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Millions of adults spend too much time at a desk or in front of a screen, and experts have long advised them to sit less, move more. But if lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar and a mood boost are the goals, what’s the bare minimum of movement that will get the job done? Apparently just five minutes of walking every 30 minutes. That’s the finding of a small, new study that compared the benefits of five exercise “snacks” — small bursts of exercise spread out during the day. “We’ve found in our past research that, on average, adults in the U.S. spend over three-quarters of their day sedentary, or about 11 to 12 hours a day,” said study co-author Keith Diaz. He directs Columbia University’s Exercise Testing Laboratory at the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health, in New York City. “Previous research has shown that people who sit for hours on end develop chronic diseases — including diabetes, heart disease, dementia and several types of cancer — at much higher rates than people who move throughout their day,” Diaz said. They also face a higher risk of early death. The bottom line: “If you have a job or lifestyle where you have to sit for prolonged periods, we suggest taking a five-minute walking break every half-hour. This one behavior change could reduce your health risks… read on > read on >

Do your liver a favor and steer clear of fast food, new research urges. People with obesity or diabetes who consumed 20% or more of their daily calories from fast food had severely elevated levels of fat in their liver compared to those who ate less fast food or none. Even the general U.S. population had moderate increases in liver fat when fast food made up one-fifth or more of their diet, the study found. “Healthy livers contain a small amount of fat, usually less than 5%, and even a moderate increase in fat can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,” said lead study author Dr. Ani Kardashian. She is a hepatologist with University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, in Los Angeles. “The severe rise in liver fat in those with obesity or diabetes is especially striking, and probably due to the fact that these conditions cause a greater susceptibility for fat to build up in the liver,” Kardashian said in a university news release. Kardashian said this is one of the first studies to demonstrate the negative impact of fast food on liver health. Even a relatively modest amount can be harmful, she warned. “If people eat one meal a day at a fast-food restaurant, they may think they aren’t doing harm,” Kardashian said. “However, if that one meal equals at least… read on > read on >

Adults with asthma now have a new rescue medication to turn to after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Airsupra on Wednesday. The drug is the first approved to combine albuterol (a beta-2 adrenergic agonist) and budesonide (a corticosteroid). It’s meant for the as-needed treatment or prevention of bronchoconstriction (narrowed airways) and to reduce the risk of asthma attacks in patients with asthma aged 18 and older. This medication is also the first approved in the United States to contain an inhaled corticosteroid approved as a reliever rather than as a controller of asthma symptoms. Asthma affects 24 million Americans, with symptoms that vary by person and can change over time. A long-term condition, it causes the airways to become inflamed and narrow. Someone having an asthma attack might cough, wheeze, feel chest tightness and be short of breath. Prior to the approval, the FDA evaluated the drug’s effectiveness in reducing severe asthma attacks in a randomized, double-blind, controlled study with patients who had moderate to severe asthma. The patients in the study were randomly assigned to use either Airsupra or just albuterol on its own. Patients received treatment for at least 24 weeks. The researchers looked at the time a patient had to the first severe asthma attack that required systemic corticosteroids for at least three days or an emergency room visit that… read on > read on >

So, after a month of holiday eating, your pants are too tight and you’re desperate to lose the extra weight as quickly as possible, but how much can you lose in a month? Experts say there is no speedy way to shed pounds. How long does it take to lose weight? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who succeed do it gradually at about 1 to 2 pounds per week, which translates into 4 to 8 pounds a month. Because safely losing weight is such a gradual process, it can take six months or more to lose 30 pounds. But it’s well worth it as you change your lifestyle and look and feel better, experts say. Losing weight permanently is really a matter of changing your lifestyle and diet. The best way is to set safe, achievable goals that you can meet. That all starts with understanding that fad diets or highly restrictive eating plans may prompt fast weight loss, but not permanent weight loss. “Fad diets, by today’s standards, do not work. By work, I mean a sustainable lifestyle that promotes a healthy weight and meets the nutrient needs of the individual,” said Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. “We need to buckle down and face the fact that a constant diet of… read on > read on >

Infants too young to be vaccinated for COVID-19 get some protection from their mothers’ breast milk, researchers say. The new study follows up on findings published in 2021 that showed the breast milk of vaccinated people contained antibodies against the COVID-19 virus. For the study, researchers analyzed infants’ stool. “Our first study showed there were SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the breast milk, but we couldn’t say if those antibodies were getting through the babies’ gastrointestinal tract and possibly providing protection there,” said senior study author Joseph Larkin III. He is an associate professor in the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, in Gainesville. Larkin and his team used a technique known as a neutralization assay to show that the antibodies found in the infants’ stool offered protection against the virus. “The antibodies run interference and don’t let the virus get to the cells,” Larkin said in a university news release. Even though people think of COVID-19 as a respiratory virus, it can invade the gut. Finding antibodies there is significant, the researchers said. “The antibodies ingested through breast milk may provide a protective coating in the infants’ mouths and gastrointestinal tract,” said first author Dr. Vivian Valcarce Luaces, a postdoctoral fellowship trainee in neonatology. Antibodies found in the blood plasma and milk of the mothers were better able to neutralize the virus, though they… read on > read on >

Six minutes of high-intensity exercise might prolong the lifespan of a healthy brain, perhaps delaying the start of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, a new, small study suggests. Researchers found that short but intense cycling increased the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is essential for brain formation, learning and memory. It’s thought that BDNF might protect the brain from age-related mental decline. “BDNF has shown great promise in animal models, but pharmaceutical interventions have thus far failed to safely harness the protective power of BDNF in humans,” said lead study author Travis Gibbons, from the University of Otago in New Zealand. “We saw the need to explore non-pharmacological approaches that can preserve the brain’s capacity which humans can use to naturally increase BDNF to help with healthy aging,” Gibbons said. The report was published Jan. 11 in the Journal of Physiology. BDNF promotes the brain’s ability to form new connections and pathways, and also helps neurons survive. Animal studies have shown that increasing the availability of BDNF boosts cognitive performance, such as thinking, reasoning or remembering. For this study, the researchers wanted to look at the influence of fasting and exercise on BDNF production in humans. Working with a dozen men and women, the investigators compared fasting, low-intensity cycling for 90 minutes, six-minute high-intensity cycling, and a combination of fasting and… read on > read on >

The updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters intended to defend people against emerging Omicron variants don’t appear to provide any better protection than the original shot does, two new studies find. The new mRNA bivalent boosters produced by Moderna and Pfizer only attack the COVID-19 virus about as well as the companies’ first-wave vaccines, according to a blood testing study led by renowned virologist Dr. David Ho, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University, in New York City. The bivalent shots also failed to promote higher antibody levels or a better immune response than the original COVID-19 vaccines, according to another study led by Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston. Both studies were published online Jan. 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Together, the two studies “suggest that with this rapidly evolving virus, vaccines developed for different strains are not going to add a huge difference in terms of protection,” said Dr. Greg Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group. It appears that human immune systems “imprint” after exposure to the first mRNA COVID vaccines, experts say. They are primed to respond to aspects of the original COVID-19 strain that are shared by all the variants, rather than the novel mutations sported by newer variants. “It may… read on > read on >

When teenagers feel good about themselves and their lives, it may also do their hearts good in the long run, a new study suggests. Researchers found that teenagers who generally felt happy, optimistic and loved went on to show better cardiovascular health in their 20s and 30s, versus kids who lacked that level of mental well-being. Overall, they were more likely to maintain a healthy weight, as well as normal blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels. And having such positive feelings appeared particularly important for Black teenagers’ future health. The idea that kids’ well-being can affect their health well into adulthood is not new. Studies have shown that childhood obesity, for example, is tied to increased risks of various health conditions — including type 2 diabetes and heart disease — later in life. And the links go beyond physical factors: Adults who went through childhood hardships like abuse and neglect are at heightened risk of heart disease and other ills, as well. Experts said the new study asked a different question: Are there positive psychological “assets” that might help protect kids’ physical health in the long run? “One thing I’m struck by is, we really don’t have a handle on the ‘good things’ that kids need to support their cardiometabolic health,” said lead researcher Farah Qureshi, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg… read on > read on >

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been released from a Buffalo hospital just nine days after he suffered cardiac arrest during a Monday night football game. “Damar Hamlin has been discharged from Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute,” the Buffalo Bills team announced on Twitter Wednesday. “We have completed a series of tests and evaluations,” Dr. Jamie Nadler, the physician who led Hamlin’s care at Buffalo General Medical Center, added in the posting. “And in consultation with the team physicians, we are confident that Damar can be safely discharged to continue his rehabilitation at home and with the Bills.” There has been no announcement on what caused Hamlin to go into cardiac arrest, The New York Times reported. Hamlin, 24, collapsed after tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins during a Jan. 2 football game. When Hamlin suddenly collapsed and fell backward, on-field medical staff swiftly gave him CPR before he was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The game was postponed and later canceled. The Buffalo Bills played the New England Patriots last Sunday. They finished 13-3, which was a half-game behind Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC’s No. 1 seed, CBS News reported. The Bills would have been No. 1 seed had they won the unfinished game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bills will now play a wild-card round against the Miami Dolphins… read on > read on >

While U.S. policymakers have attempted to lower lead exposure among children since the 1970s, new research finds that kids living near airports are still being exposed to dangerous levels of the heavy metal. “Across an ensemble of tests, we find consistent evidence that the blood lead levels of children residing near the airport are pushed upward by the deposition of leaded aviation gasoline,” said study author Sammy Zahran, associate chair of economics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. “This indicates we should support policy efforts to limit aviation lead emissions to safeguard the welfare of at-risk children,” Zahran said. When analyzing the blood lead levels of children under the age of 6 from 2011 to 2020, the researchers discovered that the closer a child lived to the Reid-Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County, Calif., the more likely that child had a blood lead level that exceeded California’s safety threshold. That safety threshold is 4.5 micrograms per deciliter. Blood lead levels were much higher when children lived East — or downwind — of the airport. Blood lead levels also increased with piston-engine aircraft traffic and quantities of leaded aviation gasoline sold at the airport. The report was published online Jan. 10 in PNAS Nexus. Leaded gasoline is still a standard part of aviation gasoline. It is used by an estimated 170,000 piston-engine aircraft nationwide, accounting… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

What Exercise ‘Snack’ Is Best for Your Health?

Fast Food May Be Toxic to Your Liver

FDA Approves New 2-Drug Combo Medicine for Asthma

How Much Weight Loss Per Month Is Safe?

Vaccinated Moms’ Breast Milk Could Protect Baby From COVID

Could 6 Minutes of Exercise Help Shield Your Brain From Alzheimer’s?

Bivalent COVID Boosters Offer No Extra Protection, Studies Suggest

Happy, Loved Teens Become Heart-Healthier as Adults

Damar Hamlin Released From Buffalo Hospital As Recovery From Cardiac Arrest Continues

Kids Living Near Airports Face Lead Poisoning Dangers