Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

Nearly half of homes tested in a new study contained toxic byproducts of cigarette smoke. Known as thirdhand smoke, these tobacco byproducts remained on furniture, floors and bric-a-brac. Researchers who tested homes of 84 children found nicotine on surfaces in every home, and nearly half had detectable levels of a tobacco-specific carcinogen called NNK. “This is critically important and concerning,” said lead author Ashley Merianos, an associate professor at the University of Cincinnati and affiliate member of the Thirdhand Smoke Research Consortium. The study found that NNK levels on surfaces and in vacuumed dust were similar. Merianos said that indicates that both can be similar sources of thirdhand smoke exposure for kids. “This research highlights that home smoking bans do not fully protect children and their families from the dangers of tobacco,” she added in a university news release. Researchers also found that kids in lower-income households and those in homes that allowed indoor smoking were exposed to higher levels of NNK and nicotine on surfaces. But both were also detected in homes with voluntary bans on indoor smoking. Researchers said that underscores the persistence of thirdhand smoke pollutants on surfaces. The findings were recently published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. More information Learn more about the health effects of thirdhand smoke at Thirdhand Smoke Resource Center. SOURCE: University of Cincinnati,… read on > read on >

A bout of depression can trigger a bump in body weight among people struggling with obesity, a new study has found. People who had an increase in symptoms related to depression experienced an increase in their weight a month later, researchers report in the journal PLOS One. “Overall, this suggests that individuals with overweight or obesity are more vulnerable to weight gain in response to feeling more depressed,” lead researcher Julia Mueller from the University of Cambridge’s Medical Research Council said in a university news release. The results support prior research pointing to a link between weight and mental health, with each potentially influencing the other. For the study, researchers examined data from more than 2,000 adults in the United Kingdom who were participating in a COVID-19 study. Participants completed monthly digital questionnaires on their mental well-being and body weight, using a mobile app. Questions in the study assessed each person’s symptoms of depression, anxiety and perceived stress. For every incremental increase in a person’s usual depression score, their weight increased by about a tenth of a pound one month later, results show. It might seem like a small weight gain, but researchers noted that if a person’s depression rose from five to 10 on the scale they used, it would relate to an average weight gain of a half-pound. “Although the weight gain was… read on > read on >

The number of American teens who smoke or have even tried smoking has dropped dramatically compared to a generation ago, with less than 1% now saying they light up cigarettes daily. Researchers tracked data on students in grades 9 through 12 from 1991 through to 2021. They report a 16-fold decline in daily cigarette use — from 9.8% of teens saying they smoked daily in 1991 to just 0.6% by 2021. Even trying smoking is clearly unpopular now: Whereas about 70% of teens surveyed in 1991 said they had “ever” smoked, that number fell to less than 18% by 2021, a fourfold decline. “The substantial decrease in cigarette use among U.S. adolescents spanning three decades is an encouraging public health achievement,” said senior study author Panagiota Kitsantas, of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. “This decrease underscores the importance of continued vigilance, research and intervention to further reduce tobacco use and its associated harms,” Kitsantas said in a university news release. She’s chair of population health and social medicine at the university’s Schmidt College of Medicine. The findings are based on federal government surveys comprising more than 226,000 teens. The study is published online in the winter 2023 issue of the Ochsner Journal. Other findings from the study: “Frequent” smoking (on at least 20 days of the prior month) fell from 12.7% of teens in… read on > read on >

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin remains hospitalized while recovering from complications related to a December surgery to treat prostate cancer, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. His doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Dr. John Maddox, director of trauma medical, and Dr. Gregory Chesnut, director of the Center for Prostate Disease Research, said the 70-year-old is expected to make a full recovery once his complications have cleared. “His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent,” the doctors said in a hospital statement. Austin first underwent minimally invasive prostate cancer surgery on Dec. 22 following routine screening in November, his doctors said. He went home the next day to recover. But on New Year’s Day, “Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with complications from the December 22 procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain,” his doctors said. “Initial evaluation revealed a urinary tract infection. On January 2, the decision was made to transfer him to the ICU for close monitoring and a higher level of care.” “Further evaluation revealed abdominal fluid collections impairing the function of his small intestines. This resulted in the backup of his intestinal contents, which was treated by placing a tube through his nose to drain his stomach,” the doctors said. “He has progressed steadily throughout his stay,” Maddox and Chesnut added.… read on > read on >

Vegetarian diets have been tied to a variety of health benefits – lower blood pressure, better blood sugar control and weight loss among them. Now a new study suggests those benefits might even extend to a person’s ability to ward off COVID-19. A predominantly plant-based diet is linked to 39% lower odds of contracting COVID, according to a report in BMJ Nutrition Prevention and Health. “In light of these findings and the findings of other studies, and because of the importance of identifying factors that can influence the incidence of COVID-19, we recommend the practice of following plant-based diets or vegetarian dietary patterns,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Júlio César Acosta-Navarro, an assistant physician with the Hospital das Clinicas in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For this study, researchers tracked more than 700 adult volunteers between March and July 2022. The participants were surveyed on their diet, and divided into either omnivorous (both plant and animal products) or primarily plant-based dietary groups. The plant-based diet group also was divided into flexitarians who ate meat three or fewer times a week, and vegetarians or vegans who don’t eat meat at all. Of the total group, about 47% said they had a COVID infection, including 32% with mild symptoms and 15% with moderate to severe symptoms. About 52% of meat-eaters became infected with COVID, compared with 40%… read on > read on >

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 >

Could the immune system play a role in why some women become depressed during and after a pregnancy? Swedish researchers have uncovered a “bidirectional relationship” between pregnancy-linked depression and autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis and celiac disease. In other words, women who experienced depression specific to a pregnancy were more prone to developing these illnesses, and women who already had an autoimmune disease were more likely to develop pregnancy-linked depression, the study found. “Our study suggests that there’s an immunological mechanism behind perinatal depression and that autoimmune diseases should be seen as a risk factor for this kind of depression,” concluded study lead author Emma Bränn. She’s a researcher at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system goes awry and begins attacking healthy tissue. In their research, Bränn’s group analyzed data on 1.3 million pregnancies in Sweden between 2001 and 2013. A little more than 55,000 women in the database had developed depression during their pregnancy or within a year of delivery. Looking at the women’s health histories, the researchers found that those who’d been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease were 30% more likely to develop pregnancy-linked depression, compared to women without such diagnoses. The reverse was also true: Women with pregnancy-linked depression were 30% more likely to develop… read on > read on >

Depression that emerges around the time of pregnancy raises a woman’s risk for suicide sharply and for many years, new Swedish research shows. The study found that a new mom’s odds for suicide soars seven-fold in the year after a diagnosis of perinatal depression — depression that arises just before, during or after a pregnancy. The increase in risk isn’t limited to the short-term, however. Between five to 18 years after delivery, the risk of suicide in women with perinatal depression was still more than double that of women unaffected by the illness, noted a team led by Dr. Songhao Lu of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. They published their findings Jan. 9 in JAMA Network Open. According to background information supplied by Lu’s team, the period just after delivery of a new baby is a particularly dangerous time for suicide. “In fact, 13% to 36% of maternal deaths are attributable to suicide,” the study authors noted. “The consequences are devastating to the newborn and the family.” Many studies have already shown that suicide risks rise in the weeks and months after a woman suffers perinatal depression. But what about the much longer term? In their study, Lu’s team analyzed Swedish national health data for 2001-2017. They compared the suicide rate of a group of almost 87,000 women diagnosed with perinatal depression to that of… 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 >

“School spirit” appears to provide long-lasting mental health benefits for Black teens, new research finds. School connectedness – the degree to which students feel like part of to their school community – is a protective factor against depression and aggressive behavior later in life among Black students, researchers report in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. “Our data provide fairly strong evidence for the idea that the experiences Black adolescents have in their school impacts their long-term mental health,” lead researcher Adrian Gale, an assistant professor in the Rutgers University School of Social Work, said in a news release. Lots of research has been conducted on the benefits of school connectedness for well-being and physical health, but most studies have focused on white teenagers, researchers said. To take a closer look at Black students, researchers analyzed data from an ongoing study following nearly 5,000 children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. Of those kids, nearly 1,700 were Black children interviewed at ages 9 and 15, researchers said. The kids’ caregivers also were interviewed at the 15-year follow-up. The children were asked at age 9 to rate how often they felt “part of your school, close to people at your school, happy to be at your school, and safe at school.” Six years later, the kids’ caregivers were asked whether their children often… read on > read on >