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Nutrition/Obesity

Mixed Drinks, Mixed Results (10.30.2026)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow. This week on the podcast: hopeful guidelines for PMR; certainty about good & bad beverages in gout; mixed results in Sjogren's; non-lupus drugs saves lupus lives; and big hips sink ships in psoriatic arthritis

Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Italian retrospective study of 562 plaque psoriasis Rx w/ biologics - 34% were obese. Primary Rx failure signif. more w/ obesity (17% vs 6%; HR 2.75). A 5 kg/m2 BMI incr assoc w/ 37% higher risk. Lower risk of failure w/ IL-17i (HR 0.49) & IL-23i (HR 0.47). Obesity not assoc w/ https://t.co/fUik6pBcnq
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Placebo beats probiotics in PsA. And nearly 90% of well-controlled RA patients may be able to cut their targeted therapy dose in half. Dr. Jack Cush breaks down the findings worth a closer look in this week's RheumNow podcast, Troubles with ‘Gut Feelings’. Probiotics in PsA: https://t.co/Aqy4HxGHbU
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Study of Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) in 984 RA pts shows PNI is independently inversely corelated w/ RA dz activity, esp. PNI <45. PNI = ser albumin & lymphocyte count calculation (10 × s albumin [g/dL]) + (0.005 × lymphocyte count/mm³]). Other studies have shown modest https://t.co/AV3AGXwSfg
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Triple Hormone Receptor Agonist for Treatment of Obesity and Knee Osteoarthritis The NEJM reports that retatrutide, an investigational incretin agent, was shown to yield up to 25% weight reduction, with subanalyses also showing reduced pain with knee osteoarthritis, and less https://t.co/18DM2UL6vB
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
UK longitudinal study 46 adult PsA pts w/ BMI ≥25 showed use of digital wt. & Dz app (vs no app) improved weight loss (− 1.55 vs − 0.18 kg), dz activity by CPDAI (p < 0.001), esp w/ arthritis (p 0.017) & enthesitis (p  0.034) domains. Weight loss correlated w/ dz activity https://t.co/Y9zVyPmsNl
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Metanalysis of Metabolic syndrome (MetS) in #SLE (65 articles, 11K pts). MetS prevalence 27% (higher in males (36 vs 27%). HCQ assoc w/ signif less MetS (OR 0.66), but more w/ CTX (1.39), AZA (1.25), MMF (1.13), but not steroids or MTX. MetS pts were older, obese, w/ high Chol & https://t.co/ZbVwGTy0rG
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
The weight is off, the DMARDs are off - now what? Sometimes it’s only when we have effective solutions that we have to think about what to do next. And when that happens, remember why we do things in the first place. In an era when weight loss is happening on scale, now we need https://t.co/MTjU5YRS5q
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Mediterranean Diet Lowers Incident Rheumatoid Arthritis Risk The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has published the results of the SUN Project study, showing that long-term adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) was associated with a substantially lower risk of https://t.co/9GhEwXuCEI
Dr. John Cush
@RheumNow
Bringing TOGETHER-PsA Into Clinical Practice The TOGETHER-PsA trial provides prospective evidence supporting an integrated approach to PsA and weight management, reinforcing the importance of addressing both inflammatory disease activity and metabolic health as part of https://t.co/WmF4mdxDWR
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