Eats « Weekly Gravy

Bright orange fingers may soon be less common for some snackers. PepsiCo announced that it will begin selling new versions of Cheetos and Doritos that contain no artificial colors or flavors. The line, called “Simply NKD,” hits store shelves Dec. 1 and includes four products: Doritos Simply NKD Nacho Cheese Doritos Simply NKD Cool Ranch Cheetos Simply NKD Puffs Cheetos Simply NKD Flamin’ Hot The company said these snacks will offer the same taste people expect, just without synthetic dyes. “We are reinventing our iconic — and most famous — brands to deliver options with the bold flavors fans know and love, now reimagined without any colors or artificial flavors,” Hernán Tantardini, CMO of PepsiCo Foods U.S., told CBS News. The change follows growing pressure from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has urged food companies to remove synthetic dyes from products sold in the United States. Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked manufacturers to stop using artificial dyes voluntarily, but it has not banned them just yet. PepsiCo emphasized that NKD snacks aren’t replacing the classic versions. “NKD is an additive option, not a replacement, introduced to meet consumer demand,” Rachel Ferdinando, CEO of PepsiCo Foods U.S., told CBS News. Many existing versions of the chips contain dyes like Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red… read on > read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tightening restrictions on a gene therapy used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy after two teenagers died from liver failure linked to the medication. The FDA decision limits the use of Elevidys, made by Sarepta Therapeutics, to boys who are 4 years and older who can still walk, the agency said. It will no longer be allowed for boys who have already lost mobility, something that typically happens around age 12 for patients with Duchenne. Officials said a safety review confirmed that the two teens developed severe liver damage after receiving the infusion. Both later died. The FDA is also adding its strictest boxed warning to highlight the risks of serious liver injury, acute liver failure and death. Sarepta, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with offices worldwide, told regulators earlier this year that it had already stopped shipping the therapy to non-ambulatory patients. The company also said Elevidys has been used in 1,100 patients worldwide. These labeling changes “will ensure that families and health-care professionals have clear information,” to help guide decisions, Louise Rodino-Klapac, Sarepta’s president of research and development told The New York Times. Elevidys is a one-time infusion designed to slow Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease that causes muscles like the heart to weaken over time. Most patients are boys and many do not survive beyond age… read on > read on >

The therapy will now carry a boxed warning for serious liver injury, liver failure and death read on >

Alana “Lani” Silverberg was a real firecracker with a big personality at age 3 — until she started having seizures. The sweetheart swiftly turned quiet, cranky, sleepless and fatigued, worn down by her seizures. “It was every parent’s nightmare. Lani was having one large seizure a week. At one point, we didn’t know what else we were going to do,” her mom, Sara Silverberg, said in a news release. But Lani now is free from seizures, thanks to a keto diet recommended by her doctors at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. “We knew it was a possibility there was a cure with the diet, but it feels like a miracle,” Silverberg said. Lani’s first sign of seizures occurred when she was eating a cookie and started turning blue. A Johns Hopkins pediatric neurologist, Dr. Eric Kossoff, diagnosed Lani with Doose syndrome, a rare type of childhood epilepsy that affects the whole brain. These seizures can cause developmental delays or plateaus if left untreated. Further testing revealed that Lani was having nearly 40 seizures a day. These included drop seizures, which cause the body to go limp, and absence seizures that resemble zoning out with eyelids fluttering. Lani was put on medication and given a helmet to protect her during major seizures. Then Kossoff recommended a treatment that surprised Lani’s parents — the ketogenic diet.… read on > read on >

A rare tick-spread “meat allergy” has now been tied to its first confirmed death, according to researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA). Doctors reported that a healthy 47-year-old New Jersey man died in 2024 after eating beef, with symptoms starting four hours after his meal. The cause of death was unclear until UVA allergist Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, who first discovered the condition, reviewed blood samples and confirmed the man had a severe reaction linked to alpha-gal syndrome, often dubbed “meat allergy.” The allergy develops after a bite from the Lone Star tick, which can make the body react to alpha-gal, a sugar found in beef, pork, lamb and other mammalian meats. Many people experience hives, nausea or stomach pain, but experts have long feared that fatalities were possible. “The important information for the public is: First, that severe abdominal pain occurring three to five hours after eating beef, pork or lamb should be investigated as a possible episode of anaphylaxis; and, second, that tick bites that itch for more than a week or larvae of ticks often called ‘chiggers’ can induce or increase sensitization to mammalian-derived meat,” said Platts-Mills, a world-renowned allergist. “On the other hand, most individuals who have mild to moderate episodes of hives can control symptoms with an appropriate diet,” he added in a news release. The New… read on > read on >