Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

The drugs Wegovy and Ozempic are all the rage for weight loss these days, and now a new study shows these injections may be game-changers for obese teenagers, too. This trial, funded by drug maker Novo Nordisk, found that nearly half of all adolescents on semaglutide (Wegovy/Ozempic) were able to achieve a healthy weight in about 17 months. Semaglutide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist, which slows digestion, decreases hunger, reduces how much people eat and prompts weight loss. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Wegovy for treating obesity in kids and adults aged 12 years and older, while Ozempic has been approved at a lower dose to treat type 2 diabetes. “Semaglutide appears to be highly effective in helping teens reduce their body mass index [BMI] to a level below the clinical cutoff for obesity,” said study author Aaron Kelly, co-director of the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, in Minneapolis. “Pharmacotherapy should be offered to all adolescents with obesity who are medically eligible.” For the study, teens with high BMIs received either 2.4-mg of semaglutide weekly (the maximum dose) or a dummy (placebo) injection for 17 months. Everyone in the study was encouraged to exercise for 60 minutes a day and got advice about healthy eating. Fully 45% of teenagers who took once-weekly semaglutide lost enough… read on > read on >

U.S. seniors with mental health needs may not have much access to psychiatrists who could help them, new research shows. Despite an overall heightened demand for mental health services, nearly two-thirds of Medicare Advantage psychiatrist networks included less than 25% of all psychiatrists in a given service area. “This means that many people who have coverage through Medicare Advantage plans may not actually have access to psychiatrists, given how few are considered in-network,” said lead study author Dr. Jane Zhu, an assistant professor of medicine in the School of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. And that data may not fully reveal the extent of the limitations. Even when a psychiatrist is in-network, that doesn’t mean they aren’t already fully booked and not taking new patients, Zhu said, since the United States has a shortage of psychiatrists. “It’s likely a rosier picture than reality,” Zhu said in a university news release. “We know the actual number of psychiatrists available to see patients is much lower.” In some areas, not even one psychiatrist who accepted Medicare Advantage patients was taking new patients. The effect on patients is that they may have to pay higher out-of-pocket costs, experience delays in care or not get the care they need at all, Zhu said. “More than half of the counties for which we had data did not have… read on > read on >

It might seem like sunshine, vacation and time spent with family and friends will bring you happiness this summer. But sometimes it takes a little more effort, said Lina Begdache, an associate professor of health and wellness studies at Binghamton University, State University of New York. If you’d like to lift your spirits, start by thinking positive thoughts, she said in a university news release. “The way our brains work, the more negative thinking is practiced, the higher your chance of developing a low mood and feeling miserable,” Begdache said. “The good news is that the brain is adjustable, or better known as ‘plastic.’ People can weaken the negative wiring by practicing positive thinking.” Pioneers of positive psychology research have shown that positive thinkers appraise stressful situations as less threatening, Begdache said. They cope well compared to negative thinkers and are happier people. Eating healthy food can also boost your mood, she added. Lifestyle factors, including diet and sleep, have an impact on your mood. A fluctuation in blood sugar can lead to feeling “hangry” (bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger). Certain healthy diets, such as the Mediterranean diet, are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory chemicals that support brain and heart health, Begdache said. In addition, a healthy sleep schedule can help your brain steadily produce the chemicals needed to maintain a positive… read on > read on >

Dogs can sniff out and track someone based on their scent, a trait that has aided scores of criminal investigations. Laboratory scientists working with human odors report that a new discovery may also further crime solving: They’ve determined that the scents of women and men differ, at least in their palms. The researchers were able to predict someone’s sex with nearly 97% accuracy using scent compounds from their palms, according to a report published July 5 in the journal PLOS ONE. This could help law enforcement agents track down criminals, according to researchers led by Kenneth Furton, chief scientific officer at Florida International University. Certain crimes — including robberies, assaults and rapes — are often are committed with someone’s hands, the authors said in background notes. This could mean there’s valuable trace evidence left at a crime scene. The finding complements existing human odor research that indicates scent compounds can also reveal a person’s age and racial or ethnic group. “This approach to analyzing hand odor volatiles can be applied when other discriminatory evidence such as DNA is lacking and allow for differentiation or class characterization such as sex, race and age,” Furton and colleagues said in a journal news release. The research team used an analysis technique called mass spectrometry to analyze the volatile scent compounds on the palms of 60 individuals. Half of… read on > read on >

One way to get real peace of mind: Start doing something creative. Americans who engage in creative activities — from crafting to playing the piano to painting — report better mental health, according to a new poll from the American Psychiatric Association. “We live in stressful times, and sometimes our jobs and responsibilities can drain our energy and our mental health,” said APA President Dr. Petros Levounis. “Creative activities aren’t just for fun, they can help us take a step back from the daily grind, use our brains differently, and relax. Picking up that paintbrush or solving a tricky puzzle can truly move us to a different mindset,” Levounis said in an APA news release. About 46% of American adults say they use creative activities to relieve stress or anxiety. Those who rate their own mental health as “very good” or “excellent” tend to participate in this kind of creative fun more than those who say their mental health is “fair” or “poor,” according to the Healthy Minds Monthly Poll. This poll was conducted in June among 2,202 adults. Things are looking up: About 77% of American adults said their current mental health was good or better, compared to 63% in early 2023. Of those reporting very good or excellent mental health, about 7 in 10 engaged in creative activities, compared to 50% of adults… read on > read on >

“Forever chemicals” are widespread in the environment, and new research finds they can be detected in about 45% of U.S. tap water samples. The chemicals are per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, and their spread through drinking water — both tap and well — may be even higher because researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) were unable to test for all of them, CNN reported. These synthetic substances have been linked to a variety of health issues, including cancer, liver damage, hormone suppression, decreased fertility, obesity, high cholesterol and thyroid disease, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “There’s been almost no place scientists have looked where they have not found PFAS,” toxicologist Jamie DeWitt told CNN. She’s a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., and was not involved in the new study. To gauge the impact on drinking water, a team led by Kelly Smalling of the USGS used water samples collected between 2016 and 2021 from 269 private wells and 447 public sources. Their models suggest 45% of U.S. drinking water samples have at least one PFAS chemical. Lab tests developed by the USGS can also test for 32 compounds out of the 12,000 that exist. “I don’t think people should be afraid, but they should be aware and [arm] themselves with knowledge so that… read on > read on >

Loneliness might be a true heartbreaker for people with diabetes — raising their odds of a heart attack even more than unhealthy lifestyle habits do. That’s according to a new study of over 18,000 adults with the blood sugar disease. Researchers found that people who reported feeling lonely were up to 26% more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke in the next decade, compared to those who felt more socially connected. Loneliness, in fact, was more strongly linked to cardiovascular trouble than well-known risk factors like smoking, lack of exercise and unhealthy eating habits. Still, the study, published recently in the European Heart Journal, does not prove that loneliness directly harms physical health. But it’s not the first to link feelings of isolation to heart disease: Experts said that many studies have found a similar connection, and the new findings bolster that evidence. “Loneliness is not a benign condition,” said Theresa Beckie, a professor at the University of South Florida College of Nursing. Beckie, who was not involved in the study, co-wrote a 2022 scientific statement from the American Heart Association on the subject. In a review of published research, she and her colleagues found that social isolation and loneliness were linked to a 30% increased risk of heart attack and stroke, or death from either. To Beckie, the new study adds a… read on > read on >

When frail patients go into cardiac arrest and need cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during surgery, they’re more likely to die than those who are stronger, a new study shows. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston studied the impact of frailty on survival in these cases where previously frailty was not considered as a factor. “CPR should not be considered futile for frail patients in the context of surgery,” said lead author Dr. Matt Allen, an attending physician in Brigham’s department of anesthesiology. “But it’s not the case that these patients do just as well as anybody else. In fact, we see a significant association between frailty and mortality.” Overall, about 25% of patients who suffer cardiac arrest and receive CPR in a normal hospital setting will survive. For those who get CPR during or in the immediate period following surgery, where they are closely monitored by specialists who know their medical history and can intervene quickly, that number is 50%. About one in three older frail patients survive, according to the analysis of more than 3,000 patients. Cardiac arrest is the abrupt loss of heart function in a person who may or may not have been diagnosed with heart disease. Frail patients were more likely to die from cardiac arrests that occurred during non-emergency procedures than non-frail individuals, which may mean a higher overall… read on > read on >

Youth who are both LGBTQ+ and either Black or Hispanic and live in U.S. states that have discriminatory policies are more likely to have depression than their counterparts in states that are more affirming to gender and sexual identity, new research finds. “This study provides scientific evidence to what many queer and trans people of color in the U.S. are experiencing day to day,” said study co-author Tyler Harvey, program administrator of the Yale School of Medicine’s SEICHE Center for Health and Justice. “Queer and trans youth living in states such as Florida that are passing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation know this to be true: Their surroundings are influencing their mental health,” Harvey said in a school news release. When controlling for individual experiences of bullying based on race and ethnicity or sexual orientation, Black and Hispanic LGBTQ+ youth were 32% more likely to have symptoms of depression in states without protections such as anti-bullying legislation and conversion therapy bans, the study found. “The laws, policies and overall social conditions within which individuals live take a toll on their health and well-being,” said lead study author Skyler Jackson, an assistant professor in Yale’s department of social and behavioral sciences. “This study helps to complete the puzzle of the various ways that stigma might show up within the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals.” Jackson is part of a team… read on > read on >

Older American adults who live in warmer regions are more likely to have serious vision impairment than those who live in cooler places, new research finds. Living with average temperatures of 60 degrees Fahrenheit or above — think South Florida, for example — created much higher odds of blindness or trouble seeing even with glasses, according to a new study of 1.7 million people. “This link between vision impairment and average county temperature is very worrying if future research determines that the association is causal,” said co-author Esme Fuller-Thomson, director of the University of Toronto’s Institute of Life Course and Aging. “With climate change, we are expecting a rise in global temperatures. It will be important to monitor if the prevalence of vision impairment among older adults increases in the future,” she added in a school news release. Compared with those who lived in counties with average temperatures of less than 50 degrees F, the odds of severe vision impairment were 14% higher for those who lived in counties with average temperatures from 50-54.99 degrees, according to the study. The risk was 24% higher for those in places where temps averaged 55-59.99 degrees. For those basking in even warmer territory, the odds of vision loss were 44% higher. Even with differences in age, sex and income, the relationship held. “It was powerful to see that… read on > read on >