Eats « Weekly Gravy

Many Americans went hungry in 2021, including disproportionate numbers of people with disabilities and single parents, a new government report shows. Experts are concerned that things may have only gotten worse. “These data likely do not reflect what is going on currently as pandemic programs end and inflation is affecting food prices,” explained Linda Wilbrecht, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. “In 2023, we should be concerned by other indicators that suggest a growing number of households are experiencing food insecurity and be especially concerned about households with children,” said Wilbrecht, who has no ties to the new report. In the study, 33.8 million Americans had trouble putting food on the table in 2021. Single parents were more likely to be hit by food shortages, and adults with disabilities were three times more likely to live in households where there wasn’t enough food to go around, according to the latest data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were also disparities in the ability to put food on the table seen by race, with Hispanic and Black adults more likely to report trouble feeding themselves and their families. Women were also more likely than men to report food shortages. “Since access to sufficient and nutritious food is a key… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) – In the latest move to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone in the United States, a coalition of anti-abortion groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to allow an appeals court ruling to stand. That ruling, issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last week, would ratchet back recent changes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made to ease access to the drug. The ruling would effectively prevent distribution of mifepristone by mail and require more doctor visits to get the medication. Over decades, the FDA has “stripped away every meaningful and necessary safeguard on chemical abortion, demonstrating callous disregard for women’s well-being, unborn life, and statutory limits,” the court filing from the groups led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine stated. “The lower courts’ meticulous decisions do not second-guess the agency’s scientific determinations; they merely require the agency to follow the law,” lawyers for the group added. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice and drugmaker Danco Laboratories have already asked the Supreme Court to block the appeals court ruling. The high court put the ruling on hold last Friday, but it must take its next steps by midnight Wednesday. The FDA has suggested regulatory chaos could result if the appeals court ruling stands. The appeals court decision followed an April 7 ruling by Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk… read on > read on >

Summer is almost here, and its arrival brings opportunities for many people – including those who suffer with allergies and asthma — to plan vacations away from home. A recent article titled “Allergies don’t take a vacation” in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology encourages those with allergies and asthma to consider their conditions and consult with their allergist before embarking on a vacation to ensure maximum good health and opportunities for enjoyment while away from home. Annals is the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. The article stressed that advance preparation for a vacation can ease the anxiety allergy and asthma patients sometimes face with the idea of being away from home and their regular care. Simple measures can make the vacation run more smoothly — like making sure prescriptions are up to date and filled so that you don’t run out while traveling. Consider bringing extra medications to use as needed for exacerbations of your allergic disease. It is also good to have your allergist’s contact information and research the location of pharmacies near to where you’ll be staying. Those with hay fever or nasal allergies have different concerns than those with asthma or food allergies or eczema. Consider the following tips, depending on which allergic condition you suffer with: Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (nasal and eye allergies) Consider a… read on > read on >

Seniors and people with weakened immune systems can get another booster dose of the bivalent COVID vaccine this spring, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday. Seniors age 65 and older can get a booster at least four months following their first dose of the bivalent vaccine, which protects against both the original and Omicron strains of COVID, the FDA said. People with weakened immune systems can get a booster at least two months after their last vaccine dose, based on their doctor’s judgment, the agency added. “COVID-19 continues to be a very real risk for many people. We are therefore encouraging everyone to consider staying current with vaccination,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said during a Tuesday morning media briefing. COVID continues to be linked to about 1,300 deaths each week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention. The FDA announcement was part of an overall effort to simplify the COVID vaccine schedule for Americans, the agency said. In its Tuesday announcement, the FDA also rescinded its emergency use authorization for the original Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines, which are credited with saving tens of millions of lives during the pandemic. Only the bivalent vaccines will be available going forward, the FDA said. Adults and children who’ve only gotten the original vaccine… read on > read on >

Taking vitamins may drain your wallet without helping your health, yet a new government survey shows most American adults take them, as do about one-third of children. Researchers who were led by Suruchi Mishra, from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, found vitamin use was common from 2017 to March 2020, prior to the pandemic when vitamin use may have even increased. “It’s promoted as a natural product. It’s promoted as something that is different than what you’re going to get from your doctor, and the notion is that there’s no side effects because it’s all natural, and therefore it can only do good and can never do harm,” Dr. Paul Offit, a doctor at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told CNN. “You can’t beat that,” added Offit, who is also the author of Do You Believe in Magic? Vitamins, Supplements, and All Things Natural: A Look Behind the Curtain. In reality, there is “insufficient evidence” to recommend for or against taking a multivitamin with folic acid, antioxidant combination vitamins or individual supplements for vitamins A, C or E to prevent cancer or heart disease in someone who is healthy but not pregnant, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). An exception may be vitamin D: Offit said it is thought to improve bone health by helping the body absorb calcium and phosphorous.… read on > read on >

Could taxing soda cut down on the consumption of sugary drinks? That’s exactly what happened when a local “soda tax” was launched in Oakland, Calif., according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco. Purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages dropped nearly 27% between July 2017 and December 2019, after the one-cent-per-ounce tax began. “These results suggest SSB [sugar-sweetened beverage] taxes can meaningfully improve diet and health and generate substantial cost savings over a sustained period of time, all of which support the case for a national tax on SSBs,” said senior study author Dr. Dean Schillinger, a UCSF professor of medicine and a co-chair of the National Clinical Care Commission (NCCC), formed by Congress to advise on diabetes policy. The NCCC has recommended a national tax on sugary beverages. “The American Beverage Association cornered the California legislature into passing the law barring further SSB taxes in our state. Voters now have evidence that allowing such taxes can yield significant benefits to society, and we hope that legislators at the state and national level act on these findings,” Schillinger said in an UCSF news release. Schillinger was referring to a prohibition on new soda taxes enacted by California state legislators about five years ago. Existing taxes in the California cities of Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley and Albany were grandfathered in. To study the impact of the… read on > read on >

Most cases of type 2 diabetes can be linked to making poor food choices, a new study finds. Researchers from Tufts University in Boston linked poor diet to 14 million cases of type 2 diabetes — about 70% of new diagnoses globally — in 2018. The biggest impact came from insufficient intake of whole grains, too much refined rice and wheat, and overconsumption of processed meat. “Our study suggests poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes globally, and with important variation by nation and over time,” said study co-author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a professor of nutrition and dean for policy at Tufts’ School of Nutrition Science and Policy. “These new findings reveal critical areas for national and global focus to improve nutrition and reduce devastating burdens of diabetes,” Mozaffarian said in a Tufts news release. In type 2 diabetes, the body’s cells are resistant to insulin, a hormone necessary to convert the food you eat into fuel for the body. The scientists looked at data from 1990 and 2018, using a research model of dietary intake in 184 countries that was developed at Tufts. All of the countries studied saw an increase in type 2 diabetes cases during that time frame. Poor diet is causing a larger proportion of total type 2 diabetes incidence in men versus women, in younger… read on > read on >

The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday acceded to a Biden Administration emergency application and paused parts of a recent federal ruling that had limited the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone. Justice Samuel Alito Jr. issued the interim stay, which would allow women access as usual to mifepristone up until midnight next Wednesday, the New York Times reported. Alito’s move to temporarily restore full availability is not thought to have any bearing on the Court’s final decision on the case — it merely preserves the status quo while giving the justices time to review lower court rulings. Justice Alito issued the order because he oversees the appeals court whose ruling is the focus of an appeal. He ordered the groups behind the challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone to file their brief by Tuesday at noon, the Times said. On Wednesday, a federal appeals court partially overruled Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling made in Texas last week, which said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone back in 2000 was invalid and the drug should not be used. However, the three-judge appeals court panel said mifepristone could remain available for now, but it blocked mailing the pill to patients, as well as other measures the federal government has taken recently to boost access to the medication. In… read on > read on >

A federal appeals court on Wednesday said the abortion pill mifepristone could remain available for now. But the court’s judges added some provisions to their ruling: A block on mailing the pill to patients as well as stays on other measures the federal government has taken recently to boost access to the medication. The three-member panel partially overruled Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling in Texas last week, which said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone back in 2000 was invalid. Mifepristone is typically given as the first of two drugs used during a medication abortion. The U.S. Justice Department had filed its appeal of the Texas ruling on Monday. “If allowed to take effect, the court’s order would thwart FDA’s scientific judgment and severely harm women, particularly those for whom mifepristone is a medical or practical necessity,” the appeal stated. In its preliminary ruling filed on Wednesday, the federal appeals court suggested a statute of limitations bars any legal challenge to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone. The court also seemed to consider the government’s view that removing a long-approved drug from the market would have “significant public consequences.” But it left in place parts of Kacsmaryk’s ruling that rolled back a loosening of restrictions on mifepristone by the FDA in recent years. That includes a 2016 move to allow the drug to be… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) – Juul Labs on Wednesday reached a $462 million settlement with several states over the aggressive marketing of its electronic cigarettes to minors. This latest settlement includes New York, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Mexico. Juul settled with West Virginia earlier this week. The company has already agreed already to pay out more than $1 billion to 47 states and territories, Juul Labs said in a statement. “The terms of the agreement, like prior settlements, provide financial resources to further combat underage use and develop cessation programs and reflect our current business practices,” Juul spokesman Austin Finan told the New York Times. The latest settlement represents a near “total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future,” he added. Finan noted that federal data shows that underage use of Juul products has declined 95% since 2019. State attorneys general in New York and California alleged that their investigations found that Juul executives knew their marketing was attracting teens, the Times reported. “Too many young New Yorkers are struggling to quit vaping and there is no doubt that Juul played a central role in the nationwide vaping epidemic,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on the settlement. While the company hasn’t admitted wrongdoing, its payments to plaintiffs in earlier lawsuits… read on > read on >