The past month brought an unusually large amount of new lipedema research. The strongest publication was the German LIPLEG trial in The Lancet, but there were also new studies on pain processing, low-carbohydrate diets, tirzepatide, shock-wave therapy, blood biomarkers, arm liposuction, diagnostic measurements and eating behaviour. Outside the research literature, the International Lipoedema Association endorsed the term Lipalgia Syndrome, Canada held its first national lipedema conference, and KU Leuven launched a new biomarker project.
The studies are not equally strong. LIPLEG is a large randomized multicentre trial. Several of the other papers are small observational studies, case series or early diagnostic work. I have therefore kept the interpretation close to what the studies actually measured.
4 October, orthorexic eating and body-shape concern
A study in the Journal of Clinical Medicine compared 44 women with lipedema with 44 women without it. The researchers used questionnaires on orthorexic eating, body-shape concern, anxiety and depression. Orthorexic eating refers to an unhealthy preoccupation with eating in a way that is considered healthy, pure or correct.
