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FRIDAY, Jan. 20, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Organic food will soon have to comply with stricter labeling rules under new requirements announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In what the Organic Trade Organization (OTA) called the biggest change since the USDA’s organic program was first founded in 1990, the new requirements include that all imported organic food be certified by the USDA National Organic Program. The rule increases certification of more supply chain businesses, and boosts authority for inspections, record-keeping, traceability and fraud prevention. The rule also builds on the USDA’s definitions for organic food, which must use “natural substances and physical, mechanical or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.” The new program will start in March, and companies must comply within a year. The OTA had lobbied for the changes and said in a statement the regulation “will do much to deter and detect organic fraud and protect organic integrity throughout the supply chain.” Organic food does big business in the United States, where customers spent $63 billion in 2021 for food free of pesticides and contaminants, the Associated Press reported. Working to ensure customers were getting what they paid for, the U.S. Department of Justice recently indicted those alleged to have been involved in a multimillion-dollar fraud operation to export non-organic grain to the United States with… read on > read on >

Doctors are seeing an alarming increase in cases of a specific genital malformation in male babies, and new research suggests environmental factors might be at play. The malformation is known as hypospadias, where the opening of the urethra is not at the tip of the penis, but on the underside of the organ. In the study, scientists identified a direct link between hypospadias tissue samples and the presence of epigenetic alterations — changes to the molecular factors and processes around DNA that determine how genes behave. “Previous researchers have done extensive analyses and not found any kind of genetic DNA sequence mutations that correlate with the presence of the disease, so there has always been a big question mark regarding where it comes from,” explained senior study author Michael Skinner, a professor of biology at Washington State University. “Our study shows the etiology of the disease is environmentally driven through epigenetics, rather than a result of changes to the DNA sequence,” he said in a university news release. “It gives us a clearer picture of what is going on.” Incidents of this malformation have increased by 11.5% in recent decades. This research could ultimately lead to earlier detection and better clinical management this genital defect, the study authors said. What happens next is uncertain, but researchers pointed to one potential path. It could be identifying… read on > read on >

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be an even bigger predictor of depression and anxiety in adulthood than autism is, a new study finds — highlighting the mental health side of the disorder. It’s known that kids and adults with ADHD often have co-existing conditions, including depression and anxiety. Research suggests that about 14% of children with ADHD have depression, while up to 30% have an anxiety disorder, according to the National Resource Center on ADHD. Adults with ADHD, meanwhile, are even harder-hit — with each of those conditions affecting up to half. The new study, researchers said, adds to what’s known by showing that ADHD is even more strongly linked to anxiety and depression than “autistic traits” are. Autism, which impairs communication and social skills, is itself tied to higher-than-normal rates of those mental health conditions. The findings spotlight the mental health component of ADHD, according to Richard Gallagher, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Health in New York City, who reviewed the findings. “There’s a notion that people with ADHD have a ‘simple’ problem with paying attention,” he said. “They just need to learn to sit down and focus.” But like autism, ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and it can cause significant problems at school, work, home and in relationships, Gallagher said. “Over time, it can impact quality of life,”… read on > read on >

When people undergo surgery for broken arms or legs, they are often injected with prescription blood thinners to reduce their risk of developing potentially life-threatening blood clots in their lungs and legs. But a large, new study suggests it may be time to rethink this practice. It found that aspirin may be as effective as injections of low-molecular-weight heparin when it comes to staving off blood clots and their related complications. “Patients all over North America who come in for surgery for fractures are at risk for blood clots in their legs and lungs, and the standard treatment is injections of low-molecular-weight heparin in the hospital and for weeks after discharge,” said study author Dr. Robert O’Toole, chief of orthopaedics at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. “It’s a shot given twice a day, and patients hate it,” he said. These heparin shots also have a much heftier price tag than aspirin. The study included more than 12,000 patients with arm or leg fractures that required surgery or pelvic fractures regardless of treatment. They were treated at 21 trauma centers. Of these, half received injections of low-molecular-weight heparin twice a day, and half received low-dose baby aspirin twice daily. All participants were followed for 90 days to see how they fared. Outcomes were similar for both groups.… read on > read on >

B vitamins. These powerhouse nutrients help your cells function at their best, protect your brain and heart, support your immune system and can even improve your mood and energy levels. This critical class of vitamins needs to be part of a healthy diet. According to Harvard Health, B vitamins help enzymes do their jobs, including releasing energy from carbohydrates and fat to breaking down amino acids and carrying oxygen and nutrients around the body. Two of the most essential ones are B6 and B12. Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is found in many foods, but it is also added to foods and supplements. B6 is a coenzyme that helps more than 100 enzymes perform various functions, including the breakdown of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, according to Harvard Health. Meanwhile, vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is found in meats and fish. It can also be added to foods or supplements. It’s needed to make red blood cells and DNA, and it also has a role in the function and development of brain and nerve cells. What is vitamin B6 good for B6 helps maintain normal levels of the amino acid homocysteine, high levels of which can cause heart problems. B6 also supports the immune system and keeps the brain healthy. A recent study published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental found that taking vitamin B6 supplements may even… read on > read on >

As numerous U.S. states move to restrict transgender health care, a new study shows that such care can substantially improve teenagers’ mental health. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, followed transgender and nonbinary teenagers who received “gender-affirming” hormones — either estrogen or testosterone — for two years. During that time, researchers found, two-thirds of teens who’d had moderate to severe depression showed a marked improvement. Many also saw their anxiety symptoms wane and reported gains in their satisfaction with life. Experts who were not involved in the study said it bolsters evidence of the benefits of gender-affirming care — health care services for transgender and nonbinary people. That care can include “puberty blockers” — medications that put a pause on pubertal development — and gender-affirming hormones, which alter patients’ physical traits to better align with their gender identity. In the study, there was a direct correlation between teenagers’ mental health gains and the degree to which hormone therapy had given them their desired physical appearance. It’s known that compared with their peers, transgender and nonbinary teenagers are at higher risk of mental health issues, substance use and suicide. A survey last year by the nonprofit Trevor Project found that between 12% and 22% of transgender and nonbinary young people had attempted suicide in the past year. And few — one-third —… read on > read on >

Some college athletes take longer to recover from a concussion, but a new study offers them some good news. They may still be able to return to play — after one extra month of recovery, researchers report Jan. 18 in the journal Neurology. “Although an athlete may experience a slow or delayed recovery, there is reason to believe recovery is achievable with additional time and injury management,” said study author Dr. Thomas McAllister, from Indiana University School of Medicine. “This is an encouraging message that may help to relieve some of the discouragement that athletes can feel when trying to return to their sport. While some athletes took longer than 24 days to return to play, we found that three-quarters of them were able to return to sports if given just one more month to recover,” McAllister said in a journal news release. The study included 1,751 college varsity athletes who had concussions diagnosed by their team physician. About 63% of the athletes were men who primarily played football, soccer or basketball. The women primarily played soccer, volleyball or basketball. Participants were evaluated multiple times: within six hours of their injury; one or two days later; after being free of symptoms; after being cleared to return to play, and at six months. The athletes reported their symptoms daily for up to 14 days to medical… read on > read on >

When it comes to weight loss, what seems to matter most is how often and how much you eat, rather than when you eat. That’s the conclusion of a new study that focused on the eating habits of about 550 adults. For six months, all were asked to use a phone app to report both the timing and size of all their meals. “What we found is that, on average, the more meals people ate throughout the day, or the more large meals they ate throughout the day, the more likely they were to gain weight over time,” said study author Dr. Wendy Bennett. By contrast, “eating more small meals during the day was associated with more weight loss,” added Bennett, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore. They found no link between when in the day people ate and any change in their weight. Bennett stressed that the findings do not speak to the pros and cons of intermittent fasting, a popular dietary practice that involves abstaining from eating for fixed periods of time. That’s because “we didn’t know people’s intentions,” she explained. “We really just followed everyday free-living people, without asking anyone to change their behavior, and without knowing who did or did not want to lose weight.” So, she noted, “We can’t draw any conclusions about… read on > read on >

In today’s highly polarized political environment, is it possible to stay up-to-date with the news of the day without getting totally stressed out? If not, is there a way to limit the emotional and physical fallout? Or is all that individual stress in service of a greater societal good? New research paints a complex picture with no easy answers. On the one hand, paying close attention to the daily doings of politicians does appear to have a way of making people feel consistently bad, investigators found. And those negative emotions appear to take a toll, they warn, in the form of poorer mental and physical health. On the upside, the study also found that staying politically informed appears to serve a larger good, motivating people to get more involved in important causes, through volunteer work or financial donations. “We expected people would have negative reactions to politics each day, but we were somewhat surprised by how consistent the effects were,” noted study author Matthew Feinberg, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. What’s clear, however, is that all that negativity seems to source back to a fundamental fact, Feinberg said: People take politics very, very personally. “They internalize what happens in the political arena,” he said. And the result is that all “the scandals, the incivility and the animosity so… read on > read on >

While childhood obesity gets a lot of attention, some kids struggle with the opposite issue — they have trouble gaining weight. So, how can parents know if their child is “too skinny?” While the best resource is likely a child’s pediatrician, experts have also weighed in on the topic. “Underlying health conditions can result in children and adolescents being underweight. Additionally, underweight can indicate malnutrition,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted in a recent study about the prevalence of underweight kids in the United States. Just over 4% of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 were underweight in the United States in 2018, according to the study. To help figure out if your child is too skinny, here’s what to know. Children are considered underweight when their body mass index (BMI) is below the 5th percentile for their age and gender on growth charts, according to the CDC study. If a child is underweight, the pediatrician may ask more about medical history or could order testing to check for undiscovered health issues, Dr. Gary Kirkilas, a general pediatrician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, explained in a recent American Academy of Pediatrics article. “Children below the 5th percentile could have a nutritional shortfall — either not taking in enough calories or burning up more calories than they are getting, or both,” Kirkilas said.… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

New USDA Rules Ramp Up Oversight of Organic Food

Penis Birth Defects Are on the Rise – Are Environmental Toxins to Blame?

ADHD Tied to Higher Rates of Anxiety, Depression

Aspirin OK After Fracture to Help Avoid Blood Clots

The B Vitamins: Put Them on Your A List

Hormonal Therapies Are Boosting the Mental Health of Trans Youth

Some Athletes May Need an Extra Month for Concussion Recovery

Do Fasting Diets Work? Study Finds Meal Size, Not Timing, Key to Weight Loss

Political News Takes Mental Toll, But Is Disengaging the Answer?

Is My Child Too Skinny? Advice on When to Be Concerned