Eats « Weekly Gravy

Ultra-processed foods can cause dozens of terrible health problems among people who eat them too often, a new review warns. Researchers linked diets high in ultra-processed foods to an increased risk of 32 separate illnesses. In particular, these foods are strongly tied to risk with early death, heart disease, cancer, mental health disorders, overweight and obesity, and type 2 diabetes, researchers said. For example, ultra-processed foods are associated with a 50% increased risk of heart-related death, a 48% to 53% increased risk of anxiety and common mental disorders, and a 12% risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers said. And the more of these foods people eat, the higher their overall health risks, results showed. Ultra-processed foods include packaged snacks, sugary drinks, instant noodles, sweet cereals and ready-to-eat meals. The products undergo multiple industrial processes to make them tasty and shelf-stable, and contain additives like emulsifiers, coloring agents and chemical flavors. Unfortunately, ultra-processed foods now account for up to 58% of total daily energy intake in some high income-countries, and are proliferating in low- and middle-income countries, researchers said in background notes. “Notably, over recent decades, the availability and variety of ultra-processed products sold has substantially and rapidly increased” in countries around the world, wrote the research team led by Melissa Lane, an associate research fellow with the Deaken University Institute for Mental and Physical Health… read on > read on >

PFAS “forever” chemicals, increasingly linked to health risks, will no longer be added to food packaging handled by American consumers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. “Grease-proofing materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS] are no longer being sold for use in food packaging in the U.S.,” Jim Jones, the agency’s Commissioner for Human Foods, said in a statement. “This means the major source of dietary exposure to PFAS from food packaging like fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, take-out paperboard containers and pet food bags is being eliminated,” Jones noted. PFAS were long used in food packaging because they resist grease, oil, water and heat, the FDA explained. However, there’s mounting evidence that certain types of PFAS are tied to “serious health effects,” the agency said. According to the nonprofit National Resources Defense Council, “PFAS have now been linked to a wide range of health risks in both human and animal studies — including cancer [kidney and testicular], hormone disruption, liver and thyroid problems, interference with vaccine effectiveness, reproductive harm and abnormal fetal development.” They’re known as “forever” chemicals for a reason. “The structure of PFAS means they resist breakdown in the environment and in our bodies,” explained Eric Olson, the NRDC’s senior strategic director of health and food. “Second, they move relatively quickly through the environment, making their contamination hard to contain.… read on > read on >

Eye ointment products made in India and sold in the United States at Walmart, CVS and other retailers are being recalled due to a danger of infection. Brassica Pharma Pvt. Ltd., of Maharastra, India, said it is recalling various eye lubricant products labeled Equate, CVS Health and AACE. Recalled products will have expiration dates ranging from February 2024 to September 2025. “For those patients who use these products, there is a potential risk of eye infections or related harm. These products are intended to be sterile,” the company said in a statement posted Monday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Ophthalmic drug products pose a potential heightened risk of harm to users because drugs applied to the eyes bypass some of the body’s natural defenses.” A full list of the recalled products, including photos, can be found here. The recall comes on the heels of a large recall in 2023 of tainted eye drops tied to serious infections, vision loss and even deaths. Brassica Pharma says that, so far, no reports of “adverse events” tied to the ointments have been reported. “These products were distributed nationwide to wholesalers, retailers and via the product distributor, Walmart, CVS and AACE Pharmaceuticals Inc.,” Brassica Pharma said. “Consumers, distributors and retailers that have any product which is being recalled should cease distribution of the product,” the company added.… read on > read on >

Living close to a pub, bar or fast-food restaurant doesn’t do your heart any favors, a new study finds. Folks who live in close proximity to such establishments have a higher risk of heart failure, compared to those who live farther away, researchers report in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal Circulation: Heart Failure. These findings weren’t a complete surprise, said senior researcher Dr. Lu Qi, a professor of epidemiology at Tulane University in New Orleans. “Previous studies have suggested that exposure to ready-to-eat food environments is associated with risks of other disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, which may also increase the risk of heart failure,” Qi noted in a journal news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the U.K. Biobank, a database containing health information for more than 500,000 adults in the United Kingdom. The team measured study participants’ exposure to three different types of food environments — pubs or bars, restaurants or cafeterias, and fast-food joints. These kinds of ready-to-eat establishments typically provide unhealthy foods and drinks, Qi said. The researchers specifically looked at whether people lived within a 15-minute walk of these eateries, as well as the number of such places located within such an easy walking distance. The study tracked nearly 13,000 heart failure cases during a 12-year follow-up period, and found that close proximity… read on > read on >

The asthma medication Xolair has proved its prowess against food allergies, with new research showing the medication substantially lowers the chances of severe reactions in patients. Data published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented simultaneously at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting in Washington, D.C., showed that multiple injections of Xolair (omalizumab) given over a period of several weeks slashed the severity of allergic reactions in some adults and children as young as 1 who are allergic to peanuts and other foods such as milk, eggs and wheat. Just last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval of Xolair to include people with food allergies, based on an interim analysis of the study. “I’m excited that we have a promising new treatment for multi-food allergic patients. This new approach showed really great responses for many of the foods that trigger their allergies,” said study senior author Dr. Sharon Chinthrajah. She’s acting director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford Medicine. “Patients impacted by food allergies face a daily threat of life-threatening reactions due to accidental exposures,” added study lead author Dr. Robert Wood, director of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “The study showed that omalizumab can be a layer of protection against small, accidental exposures.” Chinthrajah and… read on > read on >

Junk food increases people’s risk of colon cancer, as well as alcohol, lack of exercise and obesity. Unfortunately, many Americans don’t know about these risk factors for colon cancer, a new survey has found. Colon and rectal cancers have been rising in people under 50 for two decades, researchers said, meaning that many develop the cancer before screening colonoscopies are recommended. “We know that screening colonoscopy saves lives by detecting the disease in its earliest and often precancerous state, but it’s not recommended for a person of average risk before age 45 right now,” said researcher Dr. Matthew Kaladay, chief of colorectal surgery at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. That makes preventive lifestyle habits vitally important for younger adults. Unfortunately, the survey of about 1,000 adults 18 or older revealed that: Less than half (49%) know alcohol is a risk factor Two in five (42%) are unaware that a lack of physical activity is a risk factor More than a third don’t recognize obesity (38%) or a high-fat, processed food American diet (37%) are risk factors Four out of five people did know that family history is a risk factor for colon cancer. Unfortunately, Black and Hispanic people — the groups at highest risk — had the highest lack of knowledge about lifestyle risk factors. Black Americans are more likely to develop and… read on > read on >

Some Americans living with diabetes are using smartwatches and smart rings that claim to be able to track their blood sugar. However, such claims from any device that does not pierce the skin are fraudulent and potentially dangerous, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned in an advisory issued Wednesday. Don’t be fooled, the agency said. “Sellers of these smartwatches and smart rings claim their devices measure blood glucose levels without requiring people to prick their finger or pierce the skin. They claim to use noninvasive techniques. These smartwatches and smart rings do not directly test blood glucose levels,” the agency said. No such devices have ever been approved by the agency, and trusting them can be hazardous. “For people with diabetes, inaccurate blood glucose measurements can lead to errors in diabetes management,” the agency warned. Those errors include taking the wrong doses of a drug that might send blood sugar plummeting to dangerous lows. In other cases, “taking too much of these medications can quickly lead to dangerously low glucose, leading to mental confusion, coma or death within hours of the error,” the FDA warned. The agency said consumers are able to buy these unapproved devices easily online. “These smartwatches and smart rings are manufactured by dozens of companies and sold under multiple brand names,” according to the FDA. “If your medical care depends… read on > read on >

The common hair-loss drug in Propecia and Proscar might lower men’s risk of heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels, a new study suggests. Finasteride is used to treat male pattern baldness, and it’s also been shown effective in treating an enlarged prostate, researchers said in background notes. But men who use finasteride also have substantially lower cholesterol levels, according to data gathered by a federal health survey between 2009 and 2016. “When we looked at the men taking finasteride in the survey, their cholesterol levels averaged 30 points lower than men not taking the drug,” said lead researcher Jaume Amengual, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “I thought we’d see the opposite pattern, so it was very interesting,” Amengual added in a university news release. Researchers then replicated this finding in lab mice. Mice getting high doses of finasteride had lower cholesterol, less hardening of the arteries, reduced liver inflammation and other related health benefits. Finasteride works by blocking a protein found in hair follicles and the prostate gland that activates testosterone, researchers said in background notes. Because heart disease is far more common in men than women, scientists have long suspected that testosterone plays an important role in clogged arteries, researchers said. “It was just my own curiosity, based on the fact that hormone levels are known to have an effect… read on > read on >

Mercury levels in tuna haven’t changed since 1971, despite efforts to reduce emissions of the toxic metal into the environment, researchers report. Their analysis of nearly 3,000 tuna samples caught in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans between 1971 and 2022 revealed stable mercury concentrations in tuna during those five decades. The research team specifically looked at the tropical tuna species of skipjack, bigeye and yellowfin, which account for 94% of global tuna catches. Environmental policies have helped reduce mercury pollution from human activities like burning coal and mining, researchers said. Over the same five-decade period, airborne mercury pollution decreased globally, researchers noted. The unchanging mercury levels in tuna might be caused by “legacy” mercury rising up from deeper regions of ocean water, mixing in with the shallower depths where tropical tuna swim and feed. This legacy mercury could have been emitted years or even decades earlier, so it wouldn’t reflect efforts to clear airborne mercury emissions, speculated the research team led by marine ecologist Anne Lorrain, director of research at IRD Quest in France. Methylmercury is a particularly toxic chemical that affects the nervous system, and is the primary form of mercury in tuna contamination, researchers said. Unborn babies and young children are at highest risk of harm from exposure. The mathematical models used by the researchers tested three progressively more restrictive environmental policies… read on > read on >

A person’s diet can influence their risk of obstructive sleep apnea, a new study says. Those who eat a healthy plant-based diet rich in vegetables, fruit, whole grains and nuts are less likely to suffer sleep apnea, according to findings published Feb. 20 in the journal ERJ Open Research. On the other hand, people who eat more meat or indulge in unhealthy vegetarian diets high in sugar, carbs and salt are more at risk for sleep apnea. “These results highlight the importance of the quality of our diet in managing the risk of OSA [obstructive sleep apnea],” said lead researcher Yohannes Melaku, from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. People with sleep apnea often snore loudly and their breathing starts and stops during the night, causing regular brief wakefulness, researchers explained in background notes. Sleep apnea can increase a person’s risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, researchers said. For this study, the team analyzed responses from more than 14,000 participants in a regular U.S. survey on health and nutrition. This is the first large-scale analysis investigating the link between diet and sleep apnea, Melaku said. “There’s a gap in our knowledge of how overall dietary patterns affect OSA risk,” Melaku said in a journal news release. “With this study, we wanted to address that gap and explore the association between… read on > read on >