Eats « Weekly Gravy

Statins have become the miracle medicine of modern heart care, lowering cholesterol levels and and guarding against heart attacks in millions of Americans. In fact, a running joke among doctors holds that statins are so helpful they should be put in the water supply. However, they aren’t right for all patients, and some rare side effects can crop up with the meds, said Dr. Melissa Tracy, a cardiologist with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Here is a primer on what statins are, who should use them and what dangers they can pose to some patients. What are statins? Statins are medications that reduce blood levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol that can accumulate into plaques that clog arteries. Statins can also reduce inflammation in patients, and might help lower blood pressure. People need a prescription to take statins, and most will take them for life once they start — even if their LDL cholesterol levels go down. “I have had some patients that I can get off of a statin, but it tends to be one of those agents that we use lifelong,” Tracy said in a Rush news release. Still, folks on statins may need to stop taking them if they experience changes in liver function, become pregnant, start menopause or have other health changes, Tracy added. There are many different types of statins,… read on > read on >

Sipping sodas – sugary or diet – seems to slightly increase a person’s risk of developing a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm, a new study shows. Folks had a 20% greater risk of atrial fibrillation if they drank two liters or more of artificially sweetened beverages each week, researchers reported March 5 in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. Two liters of sugar-sweetened beverages came with a 10% higher risk of a-fib. Meanwhile, consuming one liter of unsweetened fruit or vegetable juice every week conferred an 8% lowered risk. “Our study’s findings cannot definitively conclude that one beverage poses more health risk than another due to the complexity of our diets and because some people may drink more than one type of beverage,” said lead author Dr. Ningjian Wang, a researcher at the Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in Shanghai. “However, based on these findings, we recommend that people reduce or even avoid artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages whenever possible,” Wang added in a journal news release. “Do not take it for granted that drinking low-sugar and low-calorie artificially sweetened beverages is healthy. It may pose potential health risks.” For the study, researchers reviewed dietary and genetic data for more than 200,000 adults who enrolled in the UK Biobank long-term health study between 2006 and… read on > read on >

There’s a host of studies supporting the numerous ways breastfeeding helps baby’s development — and the health of mothers, too. However, too many women are hesitant to start breastfeeding or stick with it if they do, according to Nadine Rosenblum, a perinatal lactation program coordinator at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. “There are still so many misconceptions about breastfeeding and a general lack of support that many women discontinue breastfeeding or add formula when they don’t necessarily need to,” she added. First off, why breastfeed? There’s an easy answer: “Babies who are fed only breast milk for their first six months of life are the healthiest,” Rosenbaum said. In fact, newborns are primed by nature and their own immune systems to receive breast milk, she noted. “It’s what a baby’s body expects to eat, consume and utilize most effectively,” according to Rosenblum. Evolution has helped breast milk develop into the perfect nutrient source, and it contains hundreds of known nutrient types (with more yet to be discovered). There’s something in breast milk to fit an infant’s needs at every stage of development, and it’s crucial to helping build up the immune system. Studies have shown that breastfed babies are more resistant than formula-fed babies to developing asthma, allergies, eczema, respiratory illnesses, diarrhea, Crohn’s disease, colitis, diabetes (both types), obesity and even childhood leukemias. It also… read on > read on >

(HealthDay news) — More than 1 billion adults and children around the world are now obese, a new global analysis estimates. Nearly 880 million adults now are living with obesity, as well as 159 million children, according to the report published Feb. 29 in The Lancet journal. Obesity rates for kids and teenagers quadrupled worldwide between 1990 and 2022, rising from 1.7% to 6.9% for girls and 2.1% to 9.3% for boys. Meanwhile, adult obesity rates more than doubled during the same period, researchers found. Obesity increased more than twofold in women (8.8% to 18.5%) and nearly tripled in men (4.8% to 14%). “It is very concerning that the epidemic of obesity that was evident among adults in much of the world in 1990 is now mirrored in school-aged children and adolescents,” said senior study author Majid Ezzatti, chair of global environmental health at Imperial College London. These figures outstrip predictions made by the World Obesity Federation, which had predicted that 1 billion people globally would be living with obesity by 2030 in its World Obesity Atlas 2022. Essentially, the globe had already surpassed that mark by the time of the atlas’ publication, according to the new study. Obesity is now the most common form of malnutrition in most countries, researchers said. That’s because the proportion of adults who are underweight declined by more than… read on > read on >

Vaping and skipped meals appear to be the main causes of frequent headaches among teens, a new study says. Teens who ate breakfast and dinner with their family had a lower risk of frequent headaches than those who regularly missed meals, researchers report Feb. 28 in the journal Neurology. Meanwhile, vaping also was associated with frequent headaches for those 12 to 17, researchers said. Frequent headaches are defined as those occurring more than once a week. “It is not uncommon for children and teens to have headaches, and while medications are used to stop and sometimes prevent headaches, lifestyle changes may also offer an effective route to relief by preventing headaches from happening and improving quality of life,” said researcher Dr. Serena Orr, an assistant professor of pediatrics with the University of Calgary in Canada. For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 5 million children and teens enrolled in a large Canadian health survey. About 6% of participants had headaches more than once a week, researchers found. The children were asked about lifestyle factors that could affect their risk of headache, including screen time, sleep hours, meals and substance use. For meals, the kids were asked how often they ate breakfast and dinner with their family, for a total of 14 possible meals. Kids who experienced frequent headaches averaged nine such meals a week… read on > read on >

Ultra-processed foods can cause dozens of terrible health problems among people who eat them too often, a new review warns. Researchers linked diets high in ultra-processed foods to an increased risk of 32 separate illnesses. In particular, these foods are strongly tied to risk with early death, heart disease, cancer, mental health disorders, overweight and obesity, and type 2 diabetes, researchers said. For example, ultra-processed foods are associated with a 50% increased risk of heart-related death, a 48% to 53% increased risk of anxiety and common mental disorders, and a 12% risk of type 2 diabetes, researchers said. And the more of these foods people eat, the higher their overall health risks, results showed. Ultra-processed foods include packaged snacks, sugary drinks, instant noodles, sweet cereals and ready-to-eat meals. The products undergo multiple industrial processes to make them tasty and shelf-stable, and contain additives like emulsifiers, coloring agents and chemical flavors. Unfortunately, ultra-processed foods now account for up to 58% of total daily energy intake in some high income-countries, and are proliferating in low- and middle-income countries, researchers said in background notes. “Notably, over recent decades, the availability and variety of ultra-processed products sold has substantially and rapidly increased” in countries around the world, wrote the research team led by Melissa Lane, an associate research fellow with the Deaken University Institute for Mental and Physical Health… read on > read on >

PFAS “forever” chemicals, increasingly linked to health risks, will no longer be added to food packaging handled by American consumers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. “Grease-proofing materials containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS] are no longer being sold for use in food packaging in the U.S.,” Jim Jones, the agency’s Commissioner for Human Foods, said in a statement. “This means the major source of dietary exposure to PFAS from food packaging like fast-food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, take-out paperboard containers and pet food bags is being eliminated,” Jones noted. PFAS were long used in food packaging because they resist grease, oil, water and heat, the FDA explained. However, there’s mounting evidence that certain types of PFAS are tied to “serious health effects,” the agency said. According to the nonprofit National Resources Defense Council, “PFAS have now been linked to a wide range of health risks in both human and animal studies — including cancer [kidney and testicular], hormone disruption, liver and thyroid problems, interference with vaccine effectiveness, reproductive harm and abnormal fetal development.” They’re known as “forever” chemicals for a reason. “The structure of PFAS means they resist breakdown in the environment and in our bodies,” explained Eric Olson, the NRDC’s senior strategic director of health and food. “Second, they move relatively quickly through the environment, making their contamination hard to contain.… read on > read on >

Eye ointment products made in India and sold in the United States at Walmart, CVS and other retailers are being recalled due to a danger of infection. Brassica Pharma Pvt. Ltd., of Maharastra, India, said it is recalling various eye lubricant products labeled Equate, CVS Health and AACE. Recalled products will have expiration dates ranging from February 2024 to September 2025. “For those patients who use these products, there is a potential risk of eye infections or related harm. These products are intended to be sterile,” the company said in a statement posted Monday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Ophthalmic drug products pose a potential heightened risk of harm to users because drugs applied to the eyes bypass some of the body’s natural defenses.” A full list of the recalled products, including photos, can be found here. The recall comes on the heels of a large recall in 2023 of tainted eye drops tied to serious infections, vision loss and even deaths. Brassica Pharma says that, so far, no reports of “adverse events” tied to the ointments have been reported. “These products were distributed nationwide to wholesalers, retailers and via the product distributor, Walmart, CVS and AACE Pharmaceuticals Inc.,” Brassica Pharma said. “Consumers, distributors and retailers that have any product which is being recalled should cease distribution of the product,” the company added.… read on > read on >

Living close to a pub, bar or fast-food restaurant doesn’t do your heart any favors, a new study finds. Folks who live in close proximity to such establishments have a higher risk of heart failure, compared to those who live farther away, researchers report in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal Circulation: Heart Failure. These findings weren’t a complete surprise, said senior researcher Dr. Lu Qi, a professor of epidemiology at Tulane University in New Orleans. “Previous studies have suggested that exposure to ready-to-eat food environments is associated with risks of other disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, which may also increase the risk of heart failure,” Qi noted in a journal news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the U.K. Biobank, a database containing health information for more than 500,000 adults in the United Kingdom. The team measured study participants’ exposure to three different types of food environments — pubs or bars, restaurants or cafeterias, and fast-food joints. These kinds of ready-to-eat establishments typically provide unhealthy foods and drinks, Qi said. The researchers specifically looked at whether people lived within a 15-minute walk of these eateries, as well as the number of such places located within such an easy walking distance. The study tracked nearly 13,000 heart failure cases during a 12-year follow-up period, and found that close proximity… read on > read on >

The asthma medication Xolair has proved its prowess against food allergies, with new research showing the medication substantially lowers the chances of severe reactions in patients. Data published Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented simultaneously at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology annual meeting in Washington, D.C., showed that multiple injections of Xolair (omalizumab) given over a period of several weeks slashed the severity of allergic reactions in some adults and children as young as 1 who are allergic to peanuts and other foods such as milk, eggs and wheat. Just last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded its approval of Xolair to include people with food allergies, based on an interim analysis of the study. “I’m excited that we have a promising new treatment for multi-food allergic patients. This new approach showed really great responses for many of the foods that trigger their allergies,” said study senior author Dr. Sharon Chinthrajah. She’s acting director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford Medicine. “Patients impacted by food allergies face a daily threat of life-threatening reactions due to accidental exposures,” added study lead author Dr. Robert Wood, director of pediatric allergy and immunology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “The study showed that omalizumab can be a layer of protection against small, accidental exposures.” Chinthrajah and… read on > read on >