Aspartame is in the news - WHO says it's a carcinogen, FDA says it's okay
TLDR: Diet Coke and other diet drinks are probably okay as long as you aren't going far above normal consumption.
At a news conference in Geneva, Dr. Francesco Branca, director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at the WHO, said that concern was only for "high consumers" of diet soda and other foods containing aspartame and said that IARC had simply "raised a flag" for more research to be done.
Dr. Mary Schubauer-Berigan, a senior official at IARC, emphasized that "it shouldn't really be taken as a direct statement that indicates that there is a known cancer hazard from consuming aspartame."
As an article in Science notes, "Other substances classed as 'possibly carcinogenic' include extracts of aloe vera, traditional Asian pickled vegetables, some vehicle fuels and some chemicals used in dry cleaning, carpentry and printing. The IARC has also classified red meat as 'probably carcinogenic' and processed meat as 'carcinogenic.'"
Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, also has concerns about how well the possible effects of aspartame have been studied. He says the problem is twofold.
"It's difficult to do studies in free living populations to get a great estimate of how much people actually consume," he says.
Another challenge, Hu says, is that in the case of rare cancers such as liver cancer, which the WHO specifically noted, researchers need "hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps millions of people to be followed and to obtain sufficient statistical power to get reliable answers."
The aspartame focus has been largely on low-calorie diet sodas, but what about its use in other beverages?
"If you put two packets of sweeteners into your coffee or tea, I don't think that's going to be a problem for the vast majority of people," Hu says.
For Tuft's Mozaffarian, despite his concerns, he says that for someone who can't break a soda habit, it's still better to drink the diet variety. "We know that high amounts of regular soda is really, really bad for weight gain or obesity or diabetes for risk of heart attack events."
"So ... yes, better to switch to diet [soda]," he says. "But it's even better then to switch from diet to unsweetened sparkling water."
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"Better Ways Than BMI to Measure Obesity"
There is a reality to data and that is that most commonly a data point is meaningless without context. Whether that context is historical (the data is going up! the data is going down!) or context of additional variables. For example, someone telling you a weather forecast is useless without knowing where they are forecasting. Usually the answer is locally based, but if you turn on the news and hear about the blizzard that is coming, but you look outside and it is sunny with no clouds in the sky and no snow on the ground, well, this might need some clarification.
BMI is another example of this. The basis of the ranges were determined from white men, and then extrapolated to other genders and races. And also without context to underlying causes of obesity. The AMA is attempting to get physicians to decrease their usage of BMI as a standalone measurement and instead put forward other things, such as direct measuring of body fat, etc.
But now BMI should be given much less importance, the American Medical Association (AMA) says. Last month the leading physician's group recommended that practitioners de-emphasize BMI because it can get weight-related health risks wrong, especially when used as the sole diagnostic tool. The policy announcement also noted that BMI, originally developed from data on non-Hispanic white men, has played a role in perpetuating "racist exclusion" and causing "historical harm" by misidentifying the weight status of people in many racial and ethnic minority groups.
In discussing what to use in place of BMI:
That's essentially a tape measure around the waist. And the American Heart Association uses it to classify abdominal obesity at 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men, right?
Correct. But we should avoid repeating past mistakes by relying on waist circumference instead of directly measuring body fat. Like BMI, the standard cutoff values for waist circumference are based on white populations, so they may not be universally applicable. Waist circumference does not consider variations in height either, which is why incorporating additional measures such as waist-to-height ratio is important for a comprehensive assessment.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach for diagnosing obesity. It's a complex disease and should be assessed using multiple measures.
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Progress in fighting maternal mortality after child birth
A trial of a set of interventions to manage postpartum haemorrhage, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found a 60% reduction in heavy bleeding.
Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) - defined as the loss of more than 500 mL of blood within 24 hours after birth - is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. It affects an estimated 14 million women each year and results in around 70 000 deaths – mostly in low and middle-income countries - equivalent to 1 death every 6 minutes.
"Postpartum haemorrhage is scary, not always predictable, but absolutely treatable. Nonetheless, its impacts around the world are tragic," said Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research at WHO and head of the United Nations' Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP). "No woman should fear for her life when giving birth. Effective solutions to tackle postpartum bleeding need to be available and accessible so that all women can experience a safe birth and a healthy future with their families."
The study, which involved over 200 000 women in four countries, found that objectively measuring blood loss using a simple, low-cost collection device called a 'drape' and bundling together WHO-recommended treatments - rather than offering them sequentially - resulted in dramatic improvements in outcomes for women. Severe bleeding – when a woman loses more than a litre of blood after birth - was reduced by 60%, and they were less likely to lose their life.
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"How Often Do Health Insurers Deny Patients’ Claims? No One Knows"
It's one of the most crucial questions people have when deciding which health plan to choose: If my doctor orders a test or treatment, will my insurer refuse to pay for it?
After all, an insurance company that routinely rejects recommended care could damage both your health and your finances. The question becomes ever more pressing as many working Americans see their premiums rise as their benefits shrink.
Yet, how often insurance companies say no is a closely held secret. There's nowhere that a consumer or an employer can go to look up all insurers' denial rates — let alone whether a particular company is likely to decline to pay for procedures or drugs that its plans appear to cover.
I'm sure it's perfectly fine and if analyzed mathematically it would hold up. No doubt. Uh huh.
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Heartbreaking and eye opening look into the soulless world of American healthcare insurance
It's a very long read, but fantastic reporting.
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FDA proposes easing limitations for blood donation from gay and bisexual men
The proposed guidance would not be gender-specific and would allow some men who have sex with men to donate based on risk assessment questions. People who have had only one sexual partner in the past three months would be allowed to donate blood. If someone has had a new sexual partner or more than one sexual partner—and had anal sex—in the past three months, they would need to wait another three months before donating.
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Completed the theoretically annual physical with my GP. The normal directions continue, lose weight, exercise more, etc. There was also some blood draws for tests. I can't help but feel as I grow older more and more of my blood goes to the doctors for tests. It's just a modern version of bloodletting, with some post processing and analysis.
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Combo rapid tests are a thing in Europe, the US needs them too
Marginal Revolution, the blog I'm linking to, brought these to my attention. He's a conservative economist blogger. I don't always agree with him but I value the varied insights in my feeds. And in this case, I 100% agree with him that the FDA needs to get off its butt and approve these sort of tests given the current health climate.
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Freedom House Ambulance Service on 99% Invisible Podcast
Today we think of paramedics as a service which has always existed. But that is far from true. Among the three emergency response groups they are, by far, the youngest. And this episode of the excellent 99% Invisible podcast delves into the history of the first paramedics. Young black men in Pittsburgh who were, up to then, considered unemployable.
Fascinating stuff which should definitely be known by more people.
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For more than 14% of people who use insulin in the U.S., insulin costs consume at least 40% of their available income, a new study finds.
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O, A, B, and AB aren't the only blood types, in fact, it's far more complicated
This article on Wired is quite good and was eye opening for me. I conceptually knew it was more complicated than the simple A+/-, B+/-, AB+/- and O+/-, but I had no idea that it seems to be one of the hotly explored areas of modern human medicine.
On average, one new blood classification system has been described by researchers each year during the past decade. These newer systems tend to involve blood types that are mind-bogglingly rare but, for those touched by them, just knowing that they have such blood could be lifesaving.
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Neti pot usage 2x a day during covid infection shows signs it can limit seriousness of illness in high risk individuals
It's a fairly small sample size (79 people) but an interesting possible thing for people to do.
Seventy-nine high-risk participants were enrolled (mean [SD] age, 64 [8] years; 36 [46%] women; 71% Non-Hispanic White), with mean BMI 30.3. Analyzed by intention-to-treat, by day 28, COVID-19 symptoms resulted in one ED visit and no hospitalizations in 42 irrigating with alkalinization, one hospitalization of 37 in the povidone-iodine group, (1.27%) and no deaths. Of nearly three million CDC cases, 9.47% were known to be hospitalized, with an additional 1.5% mortality in those without hospitalization data. Age, sex, and percentage with pre-existing conditions did not significantly differ by exact binomial test from the CDC dataset, while reported race and hospitalization rate did. The total risk of hospitalization or death (11%) was 8.57 times that of enrolled nasal irrigation participants (SE = 2.74; P = .006). Sixty-two participants completed daily surveys (78%), averaging 1.8 irrigations/day. Eleven reported irrigation-related complaints and four discontinued use. Symptom resolution was more likely for those reporting twice daily irrigation (X2 = 8.728, P = .0031) regardless of additive.
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China, Albania and Cuba are all higher than the USA in Life Expectancy
But stagnation is one thing, the collapse since 2019 is a phenomenon of a different quality. It is a full measure of the disaster that was the COVID pandemic in the United States. Over a million Americans died of COVID, one of the worst outcomes on the planet.
According to the CDC, half the disastrous fall in life expectancy is attributable to COVID with the opioid epidemic being a second significant factor.
In living memory China's life expectancy languished at levels prevailing in the West a hundred years ago. By the 1980s, thanks to the provision of basic sanitation, a minimum standard of living and health care, Communist China had surged ahead of most other developing countries. Chartbook Newsletter #28 showcased the reports of the World Bank on this startling fact. China's dramatic economic growth since the 1980s propelled further steady increases.
In terms of healthy years of life, China overtook the United States already in 2018. At the time the United States was one of only five countries - the others being Somalia, Afghanistan, Georgia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - that were experiencing a fall in healthy life expectancy at birth. Extrapolating those trends, China was expected to overtake the United States in absolute life expectancy by the mid 2020s. The divergence in the handling of the COVID pandemic has brought that moment forward to 2021.
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Woman who can smell Parkinson's disease helps develop swab test
Milne, who has hereditary hyperosmia, or a heightened sense of smell, has worked with Parkinson's disease doctors and researchers since her husband's death in 2015. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Manchester in England, in tandem with Milne, say they've developed a simple skin swab test to detect the disease within about three minutes.
"This test has the potential to massively improve the diagnosis and management of people with Parkinson's disease," neurologist Monty Silverdale, the study's clinical lead, tells EuroNews' Natalie Huet.
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"Cancer breakthrough is a ‘wake-up’ call on danger of air pollution"
Scientists have uncovered how air pollution causes lung cancer in groundbreaking research that promises to rewrite our understanding of the disease.
The findings outline how fine particulates contained in car fumes "awaken" dormant mutations in lung cells and tip them into a cancerous state. The work helps explain why so many non-smokers develop lung cancer and is a "wake-up call" about the damaging impact of pollution on human health.
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Dr. Fauci announces intention to step down in December 2022
Fauci said in a statement on Monday that he will leave both his post as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as well as that of top medical adviser to President Joe Biden, to “pursue the next phase” of his career.
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"Effectiveness of vaccination mandates in improving uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in the USA"
Medical study found on thelancet.com looks at how effective mandates were in getting people to get vaccinated. The following comes from their conclusion:
First, abundant evidence shows that school-entry mandates have been highly effective in improving uptake of childhood vaccines. Second, the current evidence regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in adults is sufficient to support mandates. Third, because of distinctive implementation challenges, the effectiveness of adult COVID-19 vaccination mandates in increasing vaccination uptake might be lower than the very high effectiveness of school-entry mandates observed for other vaccinations in the past. Therefore, mandate policies cannot be the only approach, especially given the ongoing legal uncertainties surrounding them. Fourth, COVID-19 vaccine requirements will probably be most effective when enforced by employers and educational institutions. Fifth, consideration of school-entry mandates should follow review of real-world safety data and full licensure of the vaccines for children, which could come as soon as the start of the 2022–23 school year.
Finally, active surveillance for adverse events following immunisation and clear, sophisticated communication of findings to the public are essential for effective vaccination policies, including mandates. Imposing mandates does not remove the need for effective messaging to overcome vaccine hesitancy. Giving appropriate emphasis to the major headline of the accreting vaccine safety studies—the vaccines are indeed safe—can create more fertile soil for vaccination mandates to take root.
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New dementia prevention method may be behavioral, not prescribed
The influential Lancet Commission began leading the modifiable-risk-factor movement in 2017. A panel of doctors, epidemiologists and public health experts reviewed and analyzed hundreds of high-quality studies to identify nine risk factors accounting for much of the world’s dementia: high blood pressure, lower education levels, impaired hearing, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes and low levels of social contact.
In 2020, the commission added three: excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injuries and air pollution. The commission calculated that 40% of dementia cases worldwide could theoretically be prevented or delayed if those factors were eliminated.
Regarding the 'alcohol consumption' bit, my cursory research suggest this is "excessive alcohol consumption" such that it causes brain damage. As we can see by those who partake in a Mediterranean diet with its red wine, overall they seem to fair well in this arena.
The article also mentions that vision loss might be added in the future. Sensory loss makes sense, your brain has less inputs to keep it active.
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This "amateur" programmer fought cancer with 50 Nvidia Geforce 1080Ti
An interesting look at how an amateur built a free website which allowed uploads of mammograms and applied machine learning AI to detect early signs of breast cancer.
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