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A marathon can be a daunting challenge, particularly for folks worried their hearts can’t stand the strain of running 26.2 miles. But these events are safer than ever for those with heart concerns, according to a new study published March 30 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The risk of dying from cardiac arrest during a long-distance event decreased by half during the past decade, a new study says. It’s not that fewer runners are suffering heart problems. The rate of cardiac arrests that occur during full and half-marathons has remained unchanged, researchers found. “We continue to see media reports about unfortunate cases of cardiac arrest during long distance running events,” lead researcher Dr. Jonathan Kim, an associate professor of sports cardiology with the Emory School of Medicine, noted in a news release. However, a runner’s odds of surviving cardiac arrest are double what they were in the past, researchers said The sport has become more aware of the heart risks of running and is doing a better job preparing emergency response for stricken athletes, Kim said, based on interviews he’s had with survivors. “What we found was that every one of those people got hands-on cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the vast majority also had immediate access to an automated external defibrillator,” Kim said. “That’s the difference.” The cardiac arrest survival rate at a… read on > read on >

A top vaccine official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is stepping down, warning that vaccine misinformation is coloring the country’s top health decisions. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said he will resign and retire by April 5. In a letter to the acting FDA commissioner obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said the new leadership under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. does not value science or transparency. “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote. Kennedy, who has a history of spreading vaccine misinformation, promised during his Senate confirmation that he would not change vaccine policies. But since taking office, he has said he plans to closely review the safety of childhood vaccines — despite decades of research showing vaccines are safe and save lives. A former FDA official told reporters that Marks was told to either resign or be fired, The Associated Press reported. Marks played a major role in the country’s COVID response. He helped lead the fast-tracked development and approval of COVID vaccines and created the name and idea behind “Operation Warp Speed” — which helped get vaccines to people in record time. “RFK Jr.’s firing of Peter Marks because he… read on > read on >

Wearing a smartwatch might do more than track steps (or your texts) — it could be a powerful tool for helping people with type 2 diabetes stay active, a new study says. Participants were more likely to start and maintain an exercise regimen if they had a smartwatch providing them feedback and encouragement, researchers reported March 27 in the journal BMJ Open. Early results also indicate that they were achieving better control over their blood sugar levels and blood pressure, researchers report. “The results of this study can contribute to change the lives of many people around the world,” said researcher Ceu Mateus, a professor of health economics at Lancaster University in the U.K. “There are millions of people suffering from diabetes type 2 without access to non-pharmacological interventions with sustained results in the long term,” she added in a news release. “Our study shows that independently of the place where you live, your age, your ethnicity, your gender, or your income, there is an exercise program that suits you.” For the study, researchers recruited 135 people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and assigned half to wear a smartwatch paired with a health app on their smartphone. The app guided participants through a home-based physical activity program, using the watch to track their metrics. The program gradually increased their exercise to a target of… read on > read on >

As a measles outbreak spreads across the United States, doctors are now seeing a new and unexpected danger: Children getting sick from taking too much vitamin A. At Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, several unvaccinated children showed signs of liver problems after taking large amounts of vitamin A, according to Dr. Lara Johnson, the hospital’s chief medical officer. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promoted vitamin A during the outbreak, even suggesting it might help prevent measles. But doctors say this isn’t true. “If people have the mistaken impression that you have an either-or choice of MMR vaccine or vitamin A, you’re going to get a lot of kids unnecessarily infected with measles. That’s a problem, especially during an epidemic,” Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN. “And second, you have this unregulated medicine in terms of doses being given and potential toxicities.” The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the only proven way to prevent measles. It is 97% effective after two doses. Kennedy has said he encourages vaccines, but considers vaccination a personal choice. Vitamin A can be helpful for people with measles when given in the right dose by a doctor.… read on > read on >

Splenda doesn’t directly add calories to your diet, but the sweetener still might lead people to pack on pounds, a new study says. The sugar substitute might spur on a person’s appetite and feelings of hunger, potentially leading them to overeat, according to results published March 26 in the journal Nature Metabolism. Splenda’s main ingredient, sucralose, appears to confuse the brain by providing a sweet taste without also delivering the calories one would expect, senior investigator Dr. Kathleen Page, director of the University of Southern California Diabetes and Obesity Research Center, said in a news release. “If your body is expecting a calorie because of the sweetness, but doesn’t get the calorie it’s expecting, that could change the way the brain is primed to crave those substances over time,” she said. About 40% of Americans regularly consume sugar substitutes, usually as a way to reduce their sugar intake, researchers said in background notes. “But are these substances actually helpful for regulating body weight?” Page asked. “What happens in the body and brain when we consume them, and do the effects differ from one person to the next?” To explore this further, researchers tested how 75 people responded after consuming water, a drink sweetened with sucralose or a drink sweetened with regular sugar. The team collected MRI brain scans, blood samples and hunger ratings from participants… read on > read on >

Is there a person in your life who just can’t stop scrolling social media, almost as if they’ve formed an emotional dependence on sites like Instagram and TikTok? Such an attachment might be associated with worse mental health symptoms among young people being treated for depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, a new study says. About 40% of troubled 8- to 20-year-olds reported social media use that could be problematic, saying that they feel discontented, disconnected and upset when they can’t log on to their favorite sites, researchers report in the April issue of Journal of Affective Disorders. These young people also had higher levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, as well as poorer overall well-being, compared to peers in treatment who weren’t overly attached to social media, researchers found. “There has long been speculation that excessive social media use among young people may be a factor in increased rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, but the relationship is not fully understood,” lead researcher Betsy Kennard, a teaching professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said in a news release. “Our findings are instructive because they characterize the prevalence of problematic social media use in children and adolescents who are receiving care for depression, suicidal ideation and/or suicidal behaviors, which gives us insight into how they might intersect,” she added. For the… read on > read on >

A mom’s health and lifestyle choices can affect her kids’ risk of obesity as adults, a new study says. Specifically, a child is 3 to 4 times more likely to become an obese adult if their mom was obese, researchers reported March 26 in PLOS One. A mom’s smoking also increased their kid’s risk of adult obesity by 60% to 80%, results show. “In particular, we note that the effect of maternal influences persists through to age 42 and that strikingly, those predictors were just as powerful (and prevalent) in the era before the current obesity pandemic began,” concluded the research team led by Glenna Nightingale, a research fellow with the University of Edinburgh in the U.K. In effect, factors beyond a person’s control can influence whether they become overweight or obese as adults, researchers said. For the new study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 11,500 children who participated in an ongoing British study of kids born on a single week in March 1958 across England, Scotland and Wales. The team observed health trends among these children out to age 42, and compared their health to aspects of their parents’ life that might influence their risk for obesity. Results showed that if a mom was obese or if she smoked, her child was more likely to be obese in adulthood. “The persistent importance of maternal… read on > read on >

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help improve how premature babies are fed, giving them a better chance at normal growth and development, a new study says. Currently, preemies in a neonatal intensive care unit are fed by IV, receiving a drip-drop handmade blend of nutrients that doctors call total parenteral nutrition, or TPN. This is the only way to feed newborns whose digestive systems haven’t matured enough to properly absorb nutrients, researchers said. “Right now, we come up with a TPN prescription for each baby, individually, every day,” senior researcher Nima Aghaeepour, an associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford University, said in a news release. “We make it from scratch and provide it to them.” Unfortunately, the process is error-prone, and it’s tough for docs to know if they’ve gotten the formula right, researchers said. There’s no blood test to measure whether a preemie has received enough daily calories, and preemies don’t necessarily cry when they’re hungry or become calm and content when they’re full. “Total parenteral nutrition is the single largest source of medical error in neonatal intensive care units, both in the United States and globally,” Aghaeepour said. To try to solve this problem, researchers trained an AI program on nearly 80,000 past prescriptions for preemie IV nutrition, linked to data on how the tiny patients fared. The AI uses information in a preemie’s… read on > read on >

Tobacco control measures like anti-smoking campaigns and cigarette taxes have prevented nearly 4 million lung cancer deaths during the past five decades, a new American Cancer Society study estimates. More than 3.8 million lung cancer deaths were averted due to substantial reductions in smoking, gaining a little more than 76 million years of extra life among Americans, researchers say in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. “The substantial estimated numbers of averted lung cancer deaths and person-years of life gained highlight the remarkable effect of progress against smoking on reducing premature mortality from lung cancer,” lead investigator Dr. Farhad Islami, the ACS’ senior scientific director for cancer disparity research, said in a news release. In fact, the number of averted lung cancer deaths accounts for roughly one-half of all cancer deaths that were prevented in recent decades, researchers said. “However,” Islami added, “Despite these findings, lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, and smoking-attributable morbidity and mortality from other cancers or diseases remain high.” For the study, researchers analyzed federal health data from 1970 through 2022, estimating the expected number of cancer deaths for each year and comparing them to the deaths that actually occurred. In all, more than 2.2 million expected lung cancer deaths in men and 1.6 million in women were averted during the five-decade period.… read on > read on >

Childbirth is an overwhelming accomplishment, but new mothers would do best not to rest on their laurels following delivery, a new guideline says. New moms should clock at least two hours a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity in the first months following birth, experts recommend. Two to four hours of exercise per week can keep a new mother healthy and reduce her risk of postpartum depression or anxiety, researchers wrote in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Experts also recommend daily pelvic floor exercises to reduce the risk of urinary incontinence, as well as taking steps to improve sleep quality. “The weeks and months following birth are a period of abrupt changes in physiological and psychological health,” wrote a team led by Margie Davenport, a professor of kinesiology, sport and recreation at the University of Alberta in Canada. “Postpartum women and people are at increased risk of depression, weight retention, sleep disorders, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, especially if they experienced pregnancy complications,” the team wrote. “Such conditions have significant consequences on the short-term and long-term health and well-being of both the mother and the infant.” For the new guidelines, researchers analyzed data from 574 prior studies related to the health of mother and child following delivery. After consulting with a panel of new mothers, the research team selected 21 “critical” and “important” outcomes… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Cardiac Arrest Deaths During Marathons Down By Half

Top FDA Vaccine Official Quits, Warns of Vaccine Misinformation

Smartwatches Can Help People Control Diabetes Through Exercise

Measles Outbreak Leads to Dangerous Vitamin A Toxicity

Sugar Substitute Appears To Boost Appetite, Hunger

Social Media Can Drag Down Troubled Young People

Obesity More Likely Among Kids Of Obese Moms, Smokers

AI Improves IV Nutrition For Preemies

Tobacco Control Has Saved Nearly 4 Millions Lives, Study Estimates

New Moms Benefit From Regular Workouts