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Expanding access to cutting-edge diabetes and weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound could prevent more than 42,000 deaths a year in the United States, a new study claims. Obesity and all its attendant ills — type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer among them — have had a dramatic impact on American health, researchers said. More than 40% of U.S. adults are obese, and the research team estimates that about half of all annual deaths in the nation occur among the obese. Helping more people shed their excess weight could save a fair portion of those lives, researchers argue. “Expanding access to these medications is not just a matter of improving treatment options but also a crucial public health intervention,” said senior researcher Alison Galvani, a professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs mimic the GLP-1 hormone, which helps control insulin and blood sugar levels, decreases appetite and slows digestion of food. However, the drugs are costly — people without insurance face paying more than $1,000 a month to take them. What’s more, people often must have some sort of health problem occurring alongside their obesity to get insurance coverage for GLP-1 drugs. Medicare, for example, doesn’t cover the drugs solely for weight loss, researchers noted. For this study, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academies… read on > read on >

If you’re in your 40s or 50s and have trouble getting and staying asleep, that’s not a good sign for brain health as you age, new research suggests. “Our study, which used brain scans to determine participants’ brain age, suggests that poor sleep is linked to nearly three years of additional brain aging as early as middle age,” said study lead author Clémence Cavaillès, of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The research was funded by the National Institute on Aging and was published Oct. 23 in the journal Neurology. The UCSF team focused on 589 people who averaged about 40 years of age at the beginning of the study. Everyone filled out questionnaires on their sleep patterns at age 40 and then again at about age 45. Questions included, “Do you usually have trouble falling asleep?” “Do you usually wake up several times at night?” and “Do you usually wake up far too early?” Survey replies led the researchers to draw up 6 poor sleep characteristics: short sleep duration bad sleep quality difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep early morning awakening daytime sleepiness At about age 55, everyone underwent brain scans to gauge how well their brains were aging. After adjusting for potential confounding factors such as age, sex, high blood pressure and diabetes, Cavaillès’ team found that folks with four or more… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it has appointed Dr. Michelle Tarver to head its division that oversees medical devices. The appointment of a new director for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health comes at a time of great innovation and change in the medical device field, with AI playing an increasing role in medical technologies. Tarver replaces outgoing director Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, who faced criticism over ethical lapses during his 15 years of running an agency with close ties to the medical device industry. Shuren announced his retirement in July. “Dr. Tarver demonstrates a true passion about data, science, medicine and the evidence, all of which are critical to supporting and driving the FDA’s decisions,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in an announcement to agency staff, the New York Times reported. “She works to build collaboration and transparency in achieving the strategic priorities for the center and the agency.” Tarver said in a statement that she was honored to lead the division and planned to “remain committed in our service to public health and ensuring all patients in the U.S. have access to high-quality, safe and effective medical devices.” According to the Times, the FDA’s medical device division has a budget of $790 million and a staff of over 2,500 people. It oversees the development of thousands of devices used… read on > read on >

Most Americans say they’re stressed out over the future of the United States and the presidential election, a new poll shows. The Stress in America poll, conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA), found that 77% of adults are stressed about the future of the nation, and 69% are worried about the upcoming election. The economy is another significant source of stress, with 73% reporting worry over it. People are particularly worried about the potential fallout from the election results. About 72% said they are worried the election results could lead to violence. More than half (56%) believe the election could be the end of democracy in the United States. Further, this stress is testing people’s relationships with those close to them. About a third (32%) say the political climate has caused strain between themselves and family members, and 20% say they limit time with relatives who don’t share their views. “For nearly a decade, people have faced a political climate that is highly charged, which has led to the erosion of civil discourse and strained our relationships with our friends and our families. But isolating ourselves from our communities is a recipe for adding more stress to our lives,” said American Psychological Association CEO Arthur Evans Jr. “We must remember that the most extreme voices are often the loudest, and that the majority of… read on > read on >

Stress is flooding the nation as the 2024 U.S. presidential election nears its climax. This stress is only natural, but it can be managed, said Eric Storch, vice chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “There is uncertainty with change,” Storch said in a Baylor news release. “People worry about how their lives will change depending on the election results or that the elected individual may not represent them or their values — this can heighten feelings of distress throughout the election.” A new poll from the American Psychological Association shows just how distressed Americans are: About 77% of adults are stressed about the future of the nation, while 69% are worried about the upcoming election. It’s tricky to manage that stress, so Storch recommends a mixed bag of tactics to help keep it together through the end of the year: Take control over the things within your power to control, such as actively supporting your political position and voting Limit exposure to the media, which can trigger fresh stress Understand that whether your candidate wins or loses, another election will take place in the future Focus on stress relievers like physical activity, good sleep and socializing with loved ones If you find your anxiety unmanageable, seek counseling “Distress can be channeled into feelings of helplessness, or it can… read on > read on >

Type 2 diabetes is caused in part by the failure of pancreatic beta cells to respond as they should to blood sugar. Now, new research suggests that switching to a low-carbohydrate diet might correct that beta cell dysfunction, boosting patients’ health. “People with type 2 diabetes on a low-carbohydrate diet can recover their beta cells, an outcome that cannot be achieved with medication,” noted lead study author Barbara Gower, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The findings suggest that “people with mild type 2 diabetes who reduce their carbohydrate intake may be able to discontinue medication and enjoy eating meals and snacks that are higher in protein and meet their energy needs,” Gower added in a news release from the Endocrine Society. As the research team explained, type 2 diabetes — by far the most common form of the disease — is caused in part by an impairment in beta-cell function and loss of beta cells. Beta cells are made in the pancreas and produce insulin, the hormone humans need to control blood sugar levels. Her team theorized that damage to beta cells may be due, at least in part, to excessive intake of carbohydrate-rich foods such as bread and pasta. In the new study, the Birmingham team placed 57 white and Black adults with type 2 diabetes on one of two dietary regimens.… read on > read on >

Maybe you’ve seen a cartoon character shake their head back and forth following a sharp blow — clearing away whatever stars or birds are circling their noggins. Turns out, that same move might help coaches and physical trainers identify a concussion that’s occurred on the field. About 72% of athletes — and 92% of football players — said they’ve quickly shaken their head back and forth following a concussion, researchers report. These SHAAKEs — Spontaneous Headshake After a Kinematic Event — might help identify up to 33% of concussions that might otherwise be missed, researchers argued. “Sports and medical organizations should immediately add SHAAKE to their lists of potential concussion signs,” said researcher Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “Coaches, medical professionals and concussion spotters should be trained to recognize when a SHAAKE happens and remove athletes for further assessment,” Nowinski added. “It’s an easy change, with no downside, that could prevent catastrophic outcomes and save careers.” A SHAAKE occurs within seconds or minutes of an impact, researchers said. People shake their heads side to side two to eight times a second, typically for less than two seconds, and they aren’t trying to communicate non-verbally with someone else. Nowinski recognized SHAAKE as a potential concussion sign after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a controversial undiagnosed concussion during a game on Sept. 25,… read on > read on >

Babies who breathe in polluted air tend to have higher rates of peanut allergy as they grow up, but the same wasn’t true for immune-based conditions like egg allergy or eczema, Australian researchers report. Why the connection to peanut allergy in particular? That’s not yet clear, said study lead author Dr. Diego Lopez, of the University of Melbourne. “Air pollutants have an irritant and inflammatory effect that may boost the immune systems pro-allergic response, potentially triggering the development of food allergies,” said Lopez, a researcher at the university’s School of Population and Global Health. “However, the underlying mechanisms of how air pollution increases the risk of a peanut allergy, and why eczema and egg allergy aren’t impacted in the same way, need to be explored further,” he said in a news release from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI). The new research involved nearly 5,300 children living in Melbourne who’d been enrolled at the age of 1 and then followed up at ages 4, 6 and 10. Lopez’ team was able to track local data on air pollution for whatever neighborhood the child lived in. They looked specifically at two types of pollution: fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). As rates of air pollution rose, so did a child’s odds of developing a peanut allergy, the team found. Food allergies were diagnosed using… read on > read on >

Women fighting breast cancer can relieve some of their chemotherapy “brain fog” through aerobic exercise, a new clinical trial in Canada suggests. Breast cancer patients on chemo who participated in a regular aerobics class reported that they felt sharper and had better quality of life, researchers found. “Our findings strengthen the case for making exercise assessment, recommendation and referral a routine part of cancer care,” said lead researcher Jennifer Brunet, a professor of human kinetics with the University of Ottawa. “This may help empower women living with and beyond cancer to actively manage both their physical and mental health during and after treatment.” For the study, 57 breast cancer patients in Ottawa and Vancouver were randomly assigned to take either 12 weeks or 24 weeks of aerobic exercise along with their chemotherapy. About half of the women started their aerobics regimen at the same time they initiated chemo, and the other half started after they completed chemo. No significant differences between the two groups were found in objective tests of brain function. However, women who took part in aerobics during chemo reported that they felt like they had a clearer, sharper mind, and that their overall quality of life was better. The new study was published recently in the journal Cancer. The results show that more exercise options need to be made available to women… read on > read on >

Baby Boom seniors are divorcing at rates triple that of a few decades ago, a new study has found. “Gray divorce” among folks 65 and older increased to 15% in 2022 from 5% in 1990, according to research from the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University. Increased life expectancy and the fragile nature of second, third or fourth marriages could play a factor in this trend, said researcher Susan Brown, a sociology professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. “This cohort of individuals experienced the divorce revolution in the 1970s as young adults, and many eventually remarried,” Brown said. “We know that remarriages are more likely to end in divorce than first marriages, which could be one cause for the increase.” However, divorce rates among middle-aged Gen X’ers 50 to 64 slightly declined in 2022, researchers noted. This means that “gray divorce” is largely a phenomenon among the Baby Boomer generation, the researchers concluded. Using U.S. Census Bureau data, Bowling Green researchers also found that an increasing number of seniors never married – a percentage that steadily rose from 5.2% in 1990 to 6.6% in 2022. At the same time, widowhood has declined by more than 14% during the past three decades, thanks to increases in life expectancy. “Traditionally, when we’ve studied older adults, we tend to confine… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Greater Access to New Weight Loss Meds Could Save More Than 40,000 Lives Per Year

Bad Sleep in Middle Age Unhealthy for Aging Brains

FDA Appoints New Head of Medical Devices

Poll Finds Most Americans Stressed Over Election, Future of Nation

Election Stressing You Out? An Expert Has Coping Tips

Cutting Back on Carbs Could Help Folks With Type 2 Diabetes

Common Post-Injury Action by Players Signals Concussion, Study Shows

Could Dirty Air Raise Kids’ Odds for Peanut Allergy?

Aerobic Exercise May Ease ‘Brain Fog’ of Breast Cancer Chemo

Seniors Who Split: Rates of ‘Gray Divorce’ Have Tripled Since 1990