RFK Jr and MAHA, Alcohol, Soda, and Lung Cancer

Upstream, upstream, upstream

🥃 I was interviewed for this STAT article by Isabella Cueto - Will MAHA add alcohol to its list of health foes? Short answer: I have no idea! But I do hope that updated, and more visually clear, labels on alcohol will be developed that include cancer risks. I was quoted saying that we might get better food labeling before we get better alcohol labeling, and yesterday the FDA proposed new front-of-package food labels. There’s a great opportunity for RFK Jr, if he is confirmed, to draw the connection between addictive substances and addictive foods and drinks. Speaking of which…

🥤 New study in Nature Medicine on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs): “Globally, we found that 2.2 million new cases of T2D and 1.2 million new cases of CVD in 2020 were attributable to SSBs—representing about 1 in 10 new T2D and 1 in 30 new CVD cases. In addition, we estimated that about 340,000 people died in 2020 from SSB-related T2D and CVD.” I hope RFK’s reported reluctance on GLP-1s will fade— GLP-1s are an upstream treatment, helping people shift behavior and improve their overall health, reducing the number of medications they need for a range of conditions.

🫁 New J&J medication is a breakthrough in lung cancer treatment. Great news and a good moment to remember two things:

1. When you invest in new medicines for difficult diseases, breakthroughs happen. Cancer receives hundreds of billions of dollars a year in pharma investment. Even 5% of that investment for addiction medication development, would be transformative.

2. Pharma spends more developing lung cancer treatments than medications to help people quit smoking, even though smoking causes 85% of lung cancer. Upstream treatment is better!

📝 The transcript of my appearance on Chris Hayes’ podcast, is now available here and if you missed it, you can find links to listen here.