Women who develop a complication like diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy are at higher risk of stroke or heart disease in the years after delivery. Unfortunately, their doctors aren’t taking this health risk seriously enough, a new study suggests. Fewer than 1 in 5 women (17%) diagnosed with gestational diabetes or high blood pressure received an adequate health screening in the year after pregnancy, researchers reported Feb. 17 in the journal Circulation. Further, fewer than half (44%) of these at-risk women got such a screening within three years of their pregnancy. “Women should be aware of their risk for cardiovascular disease, so that they can ask their doctors about risk factor screening,” lead researcher Dr. Amy Yu, a neurologist and senior scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute in Ontario, Canada, said in a news release. “Having this knowledge can also support patients’ decision-making about lifestyle changes, which could improve their vascular health,” she added. Guidelines recommend that women who develop high blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy have their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels checked out after delivery, to assess their long-term risk of heart disease. “There’s increasing evidence that maternal health during pregnancy is associated with long-term vascular health,” Yu said. To see whether the recommended testing was being done, researchers analyzed the health records of more than a million…  read on >  read on >

A blood test can help people with irritable bowel syndrome cut out specific trigger foods most likely to worsen their condition, a new study suggests. About 60% of IBS patients who followed a diet guided by the results of the blood test wound up suffering less stomach pain, researchers reported recently in the journal Gastroenterology. By comparison, 42% of IBS patients who didn’t get the blood test experienced a reduction in stomach pain, results show. The test “requires additional validation but could move us one step closer to a ‘precision nutrition’ approach, in which providers can offer personalized dietary recommendations to each patient with IBS,” researcher Dr. William Chey, chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Michigan, said in a news release. The blood test, called inFoods IBS, tests for the potential of 18 foods to worsen IBS symptoms in specific patients. These include wheat, oat, rye, whole egg, yeast, cow’s milk, black tea, cabbage, corn, grapefruit, honey, lemon and pineapple. The test looks for blood levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin G (IgG) that’s produced when the gut has an allergic reaction to a type of food. Higher levels of this antibody mean a person likely would benefit from cutting this food from their diet. About 10% to 15% of Americans have IBS, and it’s well-known that certain foods can worsen symptoms…  read on >  read on >

A junk-food lifestyle might contribute to embarrassing little leaks in middle-aged women, a new study suggests. Women who often munch fast food or packaged eats appear more likely to develop urinary incontinence, researchers recently reported in the journal Women’s Health. Frequently eating either processed or fast food is associated with a 50% increased risk of a leaky bladder, results show. “Higher consumption of highly processed ready-made foods and fast food increased the risk for experiencing the symptoms of stress and urgency urinary incontinence,” lead investigator Mari Kuutti, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland, said in a news release. On the other hand, “higher consumption of fruits and overall higher quality diet decreased the risk for stress urinary incontinence,” Kuutti added. As many as 45% of women worldwide are affected by urinary incontinence, researchers said in background notes. Women become more likely to develop incontinence as aging affects the ability of the pelvic floor muscles to control urination, researchers said. But they suspected that a poor diet might also influence the pelvic floor, as key nutrients like protein, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids are important for proper muscle function. For their study, researchers tracked the health of nearly 1,100 Finnish women 47 to 55 years old. More than half already had symptoms of pelvic floor problems like urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence…  read on >  read on >

Society says that without access to shared federal data, cancer research is compromised  read on >

Direct-to-consumer telehealth company advertisement that aired during the Super Bowl failed to mention side effects of the drugs  read on >

A major recall of canned tuna sold in dozens of states has been issued amid concerns that a packaging defect could cause “a potentially fatal form of food poisoning,” the manufacturer said in a statement. California-based Tri-Union Seafoods announced a voluntary recall for certain tuna products sold under the Genova®, Van Camp’s®, H-E-B and Trader Joe’s brand names, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The affected cans may have a faulty pull-tab lid, which could allow them to become contaminated with the Clostridium botulinum bacterium, which causes botulism. While Tri-Union Seafoods has said no illnesses linked to the recalled products had been reported, the company warned consumers not to use the product, “even if it does not look or smell spoiled.” The recalled tuna was distributed to stores in dozens of states across the U.S., including: H-E-B label: Stores in Texas. Trader Joe’s label: Stores in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin. Genova 7-ounce cans: Costco stores in Florida and Georgia. Genova 5-ounce cans: Harris Teeter, Publix, H-E-B, Kroger, Safeway, Walmart and independent retailers in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas. Van Camp’s label: Walmart and independent retailers in Pennsylvania, Florida and New Jersey. Botulism poisoning is…  read on >  read on >

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to restore access to public health websites that were removed or modified in response to a Trump administration executive order on gender. The order, issued Feb. 11 by U.S. District Judge John Bates, grants a temporary restraining order requested by Doctors for America, a nonprofit group that sued the administration over the website removals. The affected sites, some of which have been online for decades, contain public health information on HIV prevention, youth health risks, fertility treatments and more. The ruling states that the two health agencies removed the sites without explanation and likely violated federal law. “By removing long relied upon medical resources without explanation, it is likely that … each agency failed to ‘examine the relevant data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action,’ ” Bates wrote. He ordered the CDC and FDA to restore access by the day’s end Tuesday, a process that staff members were scrambling to complete. “It was a double waste for us because we took them offline, put some of them back, edited others and now are putting it back again,” a federal health official who wanted to remain anonymous told The Washington Post. The removed sites included: The CDC’s guidelines for HIV and PrEP, a medication…  read on >  read on >

More than 800,000 U.S. children have what’s called “high threshold” peanut allergy, meaning they can tolerate about half a peanut daily before symptoms arise. New research suggests that exposing these kids to tiny but gradually increasing levels of store-bought peanut butter might help ease the allergy for good.  “Our study results suggest a safe, inexpensive and effective pathway for allergists to treat children with peanut allergy who can already tolerate the equivalent of at least half a peanut, considered a high-threshold peanut allergy,”  said study lead author Dr. Scott Sicherer, chief of allergy and immunology at Mount Sinai in New York City. He believes the findings could have implications for food allergies in general. “Our findings open the gateway to personalized threshold-based treatments of food allergy,” Sicherer said in a Mount Sinai news release, adding that the approach could “be a game-changer for the majority of people with food allergies.” The new trial was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and published Feb. 10 in NEJM Evidence. For some children and adults, even minuscule amounts of peanut can trigger severe reactions, including life-threatening anaphylaxis. These cases — in which the amount of exposure needed is under half a peanut — are deemed to be “low-threshold” allergies.   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved treatments, such as an injected…  read on >  read on >