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☆ Just how bad are ultraprocessed foods? Here are 5 things to know
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Andrea Kane | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

NOVA separates foods into four groups, starting with natural and minimally processed foods in the first category to ultraprocessed foods, which use industrial formulations and manufacturing techniques, in the fourth. Here are five things to know about ultraprocessed foods:Ultraprocessed foods are linked to bad health outcomesEating a lot of ultraprocessed foods isn’t healthy. We have one.”Ultraprocessed foods cause weight gainThat one randomized, controlled clinical trial showed that ultraprocessed foods actually caused people to gain weight. So, all those factors probably play a huge role in … the foods that we choose to eat in the real world.”Not all ultraprocessed foods are badSome ultraprocessed foods can provide important nutrients, such as whole wheat bread and yogurt. “Which goes to show that not all ultraprocessed foods necessarily drive this effect.”Hall’s team is conducting a new study to tease out which ultraprocessed foods are harmful and which are neutral, or even healthy.

Persons: Marion Nestle, Meg Tirrell, Paulette Goddard, Nestle, ”, ” Nestle, Kevin Hall, ” Hall, Tirrell, shouldn’t, you’re, we’re Organizations: CNN, University of São Paulo, NOVA, Nestle, New York University, National Institute of Diabetes, National Institutes of Health Clinical, ”, National Health, US Department of Agriculture, US Food and Drug Administration Locations: Brazil, Bethesda , Maryland

☆ Biotech startup Seed Health is betting its profits on AI-powered medical science
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Natalie Rose Goldberg | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

On Thursday, Seed Health launched CODA, a computational biology platform funded by its consumer business profitability. Seed Health has been in the business of microbiome scientific breakthroughs since its founding in 2015, but its biggest success to-date may have been becoming profitable as a bioscience startup. Katz's co-founder and co-CEO at Seed Health, Raja Dhir, said CODA and the accompanying data set will help to standardize microbiome science methods, which has long been an issue in the field. CODA's first applications are in metabolic health, brain health, longevity, and menopause, research areas chosen because they have already been identified as areas of human health where early CODA data displayed the strongest evidence. Seed Health has been working on several efforts around pioneering microbiome science for human and planetary health, and many in the field believe the approach is destined to have wider applications.

Persons: Katz, Ara Katz, Eran Segal, Eric Topol, transcriptome, Katz's, Raja Dhir, Dhir, Arpana Gupta, Goodman, There's, Segal, Joseph Petrosino, Petrosino Organizations: Seed, Seed Health, CNBC, Weizmann Institute of Science, Scripps Research Institute, UCLA, Luskin Microbiome, Baylor College of Medicine, Center, Metagenomics, Microbiome Research

☆ EU Commission unveils a plan to slash emissions by 90%. Can it deliver?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Angela Dewan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The announcement will kick off months of talks that could take up to a year before the European Parliament rubber stamps the target. The European Greens — a faction of environmentally conscious lawmakers from several countries — are expecting big losses in the vote, after making sweeping gains in the 2019 election. “We’re looking at a European Parliament that is more in favor of regulatory freedom for member states,” Dufour said. The Greens had been successful in achieving a strong climate agenda through the EU parliament, he added. She said new conservative or even far-right lawmakers may also back some ambitious climate policies because so many make sense in terms of economics and security, as well.

Persons: —, Wopke Hoekstra, Andreas Solaro, Manon Dufour, ” Dufour, Dufour, Bas Eickhout, ”, Eickhout, Olivier Chassignole, ” Eickhout, I’m, Linda Kalcher, Kalcher Organizations: CNN, European Commission, EU, Parliament, European Greens —, Getty, Conservative, European People’s Party, EPP, Deal, European Greens, Greens, European Greens Party, ”, Green Locations: Lugo , Italy, AFP, Brussels, Bas, Dutch, Lyon, France, Brussel, Ukraine

☆ Sima Sistani says its time for WeightWatchers to embrace Ozempic. Will its users agree?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Sima Sistani, the 44-year-old CEO of WeightWatchers, is aware of this, and she recognized WeightWatchers had to evolve – or else. She also landed a massive deal to buy a telehealth business that can issue virtual prescriptions to patients for these weight loss drugs. Semaglutide was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat type 2 diabetes as Ozempic, but it was also used off-label for weight loss. Some longtime users of the program feel betrayed by the pivot away from in-person meetings and toward medication-based solutions. “Sadly, they don’t want to do the work,” she said, of tracking food or exercising to achieve weight loss goals.

Persons: New York CNN —, Sima Sistani, WeightWatchers, she’s, Sistani, “, ” Sistani, Erica Shroeder, ”, Jaap Arriens, ” Goldman Sachs, Jenny Craig, Adam Rockmore, Ged, Angela Weiss, Variety Sistani, there’s, Semaglutide, aren’t, “ there’s, Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Yonash, influencers, Velanti, Michael Nagle, We’re Organizations: New, New York CNN, Walmart, CNN, WeightWatchers, Variety, US Food and Drug Administration, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: New York, Cola, Wegovy

☆ Does Milk Do a Body Good? Two Olympians Race to Influence the Answer
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Two Olympians are competing to influence federal nutrition policy on a question for Americans’ breakfast tables: Does milk do a body good? In one corner is Olympic cyclist Dotsie Bausch, who is urging a federally appointed scientific advisory panel to rethink the official U.S. dietary guidelines, which promote dairy as one of the five food groups. She stopped eating meat and then dairy two years before the 2012 Olympic Games in London and credits that decision for helping her win a silver medal for the U.S. shortly before turning 40.

Persons: Dotsie Bausch Organizations: WASHINGTON —, U.S Locations: London

☆ The US Army needs tanks to win a war in the Pacific, but it knows the Abrams isn't the right tank for the job
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But it also knows that rivals are building weapons that are potent against the aging Abrams tank. The Army's main battle tank, the M1 Abrams, now faces two main problems. End of the Abrams eraA US Abrams tank that Iraqi officials said was destroyed in fighting south of Baghdad in April 2003. Threats to the Abrams tank's battlefield dominance, according to the Army Science Board. The Army Science BoardThe Army Science Board assessed various alternatives.

Persons: Abrams, —, China —, Eddie McCrossan, M1A1 Abrams, Scott Nelson, Charles Flynn, Bradley, KARIM SAHIB, Michael Peck Organizations: US Army, Service, Army, Pacific, Rivals, M1 Abrams, Army Science Board, ., Logistics, US Defense Department, Eddie McCrossan Tanks, Nazi, US Army Pacific, Board, for Army, sustainment, China, Abrams, Getty, The Army, Booker, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Europe, Asia, Russia, China, Fort Knox, Kentucky, Britain, America, Russo, Ukraine, East Asia, Japan, Malay, Korean, Vietnam, Kuwaiti, Fulda, East, West Germany, Baghdad, AFP, Pacific, Forbes

The program, called the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Program, or PEPFAR, started in 2003 by President George W. Bush. Congress missed the Sept. 30 deadline to renew funding for PEPFAR before it expired. The policy had not been included as a part of PEPFAR funding until 2017, when the Trump administration expanded the policy to include it as a part of the program. Advocates for PEPFAR contend the program does not directly or indirectly fund abortion services. For some countries, the health benefits of the PEPFAR program go beyond its mission of reducing the spread of AIDS.

Persons: George W, Joe Biden, PEPFAR, “, ”, Chris Smith, Biden, Ronald Reagan, Trump, Bush, George Ingram, Matthew Miller, ” Miller, reauthorization, Ingram, ” Ingram, Carlos del Rio Organizations: U.S, President’s, AIDS Relief, U.S . State Department, PEPFAR, Congress, House Republicans, Biden Administration, House Global Health, Senate, Senators, Republicans, Center for Sustainable Development, Brookings Institute, Kaiser Family Foundation, Program, Emory University School of Medicine, State, Committee, Infectious Diseases Society of America Locations: U.S, New Jersey, Mexico, Washington, Africa, China, Russia

The decision by EPA Administrator Michael Regan means that one of the agency's most important air quality regulations will not be updated until well after the 2024 presidential election. Political Cartoons View All 1145 ImagesThe delay marks the second time in 12 years that a Democratic administration has put off a new ozone standard prior to an election year. Former President Barack Obama shut down plans to tighten ozone standards in 2011, leading to four-year delay before the standards were updated in 2015. "Unfortunately we’ve seen the process for updating the ozone standards repeatedly swept up in political games that risk lives,'' the lawmakers said in an Aug. 7 letter to EPA. Lianne Sheppard, a University of Washington biostatistics professor who chairs the scientific advisory panel, said Regan's decision was “his alone” to make.

Persons: Michael Regan, “, Regan, ”, Barack Obama, Paul Billings, Raul Garcia, ” Garcia, Sen, Sheldon Whitehouse, we’ve, Conor Bernstein, EPA’s, Donald Trump, Bernstein, Andrea Woods, —, Lianne Sheppard, Richard Moore, Peggy Shepard, Moore, Sheppard, Tomas Carbonell, Carbonell Organizations: WASHINGTON, Environmental Protection Agency, Republicans, Democratic, American Lung Association, National Mining Association, American Petroleum Institute, Scientific Advisory, White, Environmental, EPA, University of Washington, E, White House, Los Jardines Institute, WE ACT, Environmental Justice, Air Locations: Billings, Albuquerque , New Mexico, New York City

☆ 3 Factors Keeping Americans From New Weight-Loss Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Gina Kolata | More About Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

That’s the median weight loss experienced by people who take Wegovy, a drug from Novo Nordisk. Many patients started by taking Ozempic, a diabetes drug also by Novo Nordisk that led to weight loss as a side effect. Mounjaro, made by Eli Lilly and approved for treating diabetes, is expected to be approved soon for obesity. While price and insurance coverage pose problems for patients, health economists expect prices to come down as more drugs are approved and companies face competition. Medicare is forbidden by law to pay for weight-loss drugs, although there is an intense lobbying effort to change that.

Persons: Eli Lilly, David A, Eli Lilly’s, “, ”, Ania, Robert F, Kushner Organizations: Novo Nordisk, Duke University, Yale University, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, “ Locations: Novo

☆ Swiss voters approve new climate law as country's glaciers melt
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Swiss voters have approved a new law to cut the use of fossil fuels and significantly reduce levels of planet-heating pollution, as the country faces alarming levels of glacier melt. “These fossil fuels will not be available indefinitely and they place a heavy burden on the climate,” a statement on the Swiss government website said Sunday. The Swiss population sends out a strong signal: the law for bringing the country to net zero emissions was accepted today! A climate law was first introduced back in 2021, including measures to increase taxes on activities that produce high levels of planet-heating pollution, such as flying and driving gas-powered cars. This current climate bill was proposed as a response to the Glacier Initiative, set up by the Swiss Association for Climate Protection, which pushed for an end to fossil fuels in order to save the country’s glaciers.

Persons: André, R2O5BIk9xE — Matthias Huss, there’s, ”, Matthias Huss, ” Huss Organizations: CNN — Swiss, Swiss, Twitter, Glacier Initiative, Swiss Association for Climate Protection, ETH Zurich, CNN, Meteorological Organization Locations: Switzerland, Swiss

☆ UN chief backs idea of global AI watchdog like nuclear agency
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

UNITED NATIONS, June 12 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday backed a proposal by some artificial intelligence executives for the creation of an international AI watchdog body like the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "Alarm bells over the latest form of artificial intelligence – generative AI – are deafening. But on Monday he added: "I would be favorable to the idea that we could have an artificial intelligence agency ... inspired by what the international agency of atomic energy is today." British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also supported the idea and said he wants Britain to be home to global AI safety regulation. He said he plans to appoint in the coming days a scientific advisory board of AI experts and chief scientists from U.N. agencies.

Persons: Antonio Guterres, ChatGPT, Guterres, OpenAI, Rishi Sunak, Michelle Nichols, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, United Nations, British, Thomson Locations: Vienna, Britain

☆ This 24-year-old wants to freeze dead pets with the hope that science can one day bring them back to life – and he's got backing from Peter Thiel to get started
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Kai Micah Mills is a rare cryonics entrepreneur in the latest batch of Thiel Fellows. His startup Cryopets aims to establish a chain of animal hospitals set up to freeze pets upon death. When he was 14, Kai Micah Mills brought home a long-haired tabby cat and named it Cat. Someday, he hopes to expand to human preservation, as the science matures and pet owners warm to the idea. Mills hasn't figured out a pricing structure yet, but says pet owners will make a payment that covers their pet's storage for as long as necessary.

"China was initially in discussions to be part of the project," the official said, declining to be named as the information was deemed sensitive. China has since banned the sale and consumption for food of wildlife animals. China's public security organs have handled more than 70,000 criminal cases involving wild animals from 2020-2022, confiscating 1.37 million wild animals in the process, state news agency Xinhua has reported. SLOW STARTThe SAFE project surveys only began in October last year, when the project's assessors visited Khao Kheow zoo and a cafe in Thailand. The wet markets targeted are markets where wild animals are sold alongside fresh meat and vegetables.

☆ WHO, advisors urge China to release all COVID-related data after new research
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Access to the information was subsequently restricted “apparently to allow further data updates” by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). WHO officials discussed the matter with Chinese colleagues, who explained that the new data were intended to be used to update a preprint study from 2022. "We continue to call on China to be transparent in sharing data, and to conduct the necessary investigations and share the results," he said. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was shut down by Chinese authorities after the novel coronavirus emerged in the city in late 2019. The market has since been a focus of study of whether the virus had infected several other species before jumping to humans.

☆ Finding COVID-19's origins is a moral imperative: WHO's Tedros
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, March 12 (Reuters) - Discovering the origins of COVID-19 is a moral imperative and all hypotheses must be explored, the head of the World Health Organization said, in his strongest comments yet that the U.N. body remains committed to finding how the virus arose. "Understanding #COVID19's origins and exploring all hypotheses remains: a scientific imperative, to help us prevent future outbreaks (and) a moral imperative, for the sake of the millions of people who died and those who live with #LongCOVID," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitterlate on Saturday. loadingHe was writing to mark three years since the WHO first used the word "pandemic" to describe the global outbreak of COVID-19. Since then, the WHO has set up a scientific advisory group on dangerous pathogens but it has not yet reached any conclusions on how the pandemic began, saying key pieces of data are missing. (This story has been refiled to add the day the comments were made)Reporting by Emma FargeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

They have soared in popularity over the last year, in part from social media attention and billionaires like Elon Musk touting the drugs’ weight loss effects. Ozempic is not approved for weight loss, but doctors sometimes prescribe it off-label for that purpose. Harper took Ozempic off-label for weight loss from May until November (she paused while moving to Washington state but plans to start again). For Yazeed, weight loss was not the reason she went on Ozempic, nor was it a goal. He hasn't experienced side effects or weight loss from Ozempic, he said, but he recognizes that isn't true for everyone.

☆ Fact Check-No evidence COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are significant contributing factor to UK’s 30,000 excess cardiovascular deaths
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Millions of people have viewed a BBC News interview with a British cardiologist who used the broadcast to spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. Malhotra cites the British Heart Foundation (BHF) for reporting 30,000 excess cardiovascular deaths “during the pandemic or since the pandemic”. A BHF spokesperson told Reuters that there were indeed 30,000 excess deaths involving ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in England between March 2020 and August 2022. Reuters has addressed similar claims linking COVID-19 vaccines with excess mortality (here, here and here), cardiac arrests (here, here and here), and other heart issues. Experts say the 30,000 excess cardiovascular deaths reported since the beginning of the pandemic are due to COVID-19 infection and issues with healthcare services.

☆ U.S. EPA tightens soot standards for first time in decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Valerie Volcovici | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Fine particulate matter, or soot, comes from sources ranging from power plants to cars and trucks. It causes lung and heart damage and has been found to disproportionately affect low-income communities, according to EPA. "Fine particulate matter is both deadly and extremely costly," EPA Administrator Michael Regan told reporters, adding the decision was "based on sound science and a rigorous evaluation of the data that we have at hand." The EPA said it would also take public comment on revising the level to as low as 8 µg/m3, and as high as 11 µg/m3. The EPA also opted to retain the current primary 24-hour PM 2.5 standard of 35 µg/m3, despite a CASAC recommendation to lower that number to 25 µg/m3.

☆ The pandemic was a crisis that fueled interest in novel drug discovery methods like AI. These 14 startups are predicted by investors to be future winners.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Drug discovery startups bagged a record $5.5 billion globally in 2021, per Dealroom data. Startups are innovating ways to speed up the expensive and time-consuming process of drug discovery. Investor appetite peaked as the pandemic highlighted the need for efficient approaches to drug discovery, from shorter clinical trial times to quicker avenues to mass distribution. Daniel noted that healthtech VCs are particularly keen to back drug discovery startups that have a sound network of advisors. "There will be lots of players out there and we'll probably see a lot of aggregation in the coming years," Daniel told Insider.

☆ 100-hour workweeks and a bit of luck: How a 25-year-old CEO raised $50 million for his new drug discovery startup
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Andrew Dunn | Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In June, Charm said it raised $50 million, valuing the firm at $100 million to $150 million. Charm has raised $50 million from top investorsDemis Hassabis, the CEO and a cofounder of DeepMind Technologies. In the spring, Aithani raised the $37 million million round that was announced in June, with investors like Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst joining OrbiMed and F-Prime Capital. The raise values Charm at between $100 million and $150 million, Aithani said, and brings the company's total funding to $50 million. This article was corrected on August 19 to show that Charm has raised two rounds of funding totaling $50 million.

☆ Prime Medicine dipped 10% in its public debut. We dug through the biotech's 283-page filing to find 5 key takeaways about the company's plan to commercialize gene editing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The gene-editing biotech Prime Medicine went public on Thursday. From a key patent to an uncertain timeline, here are five takeaways from Prime's filing. Its goal is to advance prime editing, a twist on CRISPR gene editing that could allow for a wider range of edits to DNA. Prime editing, another version of next-generation gene editing, works like a word processor, "searching for the correct location and replacing or repairing a wide variety of target DNA," the filing said. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesDavid Liu, a Harvard gene-editing scientist who co-invented base editing and prime editing, is Prime's largest shareholder.

☆ This startup could become the Google Analytics of carbon accounting. Here's the 13-slide pitch deck Climatiq used to raise $5.8 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Climate tech startup Climatiq has raised 6 million euros (around $5.8 million) in a seed round. VC firm Singular led the round into the carbon API startup with Cherry Ventures also participating. Companies can also import their own carbon emissions data to provide a more accurate estimate of their impact. Some consumer-focused tools already embed emissions data. Emissions data is already shown on travel sites like Google Flights.

☆ Prime Medicine is gearing up for a $200 million IPO. We dug through the biotech's 282-page filing to find 5 key takeaways about the company's plan to commercialize gene editing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

From an uncertain timeline to the clinic to a key patent, here are 5 takeaways from Prime's filing. The company's goal is to advance prime editing, a twist on CRISPR gene editing that could allow for a wider range of edits to DNA. Prime editing is another version of next-generation gene editing. Prime's filing comes in a difficult market for biotechs, but particularly for companies that have yet to start human testing. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesDavid Liu, a Harvard gene-editing scientist who co-invented base editing and prime editing, is currently Prime's largest shareholder.

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