There was a time in the mid-2000s when I was a huge fan of "The Biggest Loser" (no pun intended), a weight loss competition show that aired on NBC for 17 seasons from 2004 to 2016. I wasn't alone: Throughout its run, the show, which featured teams competing to lose the largest percentage of their original weight under the guidance of a seemingly sadistic personal trainer, brought in 5 million to 10 million viewers an episode.

When I was watching the show, I was unsurprisingly as consumed with losing weight as the contestants were: I did everything you saw on the show, from keeping a meticulous food and exercise journal to counting Weight Watchers points to obsessively weighing myself throughout the day. I also hid diet pills in my sock drawer, I went on "cleanses," and I misused laxatives to prevent myself from absorbing calories properly. Some days, I wouldn't eat at all eventually collapsing into bed lightheaded and deeply proud of myself.

And the whole time, I'd be watching "The Biggest Loser" for the sweet validation that everything I was doing to my body much of which was dangerous was for my own good. I, like so many others, believed that my weight "problem" was about my weakness, my lack of self-control, my failure.

I eventually let go of my obsession with becoming thin, and NBC seemingly let go of "The Biggest Loser" when it faded out without ceremony after its final season in February 2016. But now NBCUniversal (the parent company of NBC News) has revived the show on the USA Network this month as "a new holistic, 360-degree look at wellness."

Perhaps NBCUniversal executives hope that we've all forgotten that the show's "weight loss program" doesn't work in the long term: The majority of contestants gain the weight back and ruin their metabolisms. Or maybe the executives who approved its return to our airwaves think we don't care about the litany of former contestants' testimonies detailing the verbal abuse, eating disorders, mental illness and drug abuse that they experience on or after the show.

Ryan C. Benson, the show's first winner, warned about the dangerous fasting and dehydration he experienced while on the show, "to the point that he was urinating blood." Season Two's Lezlye Mendonca reported that contestants would use "amphetamines, water pills, diuretics, and throw up in the bathroom." Former trainer Jillian Michaels who most recently made headlines for concern-trolling Lizzo admitted that she gave her team caffeine pills to give them "more energy" to exercise. (Michaels, who was among the worst offenders among the trainers, seemingly took particular joy in berating the contestants, saying things like "it's fun watching other people suffer like that" a quote NBC thought was so great that it put it in that season's promo.)

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Joelle Gwynn from the 2008 "Couples" season reported that the show's doctor gave her "yellow and black pills" which, according to the New York Post, she later found out were most likely ephedra, a weight loss supplement banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 after it killed over 150 people to help her lose weight (he denied it) and that trainer Bob Harper (the host of the USA Network reboot) encouraged contestants to consume fewer calories than the doctors deemed safe and that he even supported vomiting.

One of the most outspoken former contestants has been Kai Hibbard, the second-place winner on the third season, in 2006. A year after her season ended, she would become one of the show's biggest critics, eventually calling her participation "the biggest mistake of my life."

I spoke with Hibbard, who is now a social worker and activist and the author of "Losing It: A Fictional Reimagining of My Time on Weight Loss Reality TV." She said, "I had hoped with all the studies, all the other contestants who have spoken out I thought it was enough to kill" the show.

"When I joined the show, I was like most other people: I was spoon-fed this myth my entire life that being thin meant you were healthier," Hibbard added. "Then I went through the whole process of the show and discovered the techniques they gave me to be thinner. I realized how sick, how physically ill they made me. That connection between thin and healthy was broken for me."

Hibbard said people still feel entitled to comment about her body, particularly because she's remained straight size because of a battle with lupus. "When people praise me for my body now, it's a reminder of how much size is not related to health, because right now I'm the sickest I've ever been," she said.

Dr. Lindo Bacon, author of "Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight," told me: "The misinformation that the show gives about dieting is abhorrent. We know these tactics aren't successful to lose weight that will be maintained in the long term. All it is doing is helping people feel bad."

Unlike dieting, the negativity the show encourages about fat people does work. A 2012 study found that watching just one episode of "The Biggest Loser" exacerbated people's dislike of fat people and heightened viewers' belief that weight is controllable. Another study in 2013 also found that watching the show reinforced beliefs that weight gain is entirely in one's individual control thus the idea that fat people are to blame for not taking personal responsibility for their health.

"It's a myth that we have any data to support losing weight is going to be helpful," Bacon said.

Another 2013 study reviewed the literature on how dieting affects health indicators like cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels pretty much every area of concern that trolls purport to be so worried about when criticizing fat people. It showed that across all studies, virtually nothing improved with weight loss. The authors were unequivocal: "Weight, as we reviewed here, turns out to be an inadequate proxy for health outcomes."

While there's no proof that losing weight does anything for a fat person's health, we have plenty of evidence that anti-fat bias and weight discrimination compounded by shows like "The Biggest Loser" contribute to fat people being paid less, facing a higher risk for suicide and depression and receiving terrible medical care.

If people like former trainer Jillian Michaels really care so much about fat people's health and well-being, perhaps they should start by attacking anti-fat bias, rather than attacking fat people.

As a fat person, you're bombarded with messages that you are something to be fixed, rather than someone to be loved and accepted. "These outside messages are telling you that you would be treated better if you changed yourself," Bacon said. "No matter how much we hear this, the problem is not you. It's our culture."

In the new trailer, a contestant says: "I'm hoping to gain confidence. I'm hoping to gain self-love." Those words broke my heart, because I know exactly how he feels. Diet culture and shows like "The Biggest Loser" thrive on the lie that fat people are unhappy, unhealthy and unmotivated; there is no space in "The Biggest Loser" for a happy fat person. But we don't have to live like that.

Despite everything she's been through, Hibbard is optimistic. "When I went on the show, I wanted to change myself to fit into a society that told me I was wrong. At this point in my life, I want to change society," she said.

I'm hopeful, too, because now, for every executive who greenlights a show like " The Biggest Loser," there are people like Hibbard, Bacon and me insisting that fat people are worth more than just a number on a scale.

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'The Biggest Loser' is back on TV. Get ready for ramped-up fat-shaming and dangerous diets. - NBC News

A new year signals a chance to renew your commitment to healthier eating, but many of the most popular diets, like the keto diet and paleo diet, eliminate entire food groups, which can cause you to fall short on nutrients you need.

For example, a study in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology suggests low-carb diets may not have meaningful long-term benefits for weight or heart health compared to other diets and could actually restrict foods that are good for your heart.

This new year, instead of jumping on restrictive diet bandwagons, focus instead on consuming real, wholesome foods you can still enjoy that deliver benefits backed by decades of research.

Consider these tips for incorporating nutrient-rich foods into a few trending diets to make them work for you.

Intermittent Fasting: Skipping meals could do more harm than good if youre not getting the nutrients you need to be your best. A better bet: balanced, flavorful meals that incorporate multiple food groups. If you really want to try intermittent fasting, consider not eating past a certain time in the evening so you can fast throughout the night, and make sure to eat a nourishing breakfast in the morning, like oatmeal made with real milk, topped with fruit and a handful of nuts.

Plant-Packed Plates: If youre considering a vegetarian or plant-based diet in the new year, its important to pack the right nutrients into your meatless meals, particularly protein, calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B12. Make sure youre getting enough by enjoying a variety of plant-based foods like beans, nuts, fruits and vegetables along with some other thoughtfully chosen options. Real dairy milk is a good choice in a vegetarian diet, providing as much as eight times more protein than many non-dairy milk alternatives. Each 8-ounce glass is also a source of vitamin D, and an excellent source of calcium and vitamin B12.

Focus On Fats: If youre keeping closer tabs on your fat intake, its important to choose the right ones and know that a growing body of evidence suggests not all saturated fats are the same. For example, whole milk, which has more dairy fat than skim or low-fat varieties, may actually help raise good cholesterol and could be considered part of a diet thats also good for your heart, according to research in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Calorie Conscious: Monitoring the calories you consume versus the calories you burn through exercise and everyday activity can help manage the fuel your body needs.

When you consistently burn more calories than you eat, you are more likely to effectively lose weight. However, that doesnt mean you have to forgo all your favorite foods. For example, when it comes to dairy, swapping full-fat options for skim or low-fat alternatives is one way to receive the same nutrient package with less fat and calories.

Make better nutritional balance a priority this new year and find more advice and recipes at MilkLife.com.

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Resolve to make real nutrition a new year priority - Goshen News

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) What we put in our bodies plays a significant role in our well-being and it may be fueling some chronic problems.

Numbers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention show 90 percent of the nation's $3.5 trillion in annual health care costs are for people with chronic and mental health conditions. So, when it comes to health and wellness, it's more than just vanity.

Vanessa Teff is a nutritional consultant says there are several reasons people are looking to change their diet.

"Digestion is number one," said Teff. "Hormonal issues is number two. We have a lot of kids, so they usually come in because they have a lot of skin stuff."

She also says depression and anxiety rank near the top for reasons why people are looking for help with their diets.

Based on health history and diagnostics at her clinic, she strives to get an idea of why issues are happening in the body. She said it could be a person is not getting enough of certain foods, but also not enough of the right combination for the person's microbiome.

Nic Schilling is one of Teff's clients. He went searching for help a little over a year ago after he was battling a number of GI-issues. Schilling was working out five to six days a week, but he said his diet was far from perfect.

"We all know what we're supposed to do, but it's more fun to play and eat whatever," admitted Schilling.

He said he thought since he spent at least five days a week in the gym, he could eat what ever he wanted. Some of his favorites to indulge in included ice cream, Funyuns, and drinking alcohol. He had also tried a number of fad diets, but only found short-term success.

"The big thing for me was creating a lifestyle," said Schilling.

When Schilling consulted with Teff, she didn't immediately strip things out of his diet. Instead, she added things like pickled ginger in the morning, a yeast supplement before lunch, and 800 grams a day of fruits and veggies.

"My pantry is not fancy," said Schilling. "I have chips and snacks in there and I'll work them into my day because I like them."

In just three months time, Schilling said many of his GI-issues started going away. He was hitting personal records in the gym, sleeping better, and noticed his overall well being improved.

"I'm buying less supplements and eating real food," said Schilling.

Through consulting with Teff, Schilling started counting his macros. It is where he has a set amount of carbs, fats, and proteins allotted for each day. He then weighs his food and tracks it all on an app on his phone.

"Just focusing on the right nutrition has been quite earth shattering," said Schilling.

When other diets didn't worked, he said this is the first one where he's really noticed long term success. Schilling said if you want to take your health and well being serious, don't do it on your own.

"My biggest suggestion, work with a coach. Figure out someone who can help you out with your diet or a program and that will help you be accountable," said Schilling.

Counting macros may seem intense for some, Schilling said it is something he doesn't even think twice about anymore.

"It was certainly a practice when I started a year ago. It drove me crazy and was certainly tough," said Schilling. "But, anything worth doing is worth making it into a habit."

Teff agreed and said this is not a program that works for everyone. While nutrition is the foundation that she starts with, she said there are a number of things to take into consideration including:

"What are people doing all day long?""What's there lifestyle like?"What are they surrounded by to get that shift?"

"Because with that busy mom, you want - if she can - you want to step back and breathe," said Teff. "Just give her 'her time.' She doesn't need more supplements and herbs."

If you're looking to make some lifestyle changes, Teff suggest starting with adding water and veggies to your diet. She said by adding healthy items in before trying to cut something will increase your chances of being successful in implementing a lifestyle change.

"When we take something out, we always feel like we're at a disadvantage and we're missing something," said Teff.

UW-Madison research to heal from within - all by what we eat

Tucked inside of a lab room in Babcock Hall on UW-Madison's campus, Dr. Bradley Bolling, an assistant professor of food science, and a team of researchers and students are working to learn what is in food. Different graphs show the chemical properties which then helps researchers understand the foods impact on health.

"In our lab we are studying specifically nuts, berries, vegetables, and dairy products and how their components can inhibit inflammation which is related to a number of many chronic diseases," said Dr. Bolling.

Over the past two years, Dr. Bolling and his team have published studies about how eating yogurt can prevent inflammation in women who eat it over a period of 9 weeks. Their findings show, what he calls, a modest benefit.

Another study on aronia berries and their anti-inflammatory properties just wrapped up this past year.

"Those were experimenter conducted primarily in mice that had inflammation in their gut," described Dr. Bolling. "We see that the aronia berry consumption decreased that inflammation that results in the gut."

Using food for healing is growing in interest. Dr. Bolling said there's been an increased interest among students at UW-Madison and by the creation of new food products on the market. While the market is flooded with food labels and new headlines that make these claims, he said this is process that moves quite slowly.

"To build information, to really make a dietary recommendation takes years and hundreds of thousands of human participants in studies," said Dr. Bolling. "The work that you see popping up in headlines tends to be sometimes animal studies or chemical-based studies which are promising, but maybe haven't been as well justified b corresponding human studies."

He also warns consumers to beware of marking labels on food products and encourages consumers to do their own research to see where the study maybe in the process. Dr. Bolling recommends reviewing this this link from the FDA on Health Claims in Food Labeling.

In the future though, Dr. Bolling believes studying the healing properties of food is going to lead to specific heath recommendations, rather than making broad scale recommendations.

Below are links to some of the recent research being done at UW-Madison:

Dairy Foods and Dairy Fats: New Perspectives on Pathways Implicated in Cardiometabolic HealthAronia Berry Supplementation Mitigates Inflammation in T Cell Transfer-Induced Colitis by Decreasing Oxidative Stress.Dietary Prevention of Colitis by Aronia Berry is Mediated Through Increased Th17 and TregPremeal Low-Fat Yogurt Consumption Reduces Postprandial Inflammation and Markers of Endotoxin Exposure in Healthy Premenopausal Women in a Randomized Controlled TrialhereLow-fat yogurt consumption reduces biomarkers of chronic inflammation and inhibits markers of endotoxin exposure in healthy premenopausal women: a randomised controlled trial

As always, before you make any lifestyle changes, be sure to talk with your doctor or nutritionist.

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Food as Medicine: Finding relief to chronic and mental health conditions - WMTV

Outdoor-adventure photographer Jeff Brockmeyer highlights five daily habits that allow him to effectively take a plant-based diet on the road

After a 4 a.m. wake-up and an hour drive south to the Mexican border, Jeff Brockmeyer marches into the Tijuana International Airports TSA checkpoint officers, unzips his trusty cooler bag, and presents 120 ounces of pure, organic orange juice loaded with Vitamin C and ready for inspection.

Traveling from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas means a busy day with international borders and airport security checks before arriving in an unfamiliar land. Brockmeyer, however, has zero intention of letting hectic travel negatively impact his healthy diet. While vegan, he is first and foremost a dedicated produce-juicer who consumes three-quarters of all meals as fresh juice.

Brockmeyer, 35, is a talented and respected outdoors and action sports photographer whos made a career out of traveling the world. That is, until two years ago, when Brockmeyers on-the-road lifestyle came to screeching halt. Health issues related to Crohns disease forced his hand to make a life-changing choice:Undergo a major surgery to remove an inflamed part of his intestine; or begin a series of chemotherapy treatments. Either way, traveling for work was out of the picture and Brockmeyer felt that he was losing grip on the life he had worked hard to create.

Then, lying awake one night in the hospital, Brockmeyer realized a third option: Adapt to a 100 percent plant-based diet. He made a choice to forgo doctors recommendations and committed to implementing the diet, regardless of the extra effort.

Today, Brockmeyer is back to living his life, traveling to the fullest and making breathtaking images. Only now, he has become a master of planning out plant-based meals. Because of the high health stakes to make a mobile juice-based diet work, we needed to hear his best tips for taking such a high-health, high-effort production on the road or into the air.

Back in Cabo, Brockmeyer hits the ground and immediately finds a local market to stock up on all of the fresh fruits and vegetables needed for his week ahead. With necessities in hand, we connect in the evening to unlock a few keys to not sacrificing healthy habits while traveling.In short, the recipe to success starts with proper planning and following through on a few routines. Healthy habits are a byproduct of healthy routines. Brockmeyers best advice for health on the road? Plan for it by making new routinesand stick to them!

For Dramatic Weight Loss, You Cant Beat a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet

Brockmeyers 5 Routines for a Healthy Travel Diet

Do Your Research: As soon as a trip is booked, find the nearest grocery store. Plan the meals you will be shopping for based on what foods will be available in that area. Upon arrival in Cabo San Lucas, Brockmeyer already had the name and location of the nearest market and wasted zero time stockpiling produce.The first thing I type in on Google is the city Im going to and organic farmers market, Brockmeyer says. Organic and local is my favorite. It tastes the best and is the most nutrient-dense. Thats what I strive for.

Prepare at Home: The day before hitting the road, prepare all of the meals needed for the entire day of travel. For Brockmeyer this includes around 120 ounces of juice and a variety of dried fruits. His strategy here is to have enough nutrients prepared for an entire day regardless of what it will entail.Ill take about two hours the night before preparing, he says. Ill make my juice, cut up different fruit and store everything in the fridge. I always pack four jars of juice and some backup dried fruit so that I can get through an entire day, in case there is an emergency. Even if it is a two-hour flight, bring snacks for the whole day.

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$120 in local organic freshly picked produce. This will last about a week. If you have farmers markets in your area, I highly recommend supporting them. Not only is their quality of produce far superior, but it is usually way cheaper too! Food is medicine. Pills are not medicine, pills are poison. Choosing to pay your farmers for the life force of nutrient dense organic produce keeps the system alive that is designed to keep us alive. Farmers are our key to radiant health. Monsanto would love to pump you up full of GMO corn and soy based processed crap, Merk would love to pump you up full of aluminum and formaldehyde vaccines to give you autism, Tyson would love to pump you full of hormone infused chicken thighs, AND.. your local organic farmers would love to pump you up full of the best nutrients in earth grown by the sun and the king himself to give you a thriving and perfectly healthy body. Lets give the local growers our support to keep on going so Costco and Walmart arent the only options to get organic food in 10 years. Ive drink 200oz of fresh Valencia orange juice in the past two days and Ive never felt better. The cure to all these bull crap diseases is to stop listening to your doctor recite research studies and prescribe you medicine, listen to your heart, to nature, it is listening to the healers, and the self healers who have put in the hard as hell work, regenerating their bodies the hard way, all on the one tool given to us to keep us healthy and bring us back to health. The Food! Its the food. Its everything! Im about to blow a fuse out of my brain socket Im so pumped up on 64 oz of OJ. Thanks for listening to my rants. Happy holidays may the juice be with you.

A post shared by JUICING + Natural Healing (@jeffjuices) on Dec 24, 2019 at 12:48pm PST

Pack Accordingly: Brockmeyer prepares two bags to ensure his healthy travel is a success. One bag is typically a carry-on cooler containing the prepared juices and cut dried fruits for his travel. This bag is also equipped with coldpacks and a doctor note confirming his diet. Although he has never had any issues with TSA while flying domestically, he has been asked to present a doctor note during international travel inspections. The second bag gets checked and contains all of the tools necessary to prepare meals while on the road. Example packlist includes: knives, cutting boards, bowls, strainers, a juicer or blender and lots of storage such as water bottles, grocery bags, mason jars and Tupperware.

I make sure all of my stuff is extremely organized, and I bring a doctor note in addition to saying that I have a health condition, Brockmeyer says. It has never been an issue. The other thing I do is take everything I would need for an extended period of time.

Groceries on Arrival: The number one biggest tip and most important step: Grocery shop as soon as you arrive to your destination. Brockmeyer cant stress the importance of this step enough. If you are traveling with others, dont feel awkward about breaking off to shop or asking the group to make the stop with you. Either way, it is imperative that you take responsibility for your diet and that means buying the ingredients you need.If you want to live a healthy life and travel, he says, the first thing you have to do is go to the grocery store no matter where you go! You dont go to a restaurant, you dont go to a gas station. You go to a grocery store and get what you need. You are in charge of your body.

Prepare Meals Daily: Each morning Brockmeyer prepares all of his meals, this requires setting aside the time in advance. If you know you wont have time to cook your meals directly before you eat them, plan ahead and prepare for your day. If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.You need to prep your own food, Brockmeyer insists. If you will be on the go all day, wake up early and make all of your meals. That is your routine.

Follow Brockmeyers juicing journey @JeffJuices / jeffjuices.com, and his adventure photography @JeffBrockmeyer / jeffbrockmeyer.com

For access to exclusive gear videos, celebrity interviews, and more, subscribe on YouTube!

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How to Travel Without Sacrificing Healthy Habits and a Plant-Based Diet - Men's Journal

As people rely on diets to lose weight and following a balanced diet helps people in achieving the perfect body shape. Intermittent fasting, Mediterranean diet, and Paleo diets are some of the diets that help people with overweight issues. In a recent study, scientists have explored how effective these diets are.

The University of Otagos research on 250 participants shows an intermittent diet that proves to be more efficient in weight loss than others. The aim of the research was to examine how effective all three diets were in reality, where participants self-selected which diet they wished to follow, without any ongoing support from a dietician.

This work supports the idea that there isnt a single right diet there is a range of options that may suit different people and be effective. In this study, people were given dietary guidelines at the start and then continued with their diets in the real world while living normally, explained Melyssa. About half of the participants were still following their diets after a year and had experienced improvements in markers of health.

Like the Mediterranean diet, intermittent fasting and paleo diets can also be valid healthy eating approaches the best diet is the one that includes healthy foods and suits the individual.Co-lead author Dr. Michelle Jospe, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Medicine, said that the results showed people found the Mediterranean diet to be the easiest to adhere to.

54 percent of participants chose the fasting diet, while 27 per cent chose the Mediterranean and 18 per cent the paleo.After 12 months, the Mediterranean diet had the best retention rate with 57 per cent of participants continuing, with 54 per cent still fasting and 35 per cent still on the paleo diet.

Reduced systolic blood pressure was observed among those participating in the fasting and Mediterranean diets, together with reduced blood sugar levels in the Mediterranean diet.Dr Jospe explains participants who said they were still following their diet at 12 months lost even more weight, showing the importance of choosing a diet that is sustainable.She believes the results of this study are relevant to the thousands of people following self-chosen diets with little supervision and indicates more realistic outcomes.

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How effective diets boost weight loss and improve health - Telangana Today

Genetic medicines and cellular therapies have an enormous potential to treat, and possibly cure, currently untreatable diseases. Nonetheless, it's important for investors to remember that "simpler" treatment options won't become obsolete just because gene therapy, gene editing, and immunotherapy approaches are becoming feasible.

Investors are hoping that the 'simple is better' approach proves true for Codexis (NASDAQ:CDXS).The company's first drug candidate, the enzyme-based CDX-6114, is being developed to treat a rare disease called phenylketonuria (PKU). Can the simpler approach of Codexis compete with a growing list of gene therapies that are also targeting the disease?

Image source: Getty Images.

Codexis isn't a biopharmaceutical company. It has developed a platform for engineering enzymes, which are complex molecules that power virtually all biological processes in living cells. Enzymes can also be added to industrial processes, health diagnostics, and consumer products to reduce energy consumption, lower input requirements, improve functionality, and eliminate toxic wastes.

Today, the company generates most of its revenue from three sources: selling enzymes that improve drug manufacturing processes, selling enzymes that improve the manufacturing process for a zero-calorie sweetener ingredient from Tate & Lyle, and selling licenses to its enzyme engineering software platform. But Codexis is also eyeing a large opportunity in developing novel therapeutics.

In late 2017, Codexis and Nestle Health Science, owned by Nestle, entered into an agreement to develop rare-disease drug candidates. The goal is to engineer enzymes that can be administered orally, rather than injected or given intravenously, which would provide a significant advantage in cost and convenience relative to treatments for many rare diseases.

Designing medicines that can be taken orally may not sound very novel, but enzyme-based treatments are typically degraded as they journey through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. That requires enzymatic medicines to be administered subcutaneously, which can trigger severe allergic reactions and doesn't efficiently deliver them to the liver, where they're most effective. Therefore, Codexis must engineer enzymes that are stable enough to make it through the GI tract so they can be transported into the liver -- a capability uniquely accessible to Codexis.

The first asset to advance into clinical trials was the experimental PKU treatment called CDX-6114. Individuals born with PKU have a nonfunctioning copy of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) that metabolizes the amino acid phenylalanine (Phe). When Phe accumulates to dangerous levels, it can cause significant intellectual disabilities in newborns and mental impairments in adults. Individuals must follow a strict (and expensive) diet that limits daily protein intake to just five grams and avoids the artificial sweetener aspartame, which breaks down into Phe. CDX-6114 was designed to help individuals metabolize Phe and live a normal lifestyle.

In early 2019, Nestle Health Science, which sells many nutritional products for PKU patients, exercised an option granting it exclusive rights to develop and commercialize CDX-6114. Codexis is eligible to receive up to $85 million in remaining development and approval milestones, up to $250 million in revenue milestones, and royalties on sales.

For comparison, Codexis generated $44 million in the first nine months of 2019. While the industrial business is growing, achieving success with the therapeutic pipeline could provide a significant boost. Will gene therapies stand in the way?

Image source: Getty Images.

The hypothesis supporting the collaboration between Codexis and Nestle Health Science is pretty simple to understand: Many rare diseases are caused when individuals fail to make a specific functioning enzyme, so treatments that provide a working copy could prove valuable. Of course, that's the exact hypothesis supporting the industry's pursuit of genetic medicines.

Whereas Codexis wants to provide an enzyme substitute through an orally available drug, a gene therapy aims to provide direct replacement of an enzyme by potentially fixing the genetic error at the root of a disease.

It might be tempting to think that gene therapy is the ideal solution for PKU, but not every gene therapy will succeed in providing a cure. If a gene therapy only partially succeeds in replacing adequate levels of the gene responsible for producing the PAH enzyme, then individuals might still be dependent on strict diets and imperfect treatment options. Simply put, barring the successful development of a curative gene therapy, the enzyme-based approach of Codexis and Nestle Health Science could be a competitive option.

It's not much of a competition at the moment, as there's not much to compare. CDX-6114 is being studied in a phase 1b study, while early-stage results for gene therapies have been unimpressive or non-existent.

Company

PKU Drug Candidate

Results

Codexisand Nestle Health Science

CDX-6114 (enzymatic)

Phase 1a trial: well tolerated at all four dose levels in 32 healthy volunteers, but not tested in PKU patients

Homology Medicines (NASDAQ:FIXX)

HMI-102 (gene therapy)

Phase 1/2 trial (ongoing): two individuals with PKU receiving low-dose showed no reduction in Phe at three months, one individual receiving high-dose achieved a reduction in Phe

BioMarin (NASDAQ:BMRN)

BMN 307 (gene therapy)

Expects to initiate phase 1/2 trial in the United Kingdom in early 2020

Data sources: Codexis, Homology Medicines, and BioMarin.

Despite the early-stage nature of the industry's pipeline, the opportunity is large and the bar is relatively low.

Individuals with PKU currently have two main drug options: Kuvan and Palynziq. The two drugs, both sold by BioMarin, generated combined revenue of $396 million in the first nine months of 2019. But they're only partial solutions.

Kuvan is a coenzyme that can help to break down Phe, but it only works for individuals with milder PKU and comes with a relatively long list of side effects. It still generated $341 million in revenue in the first nine months of 2019.

Palynziq is a newer therapy. It's a substitute to working PAH enzymes required to metabolize Phe, but the drug can take up to 12 months to begin working and triggers significant side effects in most people. It comes with a black-box warning for severe allergic reactions (observed in 9% of individuals in clinical trials), requires daily injections, and costs $192,000 per year. While doctors have been generally impressed with results for patients that stick with treatment, there's much room for improvement.

Codexis is hoping that CDX-6114 can provide a convenient and safe enzyme-based treatment option for individuals with PKU. If the asset demonstrates promising clinical results in an ongoing phase 1b trial, then it could begin to factor into the pharma stock's price and the company's market valuation. After all, analysts expect Palynziq to generate over $1 billion in peak annual sales despite the drug's inconveniences and safety issues, and Codexis is valued at just $1 billion today.

However, investors do need to keep track of genetic medicines in development at Homology Medicines, BioMarin, and any other companies that throw their hats into the ring (RNA interference seems uniquely suited for a PKU treatment, but no such drugs are in development yet). If genetic medicines demonstrate a consistent safety profile and provide a cure for most individuals with PKU in early clinical trials, then CDX-6114 might have its market potential severely reduced before it even leaves the clinic. If genetic medicines only provide partial solutions, then the details and nuance might determine which approach, if any, will dominate the market.

The next batch of results from each company is likely to be available before the end of 2020, which means investors will learn quite a bit about the shape of the competitive landscape soon.

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Codexis Is Chasing a Blockbuster Opportunity. Can It Compete With Gene Therapies? - Motley Fool

Joe Fivas

By TIM SINIARD

Lessons learned.

On Monday, Cleveland City Manager Joe Fivas updated the members of the Cleveland City Council regarding the future of the citys planned streetscaping project for the Inman Street Corridor, which runs through downtown Cleveland.

Fivas remarks took place during the City Councils work session held at the Municipal Building.

Late last year, the city of Cleveland learned it was not to receive a $17 million U.S. Department of Transportation Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development Grant, which would have funded the citys revitalization of the Inman Street Corridor.

Instead, USDOT announced the city of Memphis was the only city in Tennessee to receive the grant.

Cleveland city officials vowed to reapply for the grant this year.

One of the things that we want to talk about is changing the scope of the Build Grant, and it's kind of a lessons learned-type scenario, Fivas said. Instead of focusing more on Inman street, which is an infrastructure grant, we want to use the grant to work on infrastructure around the Whirlpool property."

Despite the strategy change, revamping Inman Street will remain a big part of that effort.

The multi-million grant would have played a key role in the first phase of the citys implementation of its Downtown Redevelopment Master Plan, unveiled earlier last year.

The 1.2-mile Inman Street Corridor project, which involves the length of roadway from Keith Street to East Street, would have been the first step in the citys downtown revitalization initiative, dubbed a reimagining of the heart of downtown Cleveland."

A key element of the project includes reducing the number of lanes from four to three to slow traffic as it passes through downtown, where future implementation of the citys Downtown Redevelopment Master Plan will feature parks, green spaces, a proposed sports complex, hotels, apartments and townhouses.

The master plan also proposes a new tree-lined streetscape design for Inman Street, with sidewalks, medians and roundabouts to facilitate traffic flow.

According to the master plan, Inman Street would be placed on a "road diet."

Although Inman Street would be less one lane, it would gain designated turn lanes separated by medians. As a result, drivers of vehicles wanting to make turns will no longer cause traffic to back up as they await a green light to allow them to make a turn.

A traffic study conducted by engineering consulting firm Volkert in advance of the submittal of the BUILD grant application, found that the road diet would not adversely impact traffic flow downtown.

The analyses included in this report indicate that the impacts of a road diet along Inman Street from Keith Street to East Street in Cleveland will not significantly affect the signalized intersections, and will only improve the operations at the unsignalized intersections," the Volkert traffic study found. The volumes, as well as vehicular and pedestrian characteristics along Inman Street, make this corridor a good candidate for a road diet.

By shifting focus to include the area closer to the former site of Whirlpool Plants 1 and 2, Fivas said the city will have better chances of qualifying for the grant.

Were looking at options and ideas on what that will look like, Fivas said. We think it's probably a better story to tell ... we think it's a better narrative.

In addition, he said the city is seeking ways to reduce the project to a cost- neutral perspective from what was already submitted in last years grant application.

Fivas said USDOT will send out a notice in February soliciting grant applications.

Then we will be on the clock, and we would have the next iteration of that application available in July, he said.

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City's next downtown grant bid to expand its scope - Cleveland Daily Banner

Intermittent fasting may be more than just the latest weight loss trend. According to a recent review published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it could have health benefits that go beyond those usually associated withlosing weight.

"We think in the long run that an intermittent fasting eating pattern will likely decrease one's risk for stroke and possibly Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases," said Mark Mattson, one of the co-authors of the review. Mattsonisadjunctprofessor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University.

Intermittent fasting is less about what or how much you eat, and more about a change in eating patterns. Two popular regimes that were the subject of the research included in the journal review, are known as "5:2" and "16:8."

5:2, involves eating normally five days a week, then only eating 500 calories on the other two days. 16:8, involves only eating in an eight hour window, then fasting for 16 hours.

Mattson said the journal asked himto review the latest science because so many patients wereasking their doctors about fasting and it was important to inform doctors about the subject.

He said this was also a good time to summarize the evidence because research on humans about intermittent fasting has been accumulating recently. As a result "we can be pretty confident and saying that what we're finding in rats and mice applies pretty well to humans."

The review found that beyond weight loss, other benefits to intermittent fasting could includeincreased physical and mental energy, improved learning and memory, reducedanxiety levels and improvedmood. There was also evidence that fasting can suppressinflammation, improveblood sugar regulation and could even help extend life expectancy.

Anumber of studies have shown thatintermittent fasting is at least as effective as standard diets in losing weight in those who are overweight or obese. But Mattson said simply reducing overall caloric intake throughout the day, as is done in many diets, doesn't give the same health benefits as fasting.

He said when he compared the results from an intermittent fasting regime to a regular diet where the same number of calories were cut, he saw differences.

"Both groups of women, in our studies, lost the same amount of weight over a six month period. But the women on 5:2 intermittent fasting lost more belly fat and they had significantly greater improvement in insulin sensitivity that is,they had a stronger anti-diabetic effect," he said.

When people get used to intermittent fasting, they do tend to eat less,but Mattson said it doesn't appear to be the reason for the health benefits.

"We studied a strain on mice that when we put them on alternate day fasting, on the day they do have food, they eat pretty much twice as much food as they would normally eat," he said.

Over the long term, those mice weren't eating more calories, yet they lost more fat and showed metabolic and neurological improvements.

Toronto-based kidney specialist, Dr. Jason Fung author of The Obesity Code, said the logic behind intermittent fasting was clear.

"Most people who are trying to lose weight have hundreds of thousands of calories of body fat sitting on their body. So why won't your body use it? If you don't eat, your body will use it," said Fung.

Fungsays the key to fasting is in the insulin response. Insulin levels are increased by the body when we eat. He describes insulin as a train conductor that can switch tracks to redirect where thebody gets its energy.

When insulin levels are up, the track switches to burning fuel from the food we just ate. When insulin levels are down, it switches tracks and starts burning fuel from our liver and fat stores.

After this switch to burning fat happens, our cells can go into "repair and maintenance" mode, a process called autophagy, that starts recycling components ofcells that aren't functioning well.

Evidence is accumulating that fasting, sometimes for longer periods of time,can have significant benefits for people with a range of serious and chronic illnesses.

In 2018, Fung published a paper in the British Medical Journal Case Reports about three individuals he treated with intermittent fasting for Type 2 diabetes, which they had for 20-25 years.

"We started intermittent fasting and within a month, all three were off of their insulin," he said."Within six months, all of them were classified as non-diabetic." These patients fasted for 24 hour periods several times a week.

Dr. Andreas Michalsen, the director and head of Charity Medical University's Department for Integrative and Internal medicine in Berlin, studies extended fasting from five to 30 days, and treats up to 1500 people a year for chronic illnesses

He said the longer a person fasts, the more potent the improvements in mechanisms such as blood glucose regulation and autophagy seem to be.

"The signals are higher when you perform prolonged fasting," said Michalsen.

Fungcautions that longer fasts come with increased risk and requiremedical supervision.

Critics of intermittent fasting worry it can promote disordered eating, so researchers caution that anyone prone to eating disorders should avoid fasting.

Mattson added that those with a body mass index below 18, at the low end of the normal range, should also refrain from intermittent fasting, as well as children under 17 years old and women who are breastfeeding or who might be pregnant.

We asked the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism about treating Type 2 diabetes with intermittent fasting.This was their statement in response:

"Type 2 diabetes is a chronic metabolic condition which has many contributing factors, including family history, age, nutrition, exercise, certain medications and other factors. No single factor is entirely responsible for the development of diabetes. Consequently, the approach to management involves multifactorial intervention. Nutrition is a major factor in the management of diabetes. However, nutrition management should be individualized and no single diet is appropriate for every individual. A number of diets, including Mediterranean style diet, Nordic style diet, DASH diet or vegetarian style diet have all been shown to help manage diabetes and reduce cardiovascular risk factors. Intermittent fasting can improve glycemic control, but also can place individuals at risk for low blood sugars (hypoglycemia), particularly if they are taking insulin. The Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (CSEM) recommends that people with diabetes, especially if using insulin, check with their health care provider before considering any major change in their diet.

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Intermittent fasting why not eating (for a bit) could work for weight loss and health - CBC.ca

K-Pop stars at the top of the game may be bringing in big bucks, but many others are just barely managing to scrape by due to high costs and low pay. Unfortunately, rules in the scene mean that those who need to make extra cash are simply out of luck. Granted, trainees and rising performers don't really have time for a second job, but even if they want to have another source of income, they're not allowed to because it's against the rules.

Koreaboo explains, "While this depends on which company you're with, most companies don't want you to have a part-time job even though you might not earn enough as a trainee or recently debuted artist." The BBC even states that "some of K-Pop's biggest success stories were built on the back of so-called slave contracts, which tied its trainee-stars into long exclusive deals."

However, some people in the industry are trying to fight this unfair situation. Dong Bang Shin Ki even brought forth a lawsuit over what the group felt was an unfair contract. The group "took its management company to court, on the grounds that their 13-year-contract was too long, too restrictive, and gave them almost none of the profits from their success," according to the BBC. Fortunately, the group won their case, which led "the Fair Trade Commission to issue a 'model contract' to try to improve the deal artists got from their management companies."

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Strict rules that K-Pop singers have to follow - Nicki Swift

I want to live in a world where.

What if we started more statements like this when framing our thoughts, worries, discussions, and arguments(!) around the phenomenon variously called climate change, climate disruption, and climate crisis?

What if, instead of painting a picture of gloom and doom focused on tremendous loss of human life to flooding and increasingly violent storms and crop loss, mass species extinctions, and economic disruption that leaves us panicked and afraid, we instead focused on what we hope for?

What if we each took the time to picture the world that we could live in 20 years in the future if we came together now to slow the pace, and eventually stop, rising atmospheric greenhouse gasses, atmospheric temperature, and the attendant consequences of our current trajectory?

Climate change is real, we know its happening, and we know that the sooner we reduce greenhouse gas emissions the better it will be, for all of us. So what could it look like if each of us told ourselves the truth about this moment in history and acknowledged the truth about changing climatefinding ways to work together to build the world in which we all want to live? And even, how could doing this make us happier, less worried and more fulfilled members of our communities?

A recent op-ed in the New York Times, A New Years Climate Diet, calls upon readers to work on our own personal climate diet. Somewhat contradictorily, another Times article titled How to Stop Freaking out and Tackle Climate Change encourages us to instead realize that individual actions matter less than working together.

So, which is it? Do we need to change the way we move about the world, heat our homes, and shop? Or is it better to realize that we can have more significant impacts by working with a group that is influencing policy or electing candidates who will work to decarbonize our future, using our unique skill-sets in the service of a larger good?

I think it looks like both! Working on our own climate diet (maybe by eating less dairy and meat, or carpooling, or flying less and buying carbon offsets when we do fly) to reduce our contributions to greenhouse gasses educates us about the carbon costs of our choices. At the same time, this greater awareness can lead us to the groups that are helping to shift to more sustainable social, political, and economic systems.

I want to live in a world where. Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington are connected by commuter trains, most homes have affordable solar panels on their roofs, and children are no longer anxious about climate change.

What does the world you want to live in look like?

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Op-Ed: What does the world you want to live in look like? - Kentucky Kernel