Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Maybe you can’t weed your garden without sneezing. Perhaps your eyes start watering when you clean your home. Did your skin begin itching last night during dinner? You may have an allergy, but you’re not alone. More than 50 million adults and children in the United States have a bad reaction to pollen, dust, mold, pet dander and other common allergens, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology (ACAAI). What are allergies (allergic reactions)? An allergy is your body’s reaction to an allergen such as pollen, mold and more. Pollen causes a pollen allergy and mold causes a mold allergy. It’s your immune system that reacts. It is very important because it protects you from germs and viruses, but sometimes it gets confused. “Most people don’t have an immune response to pollen, but a certain percentage of people’s immune systems see it as foreign and dangerous, and they treat it like a pathogen or infection,” said Dr. Christina Price, an allergist and immunologist at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Conn. How your body treats allergens When your immune system decides that something might hurt you, it fights back. This fight triggers those miserable symptoms like shortness of breath, hives, sneezing and itching, the ACAAI explains. In other words, while trying to protect you, your body accidentally causes harm. The most common allergy… read on > read on >

It’s a social media darling and one of the hottest prescription medications on the U.S. market. But does Wegovy really help patients lose weight? Yes, a new study suggests. Investigators analyzed data on more than 100 people using Wegovy (semaglutide). They found that after a year participants had shed more than 13% of their body weight on average. “This medication showed superior weight-loss outcome to all previously approved anti-obesity medications that were tested,” said study lead author Dr. Wissam Ghusn, a research fellow in gastroenterology and hepatology with the Precision Medicine for Obesity Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Semaglutide was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017 to help control blood sugar levels and reduce the risk for heart attacks, stroke and death among patients with type 2 diabetes. For this purpose, the once-weekly injectable medication — sold under the brand name Ozempic — helps the body make more insulin, which lowers blood sugar levels for people with diabetes. But the drug was also associated with weight loss, and the FDA approved it for that purpose in 2021. Sold as Wegovy, the self-administered injectable is given at a higher once-a-week dosage of 2.4 mg. It is intended as a weight-loss medication for adults with an “overweight” body mass index (BMI) between 27 and 29 who also struggle with at… read on > read on >

(HealthDay News) – Cases of vision loss and deaths are mounting in an investigation into eye drops contaminated with a rare strain of a drug-resistant bacteria. In all, four people have died, with one new death now being reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, a total of 14 people have experienced vision loss, with six new cases reported last week. Infections have now been reported in 81 people living in 18 states. Four cases have involved people who have had to have their eyeballs surgically removed. The cases involve 10 brands of eye drops, most commonly EzriCare Artificial Tears. Global Pharma Healthcare’s Artificial Tears Lubricant Eye Drops were first recalled in February. The drops were distributed by EzriCare and Delsam Pharma. “Patients who have used EzriCare or Delsam Pharma’s artificial tears and who have signs or symptoms of an eye infection should seek medical care immediately,” the CDC said in its latest update. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the bacteria infecting these patients. It’s a strain never before seen in the United States, CNN reported. Among the newly identified patients, many had either recalled using the eyedrops or lived in long-term care facilities in which others were infected with the bacteria. The bacteria can spread to those who haven’t used the drops, the CDC noted. “The bacteria can spread when one patient… read on > read on >

A new brain bank is accepting future donations from living athletes, in an effort to perform long-term research into the effects of sports-related concussion. The National Sports Brain Bank (NSBB) at the University of Pittsburgh will track the health of living participants on an annual basis, and will autopsy their donated brains after their death. “We want to follow prospective donors longitudinally while they’re still alive and get information from them about their sports participation, trauma, history, other medical history, any symptoms they may experience,” said NSBB Director Dr. Julia Kofler. “We can then correlate their clinical information with what we see down the road under the microscope, at the time of autopsy,” she said. Two former NFL stars — Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis and former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Merril Hoge — pledged at a news conference announcing the NSBB to stand among the first group of pro athletes who will participate in the brain bank. Bettis said he’s taking part as a way of giving back to professional football, and also potentially help protect his children’s health. “I’m a father and my son plays high school football. My daughter played high school basketball. She had multiple concussions,” Bettis said. “For me, it’s important that I be that role model to show that we have that job, if you will, as… read on > read on >

Spotting ADHD early can ensure children with the condition get the help they need sooner rather than later. But how can parents know if the behavior they’re seeing in their child is a sign of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or merely the mercurial mood and behavior swings of a toddler? An expert at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore offers some guidance. “Research shows that children with ADHD have abnormal brain development, meaning that ADHD has a biological basis that often makes it a lifelong condition,” Mark Mahone, director of neuropsychology, said on the institute’s website. “We want to catch ADHD early because it has such a profound effect on learning and academic development. Children whose symptoms begin in early childhood are at the highest risk for academic failure and grade repetition.” The team at Kennedy Krieger was among the first to study preschoolers’ brains for signs of ADHD using neuroimaging. The researchers found that children with ADHD have a smaller caudate nucleus, a brain structure associated with thinking skills and motor control. Up to 40% of children have significant attention problems by age 4. ADHD is the most common mental health disorder among preschoolers. About 1 in 11 school-aged children have an ADHD diagnosis. Mahone encourages parents to pay close attention to their toddler’s behavior. Look for these specific signs: Your child dislikes or… read on > read on >

The first vaccine designed to protect infants against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by vaccinating their mothers during pregnancy has been backed by a panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. On Thursday the independent committee of experts voted unanimously that the Pfizer-made vaccine was effective, and 10-4 that there was adequate data on safety to move the vaccine to approval, the Associated Press reported. The shot would be given to pregnant women at 24 to 36 weeks gestation. This should stimulate the production of maternal antibodies to RSV that would then pass through the placenta to the fetus. “Before the pandemic, RSV was the No. 1 cause of infant hospitalization in the United States, so this is a big deal,” Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the precision vaccines program at Boston Children’s Hospital, told NBC News. Levy is a temporary voting member of the panel, but not one who voted on this vaccine. The FDA will still need to approve the vaccine, a process that could take months. The agency is not obligated to follow its advisers’ recommendations, but it usually does. The Pfizer-made vaccine would only be the second one ever approved in the United States for RSV. A vaccine made by pharmaceutical company GSK was approved for adults ages 60 and up earlier this month. However, 11 RSV vaccines for… read on > read on >

The first RSV vaccine designed to protect infants is under consideration by a panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. An independent committee of experts will vote Thursday on whether to recommend the shot for pregnant mothers at 24 to 36 weeks gestation. “Before the pandemic, RSV was the No. 1 cause of infant hospitalization in the United States, so this is a big deal,” Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the precision vaccines program at Boston Children’s Hospital, told NBC News. Levy is a temporary voting member of the panel, but not one who will vote on this vaccine. If the panel recommends the vaccine, the FDA would still need to approve it, a process that could take months. The agency is not obligated to follow its advisers’ recommendations, but it usually does. The Pfizer-made vaccine would only be the second one ever approved in the United States for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). A vaccine made by pharmaceutical company GSK was approved for adults ages 60 and up earlier this month. However, 11 RSV vaccines for various age groups are being tested in ongoing clinical trials. When a mother-to-be receives the vaccine, protective antibodies transfer to infants through the placenta. Safety data for the infant vaccine is “generally favorable,” according to the FDA. Trial participants had a slightly elevated rate of preterm… read on > read on >

When young men pack on excess weight during their teens and 20s, they may inadvertently drive up their risk for prostate cancer later on. The concern stems from new research that examined several decades’ worth of weight fluctuations and prostate cancer rates among nearly 260,000 men in Sweden. The men ranged in age from 17 to 60. Researchers initially observed that overall, participants who put on roughly 1 pound or more per year across their life span had a 10% higher risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer as older adults. A similar weight pattern was linked to a 29% greater risk of fatal prostate cancer. But digging deeper, researchers found that most of the men grew heavier between the ages of 17 and 29. And ultimately most of the weight-associated increase in cancer risk was pegged to weight gains in that age bracket. “We were surprised [by] the rapid weight gain in young adulthood, and that the risk of prostate cancer later in life was strongly associated with this rapid weight gain,” said lead author Marisa da Silva, a postdoctoral fellow at the Lund University Cancer Center in Sweden. She stressed that the findings are not definitive proof that youthful weight gains caused prostate cancer risk to rise, only that the two are linked. Even the possibility of a weight-driven risk factor is important, da… read on > read on >

Skip artificial sweeteners if you’re trying to lose weight, warns the World Health Organization (WHO), noting the sugar substitutes aren’t effective for shedding pounds and may also cause harm. Long-term use of sugar substitutes may cause “potential undesirable effects,” according to new WHO guidance. This can include an “increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and mortality in adults,” CBS News reported. Consuming foods and beverages with ingredients like saccharin or sucralose or adding them to foods “does not confer any long-term benefit in reducing body fat in adults or children,” the WHO said after completing a systematic review. Among the artificial sweeteners WHO officials considered were acesulfame K, aspartame, advantame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia and stevia derivatives, according to the news report. “People need to consider other ways to reduce free sugars intake, such as consuming food with naturally occurring sugars, like fruit, or unsweetened food and beverages,” said Francesco Branca, WHO director for nutrition and food safety. Artificial sweeteners “are not essential dietary factors and have no nutritional value. People should reduce the sweetness of the diet altogether, starting early in life, to improve their health,” Branca added. These recommendations do not apply to people who already have diabetes, according to the review. That group was not included in the review. This isn’t the only time these artificial sweeteners have raised… read on > read on >

Black and Hispanic communities in the United States are more often poor — and also more likely to have harmful levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in their drinking water, a new study reveals. Sources of PFAS pollution — including major manufacturers, airports, military bases, wastewater treatment plants and landfills — are disproportionately sited near watersheds that serve these poorer communities, Harvard researchers found. “Our work suggests that the sociodemographic groups that are often stressed by other factors — including marginalization, racism and poverty — are also more highly exposed to PFAS in drinking water,” said study co-author Jahred Liddie. He is a PhD student in population health sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston. “Environmental justice is a major emphasis of the current administration, and this work shows it should be considered in the upcoming regulations for PFAS in drinking water,” Liddie said in a school news release. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a first-ever national drinking water regulation for six PFAS, expected to be finalized by late 2023. That regulation would establish maximum contaminant levels of two PFAS compounds — PFOA and PFOS — at 4 parts per trillion (4 ng/L). It would also limit the other four. PFAS are widely used because they have stain-resistant and water-resistant properties. But they have extreme persistence in… read on > read on >