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☆ Do You Know How to Spot Foods That Are Ultraprocessed?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Sally Wadyka | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Do You Know How to Spot Foods That Are Ultraprocessed? Years of research has linked diets high in ultraprocessed foods with a higher risk of illness, including obesity, cancer and heart disease. More recently, it’s become apparent that these foods can take a toll on our mental health, too. Learning to identify ultraprocessed foods, or UPFs, is a step toward making your diet healthier. Think you know which foods are ultraprocessed or not?

☆ Fried food is linked to increased risk of anxiety and depression
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

A research team in Hangzhou, China, found that frequent consumption of fried foods, especially fried potatoes, was linked with a 12% higher risk of anxiety and 7% higher risk of depression than in people who didn’t eat fried foods. These results “open an avenue in the significance of reducing fried food consumption for mental health,” according to the paper published Monday in the journal PNAS. Frequent consumption of fried foods was linked to higher risk of anxiety and depression. Dr. Walter Willett said the results “should be regarded as very preliminary, especially the connection with fried food and acrylamide.”“The health effects of fried food will depend greatly on what food is fried and what type of fat is used for frying,” said Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. It's also possible that some people with mental health issues reach for fried food.

☆ Type 2 diabetes: Coffee, tea lower risk of heart disease and early death
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —If you have type 2 diabetes, drinking more coffee, tea or plain water may lower your risk of dying prematurely from any cause by about 25%, a new study found. However, drinking more sugar-sweetened beverages raised the risk of heart disease by 25% and the risk of dying from a heart attack or another cardiovascular event by 29%, the study said. Adults with type 2 diabetes who drink more coffee or tea lower their risk of heart disease, a new study said. There was a 26% lower risk of early death associated with drinking coffee, 21% for tea, 23% for plain water and 12% for low-fat milk. When both sugar-sweetened and artificial no-calorie drinks were replaced with coffee, tea, plain water and low-fat milk, there was an even lower risk of heart disease and death from any cause.

☆ Is a potato a vegetable? There's no 'straightforward answer,' says nutritionist
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Whether or not a potato is a vegetable depends on who you ask. Back in 2011, nutrition experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health worked with researchers at Harvard Health Publications to create an eating plan for optimal health. "A potato is not a vegetable from a nutrition point of view," Lilian Cheung, lecturer of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Harvard's school of public health compares potatoes' effects on blood sugar to that of a can of cola or a handful of jelly beans.

☆ The 'Harvard diet' may be the standard for living a long and healthy life—here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

You've definitely heard of the Mediterranean diet and the MyPlate method , but what about Harvard University's Healthy Eating Plate ? The Harvard diet is actually Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate, and it can be used as a guide for "creating healthy, balanced meals," according to "The Nutrition Source," a section of Harvard's site that provides nutritional information. Add in whole grains (1/4 of your plate)In comparison to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's MyPlate method, the Harvard diet specifies the type of grains that you should eat. Get some healthy protein (1/4 of your plate)More than most diets, the Healthy Eating Plate dives into which proteins are healthy for you and which you should limit in your diet. The Harvard diet encourages you to alternate between water, tea and coffee to pair with your meals, especially with little to no sugar.

☆ Fact Check-Flu vaccine study unrelated to Group A Strep doesn't show increase of illness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is the name for bacteria that can cause infections like strep throat, scarlet fever and impetigo. However, the 2014 study examined different bacteria and found that while their numbers increased following the nasal flu vaccine, that did not lead to increased bacterial disease. A recent UK study has also found that while infections of influenza itself be linked to increased cases of Group A Strep, the nasal vaccine is associated with a reduction in bacterial infections. But it did not investigate group A strep bacteria; rather, the study investigated Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, which Mina said in an email, are “very different” pathogens to group A strep. A 2014 study does not show the nasal spray flu vaccine causes Group A Strep.

☆ The health risks from cooking with gas stoves, explained
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe health risks from cooking with gas stoves, explainedDr. Aaron Bernstein, the interim director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, speaks with CNBC Digital Video about the health risks associated with gas stoves, and the steps people can take to reduce indoor air pollution from devices that emit gases like nitrous oxides and methane, which can cause breathing problems in adults with respiratory issues and children with asthma.

A study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry found that abortion restrictions may have played a role in some suicide deaths among younger women from 1974 to 2016. The study is the first of its kind to show an association between abortion restrictions and suicide rates among younger women, said Dr. The researchers did not find the same association for older women, he said, suggesting that the increased suicide risk was specific to women directly affected by TRAP laws. Elevated suicide rates in states with more restrictive abortion laws "is cause for clinical concern," he wrote. That research ended in 2016, though, so it's unclear how newer abortion restrictions — such as the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — have affected suicide rates among younger women.

☆ Covid, flu and RSV: What science shows about being contagious
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Benjamin Ryan | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

People know when they have Covid symptoms, but do minor sniffles at the end of a coronavirus infection, for example, mean they’re still contagious? It’s a good time to brush up on what scientists know, and still don’t know, about how long people remain infectious with viral diseases — Covid, influenza, RSV — that are spreading across the U.S.How long am I contagious with Covid? If you’ve been exposed to someone who has tested positive for Covid, symptoms from any of the omicron subvariants generally appear two to four days later. How contagious you are is connected to how much of the virus, known as the viral load, is in your body. As far as relying on Covid tests to determine whether someone is still contagious, PCR tests are good at diagnosing Covid.

☆ New subvariants, family gatherings may bring more Covid-19 after holiday, but experts don’t expect severe surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Experts expect that Thanksgiving gatherings will stir up social networks and give new coronavirus subvariants fresh pockets of vulnerable people to infect. And we are concerned that after holiday gathering, lots of people coming together, that we may see increases in Covid-19 cases as well,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday on CNN. For the week ending Nov. 19, the CDC estimates that BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 were causing about half of all new Covid-19 cases in the US. Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have remained flat for the past four weeks. “It’s probably got a bit more of a fitness advantage, so what we’re seeing is gradual replacement without a massive change in the total number of Covid-19 cases,” he said.

The Food and Drug Administration is pushing for drugmakers to apply for over-the-counter approval for naloxone, the opioid overdose antidote. Naloxone is only offered as a prescription, though many states have found work-arounds to make the drug easier to get. By making the medication available over the counter, it removes stigma, said Dr. Scott Hadland, an addiction specialist at Mass General for Children in Boston. Nearly 20,000 deaths from overdose, between 1999 and 2020, have been prevented by the self-administering of naloxone, according to the FDA. The FDA noted that over-the-counter naloxone will not divert supplies away from community-based naloxone distribution programs and hospitals.

☆ Plant milks or dairy: What's better for you and planet Earth?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

The advertisement featuring a pearly white, cow’s milk mustache on a smiling face sends a message often repeated at home: Dairy milk is good for you. Fat, sodium and cholesterol: Compared to dietary cholesterol in whole dairy, most plant milks are good choices — plant foods never have dietary cholesterol, Gardner said. Sodium levels are relatively equal between plant milks and dairy at about 100 milligrams of sodium. “No need to fear the fat of most plant-based milks — unsaturated fats are considered healthful in the modest quantities found in plant-based milks,” Gardner said. Plant milks have no such advantage, and this is where nutrition can stumble, Gardner said.

☆ Highly processed foods are linked to early death, a new study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

That amounts to more than 10% of annual premature deaths in Brazil among that age group. The authors say their study is the first to estimate the impact of ultra-processed food on the risk of early death. The authors applied that model to Brazil's population and level of ultra-processed food consumption. Ultra-processed foods can often be identified by their long list of ingredients, many of which you wouldn’t normally find in your own kitchen. Willett also said that there may be little benefit to replacing ultra-processed foods with certain items, such as more red meat or foods cooked in a lot of butter.

☆ With homicide a leading cause of maternal death, doctors urged to screen pregnant women for domestic violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Other research suggests that they are also at higher risk of homicide than women who are not pregnant. “While many factors contribute to the high maternal mortality rates observed in the US, the inextricable and lethal link between intimate partner violence and gun violence must be considered. Pregnancy represents a particularly high-risk time for experiencing intimate partner violence and women are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner if their partner has access to a firearm,” Lawn said. Brown added that intimate partner violence has been part of discussions around maternal health at Northwell’s Center for Maternal Health, as well as assessing women for risks of intimate partner violence. Data on maternal deaths related to intimate partner violence is often lacking – but screening can help, said Kamila Alexander, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

Other omicron subvariants that have piqued the interest — and concerns — of scientists read like a viral alphabet soup: BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BF.7. Ever since the omicron variant emerged, it's been omicron all the way down, with omicron subvariants splitting off into their own subvariants. Barouch's study was small, including just 35 people who'd had either the Covid vaccine or an omicron infection. Most, regardless of prior infection, had at least three doses of Covid vaccine. The World Health Organization is tracking more than 300 omicron subvariants worldwide, Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said during a media briefing Wednesday.

☆ Hair-straightening chemical products linked to increased uterine cancer risk in new study
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Scientists are uncovering new details in the connection between using certain hair straightening products, such as chemical relaxers and pressing products, and an increased risk of cancer in women. The study, published Monday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, estimates that among women who did not use hair-straightening chemical products in the past 12 months, 1.6% developed uterine cancer by age 70, but about 4% of the women who frequently use such hair-straightening products developed uterine cancer by age 70. That finding “also communicates that uterine cancer is indeed rare. “In this study, women with frequent use in the past year had an over two-fold higher risk of uterine cancer,” she said. The researchers found a strong association between hair straightening products and uterine cancer cases but the use of other hair products – such as dyes and perms or body waves – was not associated with uterine cancer.

☆ Covid will be a leading cause of death in the U.S. indefinitely, whether or not the pandemic is 'over'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Aria Bendix | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Shannon-Pettypiece-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

But disease experts said debating whether the pandemic is over overshadows a more important concern: the reality that Covid will remain a leading cause of death in the U.S. indefinitely. Since April, Covid deaths have stayed relatively flat, at a weekly average of around 300 to 500 per day. Predicting Covid's future death tollThe Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, or IHME, a research organization at the University of Washington that regularly models Covid deaths, predicts a decline in Covid deaths over the next two months. Covid death numbers could also fall if hospitals stop routinely testing people for the virus. Murray estimated that half of annual Covid deaths may fall into that category.

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