August 2025

Upcoming NCCOR Webinar Explores Nutritional Risks Related to the Use of GLP-1 Medications

August 2025, NCCOR

Join NCCOR on August 28, 2025, from 3–4 p.m. ET for the next Connect & Explore webinar titled “Nutritional Implications of GLP-1 Medications in Obesity Care.” The use of obesity medications (OM), particularly GLP-1 agonists, has surged in recent years as evidence shows their effectiveness in facilitating weight reduction and improvements in cardiometabolic and health outcomes and quality of life. However, while these medications can result in reduced appetite and hunger, emerging research suggests they may also increase the risk of nutritional deficiencies and adverse changes in body composition, especially if dietary guidance is insufficient. Despite growing use, there is limited understanding of the nutritional implications of GLP-1 OM and how to best assess and mitigate related risks.

During this 1-hour webinar, experts will highlight the nutritional risks associated with the use of GLP-1 OM and discuss nutrition-related indicators that should be monitored for patients using GLP-1 OM. Presentations will explore the impact of these medications on diet, whether GLP-1 OM use results in nutrient deficiencies, and related clinical indicators that can define nutritional deficiency risk prior to the start of GLP-1 OM. This webinar will feature:

• Sandra Christensen, MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC, MFOMA, FAANP, Integrative Medical Weight Management
• Jaime P. Almandoz, MD, MBA, FTOS, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Registration for the webinar is free, but space is limited, so register early to secure a spot. Please consider sharing this information on your social networks using the hashtag #ConnectExplore. We will live-tweet the webinar, so follow the conversation at @NCCOR. The webinar will be recorded and archived on www.nccor.org  for those unable to attend.

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NCCOR Toolbox: Explore NCCOR Tools to Support National Breastfeeding Month

August 2025, NCCOR

August is National Breastfeeding Month, a time to recognize breastfeeding’s vital role in early nutrition and long-term health. While national breastfeeding rates have improved, disparities persist across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. NCCOR supports efforts to address these gaps and promote breastfeeding through a variety of tools and resources. NCCOR’s Catalogue of Surveillance Systems includes more than 100 publicly available datasets, with 15 containing breastfeeding-related variables. Notably, the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study II offers valuable data on breastfeeding behaviors among WIC participants. NCCOR also hosted a 2023 Connect & Explore webinar that examined long-term trends in breastfeeding initiation by WIC participation and race/ethnicity. In addition, the Measures Registry provides validated tools to assess breastfeeding behaviors, support systems, and policies—resources that can guide research and public health strategies. Visit www.nccor.org/nccor-tools/ to explore these tools and more.

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Webinar Recording: Conducting Strategic Science: Harnessing Science for Social and Policy Change

June 3, 2025, Healthy Eating Research

This Healthy Eating Research webinar was designed for public health researchers interested in producing policy-relevant research that drives change. This session provided an overview of how researchers can develop timely research questions, collaborate effectively with advocates and policymakers, and navigate the line between research and advocacy. Case studies illustrated how strategic science can successfully shape the policy landscape. This is the first in a series of webinars focused on research for policy impact.

The webinar featured presentations from Kelly Brownell, PhD, Robert L. Flowers Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, Dean Emeritus, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University; and Christina Roberto, PhD, Mitchell J. Blutt, and Margo Krody Blutt Presidential Associate Professor of Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Access the recording here.

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A Roadmap for Transforming Obesity Disease Management

June 2025, Center for Biomedical System Design

The United States faces a full-blown health epidemic of obesity that we are slowly shifting to better manage. Medical and technological advancements have provided us with a unique opportunity to holistically address this health epidemic. To fully embrace opportunities to treat patients and reverse obesity rates, system-level, integrated shifts must occur simultaneously. Working together, we can build a system of medical care for obesity that works for all those affected by this disease and provides a roadmap for how all stakeholders in healthcare can contribute to population health-level challenges.

The NEWDIGS consortium in the Center for Biomedical System Design (CBSD) at Tufts Medical Center is dedicated to improving patient outcomes through improved equitable access to biomedical innovations, in ways that work for all stakeholders. CBSD takes a systems approach to designing, evaluating, and catalyzing important advancements whose complex and cross-cutting nature are such that they cannot be addressed by a single organization or market sector. The CBSD Obesity Medicines Project has been working since early 2024 to improve US health systems’ readiness to treat obesity as a disease by articulating system-wide challenges in obesity care and designing and pressure testing comprehensive solutions for the care of patients with obesity.

This Roadmap for Transforming Obesity Disease Management presents the results of the multi-stakeholder, cross-functional consortium which identified 36 action components under ten solution elements grouped within three key solution areas that help to codify the changes that must occur if we are going to be prepared to support the epidemic of obesity.

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Changes in SNAP Participation and Food Expenditures for Households with Children During the Pandemic

June 2025, Healthy Eating Research

The purposes of this research were to explore the characteristics of households with children that joined SNAP after substantial changes were made to the program in the early stages of the pandemic and to learn how the changes affected food purchases. The research team used household-based scanner data to assess demographic characteristics and food purchase expenditures by category of food across households with children that (1) participated in SNAP in 2019 and 2020, (2) joined SNAP in 2020, or (3) were income-eligible nonparticipants. This brief describes how the findings from this research relate to the literature on why eligible households might not participate in SNAP, even with what is known about the benefits of the program on food and nutrition security.

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U.S.-Born Latinos Have Higher Rates of Obesity Compared to Foreign-Born Latino and White Youth

July 28, 2025, EurekAlert!

Background and Goal

Childhood obesity rates differ by ethnicity, yet data on nativity for Latino youth in primary care are limited. Researchers used community health center electronic health records (EHR) from 2012-2020 to track obesity trends by ethnicity and nativity and to test whether nativity is linked to obesity prevalence among patients aged 9-17 years.

Study Approach

Researchers examined EHR data for 147,376 children who visited 1,311 community-based health centers in 21 states. They divided the 2012-2020 span into four snapshots and, at every visit, noted whether a child’s body mass index placed them in the obesity range for their age and sex. Children were grouped as foreign-born Latino, U.S.-born Latino, or non-Hispanic White. Researchers compared obesity rates across groups while accounting for age, sex, insurance, household income, clinic-visit frequency, pregnancy, neighborhood disadvantage and state.

Main Results

The final sample size included 147,376 children across all periods; cross-section counts rose from 38,697 (2012-13) to 72,747 (2018-20).

• S.-born Latino children had higher odds of obesity than non-Hispanic White peers in every period (aOR for U.S.-born Latino children across each period: 1.33 to 1.48).
• Foreign-born Latino children never differed significantly from non-Hispanic White children.
• Obesity prevalence increased over time in all three groups.

Why It Matters

The findings of this study reveal opportunities for primary care practices to further consider patients’ background and culture when addressing obesity and related disease prevention.

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Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Youth Obesity

July 21, 2025, JAMA Pediatrics

In 2023, just after the US Food and Drug Administration-approved semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) for weight management in children 12 years and older, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released updated guidelines for the treatment of obesity in youth for the first time in 15 years.1 The old guidelines recommended watchful waiting and lifestyle modification. In contrast, the 2023 guidelines recommend more aggressive treatment, with early referral to intensive health behavior and lifestyle therapy (IHBLT), weight loss medications, including GLP-1RAs, and bariatric surgery for severe obesity. The old approach did not work; the prevalence of youth obesity continues to rise, now affecting 1 in 5 youth in the US. It is past the time to reconsider what comprises optimal treatment of childhood obesity.

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Genetic Test Predicts Obesity in Childhood

July 21, 2025, EurekAlert!

What if we could prevent people from developing obesity? The World Obesity Federation expects more than half the global population to develop overweight or obesity by 2035. However, treatment strategies such as lifestyle change, surgery and medications are not universally available or effective.

By drawing on genetic data from over five million people, an international team of researchers has created a genetic test called a polygenic risk score (PGS) that predicts adulthood obesity already in early childhood. This finding could help to identify children and adolescents at higher genetic risk of developing obesity, who could benefit from targeted preventative strategies, such as lifestyle interventions, at a younger age.

“What makes the score so powerful is its ability to predict, before the age of five, whether a child is likely to develop obesity in adulthood, well before other risk factors start to shape their weight later in childhood. Intervening at this point can have a huge impact,” says Assistant Professor Roelof Smit from the NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) at the University of Copenhagen and lead author of the research published in Nature Medicine.

The study arises from the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) Consortium, an international collaboration of human genetics researchers dedicated to studying the genetic architecture of anthropometric traits such as human height and body mass index. The research involved a collaboration with the consumer genetics and research company 23andMe, inc., and the contributions of more than 600 scientists from 500 institutions, globally.

Twice as Effective at Predicting Obesity as the Next Best Test

The subtle variations in our genomes can greatly impact our health. Thousands of genetic variants have been identified that increase our risk of obesity, for example, variants that act in the brain and influence our appetite. A PGS is like a calculator that combines the effects of the different risk variants that a person carries and provides an overall score.

To create their PGS, the scientists drew on the genetic data of more than five million people – the largest and most diverse genetic dataset ever. They then tested their new PGS for obesity on datasets of the physical and genetic characteristics of more than 500,000 people. They found that their new PGS was twice as effective as the previous best test at predicting a person’s risk of developing obesity.

“This new polygenic score is a dramatic improvement in predictive power and a leap forward in the genetic prediction of obesity risk, which brings us much closer to clinically useful genetic testing,” says Professor Ruth Loos from CBMR at the University of Copenhagen.

Genetics is Not Destiny

The scientists also investigated the relationship between a person’s genetic risk of obesity and the impact of lifestyle weight loss interventions, such as diet and exercise. They discovered that people with a higher genetic risk of obesity were more responsive to interventions but also regained weight more quickly when the interventions ended.

However, the new PGS has its limitations. Despite drawing on the genomes of a broader, more globally representative population, it was far better at predicting obesity in people with European-like ancestry than in people with African ancestry.

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Prevalence and Correlates of Healthy Behaviors Among Children Age 3–5 Years

July 14, 2025, American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Introduction

This study examined the prevalence and correlates of 6 healthy behaviors among preschool-age children in the United States.

 Methods

Data from the 2021 and 2022 National Survey of Children’s Health were used to examine daily fruit consumption, daily vegetable consumption, no sugary beverage consumption in the past week, frequent outdoor play (≥2 hours/day), limited screen time (≤1 hour/weekday), and adequate sleep (≥10 hours/day) among children ages 3–5 years (N=23,123). Relationships between healthy behaviorss and child, family, community characteristics, and state of residence were examined using logistic regression modeling, accounting for the complex survey design. Analyses were conducted in 2024 using SAS-callable SUDAAN.

 Results

Prevalence of healthy behaviors varied from 32.4% having no sugary drinks in the past week to 65.3% eating fruit daily. Only 20% engaged in all or nearly all (5–6) healthy behaviors. After adjustment, children engaging in 5–6 HBs were more likely to be younger, non-Hispanic White, have parents with higher education and income, excellent/very good parental mental health, frequent family meals, household food sufficiency, and live in safe neighborhoods, yet prevalence rose to only 30% across any characteristic. The proportion of children engaging in 5–6 healthy behaviors ranged from 6.5% in Mississippi to 46.4% in Vermont, with child, family, and community factors accounting for 43% of the variance between states.

 Conclusions

There is a need to increase healthy behaviors among preschool-age children and address disparities. Family and community factors associated with healthy behaviors can inform pediatric care, public policy, programmatic investments, and additional research to foster improvement.

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Turning the Tide on Childhood Overweight and Obesity: More Than a Decade of Positive Change Among 4-Year-Olds in Northern Sweden

July 11, 2025, Acta Paediatrica

Aim

To study the development of overweight, obesity and underweight among 4-year-olds from 2007 to 2022, covering the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Methods

This repeated cross-sectional analysis was conducted in Västerbotten County, northern Sweden. It used data on weight, height, age and sex, which were collected when children attended their 4-year check-ups at any of the 38 Child Health Centres.

Results

The data comprised 42 614 4-year-old children (52% boys). From 2007 to 2022, the prevalence of overweight decreased from 13.4% to 9.5% in the boys and from 14.9% to 12.0% in the girls. The prevalence of obesity decreased from 3.7% to 1.8% in the boys and from 2.4% to 2.0% in the girls. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, overweight and obesity temporarily increased for both the boys and girls, but the levels had returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2022. The prevalence of underweight increased among both boys and girls.

Conclusion

Our study documents a decline in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Swedish 4-year-olds over more than a decade, except for a surge during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we observed an unexpected increase in the prevalence of underweight during the same period.

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