Hannah Brooks
Family Health Writer
New and young parents short on sleep and time
Hannah Brooks covers health for the sleep-deprived years — family nutrition, recovery and realistic fitness for new and young parents. Her north star is advice you can follow at 6am with a toddler on your hip.
Latest articles
HDL's U-Shape: Why 'More Good Cholesterol' May Not Mean a Sharper Brain
A new analysis of more than 7,500 older adults suggests very high HDL — long sold as the 'good' cholesterol — may track with lower cognitive scores. Here's what tired parents need to know about their own labs (and their parents' labs).
When Cutting Carbs Quiets the Immune System: Two-Year Data on Ketosis and Inflammation in Type 2 Diabetes
A new post-hoc analysis tracks inflammatory and immune markers in adults with type 2 diabetes for two years on a carb-restricted, ketogenic plan — and the signal goes well beyond blood sugar.
The Next GLP-1 Era: A Daily Pill, a Surprise Spine Signal, and a Cancer Question Worth Watching
A once-daily oral GLP-1, fresh data linking the class to lower lumbar disease risk, and a network meta-analysis hinting at a nuanced colorectal cancer question. Here's what the moderate evidence actually says.
The Oral GLP-1 Era Begins: What Orforglipron's Phase 3 Means for the Future of Obesity Care
A new phase 3 trial shows a once-daily pill can deliver meaningful weight loss without a needle — and that small detail could change who actually gets treated.
The Metabolic-Brain Axis: Why Diabetes Drugs Are Being Tested Against Alzheimer's and Heart Disease
Early science suggests the metabolic chaos behind type 2 diabetes may also drive memory loss and silent artery damage — and that treating one upstream signal could ripple downstream.
Insulin Resistance Is Showing Up Where You Wouldn't Expect — Including Your Hands
New research links sore thumbs and stuck fingers to metabolic dysfunction, hints that a bone drug may help blood sugar, and maps the inflammation behind gestational diabetes. The thread connecting them: metabolic health is a whole-body story.
Swapping Soda for Milk—or Soymilk: A Rigorous Trial Takes Aim at Liver Fat
A 24-week randomized trial is directly testing whether trading sugary drinks for low-fat cow's milk or fortified soymilk shrinks the fat hiding in your liver. Here's what tired parents should know now.
The Hidden Inflammatory Bridge to Insulin Resistance — and Why CRP Isn't It
A new mediation analysis points to E-selectin, a marker of blood-vessel stress, as a quiet link between metabolic risk and insulin resistance — while CRP, the inflammation test most of us know, came up short.
MASLD and Your Kidneys: The Quiet Conversation Between Two Organs
The disease formerly known as fatty liver got a new name in 2023 — and a fresh acknowledgment that it rarely travels alone. Here's what the latest review tells us about the liver-kidney link.
Mitochondrial Medicine for Metabolic Disease: Beyond Calories In, Calories Out
A new scoping review reframes obesity as an organelle-level problem — and points to the levers, lifestyle and pharmacological, that actually shift mitochondrial function.
MASLD Is the New Metabolic Frontline — and the Heart Is What's Really at Stake
The world's most common chronic liver disease just got a new name. The bigger shift: doctors now treat it as a cardiometabolic problem, because most patients die of heart disease, not cirrhosis.
Fatty Liver Is a Cardiovascular Disease in Disguise
New research links liver fibrosis to clogged arteries — and reframes a condition once filed under 'gastro' as a heart-and-metabolism story parents can't afford to ignore.