Everyone’s seen the automatic blood pressure reader wedged unobtrusively into a corner of their local pharmacy. These sit-down machines can pay huge dividends when it comes to helping people learn their heart health risks, a new study says. Setting up these health stations at community pharmacies – and one international sporting event – led to nearly 7 in 10 young adults learning they had one or more uncontrolled risk factors for heart disease, researchers reported Aug. 15 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. “Heart health checks in the community can identify risk factors for future heart disease that can be managed by lifestyle changes or early preventive medications and save lives down the road,” said senior researcher Stephen Nicholls, director of the Victorian Heart Institute at Monash University in Victoria, Australia. “We saw in this study that screening in a variety of places in the community not only works to identify risk but showed that different types of risk were more prevalent depending on screening location, screening day and screening time,” Nicholls said in a news release. For the study, researchers made heart risk screening devices available at 311 pharmacies across Australia between mid-December 2023 and the end of January 2024. The health stations were available during the pharmacies’ operating hours. The team also made screening stations available for nine hours a…  read on >  read on >

Everyone’s seen the automatic blood pressure reader wedged unobtrusively into a corner of their local pharmacy. These sit-down machines can pay huge dividends when it comes to helping people learn their heart health risks, a new study says. Setting up these health stations at community pharmacies – and one international sporting event – led to nearly 7 in 10 young adults learning they had one or more uncontrolled risk factors for heart disease, researchers reported Aug. 15 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. “Heart health checks in the community can identify risk factors for future heart disease that can be managed by lifestyle changes or early preventive medications and save lives down the road,” said senior researcher Stephen Nicholls, director of the Victorian Heart Institute at Monash University in Victoria, Australia. “We saw in this study that screening in a variety of places in the community not only works to identify risk but showed that different types of risk were more prevalent depending on screening location, screening day and screening time,” Nicholls said in a news release. For the study, researchers made heart risk screening devices available at 311 pharmacies across Australia between mid-December 2023 and the end of January 2024. The health stations were available during the pharmacies’ operating hours. The team also made screening stations available for nine hours a…  read on >  read on >

Some kids are helped by exposure therapy to food allergens like peanuts, with their allergies gradually diminishing as they eat small amounts of their food nemesis. For others, such treatment – also called oral immunotherapy — causes severe allergic reactions. Researchers now think they know why some kids do well with exposure therapy while others struggle. Some children with food allergies have highly responsive immune systems, and this makes them less likely to benefit from exposure therapy, researchers reported in the journal Allergy. “Children who responded well to the therapy already had a less reactive immune system before treatment began,” lead researcher Aleix Arnau-Soler said in a news release. He’s a scientist at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. The blood of children who benefit from exposure therapy specifically has lower levels of immunoglobulins, which are allergy-related antibodies, and cytokines, which are biochemicals that promote inflammation, researchers said. These results could help identify in advance which children could benefit from exposure therapy, and those who are apt to have an extreme allergic reaction to such therapy, researchers said. “Some children respond well to this treatment, but others don’t benefit at all,” said senior researcher Young-Ae Lee, group leader of the Molecular Genetics of Allergic Diseases lab at the Max Delbrück Center. “In some cases, the therapy – based on gradually increasing doses…  read on >  read on >

Some kids are helped by exposure therapy to food allergens like peanuts, with their allergies gradually diminishing as they eat small amounts of their food nemesis. For others, such treatment – also called oral immunotherapy — causes severe allergic reactions. Researchers now think they know why some kids do well with exposure therapy while others struggle. Some children with food allergies have highly responsive immune systems, and this makes them less likely to benefit from exposure therapy, researchers reported in the journal Allergy. “Children who responded well to the therapy already had a less reactive immune system before treatment began,” lead researcher Aleix Arnau-Soler said in a news release. He’s a scientist at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. The blood of children who benefit from exposure therapy specifically has lower levels of immunoglobulins, which are allergy-related antibodies, and cytokines, which are biochemicals that promote inflammation, researchers said. These results could help identify in advance which children could benefit from exposure therapy, and those who are apt to have an extreme allergic reaction to such therapy, researchers said. “Some children respond well to this treatment, but others don’t benefit at all,” said senior researcher Young-Ae Lee, group leader of the Molecular Genetics of Allergic Diseases lab at the Max Delbrück Center. “In some cases, the therapy – based on gradually increasing doses…  read on >  read on >

Your morning coffee is mostly free from harmful levels of toxins and contaminants, but a new investigation shows there’s room for improvement. “While some contaminants were present, most were found at minimal levels and well below the European Union’s safety limits per 6-ounce serving. This means coffee is generally safe,” Molly Hamilton, executive director of the nonprofit Clean Label Project, which led the testing, told CNN. Research has linked drinking about 3 cups of black coffee a day to a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, stroke, dementia and more. The Clean Label Project analyzed coffee from 45 popular brands grown in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kenya, Peru and Hawaii. More than 7,000 tests were run for pesticides, heavy metals, plasticizers and mold toxins. The results: Glyphosate: Traces of this widely used weed killer were found, along with “significant” amounts of aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), its byproduct. AMPA can persist in the environment and has been linked to DNA damage and liver inflammation. Phthalates: These plastic chemicals, linked to reproductive issues, childhood obesity, cancer and asthma, were detected in some coffees. Levels were highest in canned coffee, followed by pods, then bags. Heavy metals: Amounts varied by region, with African coffees having the lowest levels and Hawaiian coffees the highest, likely due to volcanic soil. Examples of heavy metals include…  read on >  read on >

Your morning coffee is mostly free from harmful levels of toxins and contaminants, but a new investigation shows there’s room for improvement. “While some contaminants were present, most were found at minimal levels and well below the European Union’s safety limits per 6-ounce serving. This means coffee is generally safe,” Molly Hamilton, executive director of the nonprofit Clean Label Project, which led the testing, told CNN. Research has linked drinking about 3 cups of black coffee a day to a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, stroke, dementia and more. The Clean Label Project analyzed coffee from 45 popular brands grown in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kenya, Peru and Hawaii. More than 7,000 tests were run for pesticides, heavy metals, plasticizers and mold toxins. The results: Glyphosate: Traces of this widely used weed killer were found, along with “significant” amounts of aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), its byproduct. AMPA can persist in the environment and has been linked to DNA damage and liver inflammation. Phthalates: These plastic chemicals, linked to reproductive issues, childhood obesity, cancer and asthma, were detected in some coffees. Levels were highest in canned coffee, followed by pods, then bags. Heavy metals: Amounts varied by region, with African coffees having the lowest levels and Hawaiian coffees the highest, likely due to volcanic soil. Examples of heavy metals include…  read on >  read on >

Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and other dollar stores are chock full of cheap, highly processed foods — just the sort of eats that can lead to obesity, heart disease and other health problems. But dollar store shoppers are surprisingly savvy, and the foods sold in these discount stores don’t appear to be doing drastic harm to Americans’ overall diets, researchers reported Aug. 11 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The total number of household calories purchased at dollar stores nearly doubled between 2008 and 2020, rising from 3.4% to 6.5% of a family’s food purchases. But the overall healthfulness of household food purchases has remained similar between those who shop at dollar stores and those who don’t, researchers found. That’s because dollar store shoppers tend to purchase more than 90% of their family’s calories at other stores that offer healthier options, the research team found. “Some people seem to be going to dollar stores strategically to buy sweets and snacks, along with other packaged foods,” senior researcher Sean Cash, chair of agriculture, food and environment at Tufts University in Boston, said in a news release. Dollar stores have exploded in the U.S., with the three major chains operating more than 37,000 U.S. storefronts — more than Starbucks, Walmart, Target and McDonald’s combined, researchers said in background notes. These shops…  read on >  read on >

Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and other dollar stores are chock full of cheap, highly processed foods — just the sort of eats that can lead to obesity, heart disease and other health problems. But dollar store shoppers are surprisingly savvy, and the foods sold in these discount stores don’t appear to be doing drastic harm to Americans’ overall diets, researchers reported Aug. 11 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The total number of household calories purchased at dollar stores nearly doubled between 2008 and 2020, rising from 3.4% to 6.5% of a family’s food purchases. But the overall healthfulness of household food purchases has remained similar between those who shop at dollar stores and those who don’t, researchers found. That’s because dollar store shoppers tend to purchase more than 90% of their family’s calories at other stores that offer healthier options, the research team found. “Some people seem to be going to dollar stores strategically to buy sweets and snacks, along with other packaged foods,” senior researcher Sean Cash, chair of agriculture, food and environment at Tufts University in Boston, said in a news release. Dollar stores have exploded in the U.S., with the three major chains operating more than 37,000 U.S. storefronts — more than Starbucks, Walmart, Target and McDonald’s combined, researchers said in background notes. These shops…  read on >  read on >