and semaglutide matched … Read more
The Spanish Menopause Society published an expert position statement on 25 August covering the use of GLP-1 and dual incretin medications in peri- and postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity. It sets out 20 positions across body composition, cardiometabolic risk, musculoskeletal health, monitoring and interaction with hormone therapy. The most useful thing in it, for … Read more