Complications during pregnancy can mean a woman’s future heart health is at risk, particularly if she is overweight or obese, a new study says. Women who are carrying excess weight prior to pregnancy are more likely to develop complications like gestational diabetes and high blood pressure while expecting, researchers said. These complications act as a natural “stress test” that provides a glimpse into a woman’s future health and risks for chronic illness, researchers said. The results “suggest that prioritizing weight management among those considering pregnancy may promote both maternal and future cardiovascular health,” lead investigator Jaclyn Borrowman, a postdoctoral research fellow at Northwestern University, said in a news release. For the study, researchers tracked nearly 4,300 women across nine countries, following them for 10 to 14 years after their pregnancy. About 67% of the women had a normal body mass index (BMI), 22% were overweight and 11% were obese, researchers said. BMI, which stands for body mass index, is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight. Results showed that women who developed gestational diabetes were more likely later in life to suffer from higher blood glucose levels and other warning signs of type 2 diabetes. Likewise, those who developed high blood pressure during pregnancy were more likely to have high blood pressure in later life. However, Borrowman noted that these pregnancy complications…  read on >  read on >

New strategy aims to enhance drug safety, expedite evaluation process, and decrease animal experimentation  read on >

Home-delivered meals tailored to people’s chronic illnesses can prevent hospitalizations, help folks remain healthy and save billions of dollars each year, a new study says. In “Food Is Medicine” programs, people with conditions like diabetes, heart disease or cancer receive prepared meals that are crafted to help protect their health. More than 14 million Americans across the country qualify to receive medically tailored meals, ranging from 1.2 million in California to 18,000 in Alaska, researchers report in the April issue of the journal Health Affairs. A simulation model found that nationwide implementation of medically tailored meal programs could save about $32 billion in health care costs in the first year alone, researchers say. The program would also prevent more than 3.5 million hospitalizations a year related to complications from diabetes, heart disease and cancer, researchers said. “The most striking finding is that medically tailored meals, assuming full uptake by eligible individuals, were cost saving in 49 of 50 states, highlighting their potential to reduce both financial and health burdens,” lead researcher Shuyue Deng said in a news release. Deng is a doctoral student at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. The state-by-state analysis showed per-patient savings as high as $6,299 in Connecticut, $4,450 in Pennsylvania and $4,331 in Massachusetts. Alabama was the only state where implementing medically tailored meals would not…  read on >  read on >

Weeks after ordering staff back to the office, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now letting some employees work from home again. The move follows major staff cuts and resignations that threaten the agency’s ability to approve new medicines among other basic functions, The Associated Press reported. An internal email shared with staff on Tuesday said FDA leadership are now “allowing review staff and supervisors to resume telework” at least twice a week. Three current FDA employees confirmed the new policy to The AP. They said similar rules were shared with staff who handle vaccines, medical devices and biotech drugs. The decision follows major disruptions in the federal health workforce. About 3,400 FDA employees — more than 15% of the agency — were laid off last week. The cuts — by Elon Musk‘s Department of Government of Efficiency, or DOGE — are part of a broader Trump administration push to slim down the federal workforce. Entire teams working on FDA policy and communications were cut. High-level officials in charge of drugs, tobacco and vaccines have also been let go or have resigned. “Devastating, haphazard, thoughtless and chaotic,” is how former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler described the layoffs during a U.S. House of Representatives hearing. The telework decision may be part of a larger effort by newly confirmed FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary to…  read on >  read on >

Food additive mixtures commonly found in diet drinks, soups, dairy desserts and sauces may slightly increase a person’s risk of type 2 diabetes, a new study says. A mixture of additives commonly found in artificially sweetened beverages increased risk of type 2 diabetes by 13% among a group of nearly 110,000 people, researchers reported in the journal PLOS Medicine. Likewise, an additive mix associated with ultra-processed foods like stocks and sauces increased diabetes risk by 8%, results show. “The findings suggest that several emblematic additives present in many products are often consumed together, and that certain mixtures are associated with a higher risk of this disease,” said lead researcher Marie Payen de la Garanderie, a doctoral student at INSERM, a health research organization in France. “These substances may therefore represent a modifiable risk factor, paving the way for strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes,” she added in a news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data on more than 108,000 people participating in a long-term French study evaluating links between nutrition and health. All participants completed two to 15 days of dietary records tracking all food and drink consumed, as well as specific brands. Participants’ health was then followed for nearly eight years. Researchers looked at five different additive mixtures commonly used in processed foods, to see whether they had any affect on diabetes risk.…  read on >  read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has delayed the full approval of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine.  The decision had been expected by April 1, but the agency now says it needs more information before moving forward. The Novavax shot is already available under emergency use. But full FDA approval would allow the vaccine to be used more widely and could offer more reassurance to people looking for options besides the existing mRNA vaccines, CNN reported. The delay dovetails with moves by Republican lawmakers in at least seven states to ban or limit mRNA vaccines. Some, according to KFF Health News, are also pressing regulators to revoke federal approval for mRNA-based COVID shots, which President Donald Trump has touted as a key first- term achievement.  Novavax uses protein-based technology, a more traditional method than the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.  “As of Tuesday, April 1, we had responded to all of the FDA’s information requests and we believe that our [Biologics License Application] is ready for approval,” Novavax said in a statement, adding that its application “included robust Phase 3 clinical trial data that showed our vaccine is safe and effective for the prevention of COVID-19.” “We are confident our well-tolerated vaccine represents an important alternative to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for the U.S.,” Novavax added. The delay comes as the FDA is undergoing leadership changes.…  read on >  read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top tobacco regulator, Brian King, has been placed on leave as part of a large wave of cuts across federal health agencies.  King, who led the FDA’s tobacco control efforts, told his staff Tuesday that he was removed with “a heavy heart and profound disappointment.” “If you make it virtually impossible to create and draft policy, then you are eviscerating the role of the center,” Mitch Zeller, the FDA’s former tobacco chief, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “From a public health perspective it makes absolutely no sense.” King joined the FDA in 2022 and became a target of vaping industry criticism for ordering thousands of flavored e-cigarettes off the market. During his tenure, teen vaping dropped to its lowest level in 10 years. His removal follows the recent resignation of vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks, who said he could no longer support the Trump administration’s promotion of vaccine misinformation. The FDA has seen a major leadership turnover in recent months. Top officials overseeing drugs, food, vaccines and medical devices have either resigned or retired. In an online post, former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said “history will see this as a huge mistake,” The Associated Press reported. “The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep…  read on >  read on >

Lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol could mean a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, a new study says. People with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels lower than 70 mg/dl had a 26% lower risk of dementia and 28% lower risk of Alzheimer’s, compared to people with LDL levels above 130 mg/dl, researchers reported April 1 in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Statins taken to lower cholesterol also appeared to confer additional protection against dementia and Alzheimer’s. “These findings emphasize the importance of achieving specific LDL cholesterol thresholds for dementia prevention,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Yerim Kim, an assistant professor of neurology with the Hallym University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. “Furthermore, it suggests a potential synergistic benefit of statin use within this optimal range,” researchers added. Current LDL cholesterol guidelines call for lower than 100 mg/dl in healthy people, and 70 mg/dl or lower in people with a history of heart attack or stroke, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). Those guidelines are based on a clear link between “bad” cholesterol levels and heart risk, but there’s been conflicting evidence regarding the association between LDL cholesterol and brain health, researchers said in background notes. Early studies suggested that lowering LDL cholesterol through statin use might cause some cognitive impairment, but later data has shown that low…  read on >  read on >

Microplastics appear to be contributing to chronic diseases in shoreline areas of the United States, a new study suggests. High blood pressure, diabetes and stroke rates are higher in coastal or lakefront areas with greater concentrations of microplastics in the environment, researchers reported at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). The results also suggested a dose relationship, where higher concentrations of microplastics pollution are associated with more chronic disease, researchers said. “This study provides initial evidence that microplastics exposure has an impact on cardiovascular health, especially chronic, noncommunicable conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke,” lead investigator Sai Rahul Ponnana, a research data scientist at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, said in a news release. Microplastics are tiny plastic particles as small as 1 nanometer; by comparison, a strand of human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide. These particles are released as larger pieces of plastic break down, and can come from food and beverage packaging, consumer products and building materials, researchers said in background notes. People can be exposed to microplastics in the water they drink, the food they eat and the air they breathe. For this study, researchers linked U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data on chronic illness rates with federal data on microplastics concentrations in the sediment along coastal and lakeshore areas…  read on >  read on >