Heart & Metabolic

Weight & obesity

A woman seen from behind at a kitchen table eats with chopsticks while on a video call on a laptop.

Women weighed six months into an online tirzepatide program had lost 15.5%; the study had no comparison group

Oct 20, 2026

A hand holds up a thin syringe with a fine needle against a plain bright blue background.

Petrelintide users lost about 8% to 10% of body weight in 28 weeks in a phase 2 trial funded by its maker

Oct 16, 2026

A blood glucose meter, two syringes, a test strip and a blue ribbon laid out on a pale blue surface.

Survodutide cut body weight by 8% to 10% in people with type 2 diabetes, and most had gut side effects

Oct 12, 2026

A teenager in a green sweatshirt sits with hands clasped while a clinician in teal scrubs, gloves and a face mask talks and gestures.

Obesity drugs for children: what a new WHO guideline says and what trials in under-12s and teenagers show

Oct 9, 2026

A person in a sports top and dark leggings stands against a brick wall holding a tape measure out from the waist, face out of frame.

Top-dose retatrutide cut body weight 25% over 80 weeks in a 2,339-person trial, with gut side effects common

Oct 9, 2026

A blood glucose meter, a lancing pen and a test strip container laid in a row between two green apples on a teal background.

A low-calorie diet and supervised exercise put type 2 diabetes into remission in 27 of 50 adults aged 18 to 45

Oct 6, 2026

A person in a yellow sweater holding a pink measuring tape around the waist of someone in a pale green dress.

BMI: what body mass index measures, what it predicts about health and what it misses

Oct 4, 2026

A pregnant woman in a cream sweater seated at a white desk with both hands resting on the belly, face not shown.

Maternal obesity in pregnancy tied to higher offspring death rates into adulthood in 2.6 million births

Oct 4, 2026

A group of people seated around a wooden table sharing plates of pasta, salad and bread, seen from above.

Metabolism and age: energy use holds steady from 20 to 60 and then declines, in a study of 6,421 people

Oct 4, 2026

An empty white plate with a single fork on it.

Does intermittent fasting help you lose weight? What the trials show

Sep 29, 2026

A person measuring their waist with a tape measure.

Belly fat and low vitamin D together tied to more than double the risk of death after 50

Sep 26, 2026

A doctor listening to a child's chest with a stethoscope at a desk

GLP-1 prescriptions for children aged 8 to 11 rose 310-fold since 2019, in records of 3.5 million kids

Sep 23, 2026

A teaspoon resting in a spread of white sweetener crystals

Blood erythritol falling during weight loss went with slightly better heart risk scores, in 664 adults

Sep 22, 2026

A small brown mouse eating a nut on paving stones

Switching off a gut immune sensor protected male mice from diet-driven obesity through their gut bacteria

Sep 17, 2026

Two mice peering out from inside a glass jar

Fat cells in lean breast tissue release a molecule that kills cancer cells, and obesity reduces it

Sep 17, 2026

A gray rat eating a piece of food between two white and patched rats

Combining two next-generation weight-loss drugs beat either one alone in obese rats

Sep 17, 2026

The control panel of an ultrasound machine, with trackball and dials

Liver stiffness readings used to judge fatty liver treatment were checked against biopsy for the first time

Sep 7, 2026

A clinician holding an ultrasound probe in a scanning room

Losing a tenth of body weight tracked seven times the odds of cirrhosis recovering

Sep 6, 2026

The lit display of a digital bathroom scale glowing in a dark room

Sitting at the top of the 'normal' BMI range carried 78% more type 2 diabetes across 1.8 million people

Aug 31, 2026

A stethoscope, a tape measure and small glass vials laid on a white surface

A third of people with 'preclinical' obesity crossed into the clinical kind within five years

Aug 31, 2026

A radiographer positioning a patient at the mouth of an MRI scanner

Lean people with fatty liver and no risk factors still faced 2.5 times the liver death rate

Aug 30, 2026

A bowl of yogurt topped with strawberries and blueberries on a wooden table

Probiotics trimmed waist size in adults with metabolic syndrome, but left blood pressure alone

Aug 26, 2026

A pair of feet in dark socks standing on a digital bathroom scale on a wooden floor

Weight lost early in prediabetes still counted 34 years on

Aug 14, 2026

Two small white tablets on a plain pink background

An oral GLP-1 pill cut weight 9% in a phase 2 trial

Aug 4, 2026

Two parents and two children preparing vegetables together at a kitchen counter

Adding family coaching to GP care worked for child obesity

Aug 3, 2026

A glowing blue heart rate trace running across a grid

Heart deaths halved since 1990. The causes swapped places.

Aug 3, 2026

A patient in a hospital gown standing at a clinic weighing scale

Mazdutide took off 16.7% of body weight in a phase 3 trial

Jul 29, 2026

A person standing on a bathroom scale, seen from behind

The weight came back. The visceral fat loss didn't.

Jul 29, 2026

Two teenagers playing on an outdoor running track

Weight-loss drugs worked better with lifestyle, not without

Jul 28, 2026

Overlapping blister packs holding many different coloured tablets and capsules

Semaglutide led the field for antipsychotic weight gain

Jul 27, 2026

Masked surgeons working under theatre lights during an operation

Bariatric surgery cost less downstream than GLP-1 drugs

Jul 27, 2026

A hand operating the control panel of an ultrasound scanner

Survodutide cleared liver fat in 84% of patients

Jul 27, 2026

A close-up of a blood glucose meter beside a fingertip blood sample

Losing 15% early after a diabetes diagnosis cut complications

Jul 26, 2026

A healthcare worker measuring her blood pressure with an arm cuff

Obesity's metabolic risk gap has narrowed in older adults

Jul 26, 2026

A single white oval tablet on a pale blue background

Oral GLP-1 pill elecoglipron hit 10% weight loss in a trial

Jul 26, 2026

A man measuring his waist with a tape measure

Sarcopenic obesity tripled type 2 diabetes risk

Jul 26, 2026

A young girl smiling at a table behind a glass of juice, with whole oranges in the foreground

Childhood fruit juice tracks with high blood pressure at 36

Jul 25, 2026

A person holding a blue medical injection pen indoors

Apitegromab kept muscle on during tirzepatide weight loss

Jul 25, 2026

A fork wound with a blue measuring tape, held in one hand

Yo-yo dieting was tied to muscle loss on body scans

Jul 23, 2026