The articles included in this issue of CENDC  focus on diabetes-related conditions that are interconnected and form a complex metabolic web that can be challenging to tease out. The articles provide an in-depth overview of current research and clinical understanding of each of these conditions. As you read through the issue, the interconnectedness of these disorders as well as the critical role the RDN and CDCES play in medical and lifestyle management will become apparent.

Colleen Dawkins FNP-C, RDN, CSOWM lays a strong foundation in Cardiometabolic Conditions in Diabetes and Implications for the Use of Anti- Obesity Medications. This work describes cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome, and the complex pathophysiological pathways involved. The article emphasizes the importance of comprehensive and integrated care models, which include use of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) and intensive lifestyle interventions, to prevent, reverse, and manage CKM syndrome.

Kathy Warwick RDN, CDCES provides an overview of liver disorders in Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease – An Emerging Global Public Health Concern. Intensive lifestyle interventions and medical nutrition therapy (MNT) are foundation to prevention and treatment of MASH/MAFLD.

The work of Daisuke Hayashi MS and Travis Masterson PhD, Food Noise and Its Impact on Diabetes Care and Management: Insights for Registered Nutritionists, describes food noise and implications regarding patients’ abilities to adhere to healthful eating patterns and achieve health.

In Hypercortisolism and the Impact on Diabetes Management, Sarah Hormachea MS, RD, CDCES, BC–ADM presents an excellent overview of hypercortisolism which includes a review of cortisol’s role in the stress response, the pathophysiology of hypercortisolism, guidelines for disease diagnosis, and implications for RDNs and diabetes care providers as they work with patients to develop comprehensive diabetes self-management and support plans.

The link between diet, microbiome, and cardiometabolic health is a topic of ongoing interest to interdisciplinary groups of researchers, health-aware food consumers and RDNs alike. In The Microbiome and Cardiometabolic Health: What Gets to the Gut and How it Protects your Health, Joanne Slavin, PhD, RDN and Carson Strosahl offer a helpful review of types of carbohydrates, how these are digested and absorbed, and the link between diet and microbiome.

In the final article, An Overview of Sarcopenic Obesity, Michael See MS, CDCES, ACSM-CEP, NBC-HWC discusses sarcopenic obesity (SO), another condition woven into the web of cardiometabolic and multi-system dysfunction. See emphasizes that management of SO requires a multidisciplinary team-based approach which includes MNT provided by an RDN, a personalized exercise plan and medical management, including nutrient-stimulated hormones (NuSH) therapies as a treatment option.