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Pregnant women hear a lot of “Do this” and “Don’t do that” advice about what is safe to eat. But one recommendation that’s particularly important involves seafood: During pregnancy, women need to eat enough seafood to gain the health benefits, but not so much to raise the risk of some significant consequences. They also need to be careful about how the fish they eat is prepared. “Fish is an important source of nutrients, and its consumption should not be avoided,” said Dr. Vaia Lida Chatzi, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), who led a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. “But pregnant women should stick to one to three servings of fish a week as recommended, and not eat more, because of the potential contamination of fish by mercury and other persistent organic pollutants,” Chatzi advised. Eating fish during pregnancy The benefits of omega-3 fatty acids found in certain fish are notable. These nutrients are credited with a lot of health gains — during and outside of pregnancy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that one of the nutrients found in fish, choline, supports development of the baby’s spinal cord and cognitive development. In the USC study on the health benefits of fish in pregnancy, the researchers found that… read on > read on >

Vitamin D is widely promoted for better health, but if you’re overweight, you might not reap the benefits. In a new study, researchers found a 30% to 40% reduction in cancer, cancer deaths and autoimmune diseases among people with a lower body mass index (BMI) who took vitamin D supplements, but only a small benefit among those with higher BMIs. “Patients with obesity, despite taking the same amount of supplement, had a lower response,” said lead researcher Deirdre Tobias, an assistant professor in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston. The cutoff was a BMI of less than 25, which is considered a healthy weight, the study authors noted. It’s not known why being overweight or obese affects levels of the so-called “sunshine vitamin,” but low absorption of vitamin D could be widespread, given that more than 40% of Americans are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s not clear whether it’s due to their body weight, per se, or maybe some other factor related to an individual’s body weight. It may be due to adiposity itself. Having a lower body weight may lead to a higher internal dose of vitamin D,” Tobias said. Adiposity is having too much fatty tissue in the body. The next step in the research is to try and… read on >

Getting a gel manicure may be less safe than many think. Researchers say the nail polish dryers that use ultraviolet (UV) light to cure the gel polish emit possibly dangerous rays. These rays might lead to cell death and cancer-causing mutations in human cells, they noted. Maria Zhivagui, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, has sworn off gel manicures after seeing results in the lab. When she was doing her PhD, she was intrigued by gel manicures, which last longer than normal polish. “I started using gel manicures periodically for several years,” Zhivagui said in a university news release. However, “once I saw the effect of radiation emitted by the gel polish drying device on cell death and that it actually mutates cells even after just one 20-minute session, I was surprised. I found this to be very alarming, and decided to stop using it,” Zhivagui added. “To the best of our knowledge, no one has actually studied these devices and how they affect human cells at the molecular and cellular levels until now,” study co-author Ludmil Alexandrov said in the release. He’s a professor of bioengineering as well as cellular and molecular medicine. Alexandrov decided to conduct the study after reading about a young beauty pageant contestant with a rare form of skin cancer on her finger. “We began looking into… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday asked its vaccine advisory panel to weigh a proposal to turn COVID vaccines into an annual shot for most Americans. Such a move would simplify future vaccination efforts, a critical point given the fact that efforts to get people to get COVID booster shots have fallen far short of expectations. While over 80% of Americans have had at least one dose of the original COVID-19 vaccine, only 16% of those over the age of 5 have gotten the updated booster shots that were approved last August, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The committee will consider the FDA proposal at its Jan. 26 meeting. If it recommends the concept be turned into policy and the agency follows those recommendations, COVID shots would likely become much like annual flu shots. In documents filed with the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the FDA noted that “the totality of the available evidence on prior exposure to and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 suggests that, moving forward, most individuals may only need to receive one dose of an approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccine to restore protective immunity for a period of time.” Who might need more than one dose per year? For the very young, seniors and the immunocompromised, the agency noted that two doses may be… read on > read on >

Actor Michael J. Fox details his experiences with Parkinson’s disease, including turning to alcohol and pills in an attempt to cope, in a new documentary. Fox, 61, has had the degenerative brain disorder since 1991, but didn’t disclose it publicly until 1998. The star — best known for the “Back to the Future” movies — said he was an alcoholic in the early days and also took dopamine pills like candy while trying to hide symptoms of his condition, such as tremors. “Therapeutic value, comfort — none of these were the reason I took these pills. There was only one reason: to hide,” Fox says in the documentary “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.” “I became a virtuoso of manipulating drug intake so that I’d peak at exactly the right time and place,” admits the actor, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 29. Fox says he got sober 30 years ago with the help of his wife, actress Tracy Pollan, and his children, USA Today reported. “I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know what was coming. So what if I could just have four glasses of wine and maybe a shot?” Fox says. “I was definitely an alcoholic.” “As low as alcohol had brought me, abstinence would bring me lower. I could no longer escape myself,” Fox recalls, according to the news report.… read on > read on >

Most people think of eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia as afflictions of teenagers, but a new study finds that older women are also vulnerable to developing them, especially around menopause. The main driver of eating disorders in older women? Body dissatisfaction, the researchers found. When researchers looked at eating disorder symptoms among 36 women aged 45 to 61, they found that body dissatisfaction was a key risk factor for eating disorders across the lifespan, especially in midlife. Perimenopausal and early post-menopausal women were more likely to report a fear of gaining weight or losing control of their eating. Perimenopause is the transition before menopause that may be marked by irregular or skipped periods, among other symptoms. “Eating disorders have been stereotyped as a disease of adolescence and young adulthood, but are still present in older women,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the North American Menopause Society and director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health in Rochester, Minn. About 3.5% of women older than 40 have an eating disorder, and this may manifest differently than it does in younger people, she said. “Women in perimenopause may have more dysregulated eating behaviors such as weight control behaviors/counting calories or consumption of diet foods, and may note more body dissatisfaction and fear of gaining weight,” said Faubion. Exactly why midlife is a… read on > read on >

Intravenous (IV) lines are generally associated with medical centers — picture a patient in a hospital bed, an IV drip-dropping needed fluids, nutrients and medicines into their arm. But millions now are receiving IV treatments at home, and a new study warns that not enough people are being properly trained to watch out for potentially dangerous IV-associated infections. There are no standard protocols for training home care nurses, caregivers or the patients themselves how to watch out for and report signs of infections caused by IV lines, said co-author Dr. Sara Keller, an assistant professor of infectious disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md. “There are more patients receiving home infusion therapy now than there were 10 or 20 years ago, and being able to monitor complications in a validated and standardized fashion is going to be important,” Keller said. More than 3 million patients received IV treatment at home in 2019, a 300% increase from 2008, according to the National Home Infusion Association. “People no longer are in the hospital for six weeks of IV therapy,” said Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious disease at Mount Sinai South Nassau, in Oceanside, N.Y. “They’re sent home with central lines in place, and they’ll get their therapy on a daily basis as an outpatient, usually giving it to themselves or sometimes with… read on > read on >

When kids suffer a concussion, an extended period of rest at home is always the best course, right? Perhaps not. In fact, a new study suggests that — despite what many people may presume — getting kids back to school quickly is the best way to boost their chance for a rapid recovery and better outcomes. The finding stems from a look at post-concussion outcomes of more than 1,600 children between the ages of 5 and 18. “There has been minimal research to date that provides guidance to clinicians, parents and schools regarding an appropriate time for youth to return to school after a concussion,” said study leader Christopher Vaughan, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children’s National Hospital in Rockville, Md. The current guidance, he said, is more general about activities and less specific to returning to schools. Usually, a rest period of 24 to 48 hours is encouraged, with a gradual return to activities, including school, based on symptom tolerance. “We found that [the] typical time away from school ranged from three to five days, but that an earlier return to school — defined as missing two or fewer days of school, excluding weekends — was associated with a lower symptom burden at two weeks post-injury,” Vaughan said. For the study, his team focused on the post-concussion experience of 1,630 children who were treated at… read on > read on >

MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Trouble continues for Abbott Laboratories, which shut down an infant formula plant last year amid reported illnesses. The U.S. Department of Justice is now investigating the company, though Abbott did not say specifically what the investigation is covering, NBC News reported. “DOJ has informed us of its investigation and we’re cooperating fully,” an Abbott spokesperson said in a statement. The DOJ has declined to comment, NBC News reported. In February 2022, Abbott’s plant in Sturgis, Mich., was shut down after reports that four infants who had consumed formula made at the plant became ill. Two of the infants died. The cause was a rare bacteria, Cronobacter sakazakii. An investigation did not find the source of the bacteria. Abbott has said there was no genetic match between the infants who became ill and the formula, citing internal testing, NBC News reported. The company also said it had not found the bacteria in any of its products. Federal investigators could not definitively identify the source of the bacteria either, NBC News reported. During the Abbott plant shutdown, the country faced a shortage of infant formula before Similac, Alimentum and EleCare production restarted in June. Abbott worked with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to bring its facility into compliance. The FDA said at that time, “the government alleges that powdered… read on > read on >

Despite distance and occasional technical glitches, a new study finds that most patients like seeing a surgeon for the first time via video. The study was published Jan. 19 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. “We see patients that live hours away. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it threw fuel on the fire of our telehealth program,” said study co-author Dr. Alexander Hawkins, associate professor of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. “Across the entire health care system, we now do about 20,000 telehealth visits a month,” he said in a college news release. “Previously, there had been concerns about whether we could effectively communicate with patients remotely, but we found that patients are just as satisfied with telehealth visits as in-person appointments.” The study included 387 patients who participated in first-time visits between May 2021 and June 2022 at general surgery clinics across the Vanderbilt system. Researchers used a standard questionnaire to look at the quality of shared decision-making and asked patients and surgeons open-ended questions about their consultations. In all, 77.8% of patients had an in-person visit, while 22.2% saw their doctor remotely. Both groups reported high levels of quality communication during these appointments. Levels of shared decision-making and quality of communication were similar between remote visits and in-person care, the study found. In responding to the… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Seafood in Pregnancy: To Eat or Not to Eat?

Your Weight Could Alter Vitamin D’s Effect on Health

Could UV Light From Nail Polish Dryers Cause Cancer?

U.S. Proposes to Make COVID Shot Annual, Much Like Flu Shot

In New Documentary, Michael J. Fox Describes Hiding Parkinson’s, Struggles With Alcohol

Why Midlife Can Bring Risk of New Eating Disorders

Home Drug Infusions Can Be Dangerous, But Many Home Care Staff Aren’t Trained

Is Rest Really Best After a Child Has a Concussion?

Abbott Labs Confirms Justice Department Probe Following Infant Formula Crisis

Patients Give High Ratings to Pre-Surgery Telemedicine Consultations