All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

It’s become more common for people to share mental health struggles on social media, but that decision could have a negative impact on future employment. Potential employers view job candidates differently if they talk about their personal mental health publicly, a new study finds. “People are often encouraged to discuss their mental health struggles on social media with the goal of reducing the stigma associated with mental health challenges,” said study co-author Lori Foster, a professor of psychology at North Carolina State University. “We think reducing stigma around mental health is extremely important, but our study suggests that mental health posts on platforms such as LinkedIn could have unforeseen consequences for people disclosing their mental health challenges,” Foster said in a university news release. The study showed these disclosures can influence the way employers view someone in professional contexts, said co-author Jenna McChesney, an assistant professor of psychology at Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. She worked on the study while a grad student at NC State. “It’s important for people to take that into consideration when determining whether to share their mental health experiences online,” McChesney said in the release. The researchers enlisted 409 professionals with hiring experience to participate in the study, dividing them into four groups. One group was shown the LinkedIn page of a job candidate, with no mention of mental health…  read on >  read on >

Many a person has blamed “beer goggles” following a regrettable one-night stand, but a new study suggests that there’s no such thing. Rather, alcohol acts more like “liquid courage,” according to findings published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs — you become more likely to approach people you already find attractive, rather than alcohol making others appear more attractive. “People who drink alcohol may benefit by recognizing that valued social motivations and intentions change when drinking in ways that may be appealing in the short term but possibly harmful in the long term,” lead researcher Molly Bowdring, of the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said in a journal news release. Conventional wisdom has long held that intoxication makes other people seem better looking, but the phenomenon hasn’t been systematically studied, researchers said. “The well-known beer goggles effect of alcohol does sometimes appear in the literature but not as consistently as one might expect,” said senior researcher Michael Sayette, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Alcohol and Smoking Research Laboratory. Earlier research typically has had participants simply rate other people’s attractiveness based on photos, while sober and while intoxicated. Bowdring and Sayette’s new study added a more realistic element: the possibility of meeting the people being rated. The researchers recruited 18 pairs of male friends in their 20s and asked them to rate the…  read on >  read on >

Young Black children living in racially segregated U.S. neighborhoods are at heightened risk of potentially brain-damaging lead exposure, a new study warns. The study, of nearly 321,000 North Carolina children under the age of 7, found that those living in predominantly Black neighborhoods had higher blood levels of lead than those living in more integrated areas. Experts said the findings, published Aug. 30 in Pediatrics, highlight two issues that many Americans may think are relics of the past: childhood lead poisoning and neighborhood racial segregation. But in fact, the study found, residential segregation has endured and actually increased in many areas — in North Carolina and nationwide. That residential segregation is no accident, experts pointed out: It is rooted in a long history of policies such as “redlining” that isolated Black Americans into neighborhoods marked by little to no investment and high poverty rates. And the children who live in those neighborhoods can be exposed to lead due to rundown housing, said lead researcher Marie Lynn Miranda, chancellor of the University of Illinois Chicago. Lead is a naturally occurring metal that can cause serious health effects if it accumulates in the blood. Young children are particularly vulnerable, as lead can damage their developing brains and contribute to learning or behavioral problems. In general, children in the United States now have much less exposure to lead…  read on >  read on >

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are surging in popularity, but that doesn’t mean they’re good for everyone. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) may be dangerous for children, warned researchers at University of California, Irvine. Treating childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes with these injected medications may have unintended and adverse consequences in pediatric patients, the team of clinicians, exercise scientists, pharmaceutical scholars, ethicists and behavioral experts said in their commentary. While the new class of medication could benefit children with morbid obesity and type 2 diabetes — a problem worsened by COVID pandemic-related shutdowns — the authors suspect overuse and abuse among youth is inevitable. “Our major concern is the unbalance and inappropriate reductions in calorie or energy intake associated with these weight-loss drugs,” said Dr. Dan Cooper, a professor of pediatrics at UCI School of Medicine. “Unlike in adults, children and adolescents need energy and sufficient calories not only for physical activity, but for growth and development,” he said in a university news release. The balance of a proper diet plus movement influences a child’s growth and health across their life span, according to the authors. Any change in the balance can have negative health consequences much later in life. Optimal diet and exercise, for example, helps build bones during childhood, for example. This lessens risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures later in…  read on >  read on >

Hurricane Idalia is expected to make landfall in the United States Wednesday. Idalia was forecast to be a powerful Category 3 storm by the time it reaches Florida’s Big Bend, an area prone to storm surge that stretches from Tampa to just south of Tallahassee. It’s also expected to hit eastern parts of Georgia and the Carolinas before heading out to sea late Thursday or early Friday. As all of this happens, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) is urging everyone in the storm’s path to prepare and keep carbon monoxide safety top of mind. Portable generators can be a source of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, the commission emphasized. CO is colorless, odorless and can kill in minutes, rendering someone unconscious before they even begin to experience telltale signs like nausea, dizziness and weakness. Nearly 100 people a year die in the United States from CO poisoning from portable generators, according to the CPSC. Never use a portable generator inside a home, garage, basement, crawlspace or shed, the CPSC urges. Even open doors and windows will not prevent lethal levels of CO from building up. Use portable generators outside only, at least 20 feet away from the house. Direct the generator’s exhaust away from the home and any other buildings that someone could enter. Close windows and other openings in the path of the…  read on >  read on >

If you are a new mom struggling with postpartum depression, taking antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may also bear benefits for your child’s development. That’s according to new research that found the medications were associated with improvements in a child’s behavior up to five years after birth. Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London collaborated with their counterparts at the University of Oslo in Norway, analyzing data on more than 61,000 mothers and their children who were recruited during pregnancy from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. Among the findings were reductions in child behavioral difficulties, such as conduct problems; attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms; and maternal depression. This also led to improved satisfaction in partner relationships. “Postnatal depression is a common psychiatric disorder that affects 10 to 15% of women in the first year after childbirth. In the U.K., however, only 3% of women with postnatal depression receive SSRI treatment. This is likely due to a lack of awareness of postnatal depression, alongside concerns about the long-term impact that taking antidepressant medications in the postnatal period may have on child outcomes,” said study first author Dr. Kate Liu, a research associate at the institute. “Our study found no evidence suggesting that postnatal SSRI treatment conferred an increased risk for child development,” she added in…  read on >  read on >

An apple a day may be just what the doctor ordered. New research on “produce prescription” programs finds that when access to free fruits and vegetables is offered, recipients see measurable benefits in health and hunger. “To me, this shows that there’s a very strong proof of concept behind produce prescriptions and this should, I think, add to the growing momentum to continue to expand access to these programs, but in particular, to increase the quality and the robustness of the evaluations,” said first author Kurt Hager, who did the study as a doctoral student in nutrition science and policy at Tufts University in Boston. He is now an instructor at University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. The study, published Aug. 29 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, included people at risk for heart disease. Each received gift cards or vouchers for free produce at retail grocers or farmers markets. When participants ate more fruits and vegetables as part of a produce prescription program, their blood sugar and blood pressure improved, the study found. Some also lost weight. Food insecurity — lacking reliable access to enough food — can cause stress, anxiety and poor diet, which all have a big impact on health, Hager said. Some people may decide to forgo good-quality food in order to pay for housing, utilities and medications. Produce prescriptions aren’t…  read on >  read on >

The degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) may be striking some at much younger ages than thought possible: New research has uncovered early signs of the condition in amateur athletes who died young after playing contact sports. The troubling finding was discovered during the brain autopsies of 152 athletes. All had engaged in the type of sports, such as football, where head impacts are routine. And all had died before turning 30. Investigators determined that roughly 4 in 10 had developed early signs of CTE while still in their teens and 20s. And the vast majority of those with CTE — more than 70% — were just young amateurs, not professional players. “CTE is a neurodegenerative disease caused by repetitive hits to the head that has been found most often in contact sport athletes,” explained study author Dr. Ann McKee. She is a professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University and director of neuropathology care with the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. But while most research has focused on the risk of brain damage among professional athletes, the latest analysis reveals “that CTE can begin very early, as early as 17 years, and that it can develop in amateur soccer, rugby, ice hockey and football players, and amateur wrestlers,” McKee stressed. That comes as little surprise to Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, chief…  read on >  read on >

Men’s testosterone levels remain pretty steady until age 70. After that, production of the male sex hormone starts to decline, new research indicates. This begs the question: Is testosterone loss among seniors really a function of the normal aging process? Or might it reflect other health issues that often confront men as they get older? Both may be true, say investigators, with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and even marital status among the factors that appear to drive testosterone levels down, in conjunction with age. When testosterone does fall, the result may be increased weakness and fatigue, diminished sexual performance, loss of muscle mass, and a higher risk for diabetes and dementia. While you can’t do anything about your age, the findings suggest some positive lifestyle changes might help preserve your masculinity. Study author Bu Yeap said that after 70 the pituitary gland at the base of the brain actually sends out signals to increase, not decrease, testosterone production. To find out what might be short-circuiting that signal, the study team analyzed 11 studies from Australia, Europe and North America, involving some 25,000 men in total, said Yeap, an endocrinologist and medical school professor at the University of Western Australia. All the studies were conducted prior to 2020. In each, men’s testosterone levels were repeatedly measured over time using a technique called mass spectrometry. Collectively,…  read on >  read on >

For women, keeping a stable weight after the age of 60 may boost their odds of reaching the advanced ages of 90, 95 or even 100. Older women with a more stable weight were 1.2 to 2 times more likely to live that long than those who lost 5% or more of their weight, the study showed. Women who unintentionally lost weight were 51% less likely to survive to the age of 90. Gaining 5% or more weight, compared to stable weight, was also not associated with exceptional longevity. “It is very common for older women in the United States to experience overweight or obesity with a body mass index range of 25 to 35. Our findings support stable weight as a goal for longevity in older women,” said first study author Aladdin Shadyab, an associate professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California, San Diego. “If aging women find themselves losing weight when they are not trying to lose weight, this could be a warning sign of ill health and a predictor of decreased longevity,” Shadyab said in a university news release. For the study, the researchers used data from more than 54,000 women who enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative. Throughout the follow-up period, more than 30,000 women, or 56% of the participants,…  read on >  read on >