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Nutrition Labels Only Slightly Effective in Cutting Calories

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It’s easy these days to see how many calories a cheeseburger will set you back, or how many added sugars are in a jar of pasta sauce. But nutrition labels haven’t been as helpful at helping people cut calories as might have been hoped, according to a new evidence review published Jan. 17 in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Labels slapped on offerings at supermarkets and restaurants lead to only a small reduction in the calories people select and purchase, according to findings gathered from 25 prior studies. The average calorie reduction was just under 2%, or about 11 calories in a 600-calorie meal – the equivalent of around two almonds, researchers said. “Our review suggests that calorie labeling leads to a modest reduction in the calories people purchase and consume,” senior investigator Gareth Hollands, a principal research fellow with the University College London Social Research Institute, said in a news release. “This may have some impact on health at the population level, but calorie labeling is certainly no silver bullet,” Hollands added. The review compiled evidence from studies involving more than 10,000 people living in high-income countries like the U.S., Canada, France and the U.K., researchers said. The studies all focused on the impact of nutrition labeling on food selection and consumption, and 16 of the 25 were conducted in real-world settings like…  read on >  read on >

Higher Stroke Risk Among Children of Divorce

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A broken home seems to set a ticking time bomb in the brains of some children of divorce. Seniors have a 61% higher risk of stroke if their parents divorced when they were children or teenagers, researchers reported in a study published Jan. 22 in the journal PLOS One. The level of added risk is on par with that posed by two other well-established risk factors for stroke, diabetes and depression, researchers said. “Even after taking into account most of the known risk factors associated with stroke — including smoking, physical inactivity, lower income and education, diabetes, depression, and low social support — those whose parents had divorced still had 61% higher odds of having a stroke,” lead researcher Mary Kate Schilke, a lecturer in psychology at Tyndale University in Ontario, Canada, said in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 13,200 seniors 65 and older collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022 as part of an annual survey of American health. More than 7% of older Americans included in the study had suffered a stroke, and nearly 14% were children of divorce, researchers said. The study specifically excluded people who’d suffered childhood abuse. “We found that even when people hadn’t experienced childhood physical and sexual abuse and had at least one adult who made…  read on >  read on >

High-Fiber Diets Linked to Gut Health & Fewer Harmful Bacteria

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Could eating more fiber be the key to a healthier gut? Research suggests the answer is yes. The findings, published recently in the journal Nature Microbiology, analyzed gut microbiomes from more than 12,000 people in 45 countries. It found that individuals with higher levels of beneficial gut bacterium called Faecalibacterium also had fewer harmful bacteria such as E.coli.  “The main takeaway from our study is that our gut microbiome plays an important role in reducing the growth of potentially harmful bacteria in our gut, and it seems this effect may be modulated through diet,” lead researcher Alexandre Almeida, a fellow at Cambridge University, told NBC News.  Faecalibacterium thrives on fiber-rich foods like vegetables, beans and whole grains. It produces short-chain fatty acids, compounds known to benefit gut health. Research has linked lower levels of these bacteria to gastrointestinal conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). While the study doesn’t prove that eating more fiber directly reduces harmful bacteria, increasing fiber intake offers many health benefits, Almeida said. “There’s really solid evidence that fiber helps with diabetes, weight control and cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Walter Willett, a professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a news release. Adults need about 30 grams of fiber daily, according to Willett, but most Americans consume about 58% of that amount.…  read on >  read on >

“Chameleon” Immune Cells Linked To Severe Asthma

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A set of chameleon-like immune cells could be contributing to severe asthma in some patients. Intermediate group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) appear to be able to get around cutting-edge asthma treatments by transforming into another type of immune cell. Targeted biologic drugs have revolutionized the treatment of severe asthma driven by eosinophils, which are white blood cells linked to ILC2s, researchers noted in a recent study in the journal Science Translational Medicine. However, not all patients respond to these biologic drugs — and the fact that ILC2s can transform themselves could be a reason why, researchers said. Intermediate ILC2s share traits of both ILC2s and another type of immune cell called group 3 innate lymphoid cells, or ILC3s. ILC3s are tied to another type of white blood cell called neutrophils. An inhaler is less likely to calm an asthma attack involving eosinophils and neutrophils, researchers said. “When asthma is associated with both eosinophils and neutrophils cells, individuals are generally less responsive to treatment with glucocorticosteroids — which are the mainstay of treatment for severe asthma,” researcher Dr. Parameswaran Nair said in a news release. He’s chair in airway diseases at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Severe asthma that resists standard therapies is believed to affect up to 10% of people with asthma, researchers said in background notes. “The findings from this research pave…  read on >  read on >

Sports Boost Academic Performance in Teens

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Want your kid to do well in school? Get them involved in an organized sport, a new study urges. Boys and girls are both more likely to earn a high school diploma if they take part in team sports like soccer or artistic sports like dance or gymnastics, researchers reported in a study published recently in the journal Children. “Structured sports were shown to have long-term benefits on success, reiterating the importance of encouraging play and an active lifestyle throughout childhood,” the study led by senior author Linda Pagani, a professor with the University of Montreal School of Psychoeducation, concluded. Boys in organized sports were nearly 15% more likely to have a high school diploma by age 20, researchers found. Likewise, girls who participated in sports were about 7% more likely to get their high school diploma, and also tended to get higher grades. For the study, researchers analyzed data from a long-term study following the development and well-being of Canadian children from birth to early adulthood. Nearly 2,800 children were included in the study. The research team looked at the sort of sports and physical activity that kids were involved in at age 12, and compared that to their later academic achievement. Girls who participated in organized sports had 8% higher grades overall, and those involved in artistic sports had nearly 23% higher grades,…  read on >  read on >

Rural America Faces Growing Shortage of Eye Surgeons

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Rural areas are facing an increasing shortage of eye surgeons who can treat conditions like cataracts, glaucoma and detached retinas, a new study says. More than 17% of patients who need an ophthalmic surgeon live in rural America, but fewer than 6% of eye surgeons now work in a rural area, researchers recently reported in JAMA Ophthalmology. “Rural patients still disproportionately outnumber rural surgeons,” even though the U.S. rural population is slowly declining, the research team led by Dr. Fasika Woreta, director of the Johns Hopkins Eye Trauma Center in Baltimore, concluded. This means rural residents with eye problems often face a long drive to get the care they need. For example, “our results suggest that 18.2% of patients undergoing cornea transplants are rurally located,” researchers wrote. “Previous research indicated that only 3.5% of transplants occur in a rural area, suggesting that many rural patients do not receive care locally.” For the study, researchers analyzed claims data for Medicare to track people needing eye surgery and where they wound up receiving care. The U.S. rural population declined by about 2% between 2012 and 2022, researchers said. But the number of eye surgeons practicing in a rural area also declined during that period: Cornea surgeons, by 1.3%. Glaucoma specialists, by 3.3%. Oculoplastic surgeons, by 2.1%. “This may be concerning for older rural patients, who may face…  read on >  read on >

Most Families Exclude Foods Linked to Allergies

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Most parents of a child with a food allergy opt to cut the offending food completely out of their homes. However, that strategy is tied to an emotional toll, researchers said. Parents who exclude food from their home because of their child’s allergy have a worse quality of life on average, due to worry and anxiety, researchers reported in a study published last month in JAMA Network Open. “In this study, most families chose to exclude food allergens from their household, and families engaging in this practice reported more food allergy-related psychosocial concerns than families who did not,” concluded the research team led by Hana Ruran, a research intern in immunology at Boston Children’s Hospital. About 10% of children around the world have a food allergy, researchers said in background notes. For this study, researchers surveyed more than 900 families of children with food allergies between April 2022 and November 2023. Nearly two-thirds of parents (64%) responded to their child’s allergy by excluding the offending food from their home, results showed. The most commonly excluded foods were peanut (62%), tree nut (55%) and sesame (51%), researchers found. On the other hand, only 24% of homes with an egg allergy excluded eggs from their home. Cow’s milk, soy and wheat allergies also were less likely to prompt their exclusion from the pantry or fridge. “Other studies…  read on >  read on >

Job Protections Improve Mental Health Among LGBTQ+ Workers

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TUESDAY, Jan. 21, 2025 (HealthDay New) — A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision barring job discrimination significantly eased the minds of LGBTQ+ workers, a new study says. The court extended employment protections to nearly 3.6 million LGBTQ+ people in 12 states with its 2020 Bostock v Clayton County decision. As a result, those workers experienced improvements in their mental health, according to a study published Jan. 15 in JAMA Psychiatry. “Implementation of a federal ban on sexual orientation–based employment discrimination after the Bostock decision was associated with significant relative reductions in poor mental health days and severe mental distress among employed sexual minority adults,” a team led by Michael Liu, a student at Harvard Medical School, concluded. The Bostock decision affirmed that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. To see the effect that had on LGBTQ+ people, researchers analyzed federal survey data that regularly assesses the mental health of Americans. The team specifically looked at the mental health of LGBTQ+ workers in the 12 states where work protections were extended — Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. They compared those workers to LGBTQ+ folks employed in nine states that had independently passed employment protection prior to the Bostock decision — Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington…  read on >  read on >

Seniors Miss Out on Services With Medicare Advantage

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Medicare Advantage isn’t that great an advantage for seniors compared with traditional Medicare, researchers say. The privatized form of Medicare offers more supplemental benefits than traditional Medicare, including dental, vision and hearing benefits. But many seniors aren’t using those additional benefits, and their out-of-pocket costs are about the same as with regular Medicare, researchers report in a study published recently in JAMA Network Open. For example, just a little more than half of seniors (54%) with Medicare Advantage are aware of having either dental or vision coverage, even though nearly all plans offer those benefits, results show. “Supplemental benefits are a major draw to Medicare Advantage, but our findings show that people enrolled in Medicare Advantage have no better access to extra services than people in traditional Medicare, and that much of the cost comes out of their own pockets,” senior researcher Dr. Lisa Simon, an assistant professor of general and internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a news release. “Older adults and people with disabilities deserve better from Medicare,” Simon added. About 51% of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage in 2023, researchers said in background notes. The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans about 22% more than the cost of covering similar beneficiaries under traditional Medicare, which amounted to about $83 billion in 2024. For the study, researchers…  read on >  read on >