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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday asked its vaccine advisory panel to weigh a proposal to turn COVID vaccines into an annual shot for most Americans. Such a move would simplify future vaccination efforts, a critical point given the fact that efforts to get people to get COVID booster shots have fallen far short of expectations. While over 80% of Americans have had at least one dose of the original COVID-19 vaccine, only 16% of those over the age of 5 have gotten the updated booster shots that were approved last August, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The committee will consider the FDA proposal at its Jan. 26 meeting. If it recommends the concept be turned into policy and the agency follows those recommendations, COVID shots would likely become much like annual flu shots. In documents filed with the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the FDA noted that “the totality of the available evidence on prior exposure to and vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 suggests that, moving forward, most individuals may only need to receive one dose of an approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccine to restore protective immunity for a period of time.” Who might need more than one dose per year? For the very young, seniors and the immunocompromised, the agency noted that two doses may be… read on > read on >

MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Trouble continues for Abbott Laboratories, which shut down an infant formula plant last year amid reported illnesses. The U.S. Department of Justice is now investigating the company, though Abbott did not say specifically what the investigation is covering, NBC News reported. “DOJ has informed us of its investigation and we’re cooperating fully,” an Abbott spokesperson said in a statement. The DOJ has declined to comment, NBC News reported. In February 2022, Abbott’s plant in Sturgis, Mich., was shut down after reports that four infants who had consumed formula made at the plant became ill. Two of the infants died. The cause was a rare bacteria, Cronobacter sakazakii. An investigation did not find the source of the bacteria. Abbott has said there was no genetic match between the infants who became ill and the formula, citing internal testing, NBC News reported. The company also said it had not found the bacteria in any of its products. Federal investigators could not definitively identify the source of the bacteria either, NBC News reported. During the Abbott plant shutdown, the country faced a shortage of infant formula before Similac, Alimentum and EleCare production restarted in June. Abbott worked with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to bring its facility into compliance. The FDA said at that time, “the government alleges that powdered… read on > read on >

When it comes to picking the best exercise to lose weight, there is no one right answer. That’s because the right answer is variety, mixing and matching types of exercise to keep the body guessing and improving. “The body adapts to the demands we put on it,” said Dr. Russell Camhi, who works in primary care sports medicine for Northwell Health’s Orthopaedic Institute in East Meadow, N.Y. “If we do the same exercise regimen over and over, results are bound to plateau,” he explained. “Now this doesn’t mean you have to change exercises every day or every week, but a little variety will help the body change and grow.” The key to weight loss is a blend of exercise and nutrition, with the latter responsible for about 80% of the heavy lifting, according to Camhi. It’s important to reduce calories while increasing physical activity, according to the Mayo Clinic, which recommends cutting about 500 to 750 calories a day to lose 1.5 pounds per week.` Though diet plays a bigger role than exercise, physical activity can help with weight maintenance, as well as counter loss of bone density and muscle mass, the Mayo Clinic noted. A high amount of physical activity would be necessary to lose weight unless also adjusting diet, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s not clear exactly… read on > read on >

FRIDAY, Jan. 20, 2023 (HealthDay News) – Organic food will soon have to comply with stricter labeling rules under new requirements announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In what the Organic Trade Organization (OTA) called the biggest change since the USDA’s organic program was first founded in 1990, the new requirements include that all imported organic food be certified by the USDA National Organic Program. The rule increases certification of more supply chain businesses, and boosts authority for inspections, record-keeping, traceability and fraud prevention. The rule also builds on the USDA’s definitions for organic food, which must use “natural substances and physical, mechanical or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.” The new program will start in March, and companies must comply within a year. The OTA had lobbied for the changes and said in a statement the regulation “will do much to deter and detect organic fraud and protect organic integrity throughout the supply chain.” Organic food does big business in the United States, where customers spent $63 billion in 2021 for food free of pesticides and contaminants, the Associated Press reported. Working to ensure customers were getting what they paid for, the U.S. Department of Justice recently indicted those alleged to have been involved in a multimillion-dollar fraud operation to export non-organic grain to the United States with… read on > read on >

B vitamins. These powerhouse nutrients help your cells function at their best, protect your brain and heart, support your immune system and can even improve your mood and energy levels. This critical class of vitamins needs to be part of a healthy diet. According to Harvard Health, B vitamins help enzymes do their jobs, including releasing energy from carbohydrates and fat to breaking down amino acids and carrying oxygen and nutrients around the body. Two of the most essential ones are B6 and B12. Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is found in many foods, but it is also added to foods and supplements. B6 is a coenzyme that helps more than 100 enzymes perform various functions, including the breakdown of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, according to Harvard Health. Meanwhile, vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is found in meats and fish. It can also be added to foods or supplements. It’s needed to make red blood cells and DNA, and it also has a role in the function and development of brain and nerve cells. What is vitamin B6 good for B6 helps maintain normal levels of the amino acid homocysteine, high levels of which can cause heart problems. B6 also supports the immune system and keeps the brain healthy. A recent study published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental found that taking vitamin B6 supplements may even… read on > read on >

When it comes to weight loss, what seems to matter most is how often and how much you eat, rather than when you eat. That’s the conclusion of a new study that focused on the eating habits of about 550 adults. For six months, all were asked to use a phone app to report both the timing and size of all their meals. “What we found is that, on average, the more meals people ate throughout the day, or the more large meals they ate throughout the day, the more likely they were to gain weight over time,” said study author Dr. Wendy Bennett. By contrast, “eating more small meals during the day was associated with more weight loss,” added Bennett, an associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore. They found no link between when in the day people ate and any change in their weight. Bennett stressed that the findings do not speak to the pros and cons of intermittent fasting, a popular dietary practice that involves abstaining from eating for fixed periods of time. That’s because “we didn’t know people’s intentions,” she explained. “We really just followed everyday free-living people, without asking anyone to change their behavior, and without knowing who did or did not want to lose weight.” So, she noted, “We can’t draw any conclusions about… read on > read on >

The key to losing weight sounds simple — eat less. Regardless of the diet you follow, dropping the pounds means burning more calories than you eat. That begs the question, how many calories should I eat to lose weight? According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, for most people, cutting about 500 calories a day is a good place to start. If you can eat 500 fewer calories every day, you should lose about a pound a week. Another easy way to figure out how many calories you should eat is to multiply your weight by 15, Harvard Health advises. That number will give you the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight. To lose weight, simply cut that number. But counting calories isn’t enough, says Samantha Heller, a nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. “Everyone wants a quick fix, but weight loss is not an overnight proposition. We do not gain weight nor will we lose weight quickly,” she said. “If you want to lose 10 pounds, one important tool is keeping a food diary,” Heller said. Keep track of everything you eat for five to seven days. Then review your food record. See where you can cut back on sweets, snacks, large portions and alcohol. Let those discoveries help you make a plan for losing weight.… read on > read on >

It’s no secret: The standard American diet is at the root of the obesity epidemic and many of its associated diseases. But why is American food so unhealthy? It’s not just that Americans eat too much, which they do, but it’s also what they eat that’s unhealthy: fat, sugar, salt and ultra-processed foods. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the average American diet consists of excess salt, saturated fat, refined grains, calories from solid fats and added sugars. Americans also eat fewer vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy products and oils than recommended. Nearly 42% of American adults are obese, statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. One reason may be that healthy foods are often more expensive than packaged foods. Packaged foods tend to have higher amounts of salt, refined grains, sugar and unhealthy oils not recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The CDC notes that high blood pressure and high cholesterol caused by consuming too much salt are the leading causes of heart disease and stroke. Current guidelines recommend getting less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of salt a day, but most Americans consume more than 3,400 mg a day, on average. The culprit? More than 70% of the salt that Americans eat comes from packaged, processed, store-bought and restaurant foods, the CDC says. “Ultra-processed foods are designed to… read on > read on >

A Texas-based education initiative has found that enrolling children in poor communities in gardening and cooking classes may help boost their long-term health. Called “Texas Sprouts,” the program covered one full academic year and exposed elementary school children in 16 low-income schools access to outdoor gardening instruction, nutrition information and cooking lessons. Parents were offered similar classes. The end result? Among the kids, there was a notable post-class drop in the risk for becoming pre-diabetic and diabetic, as measured by lower blood sugar levels, and lower “bad” cholesterol levels. “We know that diets high in added sugar, specifically sugar-sweetened beverages, are linked to higher risk of type 2 diabetes in children, teens and adults,” explained study author Jaimie Davis, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas at Austin. “We wanted to design and evaluate an intervention that taught kids to garden and cook in a school setting [focused] on diet, obesity and type 2 diabetes risk factors,” she noted. The goal, said Davis, was to influence dietary habits by “essentially teaching kids where their food comes from and how to grow and cook with it.” The idea is that “if kids have ownership and autonomy over what they eat, they are more likely to have increased preference for that food and this preference can last a lifetime,” she added. All of the… read on > read on >

A common eating plan with a catchy acronym — the DASH diet — is designed to help you lower your blood pressure, but exactly what can you eat while on it? The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet has been around for almost 25 years and it’s still one of the top diets recommended for overall good health and heart disease prevention. One recent study of the DASH diet published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found “some of the strongest evidence that diet directly impacts cardiac damage, and our findings show that dietary interventions can improve cardiovascular risk factors in a relatively short time period,” study author Dr. Stephen Juraschek, an assistant professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School, in Boston, said at the time. Juraschek added that the DASH diet reinforces the importance of a low-sodium diet rich in fruits, veggies and whole grains. What is the DASH diet? DASH was originally created to help with high blood pressure, based on studies sponsored by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). It is a list of daily and weekly nutritional goals, rather than a specific meal plan, according to the NHLBI. Comprised of eating vegetables, fruits and whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and vegetable… read on > read on >