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That plastic wrap you find around the food you eat is far from benign: A new study shows that more than 3,600 chemicals leach into food during the packaging process. Of that number, 79 chemicals are known to cause cancer, genetic mutations, and endocrine and reproductive issues, a team of international researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. “Our research helps to establish the link between food contact chemicals and human exposure, highlights chemicals that are overlooked in biomonitoring studies and supports research into safer food contact materials,” lead study author Birgit Geueke, senior scientific officer at the nonprofit Food Packaging Forum, said in a news release on the study. Experts were stunned by the magnitude of the findings. “This is a staggering number and shows that food contact materials are a significant source of chemicals in humans,” Martin Wagner, a professor of biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, told CNN. “The study is the first to systematically link the chemicals we use in materials to package and process foods to human exposure,” said Wagner, who was not involved in the research. While food packaging materials may comply with government regulations, the study shows these chemicals may not be completely safe, said senior study author Jane Muncke, managing director and chief scientific officer at the Food Packaging… read on > read on >

As wildfires continue to burn across parts of California, a new study finds that smoke from these blazes and other air pollution could be harming kids’ mental health. Repeated exposure to high levels of particle pollution increases kids’ risk of depression, anxiety and other mental health symptoms, researchers reported. What’s more, each additional day of exposure to unsafe air significantly boosted the likelihood that a youngster would suffer mental health problems. “We need to understand what these extreme events are doing to young people, their brains and their behavior,” said lead investigator Harry Smolker, a research associate with the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Institute of Cognitive Science. For the study, researchers analyzed data from 10,000 kids ages 9 to 11 participating in an ongoing study of brain development. Using the participants’ addresses, they calculated how many days in 2016 each kid was exposed to particle pollution levels the Environmental Protection Agency considers unsafe. Some studies have found that these airborne particles could be small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier and affect the brain. These particles have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers; by comparison, a human hair is about 50 micrometers in diameter. Adult hospital admissions for depression, suicide and psychosis tend to increase on high pollution days, researchers said in background notes. When pregnant women are exposed to heavy particle pollution, their children… read on > read on >

Brain training aimed at improving memory can ward off symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease for years, a new study claims. Seniors experienced a slower decline in their memory and thinking abilities after undergoing brain training, compared to others who didn’t get the training, researchers found. This benefit persisted for five years after the seniors got the brain training, results show. “These results are important because this kind of intervention is non-pharmacological — there are no drugs involved — and can have a significant impact on the lives of those affected,” said lead researcher Sylvie Belleville, research chair in cognitive neuroscience of aging and brain plasticity at the University of Montreal. For the study, 145 seniors with mild cognitive impairment were recruited from memory clinics in Montreal and Quebec City between 2012 and 2015. One-third of the seniors were randomly assigned to receive training in memory strategies. They worked on things like memorizing the names of people, remembering lists of items or tasks and focusing their attention to better memorize. Another third underwent training to help their overall psychological well-being, such as techniques in anger management and problem-solving. The final third received no training at all. The initial results “showed that early intervention can improve cognitive function in people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” Belleville said in a university news release. “We had also observed cerebral changes… read on > read on >

Most parents are placing their kids in harms’ way by moving them out of their car booster seat too soon, a new study warns. Four out of five parents moved their kid out of a booster seat before the child was big enough, according to the report, Booster Seat Use in the USA: Breakthroughs and Barriers, published Sept. 16 by Safe Kids Worldwide. Further, three in four parents didn’t know that children need to ride in boosters until they’re at least 4-foot-9, results show. “Booster seats save lives and prevent serious injuries, but only if we use them and make sure they are adjusted properly,” said Torine Creppy, president of Safe Kids Worldwide. “Here’s a great first step: once your child is big enough to use a booster seat, keep using it until they can safely ride in a seat belt alone. It’s the best way to keep your child safe.” For the study, researchers with Ohio State University conducted an online survey of more than 3,000 parents and caregivers with kids ages 4 to 10. Booster seats can reduce the risk of serious injury by 45% compared to using a seat belt alone, researchers said in background notes. But survey results showed that many parents aren’t making sure their kid is big enough before getting rid of the booster seat. The survey also found… read on > read on >

With implications for research around postpartum depression and other health issues, scientists have tracked the changes pregnancy brings to the female brain. These changes weren’t subtle: Big shifts in what’s known as the brain’s “white matter” versus “gray matter” were observed, according to a team from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). “The maternal brain undergoes a choreographed change across gestation, and we are finally able to see it unfold,” said study co-author Emily Jacobs, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at the university. The study is thought to be the first to track brain changes throughout a pregnancy, rather than looking at discrete ‘snapshots’ taken at various points in gestation. The study focused on the brain of one woman undergoing her first pregnancy. Researchers led by Laura Pritschet, a PhD student working in Jacob’s lab, took scans of the woman’s brain every few weeks — starting before pregnancy, during gestation and then for two years after delivery. The “neuroplasticity” observed in her brain was dramatic, Pritschet and colleagues report. The biggest alteration came with the ratio of white matter and gray matter within the brain. Cortical gray matter — the kid found on the wrinkly outer surface of the brain — decreased in volume as hormonal changes associated with pregnancy occurred, the researchers said. That’s not a particularly negative change, the researchers… read on > read on >

For the first time, scientists have detected microscopic microplastics lodged in the human brain. Researchers in Germany and Brazil say that 8 out of 15 autopsied adults had microplastics detected within their brain’s smell centers, the olfactory bulb. The particles were likely breathed in over a lifetime, since tiny floating microplastics are ubiquitous in the air. Although microplastics have already been found in human lungs, intestines, liver, blood, testicles and even semen, it had long been thought that the body’s protective blood-brain barrier might keep the particles out of the brain. However, the new study suggests that there’s “a potential pathway for the translocation of microplastics to the brain” via the olfactory bulb, according to a team led by Luis Fernando Amato-Lourenco, of the Free University Berlin and Thais Mauad, an associate professor of pathology at the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil. The team published its findings Sept. 16 in the journal JAMA Network Open. “With much smaller nanoplastics entering the body with greater ease, the total level of plastic particles may be much higher,” Mauad said in a news release from the Plastic Health Council, a group that advocates for reductions in plastics use and funded the new study. “What is worrying is the capacity of such particles to be internalized by cells and alter how our bodies function,” Mauad added. The new… read on > read on >

Fatty liver disease linked to diabetes and obesity can easily progress to liver cirrhosis, but new research suggests that GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic can help stop that. In a new decades-long study, veterans with diabetes and what’s known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) were 14% less likely to progress to cirrhosis if they’d taken a GLP-1, compared to other diabetes meds. One GLP-1 med, semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy), seemed especially potent in this regard, according to a team led by Dr. Fasiha Kanwal, a professor of gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Overall, the use of GLP-1 meds “was associated with a lower risk of progression to cirrhosis and death,” Kanwal’s team reported Sept. 16 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. They noted that the medicine must be taken early in the course of MASLD: GLP-1s did not help people whose MASLD had already progressed to liver cirrhosis. A healthy liver has a fat content of just 5% or less by weight, but in MASLD fat can rise to unhealthy levels that put people at risk for cirrhosis, liver cancer or even the need for a liver transplant. Obesity and diabetes are prime risk factors driving fatty liver disease. In the new study, the Houston team looked at data from over 32,000 people with diabetes and MASLD who were all cared for at VA… read on > read on >

Vaping may look cool when you’re young, but it appears to be dulling the brains of college students, a new study warns. College students who vape have lower cognitive function scores than those who don’t, researchers reported Sunday at the American Neurological Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. And the more students vape, the lower they score on tests of learning, memory, problem-solving and critical thinking, researchers found. Students who vaped 10 to 20 puffs per day had scores 9% lower than those who did not vape or smoke, while those who vaped more than 20 puffs a day had scores nearly 14% lower, researchers found. “We believe our research marks a before-and-after in the field of studying cognitive function regarding vaping,” said lead researcher Linker Vinan Paucar, a medical student at Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil in Ecuador. Previous studies have shown that smoking can affect brain function by shrinking the brain and lowering blood flow to brain cells, researchers said in background notes. Nicotine also causes neurotoxicity that damages brain cells. The risk might be even greater in people who vape, Paucar said. “People in the study who had previously smoked cigarettes typically smoked three or four a week, but with vaping, they now smoke double, triple or more, especially if they smoke and vape,” Paucar said. “Electronic cigarettes with up to… read on > read on >

Tiny puffs from asthma inhalers could be causing big climate problems for Mother Earth, a new study warns. Each inhaler dose contains some of the most potent greenhouse gases known, and they are adding up, researchers reported recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association. By the time some inhalers are empty, they have emitted as much greenhouse gas as an average car driven 60 miles, researchers found. Further, the more than 70 million inhalers prescribed in the United States each year contribute more air pollution than the annual electricity use of 200,000 American homes, the researchers added. “There was a really wide range of emissions between different inhaler types, and it turns out that in the U.S. we’re still mostly prescribing the inhalers that are the worst when it comes to emissions,” said lead researcher Dr. Jyothi Tirumalasetty, a clinical assistant professor of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine at Stanford University. “But there are some easy replacements for those inhalers, and we hope that patients and providers consider emissions when they choose an inhaler,” Tirumalasetty added in a university news release. There are three main types of inhalers, researchers said: Metered-dose inhalers that use propellant gas to drive medication deep into the lungs Dry-powder inhalers that contain medicine dust that patients must breathe in Soft-mist inhalers that turn liquid medication into an… read on > read on >

Newfangled designs intended to make football helmets more protective have overlooked one key component, a new study suggests. Nearly a third of concussions in pro football involve impacts to the facemask, a part of the helmet that has remained mostly unchanged during the past decade, researchers say. Facemask enhancements could help protect players and minimize injury risk, the study concluded. These findings “suggest that facemask redesign should be the focus of future innovation that can continue to improve the safety of football players at all skill levels,” said lead researcher Kristy Arbogast, scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention and co-director of the Minds Matter Concussion Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. For the study, researchers used mouthpieces fitted with motion sensors to track head impacts that NFL players sustained during games. Nearly 100 players wore the mouthpieces during NFL seasons running from 2019 through 2022, and data was captured on more than 5,100 blows to the head that occurred during play. Facemask impacts represented nearly 60% of the most severe head blows during play. Impacts to the facemask were most common among linemen (66%), followed by hybrid players (56%) and speed players (46%). “The sophisticated and specific data collection from sensor technologies like instrumented mouthguards are providing a deeper understanding about the nature of impacts players experience on the field,”… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Many Toxic Chemicals Leach Into Human Bodies From Food Packaging

Wildfire Smoke Might Harm Children’s Mental Health

Could ‘Brain Training’ Exercises Help Slow Alzheimer’s Symptoms?

Most Parents Are Moving Kids Out of Car Booster Seats Too Soon

Pregnancy Changes the Brain, Study Finds

Breathing Could Bring Microplastics Into the Human Brain, Study Shows

Ozempic Could Curb Progression of Diabetes-Linked Liver Disease

Vaping Is Harming College Students’ Brains, Study Shows

Polluting Puff: Asthma Inhalers Are Big Contributors to Climate Change

One Part of Football Helmets Especially Linked to Concussion