A new screening tool may help doctors and communities better understand why so many Americans struggle to eat a healthy diet, even when they have enough food. Researchers at Tufts University’s Food is Medicine Institute in Boston have created and tested a survey called the Nutrition Security Screener (NSS). Unlike standard food security tools that focus only on whether people have enough to eat, the NSS looks at whether people can regularly access nutritious foods that support good health and prevent disease. “Although the United States food supply provides plenty of calories, most Americans do not eat enough nutritious foods,” study senior author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, the institute’s director, said in a news release. “Diet-related diseases are a leading cause of suffering, death and preventable health care and costs — we need to understand the specific challenges different people and communities face to achieving a healthy diet,” he added. The screener was tested in five national surveys between 2022 and 2023, including more than 20,000 adults from different regions and backgrounds across the country. The first question asks how difficult it is for someone to get and eat healthy foods. The second question identifies the specific barriers, which range from high food cost and limited grocery access to lack of cooking skills, storage space or nutrition knowledge. Results showed that nutrition insecurity was linked to…  read on >  read on >

In surveys of 20,000+ adults, 81% said healthy foods were too expensive  read on >

Treatment with an experimental peanut protein patch can help young children safely build tolerance to peanuts, a new study says. More than 70% of children treated with the Viaskin Peanut Patch could tolerate at least three to four peanut kernels without a reaction after three years, researchers are scheduled to report Saturday in Orlando at a meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Nearly half of the kids could tolerate even larger amounts of peanut, researchers noted. The patch delivers small amounts of peanut protein through the skin, with the goal of reducing the risk of severe allergic reactions, researchers said. “These results show that ongoing treatment with the peanut patch continues to improve tolerance and remains safe over time,” lead researcher Dr. Matthew Greenhawt said in a news release. He’s an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. Peanut allergies affect about 2% of children in the U.S., researchers said in background notes. “For parents of toddlers with peanut allergies, this kind of approach may one day offer a peace of mind by reducing the risk of having an allergic reaction, including severe reactions, from accidental exposure,” Greenhawt said. For the new study, researchers tracked 91 toddlers who got a placebo patch during an earlier clinical trial of the peanut patch. After that trial, the…  read on >  read on >

Treatment with an experimental peanut protein patch can help young children safely build tolerance to peanuts, a new study says. More than 70% of children treated with the Viaskin Peanut Patch could tolerate at least three to four peanut kernels without a reaction after three years, researchers are scheduled to report Saturday in Orlando at a meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Nearly half of the kids could tolerate even larger amounts of peanut, researchers noted. The patch delivers small amounts of peanut protein through the skin, with the goal of reducing the risk of severe allergic reactions, researchers said. “These results show that ongoing treatment with the peanut patch continues to improve tolerance and remains safe over time,” lead researcher Dr. Matthew Greenhawt said in a news release. He’s an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. Peanut allergies affect about 2% of children in the U.S., researchers said in background notes. “For parents of toddlers with peanut allergies, this kind of approach may one day offer a peace of mind by reducing the risk of having an allergic reaction, including severe reactions, from accidental exposure,” Greenhawt said. For the new study, researchers tracked 91 toddlers who got a placebo patch during an earlier clinical trial of the peanut patch. After that trial, the…  read on >  read on >

The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug division has resigned while under internal investigation, saying he was pushed out after raising concerns about how the agency planned to fast-track some new drugs. Dr. George Tidmarsh, who joined the FDA in July, stepped down Sunday, The New York Times reported.  His resignation came just days after he was placed on administrative leave while federal officials investigated accusations connected to a lawsuit involving a drug company and one of its investors. The FDA confirmed that Tidmarsh’s resignation was accepted, saying the leave was issued after “serious concerns” were reported to a federal court and the inspector general. Tidmarsh, however, said he believes the investigation began after he questioned the legality of a new program that would approve some drugs much faster than usual. He said the plan could allow political priorities to outweigh actual science. “The effort was going to basically change the entire paradigm of the legal underpinnings of drug approvals that have for decades supported the actions on the safety and effectiveness of drugs,” Tidmarsh told The Times. “There was insufficient legal support for what they wanted to do, and so I didn’t agree,” he added. A lawsuit filed last week by Kevin Tang, a major investor in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, accused Tidmarsh of acting vengefully against its board chairman. The suit…  read on >  read on >

Dr. George Tidmarsh says he was targeted after questioning a new fast-track drug approval program  read on >

A once-rare meat allergy caused by tick bites is dramatically increasing across the United States, researchers said. There’s been a 100-fold increase in positive test results for the allergy, called alpha-gal syndrome, between 2013 and 2024, researchers reported last week at the American College of Gastroenterology’s annual meeting in Phoenix. “Alpha-gal syndrome is unlike any other food allergy we treat,” researcher Dr. Vinay Jahagirdar, a fellow with the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Gastroenterology Fellowship Training Program and Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health, said in a news release. “Symptoms often appear several hours after a person eats red meat, making it difficult to connect a meal with an allergic reaction,” Jahagirdar said. Many patients are misdiagnosed or go years without answers.” AGS occurs when a tick bite causes a person’s immune system to develop an allergic reaction to a sugar molecule found in beef, pork or lamb called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, or alpha-gal, researchers said. Symptoms from an alpha-gal allergic reaction can include hives, swelling, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea or even life-threatening anaphylactic shock, researchers said. The syndrome typically is linked to bites from the lone star tick, researchers said. These ticks have expanded their range north and west in recent years, aided by warmer winters and growing deer populations. “Alpha-gal syndrome has gone from a medical curiosity to a major public health issue…  read on >  read on >