Fasting every other day can prompt more weight loss than simply cutting calories, a new clinical trial shows. People who undertook 4:3 intermittent fasting lost just under 8% of their body weight within a year, compared to a 5% loss among people who cut their daily calories by about a third, researchers reported March 31 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In 4:3 intermittent fasting, people restrict their calorie intake by 80% three days a week, alternating between days with no dietary restrictions at all. “Long-term adherence to daily calorie restriction is challenging for many people,” wrote the research team co-led by Danielle Ostendorf, an assistant professor of kinesiology, recreation and sport studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. “Our results suggest that 4:3 [intermittent] is an alternative dietary weight loss strategy that may produce modestly superior weight loss compared with [daily calorie restriction] at 12 months, when provided in the context of a high-intensity, comprehensive behavioral weight loss program,” the team concluded. For this trial, researchers assigned 84 overweight and obese people to this type of fasting, and another 81 folks to cut their calories by 34%. Both groups were asked to get in 300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, double the amount recommended by U.S. physical activity guidelines. They also received support from a weight-loss program led by a registered dietitian. After…  read on >  read on >

A top vaccine official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is stepping down, warning that vaccine misinformation is coloring the country’s top health decisions. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said he will resign and retire by April 5. In a letter to the acting FDA commissioner obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said the new leadership under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. does not value science or transparency. “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote. Kennedy, who has a history of spreading vaccine misinformation, promised during his Senate confirmation that he would not change vaccine policies.  But since taking office, he has said he plans to closely review the safety of childhood vaccines — despite decades of research showing vaccines are safe and save lives. A former FDA official told reporters that Marks was told to either resign or be fired, The Associated Press reported. Marks played a major role in the country’s COVID response. He helped lead the fast-tracked development and approval of COVID vaccines and created the name and idea behind “Operation Warp Speed” — which helped get vaccines to people in record time. “RFK Jr.’s firing of Peter Marks because he…  read on >  read on >

Splenda doesn’t directly add calories to your diet, but the sweetener still might lead people to pack on pounds, a new study says. The sugar substitute might spur on a person’s appetite and feelings of hunger, potentially leading them to overeat, according to results published March 26 in the journal Nature Metabolism. Splenda’s main ingredient, sucralose, appears to confuse the brain by providing a sweet taste without also delivering the calories one would expect, senior investigator Dr. Kathleen Page, director of the University of Southern California Diabetes and Obesity Research Center, said in a news release. “If your body is expecting a calorie because of the sweetness, but doesn’t get the calorie it’s expecting, that could change the way the brain is primed to crave those substances over time,” she said. About 40% of Americans regularly consume sugar substitutes, usually as a way to reduce their sugar intake, researchers said in background notes. “But are these substances actually helpful for regulating body weight?” Page asked. “What happens in the body and brain when we consume them, and do the effects differ from one person to the next?” To explore this further, researchers tested how 75 people responded after consuming water, a drink sweetened with sucralose or a drink sweetened with regular sugar. The team collected MRI brain scans, blood samples and hunger ratings from participants…  read on >  read on >

Artificial intelligence (AI) can help improve how premature babies are fed, giving them a better chance at normal growth and development, a new study says. Currently, preemies in a neonatal intensive care unit are fed by IV, receiving a drip-drop handmade blend of nutrients that doctors call total parenteral nutrition, or TPN. This is the only way to feed newborns whose digestive systems haven’t matured enough to properly absorb nutrients, researchers said. “Right now, we come up with a TPN prescription for each baby, individually, every day,” senior researcher Nima Aghaeepour, an associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford University, said in a news release. “We make it from scratch and provide it to them.” Unfortunately, the process is error-prone, and it’s tough for docs to know if they’ve gotten the formula right, researchers said. There’s no blood test to measure whether a preemie has received enough daily calories, and preemies don’t necessarily cry when they’re hungry or become calm and content when they’re full. “Total parenteral nutrition is the single largest source of medical error in neonatal intensive care units, both in the United States and globally,” Aghaeepour said. To try to solve this problem, researchers trained an AI program on nearly 80,000 past prescriptions for preemie IV nutrition, linked to data on how the tiny patients fared. The AI uses information in a preemie’s…  read on >  read on >

Statins are very cheap and highly effective cholesterol-lowering drugs — but high-risk heart patients may have an even better option, a new evidence review says. Combining statins with another drug, ezetimibe, significantly reduces the risk of death in patients with clogged arteries, according to findings published March 23 in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Using a high-dose statin with ezetimibe significantly reduces levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, increasing a person’s chances of reaching healthy levels by 85%, researchers found. The combo also brought about a 19% reduction in risk of death from any cause; a 16% reduction in heart-related deaths; an 18% decrease in the risk of a major cardiovascular health problem; and a 17% decline in stroke risk. This combination therapy would prevent more than 330,000 deaths a year worldwide among patients who have already suffered a heart attack, including almost 50,000 deaths in the U.S. alone, researchers said. “This study confirms that combined cholesterol lowering therapy should be considered immediately and should be the gold standard for treatment of very high-risk patients after an acute cardiovascular event,” senior researcher Dr. Peter Toth, a professor of clinical family and community medicine at the University of Illinois, said in a news release. Up to now, studies have been inconsistent regarding whether to provide combo cholesterol-lowering therapy immediately for high-risk patients, even before they suffer a heart attack…  read on >  read on >