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FRIDAY, Dec. 23, 2022 (HealthDay News) – Move your body every day to guard against type 2 diabetes. That’s the upshot of a new study that analyzed Fitbit data and type 2 diabetes rates from participants in a nationwide research program, reporting that women who logged more steps each day had a lower risk of diabetes. “We investigated the relationship between physical activity and type 2 diabetes with an innovative approach using data from wearable devices linked to electronic health records in a real-world population,” said lead author Dr. Andrew Perry, of the Vanderbilt Translational and Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center in Nashville, Tenn. “We found that people who spent more time in any type of physical activity had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Our data shows the importance of moving your body every day to lower your risk of diabetes.” The data came from more than 5,600 people, 75% of them women, who were part of the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us research program between 2010 and 2021. All of Us aims to advance individualized health care by enrolling and collecting data on more than 1 million people over many years. Over four years, researchers found 97 new cases of diabetes among the 5,600 people in this new study. People with an average daily step count of 10,700 — a… read on > read on >

Swedish researchers studying anger say it appears there is a pent-up need for anger management and that an internet-based treatment can work. Scientists from the Centre for Psychiatry Research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, had to close its recruitment site after a few weeks because there was so much demand for help with anger issues. “It is usually very difficult to recruit participants for treatment studies. For the anger study, however, it was very easy,” said Johan Bjureberg, an assistant professor at the center. The study included 234 participants, all of whom had significant anger problems. The participants were each randomly assigned to four weeks of either mindful emotion awareness, cognitive reappraisal or a combination of these two strategies, delivered online. “Many people who have problems with anger feel ashamed, and we think the internet format suits this group particularly well because they don’t have to wait in a reception room or sit face-to-face with a therapist and talk about their anger,” Bjureberg said in an institute news release. Mindful emotion awareness is focused on the ability to notice and accept one’s feelings and thoughts without any judgment and without acting on them. Cognitive reappraisal involves focusing on the ability to reinterpret thoughts and situations and identify alternative thoughts that don’t trigger difficult feelings. Combination therapy was most effective, though all options were… read on > read on >

Depression can be tricky to detect in some people, and Black women may exhibit different symptoms, leading to missed care, researchers say. Black women report sleep disturbances, self-criticism and irritability more often than the stereotypical low mood, according to a new study. As a result, standard screening tools may underdiagnose depression in Black women, the study authors said. “Based on our findings, it’s possible that health care providers may miss depression symptoms in Black women, resulting in underdiagnosis and undertreatment,” said lead author Nicole Perez. She’s a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and postdoctoral associate at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing in New York City. In general, depression symptoms are low mood, loss of interest in activities, changes in appetite or sleep, and feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness. But more than 1,500 possible combinations of symptoms exist that meet criteria for a depressive disorder, according to the study. Research on depression has primarily been conducted in white people, increasing the chances that it will be missed among racial and ethnic minority populations, the authors noted. For this study, researchers analyzed data from 227 Black women who were screened for depression. In addition to a category called somatic symptoms that includes fatigue, insomnia and decreased libido, researchers found that Black women with depression were more likely to be self-critical, irritable and to have an… read on > read on >

Preteens who spend much of their free time watching online videos or playing video games may have a heightened risk of developing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), a new study suggests. Researchers found that among 9,200 9- and 10-year-olds they assessed, the odds of developing OCD inched up with every daily hour kids devoted to online videos (such as on YouTube) or video gaming. That doesn’t mean kids are perfectly fine until they start browsing the video website. Experts said it’s possible that those on a trajectory toward OCD start to compulsively watch videos or become “addicted” to gaming. “It’s hard to tease apart the chicken-and-egg question,” said lead researcher Dr. Jason Nagata, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. In fact, he added, it’s likely there’s a “bi-directional relationship.” That is, compulsive kids may be drawn to play video games again and again, or watch online videos, where algorithms that feed them a continuous supply of additional videos can pull them down a rabbit hole. All of that, in turn, may worsen their compulsiveness. The bottom line, Nagata said, is that parents would be wise — for a number of reasons — to keep an eye on their kids’ screen time. OCD is a chronic disorder in which people have uncontrollable, recurring thoughts that spur behaviors they need to repeat… read on > read on >

In some parts of the United States, young men face a higher risk of dying from gun violence than if they’d gone to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, a new study reports. Young men living in certain high-violence ZIP codes in Chicago and Philadelphia run a greater risk of firearm death than military personnel who served in recent U.S. wars, according to findings published online Dec. 22 in JAMA Network Open. Young men in Chicago’s most violent ZIP code were more than three times as likely to experience gun-related death compared to soldiers sent to Afghanistan, the researchers found, while those in Philadelphia’s most violent area were nearly twice as likely to be shot to death. In all ZIP codes studied, young men from minority groups overwhelmingly bear the risk of firearm-related death, the findings showed. “These results are an urgent wake-up call for understanding, appreciating and responding to the risks and attendant traumas faced by this demographic of young men,” said study leader Brandon del Pozo, an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School in Providence, R.I. His team examined shooting data from 2020 and 2021 in four large U.S. cities — Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. The investigators zeroed in on shootings involving nearly 130,000 men between 18 and 29 years of age. They grouped them by… read on > read on >

Call it a good idea that seems to have backfired: A tough new labeling law that requires even the smallest amount of sesame be listed on food products has instead spurred some companies to add it to their products. The new federal law goes into effect on Jan. 1, adding sesame to the list of major allergens that must appear on food labels when they are present in the product. Allergens that have appeared on labels since 2004 are milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans, the Associated Press reported. Food allergen labeling advocates have sought to add sesame to the list of major allergens for years. But the new requirements are so strict that it costs less to add sesame to food products than to try to keep it out of those aren’t meant to contain it, the AP reported. “It was really exciting as a policy advocate and a mom to get these labels,” Naomi Seiler, a consultant with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America whose 9-year-old daughter, Zoe, is allergic to sesame, told the AP. “Instead, companies are intentionally adding the allergen to food.” To follow the law, companies must label foods that contain sesame or follow safety measures to keep it from getting into foods through shared equipment and supplies. “It’s as if we’ve suddenly asked bakers… read on > read on >

Elon Musk swears by the weight-loss drug Wegovy, and Kim Kardashian is rumored to have used it to shed 16 pounds in three weeks to squeeze into a vintage gown once worn by Marylin Monroe. But the intense public demand for Wegovy has triggered a shortage of the diabetes version of the injectable medication, known as Ozempic. That’s leaving patients with the blood sugar disease in a real bind. Made by Novo Nordisk, semaglutide (Ozempic) has been on the market since 2017 to help manage type 2 diabetes. But in June 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved semaglutide to treat weight loss under the brand name Wegovy. Ever since Wegovy arrived on the market, Novo Nordisk has struggled to meet demand, experts said. Unfortunately, people who want to drop pounds and can’t find Wegovy are getting doctors to write them off-label prescriptions for Ozempic, eating into supplies of a drug that’s vital in the treatment of diabetes. “We’ve heard reports of people really struggling to fill their prescriptions,” said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief science and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association. “I still see patients at the Joslin Diabetes Center, and I can tell you that some of my patients have said, oh, yeah, you know, I had to go to lots of different pharmacies to finally find it. It’s been a… read on > read on >

Plenty of people enjoy a cup or two, or maybe three or four, of coffee every day. But new research shows that people with severe high blood pressure (“hypertension”) should steer clear of drinking too much java. The study found that for those with blood pressure of 160/100 or higher, drinking two or more cups of coffee daily was associated with a doubled risk of death from heart disease compared to those who don’t drink coffee. “We were surprised that heavy coffee consumption was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among people with severe hypertension, but not in those without hypertension or with grade 1 hypertension,” said study author Dr. Masayuki Teramoto. He is with Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan and the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. “In contrast, green tea consumption was not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality across all blood pressure categories,” Teramoto added. Why no heart harm with green tea? Researchers said polyphenols — micronutrients with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties — may be what’s responsible for the benefits of green tea. “These beneficial effects of green tea may partially explain why only coffee consumption was associated with an increased risk of mortality in persons with severe hypertension, despite both green tea and coffee containing caffeine,”… read on > read on >

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21, 2022 (American Heart Association News) — Need a healthy way to kick off the new year? You’re in luck. As the calendar turns, cultures across the world focus on good fortune and associate all kinds of foods with it. Here’s a look at which are healthiest – and how to handle those that are less so. Black-eyed peas In the American South, it’s not New Year’s without black-eyed peas, which are actually a type of bean. In some areas, they’re served with rice in a dish called Hoppin’ John. James Shikany, endowed professor of cardiovascular disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said black-eyed peas themselves are a healthy food, “but it depends on how they’re prepared.” On their own, black-eyed peas are full of fiber and packed with iron, thiamin and other nutrients. But Shikany, a nutritional epidemiologist and lead author of a 2015 study in Circulation about the traditional Southern diet, said they often are made with a lot of salt and fatty meat. Excess sodium can increase your risk of high blood pressure, and saturated fat can raise LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, which can boost your risk of heart disease. Collard greens “It’s the same story,” Shikany said. Collard greens – said to be symbolic of folded cash – are full of fiber, vitamins and iron. “Most greens, in… read on > read on >

Menopause and the years before it may make you feel like you’re losing your mind. Some of those feelings are changes that occur naturally in this stage of life, but other factors contribute, too, according to the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), which offered tips to achieve some peace. Changes in hormones are a big reason for the mood swings and other symptoms. While most women are accustomed to their own hormonal rhythm, it gets disrupted during perimenopause, the years before a woman’s periods stop for good, according to NAMS. Part of it is just timing — that these physical changes are happening along with other midlife stresses, such as relationship issues, divorce or widowhood. For some women, those stresses include caring for young children, struggles with teens, the return of grown children to the home or being childless. Career, education and aging parents may add to this strain. Women in midlife also may be living with changes in self-esteem or body image because society values youth, NAMS suggested in a news release. One way to feel better is to create balance. Remember to take care of your own needs, not just those of family and work. This can help you meet new challenges and maintain self-confidence. If you experienced depression when younger, you’re more vulnerable to those feelings during perimenopause. Depression is associated with… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

More Steps Per Day, Lowered Odds for Diabetes in Women

Anger Management Treatment Via the Internet Shows Promise

Women’s Depression Symptoms May Differ by Race: Study

Can Too Much Screen Time Raise a Child’s Odds for OCD?

In Some U.S. Urban Areas, Men Face Higher Gun Death Rate Than in Wartime

Tough New Labeling Law for Sesame Prompts Companies to Add It to Their Products

Diabetes Med Ozempic in Short Supply as Americans Use It for Weight Loss

Coffee Might Pose Danger to Folks With Severe High Blood Pressure

AHA News: With a Little Luck, These Foods Will Get Your New Year Started Right

Mood Swings, Memory Troubles: Minding the Mental Toll of Menopause