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Popular GLP-1 medications for weight loss and diabetes may have unexpected benefits for reducing risks for conditions such as substance abuse, psychosis, infections and even dementia. But these drugs also come with risks that shouldn’t be overlooked, researchers warn in a study published Jan. 20 in the journal Nature Medicine. The study is among the first to take a comprehensive look at how these meds — Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound — affect overall health. Researchers reviewed data from nearly 2 million people treated by the Veterans Health Administration, including more than 216,000 patients prescribed GLP-1 medications. The study found that people taking GLP-1 medications had a 24% lower risk of developing liver failure and a 22% reduced risk of cardiac arrest compared to those on other diabetes treatments. In all, researchers found that people taking GLP-1 medications had lower risks for 42 health outcomes, including liver failure, lung failure, cardiac arrest, aspiration pneumonia and shock. These medications have also been associated with a potential impact on obesity rates, which declined in the U.S. for the first time in more than a decade in 2023, CNN reported. However, the drugs weren’t without drawbacks. People taking GLP-1 medications had higher risks for 19 health outcomes, mostly involving digestive issues such as heartburn, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and gastroparesis (stomach paralysis). They were also more likely to… read on > read on >

Check out your surgeon as you’re wheeled into the operating room. Do they seem tense, on edge, or stressed out? If so, that could be good news for you, a new study says. The patients of stressed surgeons tend to suffer fewer major complications from surgery, according to findings of new study published in JAMA Surgery. Like high-level athletes, experienced surgeons appear to work best under pressure, researchers concluded. The findings show that “stress among experienced surgeons is associated with patient outcomes and may warrant attention from future efforts geared toward improving surgical care,” a research team led by Dr. Jake Awtry, a research fellow with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, concluded. For the study, researchers monitored nearly 800 surgeries conducted by 38 attending surgeons. The surgeons’ average age was 46, and about 3 out of 5 were either professors or associate professors, the study says. The surgeons wore devices to track their heart rates while they operated. The surgeries took place between November 2020 and December 2021 at four university hospitals in Lyon, France. They involved 14 surgical departments and seven specialties — digestive, orthopedic, gynecologic, urologic, cardiac, thoracic and endocrine surgery. Patients had a 37% lower risk of major complications if their surgeon’s heart rate revealed increased signs of stress at the start of an operation, researchers found. But stress did not… read on > read on >

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses have increased among adults in recent years, while remaining stable among teenagers. ADHD diagnoses among adults increased by 15% between 2020 and 2023, after declining by nearly 11% from 2016 to 2020, researchers reported in a new study published in the journal Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice. At the same time, teen ADHD rates remained stable between 2018 and 2023, following a significant 26% decline between 2016 and 2018. These trends “are likely due to a complex interplay of various factors,” the research team led by Dr. Erick Messias, chair of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at St. Louis University School of Medicine, said. ADHD is more widely known and is less stigmatizing as a diagnosis, researchers said. There’s also increased access to health care services that could lead to diagnosis. “As knowledge about ADHD symptoms improves among healthcare providers, parents, and teachers, more cases may be identified and diagnosed,” researchers wrote. In addition, an expansion of diagnostic guidelines for ADHD might have contributed to the increase. For the study, researchers reviewed medical records for more than 144,000 patients with the Sisters of Saint Mary health care system, which has locations in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. The study represents one of the largest efforts to investigate new ADHD diagnoses among teens and adults before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers… read on > read on >

Black people with obesity are less likely to get weight-loss surgery than others. Black people are just as likely to discuss the procedure with their doctor — nearly 10%, compared with 9% of patients of other races, researchers said. But only about 8% of those Black patients go on and actually get the surgery, compared with nearly 13% of other patients, researchers report in a study published Jan. 15 in the Annals of Surgery Open. These results show that doctors need to do more to promote weight-loss surgery as an option for all patients, regardless of race, researchers said. “As a clinician, I often see patients who could potentially benefit from metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) but who aren’t aware of this treatment option,” senior researcher Dr. Alexander Turchin, director of quality in diabetes at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension, said in a news release. “Patients who discuss MBS are much more likely to undertake it and lose weight,” Turchin continued. “Our findings indicate that we need to improve these conversations and identify barriers to undergoing surgery once it has been discussed.” Obesity affects more than 40% of U.S. adults, including nearly 50% of Black Americans, researchers said in background notes. For the study, researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze records of more than 122,000 patients with obesity treated… read on > read on >

Hormone replacement therapy to ease menopause symptoms doesn’t increase a woman’s risk of brain tumors. Researchers found no link between hormone therapy and gliomas, the most common brain tumors in adults, according to results of a new study published recently in the journal Menopause. “Compared with nonusers, users of hormone therapy were not significantly associated with glioma risk,” a team led by senior researcher Dr. Hui Tang, a neurosurgeon with North Sichuan Medical College in Nanchong, China, wrote. No link was found even when researchers considered how long a woman had been taking hormone therapy, and whether she was currently using it. “Although there is a known sex difference in the incidence of gliomas, with women being six times more likely to develop the disease compared with men, there does not appear to be an association between glioma and hormone therapy use in postmenopausal women,” Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for The Menopause Society, said in a news release. Hormone therapy is prescribed to treat common menopause symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings and vaginal problems, researchers mentioned in background notes. The therapy had been widely used until 2002, when early clinical trial results showed an association between hormone therapy and increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke and blood clots. Since then, further study has shown that hormone therapy is indeed… read on > read on >

It turns out, your protein powder might not be as healthy as you think. A new report from the Clean Label Project reveals that popular protein powders — especially plant-based, organic and chocolate-flavored varieties — may contain high levels of lead and cadmium. The report highlights an alarming finding: Nearly half (47%) of the 160 products tested exceeded California’s Proposition 65 regulatory limits for lead, with 21% containing levels more than twice as high as those allowed under the law. “Heavy metal contaminant is a global food safety problem,” Jackie Bowen, executive director of the Clean Label Project, told CNN. “These contaminants are basically everywhere, including in things that are being represented as health foods,” she added. An industry group, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, questioned the study’s methodology and findings. The investigation revealed that: Plant-based powders, like those made from soy, rice and peas, contained three times more lead than products based on whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking. Organic powders had three times more lead and twice as much cadmium compared to non-organic powders. Chocolate-flavored powders had four times more lead and up to 110 times more cadmium than vanilla-flavored powders. Plants naturally absorb heavy metals from soil and water, but contamination can be worse if they are grown in soil further tainted by industrial waste, mining and certain pesticides and fertilizers. Dark chocolate,… read on > read on >

Many more Americans are turning to ketamine for kicks, a new study reports. Recreational use of the anesthetic drug among U.S. adults increased 40% between 2021 and 2022, researchers say. That follows a nearly 82% increase in ketamine use from 2015 to 2019, results show. The more recent increase occurred mainly among young adults 26 to 34, as well as in people with a college degree, researchers found. “These findings are consistent with other research indicating increased use among nightclub attendees in New York City along with increasing law enforcement seizures of illicit ketamine in the U.S.,” wrote the research team led by Dr. Kevin Yang, a third-year resident physician in psychiatry at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine. Ketamine — also known as “Special K” or Super K” — is typically used an anesthetic for people and animals. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of a nasal spray ketamine derivative called esketamine (Spravato) to treat depression in adults, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Ketamine can cause changes in how people perceive reality, the NIDA says. Users might feel like they are floating outside their bodies or dissolving into their environment. “At higher doses, a person may experience extreme detachment from their body and reality, which is called being in a k-hole,” the… read on > read on >

Menthol cigarettes are under fire in the United States for promoting smoking among Black Americans, with a number of cities and states banning the smokes. In response, the tobacco industry has come up with “menthol mimics” that imitate the cooling effect of menthol, and smokers are taking note of the innovation, a new study published Jan. 14 in JAMA Network Open says. A substantial portion of U.S. adults are “aware of and had already experimented with synthetic cooling agent menthol-mimicking cigarettes,” concluded a research team led by Kelvin Choi, a senior investigator with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. “These products may serve as a substitute for menthol cigarettes and reduce the public health benefits of a menthol cigarette ban in promoting smoking cessation,” Choi said. Menthol masks the irritation and harshness of cigarette smoke, making it easier for smokers to pick up the habit, researchers said in background notes. This reduced irritation also allows for deeper inhalation, resulting in higher nicotine exposure, researchers added. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed a ban on menthol cigarettes, but that effort stalled under the Biden administration. Despite this, the states of Massachusetts and California and cities in Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon have pressed forward with their own bans on the products, researchers said. A recent evidence review found that… read on > read on >

A slice of tasty, stretchy, creamy cheese may soon be easier to come by for those on a dairy-free diet. Researchers in Canada are working to create plant-based cheeses with all the taste and texture of traditional, dairy cheese but with healthier and more sustainable ingredients, according to a new research review published Jan. 14 in the journal Physics of Fluids. Scientists from the University of Guelph and Canadian Light Source Inc. are studying plant-based proteins and their interactions to mimic the melting, stretching and oil-release qualities that make cheese so, well, delicious. “If you wanted to strictly only eat plant-based products, you would end up eating a lot of beans and tofu, which can be little bit boring after a while,” study author Alejandro Marangoni, a professor in food, health and aging at the University of Guelph in Ontario said in a news release. “Now, consumers expect essentially the same animal product but with plant-based ingredients, which is very difficult,” he added. Marangoni’s team looked at proteins from lentils, faba beans and peas, combining them with oil blends to create a satisfying cheese-like texture. A blend of 25% coconut oil, 75% sunflower oil and pea protein provided a texture that matched, and in some cases outperformed, cheeses made entirely with coconut oil. Researchers found that the interaction between pea protein and coconut oil increased… read on > read on >

Suffering from low back pain? Addressing your unhealthy lifestyle habits could help ease your pain better than traditional care, a new study says. Back pain sufferers who got lifestyle coaching functioned better and had improved quality of life compared to others who received standard care, researchers report in the study published Jan. 10 in the journal JAMA Network Open. “Resolving back pain needs to focus on more than the back,” senior investigator Chris Williams, a research fellow with the University of Sydney in Australia, said in a news release. “Our bodies are not like machines, we are more like ecosystems where lots of factors interact and determine how we work and feel,” Williams continued. “Back pain is no different.” For the study, nearly 350 people with low back pain were randomly assigned to receive either lifestyle coaching or standard care conducted under existing guidelines. Physical therapists, dietitians and telephone health coaches helped people assigned to the coaching group figure out which of their lifestyle habits might be making their back pain worse. These risk factors could include excess weight, lack of physical activity, bad diet, poor sleep, smoking or excessive alcohol use, researchers explained. For six months, the coaching group was provided support to help them address the factors potentially linked to their back pain. By the end of the study, people in the lifestyle… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Popular GLP-1 Drugs Are Shaping Health Beyond Weight Loss & Diabetes

Stressed-Out Surgeon? That’s Good News for Patients!

ADHD Diagnoses On The Rise Among Adults

Black Patients Less Likely To Get Weight Loss Surgery

Hormone Therapy Doesn’t Increase Women’s Risk of Brain Tumors

Is Your Protein Powder Safe? Report Reveals High Heavy Metal Levels

Ketamine Use Is on the Rise in U.S.

Menthol Mimics Pose Challenge to Tobacco Bans

The Future of Plant-Based Cheeses

These Lifestyle Moves Help Ease Low Back Pain, Study Shows