Canadian provinces that allow retail displays promoting e-cigarettes had nearly three times the teen vaping rate, a new study found. Until May 2018, e-cigarettes weren’t widely available in Canada and it was illegal to advertise those containing nicotine. When the law changed, Quebec and Manitoba adopted their own restrictions, including bans on retail displays and ads for e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. Study author David Hammond, a professor of public health at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, said this situation set up a “unique natural experiment” for researchers as Canada went from ban to a more open market. “It allowed us to answer the hypothetical question: Would lifting the restrictions make a difference in teen e-cigarette use?” he said. The answer? “E-cigarette marketing does make a difference,” Hammond said. “It does reach minors. What our study says is that regulating marketing limited the amount of vaping.” He said trends are similar to those in the United States — advertisers appear to be targeting a younger audience. “There’s social media marketing, digital media and retail stores themselves,” Hammond said. “Retail stores are one of the most common areas of exposure — you go in for a bag of chips or some milk, and you’re confronted with product supplies and ads.” While Canada requires retailers to keep traditional cigarettes out of sight, many now have e-cigarette…  read on >

Among patients in China with COVID-19, researchers found that those with high blood pressure had twice the risk of death from the coronavirus compared with patients who didn’t have high blood pressure. And patients with high blood pressure who were not taking drugs to control it were at even higher risk, the findings showed. However, the study only found an association and could not prove cause-and-effect. For the study, researchers in China and Ireland analyzed data on nearly 2,900 COVID-19 patients who entered one hospital in Wuhan, China, between Feb. 5 and March 15. Nearly 30% of these patients had a history of high blood pressure. The analysis revealed that 4% of patients with high blood pressure died versus 1% of other patients, according to the report published June 5 in the European Heart Journal. Among those not taking medication for their high blood pressure, 8% died. That compared with 3% of patients who were taking blood pressure medication. The researchers, led by Fei Li and Ling Tao from Xijing Hospital in Xi’an, then pooled that data with data from three other studies involving 2,300 high blood pressure patients. The investigators found that patients taking angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) were less likely to die than patients on other blood pressure drugs. But the researchers stressed that due to the size…  read on >

How you store your tomatoes doesn’t affect the flavor — what really matters is the type of tomato you choose, researchers say. A team from the University of Göttingen in Germany investigated the differences in flavor of ripe, picked tomatoes when stored in the refrigerator (44.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and at room temperature (68 degrees F). A panel of experienced taste-testers who judged the sweetness, acidity and juiciness of the tomatoes found no significant differences between those kept in the fridge and those stored at room temperature. The variety of tomato played a far bigger part in flavor than storage methods, according to the researchers. The study focused on two varieties of black cherry tomatoes. “It is the variety of tomato in particular that has an important influence on the flavor. Therefore, the development of new varieties with an appealing flavor can be a step towards improving the flavor quality of tomatoes,” lead author Larissa Kanski said in a university news release. She is a doctoral student in the Division of Quality Plant Products. Study co-author Elke Pawelzik said freshness is a key to flavor but short-term storage won’t hurt. “The shorter the storage period, the better it is for the flavor and related attributes,” said Pawelzik, head of the Division of Quality Plant Products. “However, we were able to show that, taking into account the…  read on >

For parents hoping their “picky” eater will grow out of it, a new study may be unwelcome news. Researchers found that choosy 4-year-olds were still turning their noses up at many foods at age 9 — suggesting their finicky eating is more of a trait than a phase. The study, which followed over 300 children, found three patterns: The majority were consistently middle-of-the-road when it came to food fussiness — sometimes shunning unfamiliar cuisine, but remaining relatively open to trying new foods. A sizable minority (29%) consistently ate everything their parents offered up. Then there was the picky 14%. From age 4 to 9, they routinely refused new foods and maintained a limited culinary repertoire. Still, researchers saw bright spots in the findings, published May 26 in the journal Pediatrics. For one, there were no signs that picky eaters were underweight. And the fact that the fussiness seems to be a trait — and not a failure on the parents’ part — might bring some solace. “It can be very stressful for parents to deal with a picky eater,” noted senior researcher Dr. Megan Pesch, a pediatrician at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. But if parents think they did something wrong to cause it, she added, these findings suggest otherwise. “It’s not your fault,” Pesch said. “It seems to…  read on >

The now-trendy keto diet is said to turn fat into fuel. But a new, small study says it may also change the vast array of microbes residing in your gut (the microbiome). That could be a good thing, as those changes may ultimately strengthen the immune system by tamping down inflammation, researchers say. The keto diet, which severely restricts carbohydrates and emphasizes fats and protein, has been touted as a way to rein in epilepsy, diabetes and expanding waistlines. Yet despite rising popularity, it remains controversial, and much is unknown about its true impact on health. The new finding follows a two-month study that tracked diet-related shifts in microbiome content among 17 overweight or obese men, with follow-up tests in mice. “There has been a lot of work on ketogenic diets,” noted study author Peter Turnbaugh, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. “But we didn’t know much about how these diets differ from other high-fat diets, how exactly they impact microbes, or whether or not these diet-induced changes to gut microbes matter,” he said. To find out, Turnbaugh and his colleagues first placed half the men on a one-month “standard” Western diet composed of 50% carbs, 15% protein and 35% fat. The other half started off on a keto diet made up of 5% carbs, 15% protein…  read on >

The now-trendy keto diet is said to turn fat into fuel. But a new, small study says it may also change the vast array of microbes residing in your gut (the microbiome). That could be a good thing, as those changes may ultimately strengthen the immune system by tamping down inflammation, researchers say. The keto diet, which severely restricts carbohydrates and emphasizes fats and protein, has been touted as a way to rein in epilepsy, diabetes and expanding waistlines. Yet despite rising popularity, it remains controversial, and much is unknown about its true impact on health. The new finding follows a two-month study that tracked diet-related shifts in microbiome content among 17 overweight or obese men, with follow-up tests in mice. “There has been a lot of work on ketogenic diets,” noted study author Peter Turnbaugh, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of California, San Francisco. “But we didn’t know much about how these diets differ from other high-fat diets, how exactly they impact microbes, or whether or not these diet-induced changes to gut microbes matter,” he said. To find out, Turnbaugh and his colleagues first placed half the men on a one-month “standard” Western diet composed of 50% carbs, 15% protein and 35% fat. The other half started off on a keto diet made up of 5% carbs, 15% protein…  read on >

Women who drink a lot of sodas, sweetened juices and other sugary drinks are at greater risk of developing heart disease, a new study finds. Those who drink one or more a day have nearly a 20% higher risk than women who never do. And it’s not just soda that’s problematic: Fruit drinks with added sugars are also a culprit, researchers say. Though the study does not prove cause and effect, researchers suspect there are several reasons sugar can increase heart disease risk, according to lead author Cheryl Anderson, interim chair of Family and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego. “It raises glucose levels and insulin concentrations in the blood, which may increase appetite and lead to obesity, a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease,” she said in a news release from the Journal of the American Heart Association, where the study was published May 13. “In addition, too much sugar in the blood is associated with oxidative stress and inflammation, insulin resistance, unhealthy cholesterol profiles and type 2 diabetes, conditions that are strongly linked to the development of atherosclerosis, the slow narrowing of the arteries that underlies most cardiovascular disease,” Anderson noted. More than 100,000 female teachers in California took part in the study. Those who drank one or more sugary drinks a day were 26% more likely to need surgery…  read on >

The SGLT2 inhibitor is indicated for reducing the risk for CV death, hospitalization for heart failure  read on >