College of Contemporary Health

10/09/2026

New research from NYU Langone Health has produced what its authors describe as the first national overview of how glucagon-like peptide-1 ( ) receptor agonists are being prescribed to children under the age of 12 who are living with in the United States.

The headline finding is one of rapid acceleration from a very low base.

The number of US children under 12 living with obesity who were prescribed the weight loss medicines Saxenda, and remained low in June 2026 – but it was 310 times higher than in 2019, the year the medicines first began to be prescribed in this group.

The study was published online in the journal Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics).

GLP-1 prescribing in children under 12 rose 310-fold from 2019 to 2026, a US study finds - with most affected by severe obesity and access uneven.

09/09/2026

Research funded by The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that the GLP-1 receptor agonist extended lifespan in older, healthy mice by tempering the detrimental effects of ageing.

Investigators at the University of California, Berkeley went a step further than most work in this field by comparing the drug directly against reduced food intake.

Semaglutide mimicked the benefits of calorie restriction and, in several respects, conferred even greater benefits.

The distinction matters.

medicines have already been shown to delay the onset of a long list of age-related diseases in animals, and the clinical picture in people has broadened well beyond glycaemic control and weight.

What this study adds is evidence gathered in healthy older animals, where no single disease is being treated.

If the drug still produces benefit in that setting, the target may be ageing itself rather than any one condition downstream of it – a notion that could tie the widespread benefits of GLP-1s to a common source.

NIH-funded research suggests GLP-1 ageing effects go beyond weight: semaglutide extended lifespan in older mice and rivalled calorie restriction.

09/09/2026

A research team in Japan led by Associate Professor Takakazu Mitani of 信州大学 Shinshu University - Official has now identified as a natural dietary compound that can stabilise PPARδ and influence fat metabolism inside muscle cells.

Pterostilbene is a naturally occurring polyphenol found in , grapes and other berries.

Previous research has linked the compound to beneficial metabolic effects in the liver and in , but scientists knew much less about how it might affect skeletal muscle.

The new findings were published in Volume 83 of the journal Food Bioscience.

A blueberry compound may help muscle cells burn stored fat by protecting the PPARδ protein from breakdown. What the new laboratory findings show.

07/09/2026

In a recent non-systematic narrative review published in the journal Cureus, Inc., researchers summarised the current evidence on the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists ( ) and discussed the possible benefits of these agents.

Their central question is a practical one that clinicians increasingly face in consultation rooms: if the multisystem benefits of this drug class are real, can smaller doses preserve enough of them to keep people in ?

02/09/2026

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in eight people worldwide lives with .

Yet despite the volume of health education programmes, books, articles and treatments available, many people continue to find extremely difficult once obesity has developed.

Precisely why the body resists losing weight, and why lost weight is so often regained, remains a complex puzzle for researchers.

A new study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine (Science) may offer part of the answer.

The research points to changes in a particular type of immune cell known as an macrophage (ATM).

In mice, these changes appeared to make weight loss harder, because the cells seem to carry a biological “memory” of obesity that outlasts the obesity itself.

A new study suggests immune cells in fat tissue retain a biological memory of obesity, which may help explain why weight loss is so hard to sustain.

01/09/2026

People with who followed a ketogenic diet reduced their liver fat by an average of 67%, compared with an average reduction of 45% in both the Mediterranean and low-fat plant-forward groups – even though all three groups lost a comparable amount of weight.

Around half of the study's participants following the ketogenic diet no longer met the criteria for by the end of the study, compared with 29% in the Mediterranean group and 7% in the plant-forward group.

Despite obtaining 73% of their calories from fat, participants in the group showed no increase in blood fat or cholesterol levels, alongside the largest rise in glucagon and the steepest fall in blood insulin of the three groups.

A randomised trial found a ketogenic diet cut liver fat by 67% and resolved prediabetes in half of participants, despite weight loss matched across groups.

28/08/2026

Fungal diseases affect more than 300 million people each year and are linked to over 3.75 million deaths annually, yet they remain historically underrecognised, difficult to diagnose and poorly tracked compared with viral and bacterial infections.

A World Health Organization (WHO) blueprint released in June 2026 sets out a framework for countries to raise awareness, build laboratory and surveillance networks, stimulate research and improve access to diagnosis and treatment.

Australian researchers are finalising an automated surveillance platform that uses to extract evidence of from , with the biggest obstacle being the standardisation of clinical annotations rather than the technology itself.

Fungal disease is rising and underdiagnosed. See how AI fungal disease surveillance and new WHO guidance are strengthening the global antifungal response.

27/08/2026

A qualitative study published in Science & Practice set out to capture something rarely documented: what healthcare professionals think about injectable medications before their service begins prescribing them.

The researchers interviewed staff at a United Kingdom Tier 3 service that had applications for approval in place but was not yet prescribing, giving an unusually clean view of expectations, hopes and anxieties uncoloured by direct prescribing experience.

Staff saw injectable GLP-1 medications as a valuable middle option between behavioural support and .

Their strongest concerns centred on what happens after treatment stops, particularly weight regain and masked behavioural patterns.

Most had learned about these medications from patients rather than through formal .

Tier 3 weight management staff see GLP-1 obesity care as a middle path between behavioural support and surgery – but they still have unanswered questions.

26/08/2026

Children and young people are growing up with rising challenges in an increasingly digital world, and those from marginalised communities carry a disproportionate share of that burden.

Digital mental health tools have been promoted for years as a way to close the gap, on the assumption that anything delivered through a screen can reach further, faster and more cheaply than traditional services.

Until now, the evidence for universal and hybrid interventions had never been pulled together and appraised as a whole.

A new landmark systematic review and meta-analysis led by researchers at York University changes that.

Examining the effectiveness of universal digital mental , the study finds that can positively influence young people’s emotional, behavioural, social and cognitive well-being.

A review of 57 studies finds digital mental health for young people works best when paired with in-person support – and flags major gaps in the evidence.

25/08/2026

CCH is proud to support NMI Summit 2026 this October.

Through our partnership with NMI, we have secured 20 tickets at 20% off.

𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐄𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐠𝐞 takes place on 9 and 10 October at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London.

Expect 11 speakers on themes including healthy ageing and longevity, cardiometabolic health, and lifestyle medicine, with Q&A sessions and networking with colleagues and industry sponsors throughout.

The summit's focus on cardiometabolic health and lifestyle medicine overlaps with our own CPD courses in GLP-1RA therapies and weight management, for anyone wanting to go further after the event.

Once these are gone, our CCH x NMI offer ends, so it is worth booking early if you plan to attend.

🔷 Event page for more info and booking: https://wwww.nmi.health/summit-2026/

🔷 Register and use the code: nmi26-cch-20