Lifelong Learning

Obesity is Not a Disease

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David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM is a specialist in Internal Medicine, Preventive Medicine/Public Health, and Lifestyle Medicine – globally recognized for expertise in chronic disease prevention, health promotion, and nutrition. The founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, and past president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, Katz is the founder of the non-profit True Health Initiative, founder of Diet ID, and Chief Medical Officer for leading food-as-medicine company, Tangelo. He is a senior science advisor to Blue Zones. He holds multiple US patents, including for advances in dietary assessment. He has roughly 250 peer-reviewed publications, has authored 19 books- including multiple editions of a leading textbooks in nutrition and preventive medicine, and has earned numerous awards for his contributions to public health, including three honorary doctoral degrees.

https://www.vumedi.com/video/obesity-is-not-a-disease-so-what-is-it

Diet until proven otherwise.

Heart Attacks Happen in the Young

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Dr Ravi Prakash, senior consultant in cardiology at PSRI Hospital, Delhi, said that data from hospitals across India between 2020 and 2023 show that 50% of heart attack patients are below the age of 40. Doctors and researchers are alarmed by the growing number of cardiac arrests among individuals under 40 years of age. Experts attribute this rise to sedentary lifestyle, stress, poor diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, and even genetic factors. 50% of heart attack cases since 2020 among adults below 40 – https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/xplore/2025/Feb/24/50-of-heart-attack-cases-since-2020-among-adults-below-40

Prevention of MI in young individuals is an important public health problem. Despite being categorized as “low risk” prior to their events, most young individuals who experience an MI have pre-existing risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Tobacco use, which occurs in approximately 50% of young adults who experience an MI, remains one of the most important modifiable risk factors. Additionally, substance abuse, tobacco use, diabetes, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, and systemic inflammatory disease are all associated with a worse long-term prognosis in those who experience an MI at a young age. Not All Heart Attacks are Created Equal: Thinking Differently About Acute Myocardial Infarction in the Young – https://journal.houstonmethodist.org/articles/10.14797/mdcvj.345

Yikes.

Lisdexamfetamine Dimesylate (not just for ADHD anymore)

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Llisdexamfetamine dimesylate is currently the only drug to be approved in the USA for the treatment of moderate to severe binge eating disorder (BED) in adult patients. – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29134566/

Just a few side effects BTW.

The prescribing information also includes warnings and precautions regarding serious cardiovascular reactions, blood pressure and heart rate increases, psychiatric adverse reactions, suppression of growth, peripheral vasculopathy (reduced circulation of blood flow to body parts), and serotonin syndrome (a potentially life-threatening overage of serotonin). Please see Vyvanse’s full prescribing information for additional details.

The most common side effects in children, adolescents and/or adults with ADHD taking lisdexamfetamine dimesylate capsules and chewable tablets were anorexia, anxiety, decreased appetite, decreased weight, diarrhea, dizziness, dry mouth, irritability, insomnia, nausea, upper abdominal pain, and vomiting. The most common side effects in adults with BED were dry mouth, insomnia, decreased appetite, increased heart rate, constipation, feeling jittery, and anxiety. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/news-events-human-drugs/fda-approves-multiple-generics-adhd-and-bed-treatment

Take Home Lesson for Life Underwriters

Know your drugs and read the prescription DB reports. You’re welcome.

My Cryptocurrency Investment

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My cryptocurrency investment was taking the time to learn and understand the bubble. Charles Mackay’s bestseller Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds discussed many historical bubbles and was published in 1841. The book sits on the shelf and remains a reminder not to get caught up and swept away by the madness of crowds. THERE ARE IDIOTS: Seven pillars of market bubbles is a good article and much more recent than 1841 https://www.acadian-asset.com/investment-insights/owenomics/there-are-idiots-seven-pillars-of-market-bubbles.

Greg Hunter’s https://usawatchdog.com/ is neither Democrat nor Republican, Liberal nor Conservative. Before creating and producing the site, Greg spent nearly 9 years as a network and investigative correspondent. He worked for ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly 6 years. Most recently, Greg worked for CNN for shows such as Paula Zahn Now, American Morning and various CNN business shows. The following is an edited excerpt from an interview with Catherine Austin Fitts.

Bailout of the Big Boys. Be careful out there. Don’t get screwed.

“This is literally a Bitcoin for land-grab swap. . . . So, they take our retirement savings, what’s left of it, and they take our taxes and use it to buy Bitcoin.  The Bitcoin billionaires sell their Bitcoin into that at the same time they are taking advantage of the monetization of all the land and minerals.  They sell their Bitcoin at the top, and what can they do?  They can buy the land. . . . They want out of digital assets, and they want real assets.  Right now, the whole race on the planet is to grab the real assets such as land, mineral resources, water resources, etcetera, etcetera. . . . The land ownership of the top 100 landowners of America doubled.  They are not buying Bitcoin.  They are buying land.  Bill Gates is buying farm land.  The Harvard Endowment is buying farm land.  What you are really seeing is a discussion to sell the unreal assets to the taxpayer and the real assets to private parties.  If this succeeds, it will be the biggest robbery and financial scam in the history of the country. .  . The smart money is trying to control the real assets.” Catherine Austin Fitts former Assistant Secretary of Housing (Bush 41 Administration) https://usawatchdog.com/smart-money-buying-up-real-assets-not-bitcoin-catherine-austin-fitts/

Catherine Austin Fitts is the founder of Solari, a private company. Link to her company website is https://home.solari.com/ where I found the absolute best summary of the history of Bitcoin and what Fitts calls the BITCOIN BAILOUT: Why a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Is a Bailout of the Big Boys https://home.solari.com/bitcoin-bailout-why-a-bitcoin-strategic-reserve-is-a-bailout-of-the-big-boys/

Smartphones, Ultra-Processed Foods, Diminished Family Bonds and Mental Wellness

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As mental well-being has remained largely static across the world since 2021, so too have the rankings of countries. At the top of the rankings are many Latin American and African countries while much of the core Anglosphere ranks in the bottom quartile. With national wealth indicators such as per capita GDP negatively correlated with average mental well-being scores (see our 2021 report), this year we have made substantial progress in our understanding of why this is so. Two key findings published in Rapid Reports in 2023 show that younger age of first smartphone ownership and ultra-processed food consumption are two major contributors to our mental health challenges. In wealthier countries, the age of first smartphone ownership is much younger and ultra-processed food consumption much higher. Other contributing factors are the relatively diminished family relationships in wealthier countries that are highlighted in our 2022 annual report. The Mental State of the World in 2023 – https://mentalstateoftheworld.report/2023_read/

Another Sunday morning, just reading and connecting the dots.

I’ve downloaded several of these reports and plan to do a deep dive later.

Read these reports and think about it.

Now do something about it.

Ugh… Kids These Days!

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While cocaine was once the drug of choice, bankers are now reportedly turning to the ADHD medication for work days that can last as long as 22 hours, along with nicotine patches and energy drinks. 90-hour-a-week Wall Street bankers snorting lines of Adderall at their desks – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/15/90-hour-a-week-wall-street-bankers-snorting-adderall-desks/

It never ceases to amaze this Old Underwriter how people manage to find creative ways to kill themselves.

Humans are Difficult

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That day at the Costco checkout, I paid for my groceries at a human-powered cash register and received the tiny oxytocin boost that comes from a random interaction with strangers, the kind that Mehret Biruk is always raving about, those small insignificant moments of connection that add to the richness of life…

This interaction made me realize that much of what I explore in this newsletter is about embracing inefficiencies—making phone calls instead of texting, planning your route ahead of time instead of relying on a GPS, waiting to check your email from a desktop instead of on-the-go, letting people know that you can’t always be instantly available across various communication platforms.

We live in a world obsessed with optimization. An era of contactless everything. This holiday season, lean into the inefficiencies. Make eye contact with strangers. Take your AirPods out of your ears and make small talk with the cashier instead of scanning your own groceries. Chat with the kind humans handing out samples at Costco. Choose human connection, however uncomfortable that may be. You might be pleasantly surprised. Humans are difficult – https://substack.com/@carmellaguiol

Choose human connection.

What’s Your America? (there are 10 Americas) – Updated with Scary Charts 02.01.25

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Asians and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders definitively outlive other Americans. Is there anything we can learn from them? A confluence of factors may be at play. They tend to have relatively higher socioeconomic status, lower rates of obesity, and the lowest smoking rates of any racial group in the U.S. Healthier traditional cooking may also contribute to their longevity. When it comes to life expectancy, there are 10 Americas – https://bigthink.com/health/ten-americas-for-life-expectancy/

Attention Mortality Risk Experts

Sharpen your pencils and don’t ask me what a pencil is.

Updated 02.01.25 with Scary Charts