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Americans are falling farther behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to health and life expectancy, a new study shows. Life expectancy in the United States is expected to increase to 79.9 years in 2035 and 80.4 years by 2050, up from 78.3 years in 2022, researchers reported. That sounds good, but it’s actually a modest increase that will lower the nation’s global ranking from 49th in 2022 to 66th in 2050 among 204 countries around the world, they found. “The rapid decline of the U.S. in global rankings from 2022 to 2050 rings the alarm for immediate action,” said co-senior study author Dr. Stein Emil Vollset, an affiliate professor with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle. “The U.S. must change course and find new and better health strategies and policies that slow down the decline in future health outcomes,” Vollset added in a university news release. The United States is also expected to rank progressively lower than other nations in the average number of years a person can expect to live in good health, researchers reported Dec. 5 in the Lancet journal. The U.S. ranking in healthy life expectancy will drop from 80th in 2022 to 108th by 2050, results showed. The comparative health of U.S. women is expected to fare worse than that of men. Female… read on > read on >

Eating lots of ultra-processed foods appears linked to a buildup of fat in the thighs, which in turn raises a person’s odds for arthritis in the knees, new research shows. “In an adult population at risk for but without knee or hip osteoarthritis, consuming ultra-processed foods is linked to increased fat within the thigh muscles,” said study lead author and radiologist Dr. Zehra Akkaya, who conducted the research while at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her team presented the findings Wednesday in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). Ultra-processed foods are made mostly from substances extracted from whole foods, like saturated fats, starches and added sugars. They also contain a wide variety of additives to make them more tasty, attractive and shelf-stable, including colors, emulsifiers, flavors and stabilizers. Examples include packaged baked goods, sugary cereals, ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat products and deli cold cuts. As Akkaya’s team explained, it’s long been understood that the health of the thigh’s musculature plays a role in the development of arthritis in the knee. A buildup of fat within the thigh has been linked to a higher odds for knee arthritis. A decline in thigh muscles “is potentially associated with onset and progression of knee osteoarthritis,” Akkaya said in an RSNA news release, and “on MRI images, this decline can… read on > read on >

The advent of GLP-1 weight-loss medications such as Wegovy and Zepbound has spurred debate as to whether the drugs’ cost should be covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers. Late last month, the Biden administration proposed that the drugs be covered by Medicare and Medicaid, a move that would have to be approved by the incoming Trump administration. Now, data suggests that dramatic weight loss could save Americans big bucks in health care spending. The study found that a 25% drop in weight among obese people could save an average of up to $5,442 per person annually. That’s a level of weight loss often achieved by GLP-1 users, the study authors noted. In trials, “more than one-third of participating adults with overweight or obesity who used the [GLP-1] product lost 20% or more of their body weight,” noted a team led by Kenneth Thorpe, professor of health policy at Emory University in Atlanta. “Improving access to new weight-loss medications, along with existing evidence-based behavior change and weight-loss interventions, should help reduce health care spending associated with obesity in the United States,” they wrote. The findings were published Dec. 5 in the journal JAMA Network Open. As Thorpe’s team noted, by 2020 an estimated 42% of Americans were obese and another 31% were overweight — meaning that nearly three-quarters of all adults are not at a… read on > read on >

Hockey players’ chances of developing concussion-related brain injury increase with every year they spend on the ice, a new study finds. The odds of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) increase among hockey players 34% for each year played, researchers reported Dec. 4 in JAMA Network Open. Results show 18 out of 19 National Hockey League players had CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated concussions, researchers found. However, CTE wasn’t found in a single hockey player who spent fewer than six years competing, researchers report. “Ice hockey players with longer careers not only were more likely to have CTE, but they also had more severe disease,” said researcher Dr. Jesse Mez, co-director of clinical research at the Boston University CTE Center. “We hope this data will help inspire changes to make the game safer as well as help former ice hockey players impacted by CTE get the care they need,” Mez added in a university news release. These results make ice hockey the third major sport, after American football and rugby, to show a dose-response relationship between years of play and the risk of developing CTE, the researchers noted. For the study, they studied the donated brains of 77 deceased male ice hockey players. They also tracked each player’s career, to see how their amateur or professional play might have affected their brain health.… read on > read on >

Holiday travel is always stressful, but particularly so for people with food allergies. Airlines don’t always honor requests to protect the health of people with food allergies during flights, a new study published Dec. 5 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. found. Many people with food allergies say that airlines promise to take steps to protect their health, but then don’t follow through: 20% were promised food allergy-related cabin announcements that didn’t happen 17% were promised allergen-free buffer zones that weren’t established 23% were promised allergy-free food options that weren’t offered “We are not asking for the moon and stars, we just want reasonable accommodations that are promised in advance of travel to be honored at 30,000 feet,” said study co-author Lianne Mandelbaum, founder of the non-profit No Nut Traveler. “On every flight it is uncertain if and how crew members will accommodate nut allergies, and this adds tremendous unnecessary stress,” Mandelbaum said. “Flying with food allergies is akin to a game of roulette, each flight a random spin around the wheel.” For this study, researchers surveyed more than 4,700 individual patients and families around the world to assess their concerns related to air travel with food allergies. Travelers with food allergies said they were most often worried about whether airlines would follow through on accommodations arranged during the flight-booking process. They also… read on > read on >

Fatty liver disease may contribute to fragmented sleep patterns, robbing already sick people of good rest, a new study finds. These folks woke up more often in the night, and then lay awake longer waiting for slumber to reclaim them, researchers found. These patients also reported taking longer to get to sleep. And their sleep remained poor even after researchers gave them tips for better slumber. “Those with [fatty liver disease] demonstrated significant fragmentation of their nightly sleep due to frequent awakenings and increased wakefulness,” said investigator Sofia Schaeffer, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel’s Center for Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases in Switzerland. Fatty liver disease, formally known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), occurs when fat builds up in a person’s liver. It’s commonly linked with obesity or type 2 diabetes, and can lead to inflammation, scarring and liver failure. Fatty liver disease currently affects an estimated 30% of adults, and is expected to affect more than 55% by 2040, researchers said in background notes. Earlier studies have indicated that fatty liver disease might disturb a person’s sleep cycle, but these have relied on sleep questionnaires, researchers said. For this study, scientists sought to gather objective data by having people wear wrist monitors that tracked their sleep patterns. Researchers recruited 46 adult women and men with fatty liver disease, as well… read on > read on >

Access to psychotherapy has increased substantially among Americans, particularly young adults, a new study has found. About 12% of young adults received psychotherapy in 2021, followed by 8% of the middle-aged and 5% of seniors, researchers found. Overall, the percentage of U.S. adults receiving psychotherapy rose from about 7% in 2018 to 9% in 2021, and telemedicine may be the reason why. Nearly 40% of adults who got psychotherapy in 2021 had at least one session using telemedicine. However, that means psychotherapy is also significantly more available to adults with more money, higher education and full-time employment. “While psychotherapy access has expanded in the U.S., there’s concern that recent gains may not be equally distributed, despite or maybe because of the growth of teletherapy,” said researcher Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of epidemiology and psychiatry with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, in New York City. “This increase in psychotherapy use, driven by the rise of teletherapy, has largely benefited socioeconomically advantaged adults with mild to moderate distress,” Olfson added in a Columbia news release. For the study, researchers analyzed survey data on medical expenditures collected between 2018 and 2021 from a total of more than 86,600 adults. As the researchers explained, teletherapy is more convenient for many patients, and is less stigmatizing than showing up at a therapist’s office. Dr. Manish Sapra is… read on > read on >

Zepbound, the new GLP-1 weight-loss drug from Eli Lilly & Co., has outperformed its main competitor, Wegovy, in a clinical trial funded by Lilly. “Given the increased interest around obesity medications, we conducted this study to help health care providers and patients make informed decisions about treatment choice,” Dr. Leonard Glass, senior vice president of global medical affairs at Lilly Cardiometabolic Health, said in an Eli Lilly news release announcing the trial results on Wednesday. “We are thrilled that today’s findings showed the superior weight loss of Zepbound, which helped patients achieve 47% more relative weight loss compared to Wegovy.” In the study, 751 obese and overweight adults across the United States were randomized to get one of the two highest doses of either Zepbound or Wegovy. What did researchers discover? Patients who got weekly injections of Zepbound lost an average of 20.2% (50.3 pounds) of their body weight after 72 weeks, compared with an average of 13.7% body weight loss (33.1 pounds) for those on Wegovy. While this is the first randomized clinical trial comparing the two rival drugs, the findings haven’t yet been peer-reviewed, the company noted. Earlier research had shown Zepbound outperforms Wegovy for weight loss, but that research relied on existing data. Still, experts say both drugs deliver impressive results. Dr. Susan Spratt, an endocrinologist and senior medical director for the Population Health Management… read on > read on >

Take the stairs. Tote heavy shopping bags. Walk up that hill. Play tag with a kid or a pet. Weaving these tiny bursts of vigorous physical activity into everyday life can halve a woman’s risk of a heart attack, a new study shows. An average of four daily minutes of this sort of activity appears to protect the heart health of women who don’t otherwise exercise, researchers reported Dec. 3 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. “We found that a minimum of 1.5 minutes to an average of four minutes of daily vigorous physical activity, completed in short bursts lasting up to one minute, were associated with improved cardiovascular health outcomes in middle-aged women who do no structured exercise,” said lead researcher Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor of physical activity, lifestyle and population health at the University of Sydney in Australia. Specifically, women were 51% less likely to have a heart attack and 67% less likely to develop heart failure if they engaged in these short bursts of activity, compared to women who were completely sedentary, researchers found. “Making short bursts of vigorous physical activity a lifestyle habit could be a promising option for women who are not keen on structured exercise or are unable to do it for any reason,” Stamatakis said in a university news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data on… read on > read on >

People who smoke and vape are less able to break free of their nicotine addiction than folks who only have one of those habits, a new review concludes. Instead, these “dual users” are more likely to eventually drop vaping and continue smoking tobacco, results show. The findings point to the insidious pull of nicotine and undermine arguments that vaping can help people quit smoking, researchers said. “While it may have been argued that heavy smokers might benefit from dual use by reducing their daily cigarette consumption, the high nicotine content of vapes adds to the risk of continued nicotine addiction,” said investigator Josef Hamoud, a research assistant with the University Medical Center Gottingen in Germany. For the study, published Dec. 3 in the journal Open Research, his team analyzed data from 16 previous studies of vaping and smoking. The studies included more than 9,300 people, including more than 2,400 dual users. “Given the extensive marketing of vapes as healthier alternatives to conventional smoking, they have gained popularity among people trying to quit smoking,” Hamoud said in a journal news release. “Some people are using them in addition to their conventional cigarettes, classifying them as dual users.” But just 24% of dual users quit nicotine completely within two years, compared with 25% of people who only smoke and 35% of people who only vape, researchers found.… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Analysis Predicts Big Drop for U.S. in Global Health Rankings

Eating Ultra-processed Foods Could Add Fat to Your Thighs

Weight Loss Brings Americans Big Health Care Savings

CTE Rates Rise Year-by-Year in Pro Hockey Players

‘Game of Roulette’: Flying With Food Allergies Brings Stress, Danger

‘Broken’ Sleep Could Be Hallmark of Obesity-Linked Liver Disease

As ‘Teletherapy’ Takes Hold, Nearly 12% of Young Adults Now Undergo Psychotherapy

Zepbound Bests Wegovy for Weight Loss in New Trial

Even Minutes-Long Exercise ‘Bursts’ Can Help Women’s Hearts

Smoking/Vaping Combo Lowers Odds for Quitting Nicotine

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