Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

Testosterone replacement therapy is safe for most men with heart problems who also have been diagnosed with a low testosterone disorder, a new clinical trial has concluded. The trial found that testosterone replacement did not raise these patients’ incidence of heart attack, stroke or heart-related death in a group of men with both heart problems and hypogonadism — a condition in which low testosterone levels have led to specific health problems. “For men with heart disease or at risk for heart disease, taking testosterone — when given in appropriate doses and carefully monitored — did not increase the risk of heart-related events like heart attack, stroke or death from heart-related causes,” said senior researcher Dr. Steve Nissen, chair of cardiovascular medicine with the Cleveland Clinic. However, researchers warn the results are not a green light for “Low-T Centers” to tout testosterone replacement for any healthy man, including those whose levels of the male hormone are declining naturally with age. “My nightmare really is that we’ll see ads on television that say, ‘Cleveland Clinic says that testosterone is safe. Now, come on in and we’ll give you your testosterone.’ That’s not a good outcome from this study,” Nissen said. The trial also identified certain health risks with testosterone replacement therapy that should be taken into account before prescribing the treatment, Nissen added. “There are some people… read on > read on >

Physicians and scientists are experiencing alarming levels of harassment on social media, according to a new survey. About two-thirds of respondents said they had been harassed on social media since the COVID-19 pandemic began — up from 23.3% of physicians surveyed in 2020. About 64% reported harassment related to comments made about the pandemic, while 64% of those harassed said the pandemic had affected their use of social media platforms. “This study highlights that physicians and scientists changed the way they used social media during the pandemic,” said first author Dr. Regina Royan, a research fellow at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and an emergency medicine physician. “Sadly, those that use social media to share public health messages are more likely to face harassment,” she said in a university news release. “These are the people that we can’t afford to lose in this conversation, especially at a time when trusted messengers for public health information are essential.” For the study, researchers surveyed 359 U.S. physicians, scientists and trainees. Their comments revealed that advocacy around topics such as vaccination, masks, firearms, reproductive rights and gender-affirming care appeared to fuel the harassment. Respondents also shared personal experiences of online attacks. “When I posted a picture of myself with my badge in my white coat after my COVID-19 vaccination, I received hundreds of harassing anti-vax messages, including… read on > read on >

Jeremy Davis made sure his wife, Chloe, got lots of support when she was breastfeeding each of their three sons. “When she’d been up nursing all night, I’d take over with the baby in the mornings so she could get extra sleep,” the Wilton, Conn., man recalled. Davis also learned to give special breastfeeding massages to help with milk flow and took on middle-of-the-night diaper duty. Now, a new survey finds that all this help from dad can set mom and baby up for success. When dads wanted their infant’s mother to breastfeed, moms were more likely to do so and to do so for longer periods. In addition, dads can help promote safe sleeping practices such as placing the baby on its back to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). “Fathers make major contributions to the health of their families by supporting breastfeeding and adhering to safe sleep practices,” said study author Dr. John James Parker. He is an instructor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s, and an internist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. “Fathers are an important audience for health promotion campaigns, and clinicians and health care providers need to engage fathers and discuss all the ways that fathers can be helpful with an infant,” Parker added. For the study, Parker and his colleagues surveyed… read on > read on >

The herbal supplement berberine has become the latest social-media obsession for weight-loss, with some on TikTok calling it “nature’s Ozempic.” Experts don’t agree. “I would say it’s a big exaggeration to call it ‘nature’s Ozempic,’” said Dr. Melinda Ring, executive director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Northwestern University, in Chicago. But berberine has been associated with a variety of health benefits, including modest weight loss, lower cholesterol and improved blood sugar levels, she said. Ring said she “wouldn’t swap one for the other” if someone is already prescribed a medication for any of these conditions. Berberine also has its drawbacks. It can cause potentially dangerous interactions if used with some other medications, and shouldn’t be used by pregnant or breastfeeding women or by children, Ring cautioned. “But that being said, it is one of my favorite compounds,” she continued. “The safety profile is good and the potential benefits are diverse. So I actually like it for people who have weight concerns. Especially if they have weight concerns and blood sugar issues and insulin resistance and high cholesterol, then I think it could be a good option.” Berberine has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for at least 3,000 years, Ring noted. “Berberine isn’t a plant itself. It’s an alkaloid compound that’s found in a variety of plants,” she explained. Plants that contain… read on > read on >

Just like their humans, dogs get cranky when temperatures and air pollution levels surge. Heat and air pollution have previously been linked to human aggression. Now, researchers say it also appears that there are more dog bites on hot, polluted days. More research is needed to confirm these findings, according to study author Tanujit Dey, of the department of surgery at the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston, and colleagues. For the new study, the investigators used dog bite data from 2009 to 2018 in eight U.S. cities: Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Louisville, Los Angeles and New York City. The data included more than 69,000 reported dog bites, an average of three per day over 10 years. When the researchers compared this bite information with daily levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), ozone, temperature, UV light and precipitation, they found that dog bites rose 11% on days with higher UV levels; 4% on higher temperature days; and 3% on days with increased ozone levels. Dog bites decreased slightly, by 1%, on days with higher levels of rainfall. No changes were seen in dog bites on days with higher levels of PM2.5 air pollution. The study findings were published online June 15 in Scientific Reports. These records did not include information about other factors that could have… read on > read on >

For the first time, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have broken down statistics on depression among Americans, pinpointing which states the debilitating illness is most likely to strike. Adjusted for age, 18.5% of all American adults included in the new analysis said they’d been diagnosed with depression at least once in their lifetime. But incidence varied widely by state, from a low of 12.7% in Hawaii to more than double that (27.5%) in West Virginia, according to a team led by Benjamin Lee. He’s with the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The new findings should “help guide state- and local-level efforts to prevent, treat and manage depression,” depending on each state’s level of need, Lee’s group said. The need appears greatest in the Southeast and Northwest areas of the country. For example, besides West Virginia, residents in six other states in the Southeast — Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee — had rates of reported adult depression near or above 23%, the study found. In the Northwest, Montana, Oregon and Washington all had rates of depression 21% and higher, the researchers found. Nearly 23% of adults living in Utah said they’d been diagnosed with depression at least once, and two states in the Northeast — Maine and Vermont — each had adult depression rates… read on > read on >

Intermittent fasting is all the rage due to the lengthy list of health benefits associated with this style of eating. Now, a new, small study suggests that one type of intermittent fasting — early time-restricted eating — may be key for preventing type 2 diabetes in people who are at high risk for the blood sugar disease. The study included 10 people with prediabetes and obesity. Prediabetes refers to when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be defined as diabetes. Obesity is also considered a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Folks in the study ate 80% of their daily calories before 1 p.m (early time-restricted feeding) or half of their calories after 4 p.m (usual eating) for one week, and then they switched to the opposite group during the second week. Early time-restricted feeding reduced blood sugar fluctuations and decreased the time that blood sugar was above normal levels throughout the day, and this was independent of any weight loss. “There is a large body of evidence that eating early in the day is beneficial for metabolic health, and many people experience weight loss even though their calories may not be restricted, but it was unclear whether these benefits were related to weight loss or independent, and this study suggests they are independent,” said study author Dr.… read on > read on >

Lesbians, gays and bisexuals are experiencing more mental health and substance use issues than their heterosexual peers, researchers say. According to a new government report released Tuesday, this includes major depressive episodes, serious thoughts of suicide, and more misuse of alcohol and drugs. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health includes a question about sexual orientation and has since 2015. Although that question on this 2021-2022 report from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) focused solely on people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, the survey will include transgender and nonbinary people in 2023, CNN reported. “It is really important data, especially coming from an organization like SAMHSA that has such an influence over both national policy as well as resource allocation in terms of what kinds of prevention, treatment and recovery services get supported at the federal level,” Dr. Jeremy Kidd, a psychiatrist who has worked on studies to improve health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer populations, told CNN. The report notes that “sexual minorities experience unique stressors that can contribute to adverse substance use and mental health outcomes.” Among the findings are that bisexual females were six times more likely to have attempted suicide in the previous year than their straight peers. Bisexual women were also three times more likely to have an opioid use… read on > read on >

While the challenges of farm work are well noted, the stressors affect not just the mental health of adults, but also their teenage children, according to new research. In results from the first year of a five-year study, researchers found that 60% of both adults and teens on U.S. farms met the criteria for at least mild depression. About 55% of the adults and 45% of the teenagers had symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. “There’s a lot of young people growing up on a farm and participating in agricultural work. We’ve long acknowledged the inherent hazards of this work environment, and now we’re also recognizing its impact on mental health,” said researcher Josie Rudolphi, Illinois Extension specialist and assistant professor in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Most of the work on farm stress and mental health is primarily focused on adult farmers. However, it is important to recognize that children are fully aware of what’s happening on the farm, and they are not immune to the stressors that exist,” Rudolphi said in a university news release. The researchers gathered data through online surveys of farmers and their children ages 13 to 18 throughout the United States. They used something called the Family Stress Model, developed in Iowa in the 1990s as a way to look at… read on > read on >

Every grocery shopper must pass through the “temptation alley” that is the checkout aisle, surrounded by candy bars, salty snacks and sugary sodas. Those who’d like a healthy option for an impulse buy while they wait in line — fruit, veggies, nuts or water — will be left wanting, a new study says. About 70% of foods and beverages offered at checkout stands are unhealthy, according to a new study in Current Developments in Nutrition. Further, 9 out of 10 (89%) snack-sized options in the checkout aisle are junk food, researchers found. The presence of so much junk food in the checkout lane is calculated, said lead researcher Jennifer Falbe, an associate professor of nutrition and human development at the University of California, Davis. “Many of us go shopping thinking that we make choices in a neutral environment, but our findings indicate that is not the case,” Falbe said. “Certain products are preferentially promoted over others — in this case, unhealthy products at the checkout — and this can affect consumer decisions.” Prior research has shown that items offered there aren’t necessarily in high demand by consumers or represent a high profit margin for the supermarket, Falbe said. “What you see at checkout is often there because a big food or beverage company paid the store to place their products there,” Falbe said. “The checkout… read on > read on >