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LGBTQ+ Stress and Stigma Increase Risk of Mental Health Problems

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The societal stress and stigma of being LGBTQ+ can increase a person’s risk of mental health problems, a new study suggests. People in sexual and gender minorities are more likely than heterosexuals to suffer from problems like anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, ADHD, eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder, researchers reported recently in JAMA Network Open. But they emphasized that these mental health problems are not caused by these folks’ sexual and gender identity, but “reflect the stigma and minority stress experienced by these individuals.” Factors such as “limited legal protections, exposure to violence, lack of access to gender-affirming treatments, and weaker social support systems” affect LGBTQ+ people physically and mentally, “heightening the risk of mental health issues over time,” a team led by senior author Marvin Langston concluded. Langston is an assistant professor of epidemiology and population health at Stanford University. For the study, researchers analyzed responses from nearly 270,000 people participating in the All of Us Research Program, a national project designed to explore mental health disparities.  Of those participants, more than 22,000 self-identified as a member of a sexual or gender minority. The study compared people’s risk for 10 mental health conditions: anxiety, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), autism, bipolar, eating disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and schizophrenia. Results show that people in sexual or gender minorities…  read on >  read on >

Docs Don’t Track Pregnancy Complications That Threaten Long-Term Health

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Women who develop a complication like diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy are at higher risk of stroke or heart disease in the years after delivery. Unfortunately, their doctors aren’t taking this health risk seriously enough, a new study suggests. Fewer than 1 in 5 women (17%) diagnosed with gestational diabetes or high blood pressure received an adequate health screening in the year after pregnancy, researchers reported Feb. 17 in the journal Circulation. Further, fewer than half (44%) of these at-risk women got such a screening within three years of their pregnancy. “Women should be aware of their risk for cardiovascular disease, so that they can ask their doctors about risk factor screening,” lead researcher Dr. Amy Yu, a neurologist and senior scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Ontario, Canada, said in a news release. “Having this knowledge can also support patients’ decision-making about lifestyle changes, which could improve their vascular health,” she added. Guidelines recommend that women who develop high blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy have their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels checked out after delivery, to assess their long-term risk of heart disease. “There’s increasing evidence that maternal health during pregnancy is associated with long-term vascular health,” Yu said. To see whether the recommended testing was being done, researchers analyzed the health records of more than a million…  read on >  read on >

Blood Test Could Guide Better Diet For Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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A blood test can help people with irritable bowel syndrome cut out specific trigger foods most likely to worsen their condition, a new study suggests. About 60% of IBS patients who followed a diet guided by the results of the blood test wound up suffering less stomach pain, researchers reported recently in the journal Gastroenterology. By comparison, 42% of IBS patients who didn’t get the blood test experienced a reduction in stomach pain, results show. The test “requires additional validation but could move us one step closer to a ‘precision nutrition’ approach, in which providers can offer personalized dietary recommendations to each patient with IBS,” researcher Dr. William Chey, chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Michigan, said in a news release. The blood test, called inFoods IBS, tests for the potential of 18 foods to worsen IBS symptoms in specific patients. These include wheat, oat, rye, whole egg, yeast, cow’s milk, black tea, cabbage, corn, grapefruit, honey, lemon and pineapple. The test looks for blood levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin G (IgG) that’s produced when the gut has an allergic reaction to a type of food. Higher levels of this antibody mean a person likely would benefit from cutting this food from their diet. About 10% to 15% of Americans have IBS, and it’s well-known that certain foods can worsen symptoms…  read on >  read on >

Arthritis Sufferers Don’t Get The Mental Health Support They Need, Study Says

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People with inflammatory arthritis run a substantially increased risk for mood disorders like depression and anxiety. But these mental health concerns aren’t being adequately addressed by doctors, a new study suggests. Arthritis patients are about as likely to receive either medication or therapy for a mood disorder as people without arthritis, despite their increased risk for depression and anxiety, researchers reported recently in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy. “As mental health often receives less attention, and it’s well-documented that mental health issues are frequently undertreated, these findings are not necessarily surprising,” senior researcher Mary De Vera, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, told Healio, a website for health care professionals. “However, we were somewhat surprised with findings of no meaningful difference between inflammatory arthritis and inflammatory arthritis-free controls with respect to minimally adequate mental health treatment for depression and anxiety, as we had hypothesized that patients with IA may receive more mental health care, given their frequent contacts with the health care system, which may facilitate access,” De Vera added. For the study, researchers studied nearly 7,000 arthritis patients with depression and 3,700 with anxiety, comparing their mental health care to similar people who didn’t have arthritis. Results showed that about 51% of patients with inflammatory arthritis had been prescribed medication for depression, compared to 48% of people without arthritis. About…  read on >  read on >

Unhealthy Eating Linked To Female Incontinence

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A junk-food lifestyle might contribute to embarrassing little leaks in middle-aged women, a new study suggests. Women who often munch fast food or packaged eats appear more likely to develop urinary incontinence, researchers recently reported in the journal Women’s Health. Frequently eating either processed or fast food is associated with a 50% increased risk of a leaky bladder, results show. “Higher consumption of highly processed ready-made foods and fast food increased the risk for experiencing the symptoms of stress and urgency urinary incontinence,” lead investigator Mari Kuutti, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, said in a news release. On the other hand, “higher consumption of fruits and overall higher quality diet decreased the risk for stress urinary incontinence,” Kuutti added. As many as 45% of women worldwide are affected by urinary incontinence, researchers said in background notes. Women become more likely to develop incontinence as aging affects the ability of the pelvic floor muscles to control urination, researchers said. But they suspected that a poor diet might also influence the pelvic floor, as key nutrients like protein, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids are important for proper muscle function. For their study, researchers tracked the health of nearly 1,100 Finnish women 47 to 55 years old. More than half already had symptoms of pelvic floor problems like urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence…  read on >  read on >

Student Athletes Don’t Know How To Fuel With Food, Study Says

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High school athletes often hit the field improperly fueled for the competition ahead, because they haven’t been taught important basics of nutrition, a new study says. In surveys, teen athletes revealed a dramatic lack of knowledge about nutrition facts that could help them compete harder and recover better, researchers reported recently in the journal Nutrition. “Their level of general nutrition knowledge and sport nutrition knowledge was very, very low,” researcher Jennifer Fields, an assistant professor of nutritional science with the University of Connecticut, said in a news release.  “They didn’t know how to eat a balanced diet for their overall health,” she continued. “Moreso, they didn’t know how to make proper fueling decisions for their sport.” For the study, 44 teenage student athletes filled out the Abridged Sports Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire, a survey designed to suss out how much a person knows about nutrition in general and eating for athletic competition in particular. Overall, the students got only about 45% of the questions right, results show. They scored 58% on general nutrition knowledge and 35% on sports nutrition. In particular, students were way off base when it came to the key nutrients they need to compete effectively, researchers said. The teens thought they needed fewer carbohydrates and calories than is recommended, as well as far more protein and fat than necessary, the study found. In…  read on >  read on >

Adults Can Learn ‘Perfect Pitch,’ Study Suggests

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From Mariah Carey and Jimi Hendrix to Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby, a select group of famous musicians past and present have had have perfect pitch.  Now, a new study suggests that you can, too — with proper training. Absolute or perfect pitch is the ability to identify or re-create musical notes by hearing them without any reference or cues.  For example, if someone were to play the note C sharp (C#) on a piano, a person with perfect pitch would be able to name the note without seeing which key was struck.   Perfect pitch had been considered a rare gift for a few people with special genetic gifts or those who began musical training when they were very young. The new research — published Feb. 12 in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review —  debunks this widely held belief.  “Our findings provide compelling evidence that absolute pitch is not limited to a select few. With focused training, adults can acquire this remarkable skill, much like how they learn other complex cognitive skills,” study author Yetta Wong, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Surrey in the U.K., said in a news release. For the study, 12 adult musicians with varying levels of musical experience participated in an eight-week online training program.  Musicians completed more than 21 training hours. At the end of the training, they were exposed to more than 11 pitches,…  read on >  read on >

Juicing Diets Can Harm Health in Just 3 Days, Study Finds

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TUESDAY, Feb. 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) – Juice cleanses are a popular way to kickstart a health journey, but these diets may do more harm than good in as little as three days. A study published recently in the journal Nutrients found that consuming vegetable and fruit juice-only diets for three days triggered detrimental gut and oral bacteria changes linked to inflammation, memory and thinking problems. Exactly how juice-only cleanses trigger such changes is not fully understood, but researchers suggest it may owe to the lack of fiber in juice.  “Most people think of juicing as a healthy cleanse, but this study offers a reality check,” said study author Dr. Melinda Ring, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.  “Consuming large amounts of juice with little fiber may lead to microbiome imbalances that could have negative consequences, such as inflammation and reduced gut health,” she said in a news release. When fruits or veggies are juiced, much of the fiber is stripped away. Fiber feeds good bacteria that produce anti-inflammatory compounds.  Without fiber, sugar-loving or bad bacteria can multiply, disrupting the balance of good and bad bacteria — known as the microbiome — in the gut and mouth.  To see how juicing affects the gut and oral microbiomes, researchers studied three groups of healthy adults.  One group…  read on >  read on >

U.S. Gambling Addiction Searches Soar With Legal Sports Betting

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Millions of Americans have sought help for gambling addiction in the wake of a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed states to legalize sports betting. That’s among the key findings in a new study published Feb. 17 in JAMA Internal Medicine.  “Sportsbooks have expanded from a single state to 38 states, with hundreds of billions of wagers, mostly online, coinciding with record-breaking demand for help with gambling addiction as millions seek help,” study senior author John Ayers said in a news release. He’s deputy director of informatics at the University of California San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute and a scientist at UCSD’s Qualcomm Institute.  His team reported that sports wagers rose from $4.9 billion in 2017 to $121.1 billion in 2023. Almost all of these bets — 94% — are now placed online. “Sports betting has become deeply embedded in our culture,” said study co-author Matthew Allen, a third-year medical student.  “From relentless advertising to social media feeds and in-game commentary, sportsbooks are now everywhere,” he added in a news release. “What was once a taboo activity, confined to the fringes of society, has been completely normalized.” The researchers noted that major industry shifts, including the rebranding of Caesars Entertainment as Caesars Sportsbook and Casino, signal that sports betting (sportsbooks) is being positioned as the future of gambling. For the study, they…  read on >  read on >