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Federal regulators are taking a second stab at banning the controversial use of electroshock devices to manage the behavior of patients with intellectual and developmental disorders. The devices deliver electric shocks to a patient’s skin, in an attempt to stop them from harming themselves or lashing out physically at others, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in its Monday announcement. These devices — called electrical stimulation devices or ESDs — now are in use at just one U.S. facility, the Judge Rotenberg Education Center in Canton, Mass., the FDA said. “We estimate around 50 individuals currently have a treatment plan that includes the use, or potential use, of” these devices, the FDA statement said. A special United Nations report in 2013 concluded that the Rotenberg Center’s use of the shock devices on students constitutes a violation of the U.N. convention against torture. The FDA previously attempted to ban the use of the devices in 2020, but a federal court ruled that the agency didn’t have the authority to enact its proposed ban. “Since ESDs were first marketed more than 20 years ago, we have gained a better understanding of the danger these devices present to public health,” Dr. William Maisel, director of the Office of Product Evaluation and Quality in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a news release… read on > read on >

Most folks know they’d be healthier if they ate more plant-based foods, but only a quarter are willing to follow through and do it, a new study shows. Surveys reveal that Americans’ beliefs about eating more plants for health are often at odds with their daily dietary choices, researchers say. “U.S. consumers have favorable perceptions of foods and beverages that support human and environmental health, but that’s not translating into what they’re purchasing and consuming,” said lead researcher Katherine Consavage Stanley, a doctoral student in human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. For the study, researchers looked at data from more than a decade of nationwide surveys gathered between 2012 and 2022 by the International Food Information Council, analyzing more than 1,000 participants’ responses. Across all the years, 73% of Americans said plant proteins were healthy, compared to 39% who said animal proteins were healthy. The percentage of Americans who follow a plant-rich dietary pattern more than doubled during the decade studied, rising from 12% to nearly 26%. At the same time, however, the percentage of people eating more red meat also rose, from 13% to 19%. Generation Z (born 1997-2012) and Millennials (1981-1996) were more likely to follow a plant-rich diet than Generation X (born 1965-1980) or Baby Boomers (1946-1964), results show. But about 25% of Generation Z and Millennials also… read on > read on >

Does your water bottle only get washed once or twice a week — or even less? Time to switch things up: Even a day or two without washing can encourage the growth of unhealthy germs in the average water bottle, one expert said. And, “yes, you could get sick,” warned Dr. Yuriko Fukuta, an infectious diseases expert at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “If you do not clean your water bottle sufficiently, it can lead to a buildup of germs,” Fukuta, a professor of medicine, explained in a university news release. “You may have nausea, stomach upset, headaches. You may have allergy symptoms such as sneezing if mold is present.” She offered tips to keeping your water bottle as sanitary as possible. First off, choose the right type of bottle. Metal or glass beats plastic, Fukuta said, because plastic can develop tiny cracks that are a haven for germs. Choose larger-mouthed bottles, because they’re much easier to clean, and bottles with built-in straws work best, with one study showing they contained less bacteria. Slide-top bottles were found to harbor the most germs, Fukuta said. Lots of microbial visitors can inhabit your water bottle, she added. Bacteria in your mouth can get into your bottle if you drink directly from your bottle,” Fukuta said. “Food particles from your mouth can transfer to your bottle and… read on > read on >

Younger Black Americans face particularly high risks of developing high blood pressure. However, new research finds that when your peers are coaching you to get healthy, it’s more likely you’ll see your numbers improve. The study of nearly 1,600 Black patients living in the southeastern United States found that having a peer coach help manage blood pressure worked even better than standard, doctor-centered care. A lot of the improvement was due to folks simply remembering to take their blood pressure meds. “We were not surprised to see this greater benefit in younger patients,” said first author and study lead Dr. Monika Safford. “We know this is a population that has more room for improvement, because they are less likely to take their medications regularly.” Safford is chief of general internal medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, in New York City. The study group consisted of Black Americans averaging 58 years of age, treated at rural health centers in Alabama and North Carolina. All had uncontrolled high blood pressure at the start of the study, which ran from 2016 through 2021. Folks either received “usual care” for their hypertension (patients were educated about blood pressure and given a monitor to use at home), or they got usual care enhanced with peer coaches — non-clinicians who were trained to give participants information, support… read on > read on >

— Boys who drink lots of sugary soda and fruit juice could be more likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life, a new study has found. Each daily 8-ounce serving of sugary drinks during a boy’s childhood is associated with a 34% increase in insulin resistance by the time they are teens, researchers found. Sugary drinks and fruit juices also were associated with increases in blood sugar levels, results show. “While these findings are preliminary, they support the existing evidence about the potential relationship between beverages with added sugar and long-term risk of Type 2 diabetes in children,” lead researcher Soren Harnois-Leblanc, a registered dietitian and postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School, said in a news release. For the study, researchers tracked the health of almost 500 Massachusetts children taking part in an ongoing long-term study of women and their children. As part of the study, dietary records were kept on the childen. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. kids and teens consume at least one sugary drink – soda, lemonade, energy drinks and the like – every day, according to the American Heart Association. Eating too many foods with added sugars raises a person’s risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and tooth decay, researchers said. For the new study, researchers estimated how much sugary drinks and fruit juices kids… read on > read on >

Over the first few years of a child’s life, foods found in a family’s fridge and cupboards tends to get less healthy, new research shows. “We found significant changes in several food categories over time,” said study lead author Jennifer Barton. “Food items such as non-whole grains, processed meats, savory snacks, candy and microwavable or quick-cook foods were more commonly available in the home at 48 months [of age] compared to 24 and 36 months.” The study, which tracked foods in the homes of 468 mother-child pairs in Illinois, was published recently in the journal Public Health Nutrition. Barton is an assistant research professor at Pennsylvania State University, but she conducted the research while at the University of Illinois’ College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, in Urbana. According to Barton, “it’s important to understand how the environments that children are in can influence their diet and nutrition. What types of foods and beverages are available in the home, and how accessible are those items for the young child? “ Tracking the availability of various foods in the homes of the study participants, Barton’s group used a standard checklist called the Home Food Inventory to see what kids could access at 2, 3 and 4 years of age. All of the participants were taking part in an ongoing UI research project tracking the nutrition of children… read on > read on >

Millions of Americans whose livers develop scar tissue due to a common disease now have the first approved drug, Rezdiffra, to treat the condition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday. The condition is called non-cirrhotic non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). NASH with liver scarring is thought to affect up to 8 million Americans. It’s often tied to high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, the FDA explained in a statement. “Previously, patients with NASH who also have notable liver scarring did not have a medication that could directly address their liver damage,” said Dr. Nikolay Nikolov, acting director of the Office of Immunology and Inflammation in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Today’s approval of Rezdiffra will, for the first time, provide a treatment option for these patients, in addition to diet and exercise,” Nokolov said in the FDA statement. The liver is a vital organ that cleanses the blood and helps with digestion by secreting bile. However, over time, inflammation caused by obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure can cause nonalcoholic liver disease, which triggers fat accumulation in the liver, liver scarring and dysfunction. As the FDA explained, “Rezdiffra is a partial activator of a thyroid hormone receptor; activation of this receptor by Rezdiffra in the liver reduces liver fat accumulation.” The agency said that the drug was approved under an “accelerated”… read on > read on >

Scientists have long noticed that folks who eat healthy have healthier brains as they age, including lowered odds for dementia. Now, researchers believe they know why: Regimens like the heart-healthy Mediterranean or DASH diets appear to slow biological aging, helping to protect the brain. “Our findings suggest that slower pace of aging mediates part of the relationship of healthy diet with reduced dementia risk,” said study first author Aline Thomas. She’s a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, in New York City. The findings were published recently in the Annals of Neurology. In the study, Thomas and her colleagues examined decades of data from the ongoing Framingham Heart Study, which began in 1971. The researchers honed in on over 1,600 people in the second generation of the study, which had people check in every four to seven years with data on (among other things) their diets and the results of neuro-cognitive tests. A total of 160 of the participants went on to develop dementia. “Much attention to nutrition in dementia research focuses on the way specific nutrients affect the brain,” said study senior author Daniel Belsky, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Columbia School of Public Health and the Columbia Aging Center. “We tested the hypothesis that healthy diet protects against dementia by slowing… read on > read on >

Following disappointing trial results, the maker of a controversial ALS drug may pull the medication off the market. In a statement issued Friday, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals said that Relyvrio failed to help patients in a large follow-up study, but the company stopped just short of saying it will definitely pull the drug from the market. The drug is sold as Albrioza in Canada. “Amylyx intends to share plans for Relyvrio/Albrioza in ALS, which may include voluntarily withdrawing Relyvrio/Albrioza from the market,” the company said in its statement. “At this time, Relyvrio/Albrioza and its related patient support program will continue to be available for people living with ALS. Amylyx has voluntarily decided to pause promotion of the medication during this time.” Executives added that they were “surprised and disappointed” by the results and would announce their plans for the drug in the next two months. Relyvrio was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September 2022, following a lengthy, impassioned campaign by patients with ALS, a fatal muscle-wasting disease. Unfortunately, the latest company study showed the drug did not slow the disease compared with a placebo treatment, and it also did not produce improvements on any secondary measures, such as muscle strength. ALS is a devastating neurological disease slowly destroys nerve cells and connections that are needed to walk, talk, speak and breathe. Most patients die… read on > read on >

Instead of approving the new Alzheimer’s drug donanemab this month, as was expected, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will now require the experimental medication be scrutinized more closely by an expert panel, the drug’s maker said Friday. “The FDA has informed Lilly it wants to further understand topics related to evaluating the safety and efficacy of donanemab, including the safety results in donanemab-treated patients and the efficacy implications of the unique trial design,” the company said in a statement. The move surprised the company, which had believed the agency would give its blessing to the drug during the first quarter of this year. “We were not expecting this,” Anne White, a Lilly executive vice president and president of its neuroscience division, told the Times. While independent FDA advisory committees are often called upon when the agency has questions about drugs, it was unusual to do so “at the end of the review cycle and beyond the action date that the FDA had given us,” White noted. While the FDA did not comment on the news, Lilly officials said they expected it would be a few months before the appropriate advisory committee meets to weigh the benefits of the drug, the Times reported. “The FDA did commit to us to move quickly, so we would hope that they would then take action shortly after the… read on > read on >