Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Weight gain has long been an unwanted side effect of medicines commonly used to treat psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Some patients may quit their meds to avoid piling on pounds. Or if they stick to their meds and weight gain continues, they face higher risks for diabetes and liver disease. However, research in mice is pinpointing how this drug-linked weight gain happens in the first place — and how to stop it. The answer may lie in a hormone called leptin, explain researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. According to the Cleveland Clinic, leptin is a hormone that’s emitted by fat cells and is involved in hunger and weight maintenance. Prior research has shown that patients who start taking common psychiatric meds such as olanzapine (used against bipolar disorder) and risperidone (used to treat schizophrenia) typically experience an uptick in their leptin levels before a surge in weight gain. The new study was conducted in mice. It might explain how a drug-induced rise in leptin is linked to added pounds. “While it was historically viewed as a ‘passenger’ to obesity – meaning [leptin] levels go up as we gain weight – our data strongly suggest that it is a ‘driver’ for drug-induced obesity,” said study lead author Philipp Scherer. He’s professor of internal medicine and director… read on > read on >

When you’re looking for a cheap and easy way to get around town, which is safer — a scooter or a bike? A nationwide look at injuries related to both suggests biking may be the safer way to go. UCLA researchers report that scooter injuries nearly tripled across the U.S. between 2016 and 2020, many serious enough to require orthopedic and plastic surgery. The cost of treating those injuries rose five-fold, underscoring their financial strain on the health care system. “Considering the rise in the number of hospitalizations and major operations for scooter-related injuries, it’s crucial to elevate safety standards for riders,” lead author Nam Yong Cho, a third year medical student at UCLA, said in a news release. “Advocating for improved infrastructure, including enforced speed limits and dedicated lanes, is also vital to minimize risks for vehicles, scooter riders, and pedestrians alike.” For the study — published Jan. 9 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons — researchers used a federal government database to compare trends and outcomes for scooter- and bicycle-related injuries. The database did not distinguish between electric and non-electric scooters. In all, nearly 93,000 patients were hospitalized for injuries — about 6,100 from scooters — during the study period. About 27% of the scooter users and 16% of bike riders were under 18. Injuries rose during winter months, and… read on > read on >

Social media is abuzz with the possibility that newfangled weight loss drugs can also reduce cravings for alcohol, a new study says. Across a number of Reddit threads, users of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic reported that they felt less need to drink beer, wine and liquor. Threads bearing titles like “Did scientists accidentally invent an anti-addiction drug?” and “I don’t know if this is a side effect but … Mounjaro makes me drink less!!!!!” tout the weight-loss drugs’ potential to help folks quit drinking, researchers said. What’s more, a small study of social media participants with obesity found that they drank less and were less likely to binge if they were on a weight-loss drug. “These findings add to a growing literature that these medications may curb dangerous drinking habits,” said senior author Warren Bickel in a Virginia Tech news release. Bickel is a behavioral health research professor with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech in Roanoke. For this study, Bickel and his team analyzed more than 68,000 Reddit posts sent between 2009 and 2023 that included terms linked to GLP-1 agonists like Wegovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro and Trulicity. GLP-1 agonists help manage blood sugar levels and reduce the desire to eat by mimicking the action of hormones that the body naturally releases after a meal, researchers said in background notes. The drugs were… read on > read on >

Teens who are active are doing their bones a lasting favor, Japanese researchers report. “Physical exercise in adolescence affects BMD [bone mineral density] more than 50 years later in older adults,” said lead researcher Dr. Yoshifumi Tamura, a faculty member at Juntendo University in Tokyo. “Our findings can guide the selection of sports played during adolescence for longer health benefits.” The deterioration of bone tissue — called osteoporosis — is a leading cause of falls among older adults, leading to fractures and a need for long-term nursing care. The best time to prevent it is in youth, researchers said, because the body’s ability to build bone mass begins to decline in the 20s. “BMD is difficult to increase once it decreases,” Tamura said in a university news release. “Therefore, it is important to increase peak bone mass during adolescence to maintain BMD in old age.” While other studies have shown that a 10% increase in peak bone mass during adolescence can stave off osteoporosis for up to 13 years, this team wondered what sports activities might help most. In their study of close to 1,600 folks between 65 and 84 years of age, they zeroed in on some key trends. The takeaway: Seniors who engaged in high-impact sports as teens had healthier bones than those who didn’t. Researchers looked at their fitness, blood markers such… read on > read on >

There’s information emerging on how the common Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) might be crucial to triggering multiple sclerosis (MS). The virus, which also causes “mono” (mononucleosis) and other illnesses, has gained prominence in recent years as a potential cause of MS. Over 95% of people are thought to carry EBV, although for most people it remains dormant. Now, a team of Texan researchers report that certain immune cells targeted to EBV infection are found in high numbers in people newly diagnosed with MS. The immune system cells are called T-cells, and they appear to be targeting lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) infected with Epstein-Barr virus. “This work demonstrates that T-cells specific for LCL are present in the cerebrospinal fluid at the earliest stages of [MS] disease,” said study senior author Dr. J. William Lindsey. “This strongly suggests that these T-cells are either causing the disease or contributing to it in some way,” said Lindsey, a professor of neurology at McGovern Medical School, UTHealth Houston. “We have experiments in progress to define what these cells may be doing,” he added in a UTHealth news release. The study was published Jan. 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. EBV is a form of herpes virus that can be spread by bodily fluids, especially saliva. It’s been strongly linked in recent years to MS, a chronic, debilitating illness… read on > read on >

Exposing babies and toddlers to TV and other digital media could be linked to a heightened risk for dysfunction in what’s known as “sensory processing,” a new study warns. Kids with “atypical sensory processing” are often hypersensitive to the touch, sound, taste or look of stimuli in their environment. For example, kids might try to avoid the feel of certain clothing, the taste of certain foods or necessary activities like getting their hair washed. Conversely, they might seek out sensations — twirling in place, staring at bright lights or ceiling fans — to the neglect of other activities. Sensory processing issues are highly correlated with other psychiatric conditions, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism. About 60% of kids with ADHD have issues with sensory processing, as do about 70% of kids with autism, said researchers at Drexel University in West Reading, Pa. They looked at data on nearly 1,500 young children tracked from 2011 to 2023. According to the study, those who’d been exposed to TVs and DVDs in the first three years of life were much more likely to have symptoms of atypical sensory processing, compared with those whose parents delayed such exposures. The study could not prove cause-and-effect. However, the Drexel team theorize that kids’ screen time could reduce “meaningful play and social interactions, which may have significant implications for the… read on > read on >

U.S. health care workers were most likely to be infected with COVID-19 at work during the pandemic’s first year, according to a new study that challenges previous research suggesting their risk was highest off the job. Researchers said their findings could help guide efforts to better protect health care workers during future infectious disease outbreaks. “This study provides important insights to guide infection prevention and control practices in health care settings so that we can better protect HCPs [health care professionals] and their patients,” said Linda Dickey, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), which published the findings in its journal. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on nearly 84,000 health care workers who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, and whose source of exposure was known. Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 was more likely in the workplace (52%) than in the home (nearly 31%) or community (about 26%). Workplace-associated exposures peaked in April 2020 at 84%, the researchers found. About two-thirds of health care workers who reported a specific type of on-the-job exposure said they’d come into contact with patients or other health care workers who had COVID-19. The largest reductions in workplace exposures occurred in June 2020 after introduction of improved infection prevention and control… read on > read on >

So, the new year has begun and everyone is trying to losing weight, but what is the best way to determine how many pounds you need to shed — BMI or body fat? “Both body fat percentage and BMI are important to monitor. They give you a good starting point, but you don’t want to use BMI alone to make a health diagnosis or define body fat,” said Claire Edgemon, a senior registered dietitian at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “If BMI is used alone, it could be misleading about an individual’s health status.” Why is BMI a less accurate measure of body fat? It only tracks a person’s weight compared to their height, but that doesn’t include muscle, bone or fat mass. And since BMI doesn’t measure what is going on metabolically, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels should also be measured, Edgemon noted. In contrast to BMI, percentage of body fat determines how much of a person’s weight is fat. A quick way to measure body fat comes down to the circumference of the waist. Over 35 inches for women and over 40 inches for men points to more abdominal fat and greater health risks, Edgemon said. “There is a healthy range for body fat percentage, but there are differences to consider, like age or gender. A healthy body fat range… read on > read on >

Folks who take Ozempic or Wegovy for diabetes and weight loss need not worry about a higher risk of suicidal thoughts or feelings while on the medications, a new, large review finds. In the study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, researchers turned to a database of more than 100 million patient records to measure the risks of suicidal ideation among people using semaglutide, which is sold as Ozempic for type 2 diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss. The results were published Jan. 5 in the journal Nature Medicine. Study author Dr. Rong Xu, a professor of biomedical informatics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, told CNN that she decided to look into the issue after European regulators opened a probe into semaglutide and reports of suicidal thoughts last summer. Just this week, a quarterly report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revealed that the agency is looking into similar reports among users of multiple weight-loss drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy. For the new review, Xu and her team, which included National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora Volkow, compared cases of suicidal ideation among people taking semaglutide with those taking other medicines for weight loss or diabetes. “We observed a lower incidence of suicidal ideations in patients who had taken semaglutide than in patients who were treated with non-GLP1R-targeting… read on > read on >

How much a person believes in the strength of a drug might influence how powerfully that drug influences brain activity, a new study has found. Smokers told to expect a low, medium or high dose of nicotine from an e-cigarette showed a brain response that tracked with the purported dose, even though nicotine levels were actually constant, researchers said. “We set out to investigate if human beliefs can modulate brain activities in a dose-dependent manner similar to what drugs do, and found a high level of precision in how beliefs can influence the human brain,” said senior researcher Xiaosi Gu. She’s an associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. For the study, Gu and her team recruited a group of people hooked on nicotine and had them puff on an e-cigarette, after telling them how powerful a nicotine dose they should expect. The participants then underwent brain scans while performing a decision-making task known to engage parts of the brain affected by nicotine. “Beliefs can have a powerful influence on our behavior, yet their effects are considered imprecise and rarely examined by quantitative neuroscience methods,” Gu noted in a Mount Sinai news release. The thalamus — an important binding site for nicotine in the brain — showed a dose-dependent response to each person’s… read on > read on >