Eats « Weekly Gravy

Stroll past the supplements in any drugstore and you’ll find broad claims about fish oil helping everything from heart and brain health, to joints, eyes and immune systems. But you just might be wasting your money, according to a new study. “We know from recent large, randomized trials that fish oil supplements do not prevent heart disease in the general population, but yet they are one of the most common supplements taken, often by people who still believe they will benefit their heart,” said lead study author Joanna Assadourian, fourth-year medical student at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. The authors researched what these labels actually say, using data from labels of on-market fish oil supplements, to measure the frequency and types of health claims. They included both U.S. Food and Drug Administration-reviewed qualified health claims and those that made assertions about supporting structure or function in various organs. The researchers also assessed the total daily doses of combined EPA and DHA, the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, found in supplements from 16 leading manufacturers and retailers. They found that 2,082 of the 2,819 analyzed made at least one health claim, which is nearly 74%. And of those, only 19% made an FDA-approved qualified health claim, which helps consumers understand any scientific uncertainty surrounding a claim. The others made general structure or function… read on > read on >

Tainted eye drops are back in the news, with federal regulators warning consumers not to use certain eye drops because of contamination concerns. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday advised people to avoid purchasing and immediately stop using Dr. Berne’s MSM Drops 5% Solution and LightEyez MSM Eye Drops—Eye Repair because the drops may be contaminated with bacteria, fungus or both. Specific microbes isolated from FDA testing include Bacillus (a bacterium) and fungal Exophiala in the Dr. Berne’s MSM Drops 5% Solution. In the LightEyez MSM Eye Drops—Eye Repair, FDA testing detected bacteria including Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium, Mycolicibacterium and Methylorubrum. The Dr. Berne’s products are distributed by Dr. Berne’s Whole Health Products. That company agreed on Monday to a voluntary recall of those particular eye drops. The LightEyez products are distributed by LightEyez Limited. LightEyez has not responded to an FDA email seeking to discuss the FDA’s concerns, the agency said. So far no one has reported adverse events from using the drops, the FDA said, but the products should be thrown out because using them could lead to minor or serious vision-threatening infections. That could even progress to a life-threatening infection, the agency warned. Patients who have signs or symptoms of an eye infection should talk to their health care professional or seek immediate medical care. The two eye drops included in the… read on > read on >

When it comes to the array of different microorganisms found in the human gut, more is better: A more diverse microbiome is a healthier microbiome. Now, initial results of a small, ongoing study suggests that weight loss through either intermittent fasting or a calorie-restricted diet can improve that diversity. After tracking calorie-control dieters and intermittent fasters for three months, both had significantly improved microbiome diversity, said study author Maggie Stanislawski, an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at the University of Colorado. “The increase wasn’t greater in one group or the other,” she said. Each individual has a unique population of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and viruses, in his or her gut. “These microorganisms are important to our health because they help to digest our food,” Stanislawski said. In fact, “many foods that you eat you cannot digest without the help of those microorganisms,” she stressed. Such organisms also help turn food into critical substances such as metabolites, which play important roles in many processes, from controlling inflammation to ensuring “how full you feel after a meal,” Stanislawski said. And the greater the variety of microorganisms colonizing the gut, the more effectively such functions are carried out. To see what impact different dietary approaches might have on the microbiome, researchers studied 47 healthy adults ranging in age from 18 to 55 who were either overweight or… read on > read on >

COVID-19 patients face a markedly greater risk for developing persistently high blood pressure, even if they never had blood pressure concerns before, new research indicates. The rise in risk seen among otherwise heart-healthy patients also appeared to be notably greater among COVID patients than in influenza patients. The findings, said senior study author Tim Duong, are the “first to my knowledge.” Duong is a vice chair of research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. He stressed that the increased risk seen among COVID patients is not limited to those with severe illness. At an average six months after initial infection, just over a fifth of patients who had been hospitalized with COVID developed high blood pressure, despite no prior blood pressure problems, the study found. That figure fell to just below 11% among COVID patients who were never hospitalized, Duong said. The findings were published Aug. 21 in the journal Hypertension. A prior history of high blood pressure does tend to boost the risk of more serious COVID symptoms and hospitalization. The new study focused on patients with no prior heart or vascular complications. Researchers reviewed the medical records of more than 45,000 COVID patients. Of those, roughly 28,500 had no history of high blood pressure. All were initially infected with COVID between March 2020 and… read on > read on >

A more personalized approach to exercise may be necessary, claims a new study that found fat burning varied widely between individuals. Even worse, this rate often does not align with the “fat-burning zone” on commercial exercise machines, the researchers added. Clinical exercise testing, a diagnostic procedure to measure a person’s physiological response to exercise, may be a more useful tool, the study authors said. “People with a goal of weight or fat loss may be interested in exercising at the intensity which allows for the maximal rate of fat burning. Most commercial exercise machines offer a ‘fat-burning zone’ option, depending upon age, sex and heart rate,” said lead study author Hannah Kittrell. She is a PhD candidate at Icahn Mount Sinai in the Augmented Intelligence in Medicine and Science laboratory, in New York City. “However, the typically recommended fat-burning zone has not been validated, thus individuals may be exercising at intensities that are not aligned with their personalized weight-loss goals,” Kittrell said in a Mount Sinai news release. The researchers noted that the term FATmax is sometimes used to represent the exercise intensity and associated heart rate at the time when the body reaches its highest fat-burning rate during aerobic exercise. Fat is a significant fuel source at this point. For the study, the investigators compared heart rate at FATmax, as measured during a clinical… read on > read on >

MONDAY, Aug. 14, 2023 (HealthDay News) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned that consumers should not use certain pregnancy, ovulation, urine, UTI and breast milk test kits over concerns that the tests may not be safe and effective. The tests in question were manufactured by Universal Meditech Inc. (UMI), though they were branded under several names and may not include information about UMI on their packaging, the agency said in a news release. The known distributors are AC&C Distribution LLC; HealthyWiser; Home Health US Inc. and Prestige Biotech Inc. The tests were sold under those brand names. UMI has notified the FDA that it has stopped all operations and is no longer providing support for its tests, the agency added. The FDA could not confirm the performance of the company’s tests, which were sold online by at least these four distributors. The tests may also have been sold under other brand names by other distributors. UMI recalled undistributed tests, but did not seek to recall tests that were already purchased. Some of the names the tests were sold under include: One Step Pregnancy Test DiagnosUS One Step Ovulation Test HealthyWiser UriTest 10 Parameter Reagent Test Strips for Urinalysis HealthyWiser UriTest UTI Test Strips HealthyWiser KetoFast Ketone Test Strips HealthyWiser pH-Aware pH Test Strips To Life hCG Pregnancy Urine Test Am I Pregnant… read on > read on >

The federal government recently stopped pandemic-related emergency food aid, leaving perhaps 2 million more Americans without enough to eat. Emergency allotments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, ended in March in all states that hadn’t already cut them. After this temporary increase in SNAP benefits ended, recipients experienced a 21% relative increase in food insufficiency, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Food insufficiency means more than just not having enough food; it also means a poor quality diet. “To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies to evaluate the association between changes in SNAP benefit amounts and food insufficiency,” said lead author Dr. Aaron Richterman, an instructor in the division of infectious diseases at the university. “This study shows the severe consequences of reducing SNAP benefit amounts at a time when inflation was causing rapid rises in food prices, and is especially important because of upcoming federal negotiations surrounding SNAP’s renewal in the Farm Bill at the end of September,” he explained in a school news release. SNAP distributes benefits to low-income families to buy food. About 10% of U.S. households may not have enough to eat without these benefits. To study what happened when federal officials ended the emergency allotments, researchers compared trends in states that ended them… read on > read on >

There are plenty of reasons to steer clear of sugary drinks, and new research highlights yet another one: Women who drink sodas and other sweetened drinks have a higher risk of developing liver cancer and chronic liver disease. Looking at data on nearly 100,000 women, researchers found that nearly 7% of women consumed one or more sugar-sweetened beverages daily. Those women had an 85% higher risk of liver cancer and 68% higher risk of chronic liver disease death compared to those who had fewer than three sugar-sweetened beverages a month. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to report an association between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and chronic liver disease mortality,” said study co-author Longgang Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher in the Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Our findings, if confirmed, may pave the way to a public health strategy to reduce risk of liver disease,” Zhao said in a hospital news release. Researchers used data on the postmenopausal women from the large Women’s Health Initiative study. Participants reported their usual consumption of soft drinks or fruit drinks (not fruit juice), and then reported artificially sweetened beverage consumption after three years. The study followed the women for a median of more than 20 years (half more, half less). The authors looked at self-reported liver cancer incidence as well as deaths… read on > read on >

In the midst of a childhood obesity epidemic, a new study is pointing to a way to help school kids maintain a healthier weight: clean, accessible drinking water. The decidedly low-tech solution emerged in a study of 18 California elementary schools that serve largely low-income minority families. Researchers found that when they kicked off a “Water First” program — which included putting tap water stations in the schools — it made a difference in kids’ weight gain. At the nine schools where the program launched, the percentage of kids who fell into the overweight category held fairly steady over 15 months. In contrast, that figure rose by almost 4 percentage points at schools without the water program. Experts said the impact was striking, given that encouraging kids to drink water is just one simple step. “I think the fact that they were able to find this difference is pretty remarkable,” said Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut. It’s generally tough to move the needle when it comes to kids’ weight, because it is influenced by so many factors, noted Schwartz, who was not involved in the study. Dr. Anisha Patel, who led the research, pointed to the relative simplicity of the tactic — which could have multiple benefits, including cavity prevention and keeping kids… read on > read on >

Early and gradual exposure to peanuts under medical supervision curbed infants’ allergies, according to a new study. While researchers had seen that peanut oral immunotherapy was well tolerated by toddlers, this research focused on an even younger age group. “We’ve seen how peanut oral immunotherapy is well-tolerated in toddlers, but there is limited real-world evidence available to demonstrate the benefits in babies,” said Dr. Sandra Hong, director of the Food Allergy Center of Excellence at the Cleveland Clinic. “We leveraged data from infants in our program to better understand the safety and efficacy of this treatment in children 12 months and younger.” The clinic’s Food Allergy Center of Excellence offers oral immunotherapy for babies, toddlers and young children who are allergic to peanuts. There, children under age 4 eat tiny amounts of peanuts in a step-by-step, controlled process. This study enrolled 22 infants between 7 and 11 months old. With an allergist and parent, the babies started on a daily dose of 18 milligrams of peanut protein in the form of peanut butter or peanut powder. That’s roughly twice the weight of a grain of table salt. Over six months, they were slowly given larger servings to consume until they reached a maintenance dose of 500 milligrams, the equivalent of two peanut kernels. Each of the 22 babies reached this milestone. More than half experienced… read on > read on >