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 >

As Americans struggle to eat better, plant-based diets have become the rage, but exactly what are those and how hard are they to follow? A growing number of people have turned to plant-based eating, as evidenced by the fact that the plant-based foods market increased by 29% in recent years, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Still, even though the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says there are many health benefits to plant-based eating patterns, making the switch from consuming a diet rich in meat to one that centers on plants can be a challenge. What is a plant-based diet? “When we talk about a whole foods, plant-based diet, we mean the majority (at least 80% to 90%) of the food should be unprocessed plant-based foods — things like legumes, fruits, vegetables, seeds, whole grains and nuts,” Dr. Urvi Shah, a hematologist oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said in a recent blog post. “Some people may end up eating minimal amounts of processed plant foods or animal-based foods like dairy or meat occasionally, but not on a regular basis,” she added. Fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, seeds, fish and meat that contain a variety of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) should be included in a plant-based diet, according to a perspective published in the journal Advances in…  read on >  read on >

Do your liver a favor and steer clear of fast food, new research urges. People with obesity or diabetes who consumed 20% or more of their daily calories from fast food had severely elevated levels of fat in their liver compared to those who ate less fast food or none. Even the general U.S. population had moderate increases in liver fat when fast food made up one-fifth or more of their diet, the study found. “Healthy livers contain a small amount of fat, usually less than 5%, and even a moderate increase in fat can lead to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,” said lead study author Dr. Ani Kardashian. She is a hepatologist with University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, in Los Angeles. “The severe rise in liver fat in those with obesity or diabetes is especially striking, and probably due to the fact that these conditions cause a greater susceptibility for fat to build up in the liver,” Kardashian said in a university news release. Kardashian said this is one of the first studies to demonstrate the negative impact of fast food on liver health. Even a relatively modest amount can be harmful, she warned. “If people eat one meal a day at a fast-food restaurant, they may think they aren’t doing harm,” Kardashian said. “However, if that one meal equals at least…  read on >  read on >

Adults with asthma now have a new rescue medication to turn to after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Airsupra on Wednesday. The drug is the first approved to combine albuterol (a beta-2 adrenergic agonist) and budesonide (a corticosteroid). It’s meant for the as-needed treatment or prevention of bronchoconstriction (narrowed airways) and to reduce the risk of asthma attacks in patients with asthma aged 18 and older. This medication is also the first approved in the United States to contain an inhaled corticosteroid approved as a reliever rather than as a controller of asthma symptoms. Asthma affects 24 million Americans, with symptoms that vary by person and can change over time. A long-term condition, it causes the airways to become inflamed and narrow. Someone having an asthma attack might cough, wheeze, feel chest tightness and be short of breath. Prior to the approval, the FDA evaluated the drug’s effectiveness in reducing severe asthma attacks in a randomized, double-blind, controlled study with patients who had moderate to severe asthma. The patients in the study were randomly assigned to use either Airsupra or just albuterol on its own. Patients received treatment for at least 24 weeks. The researchers looked at the time a patient had to the first severe asthma attack that required systemic corticosteroids for at least three days or an emergency room visit that…  read on >  read on >

When teenagers feel good about themselves and their lives, it may also do their hearts good in the long run, a new study suggests. Researchers found that teenagers who generally felt happy, optimistic and loved went on to show better cardiovascular health in their 20s and 30s, versus kids who lacked that level of mental well-being. Overall, they were more likely to maintain a healthy weight, as well as normal blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels. And having such positive feelings appeared particularly important for Black teenagers’ future health. The idea that kids’ well-being can affect their health well into adulthood is not new. Studies have shown that childhood obesity, for example, is tied to increased risks of various health conditions — including type 2 diabetes and heart disease — later in life. And the links go beyond physical factors: Adults who went through childhood hardships like abuse and neglect are at heightened risk of heart disease and other ills, as well. Experts said the new study asked a different question: Are there positive psychological “assets” that might help protect kids’ physical health in the long run? “One thing I’m struck by is, we really don’t have a handle on the ‘good things’ that kids need to support their cardiometabolic health,” said lead researcher Farah Qureshi, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg…  read on >  read on >