Reading Your Cholesterol Panel at 50: A Plain-English Guide to the New 2026 Guideline
Your cholesterol panel at 50, decoded. The six numbers, the new 2026 guideline targets, the coronary calcium scan, and what the drugs actually do.
Your cholesterol panel at 50, decoded. The six numbers, the new 2026 guideline targets, the coronary calcium scan, and what the drugs actually do.
I am at goal weight on Zepbound. SURMOUNT-MAINTAIN is the trial I have been waiting for. Here is what holding the line at a lower dose actually looks like.
A study of 479,000 adults found cyclists had 22% lower Alzheimer’s risk, 40% lower young-onset dementia risk, and measurably larger hippocampi than nonactive controls. Here’s what the data actually shows, the APOE caveat the headlines missed, and the negative RCT you should hold next to it.
In May 2026, three major papers landed on Lp(a) — the genetic cholesterol marker that 1 in 5 adults carry at risk levels and almost nobody gets tested for. Here’s what the new evidence says, what to do if your number is high, and the aspirin advice you should stop following.
I knew statins worked. I did not know how strange the origin story was. How statins started with mold Get the next one in your inbox I write about longevity, training, and preventive health weekly — without the guru worship. Free, no spam, unsubscribe whenever. The first statin came from Akira Endo, a Japanese biochemist
If you have Medicare and your doctor has been telling you about a new daily pill for weight loss, this post is for you. Foundayo is real, it’s FDA-approved, and starting July 1, 2026, it’s covered for $50 a month under Medicare’s GLP-1 Bridge program for eligible beneficiaries. This is genuinely new. Foundayo got FDA
Updated September 26, 2026 with Lilly’s first Medicare uptake figures. Live since July 1, 2026 The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge has been live since July 1, 2026, and your prescriber can file the prior authorization now. If your copay is still showing the old price at the pharmacy, the two causes I see most are a
Quick disclosure first. I take Zepbound at 12.5mg, prescribed by my doctor and covered by insurance. If the coverage went away tomorrow I’d be on LillyDirect cash-pay before the end of the week. That’s where I’m coming from. I admit I am fascinated by the rise of peptides. It’s as much a business story as
I read a USA Today story this week about the rise of “biohacking,” and my first reaction was that it mostly got the vibe right. More wearables. More self-ordered labs. More biological-age tests. More longevity clinics. More guys showing up with a screen full of numbers and the feeling that they’re finally getting serious about
Updated September 26, 2026 with a note that Lilly is testing brenipatide as a weekly shot, not a monthly one. Updated September 9, 2026: added a section below on the smoking-relapse-prevention trial and a newly registered COPD trial. I quit drinking after getting headaches, looking at the evidence and deciding it wasn’t worth it. Most