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Healthy eating in middle age has this key longevity benefit

Adopting healthy eating habits during middle age boosts the likelihood of healthy aging.
That’s according to a new study from the Harvard T.C. Chan School of Public Health, which found that a «moderate intake of healthy, animal-based foods» and a «lower intake of ultraprocessed foods» could increase the chances of reaching age 70 with good «cognitive, physical and mental health» and no major diseases.
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Montreal also contributed to the study, which was published in the journal Nature Medicine.
DIABETES RISK LOWERED BY EATING ONE SURPRISINGLY SWEET FOOD, STUDY SUGGESTS
«Studies have previously investigated dietary patterns in the context of specific diseases or how long people live. Ours takes a multifaceted view, asking, how does diet impact people’s ability to live independently and enjoy a good quality of life as they age?» said co-corresponding author Frank Hu, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology..

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting ‘Misinformation and Lies’

WASHINGTON — The top vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations.

Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

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In his letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said he was “willing to work” to address the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that wasn’t possible.

“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote.

Read More: What Is SNAP and What Challenges Is It Facing Under the Trump Administration?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Servi..

New class of antibiotics discovered for first time in decades

For the first time in three decades, researchers believe they have identified a new class of antibiotics.
Teams at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada and the University of Illinois, Chicago — led by researcher Gerry Wright — collaborated in the discovery of lariocidin, which was found to be effective against drug-resistant bacteria.
The results were published this week in the journal Nature.
SUPERBUGS DUE TO ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE COULD KILL 39 MILLION PEOPLE BY 2050, LARGE STUDY FINDS
Lariocidin is a lasso peptide, a string of amino acids in a lasso shape that attacks bacteria and keeps it from growing and surviving, according to a McMaster press release.
It is produced by a type of bacteria called Paenibacillus, which the researchers retrieved from a local backyard soil sample and cultivated in a lab for one year.
Paenibacillus was found to produce a new substance that attacks antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
«Lariocidine is not susceptible to many of the mechanisms that make diseas..

A Texas Bill Claims to Clarify Near-Total Abortion Bans. Advocates Say It Won’t

Texas has one of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country, banning abortion in nearly all situations with very limited exceptions. Since the near-total ban went into effect, several women in the state have shared stories and filed lawsuits, saying that they were denied critical care while experiencing pregnancy complications. On March 14, one of the lawmakers behind the state’s restrictive abortion laws introduced a bill seeking to clarify medical exceptions.

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But some abortion-rights advocates and legal experts say the bill won’t do what it claims to, and even worry that it could open the door to prosecuting pregnant people and people who help patients access abortions.

Here’s what to know.

What is current Texas law?

The only exception to Texas’ abortion ban is if a person is experiencing a “life-threatening” medical emergency “that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily f..

Are You a Hostile Punctuator???

Before you write off punctuation as little more than a dot, a line, or some combination of both, consider: A period can end a conversation—or an entire relationship. One too many question marks can make the recipient ask themselves if they really want to keep talking to you. Forgetting an exclamation point can spark the wrong kind of excitement.

As digital communication has evolved, punctuation’s job description has gotten more demanding. When you fire off a text or Slack message, “You don’t have the context we have with spoken language,” says Anne Curzan, a professor of English, linguistics, and education at the University of Michigan. “You don’t have facial expressions, you don’t have tone, you don’t have the shared context of a physical space and gestures.” Is the person you’re talking to happy? Are they joking? Are they angry? Are they drop-dead serious? If you were face-to-face, “You’d have all of this context to be able to figure it out,” she says. “In texting, you have very lit..

Are full-body scans worth the money? Doctors share what you should know

With celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton singing the praises of full-body MRI scans, a growing number of people are coughing up the cash for the preventive measure — but is the peace of mind worth the hefty price tag?
Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, more commonly known as «Dr. Mike,» is a podcaster and primary care physician in New Jersey. He recently spoke about full-body scans with Andrew Lacy, CEO of Prenuvo, one of the biggest providers of full-body scans.
«I have to say, I'm certainly intrigued by the technology and I'm in love with the concept of catching diseases earlier so that we can have more success with treatment,» Dr. Mike said during the podcast.
THESE 8 HEALTH SCREENINGS SHOULD BE ON YOUR CALENDAR FOR 2024, ACCORDING TO DOCTORS
«However, I am still not sold that this is what the Prenuvo scan has proven to deliver. In the day and age where we find ourselves, folks want more out of healthcare than we can yet deliver.»
Full-body scans use different technol..

The New CDC Study on Vaccines and Autism Should Take a Radical Approach

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reportedly has plans to perform a large study on a “possible connection” between vaccines and autism—a topic of interest to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, despite plenty of research showing no such connection exists.

During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy was asked by Republican senator and physician Bill Cassidy about his views on vaccines and autism. “Will you reassure mothers unequivocally and without qualification that the measles and the hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism?” Cassidy asked.

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“If the data is there, I will absolutely do that,” Kennedy replied.

Of course, the data is there—in abundance. There is ample scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism. Yet Kennedy and those who discount this research claim that it is either flawed or insufficient to disprove a possible link. That raises the question: could more “data” change t..

Why Food Chemicals Are a Problem—And How to Reduce Your Exposure

Americans are worried about the chemicals in their food, and some politicians are expressing the same concerns. In January, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted that the food supply is “poisoning” people, while Dr. Marty Makary, the new Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said during his Senate hearing in early March that chemical additives in food are “drugging our nation’s children at scale.” He promised to “look at” chemicals as causes for inflammation and disease.

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Just 150 years ago, most food came from local farms and markets down the road from people’s homes. Today, it materializes from thousands of miles away, filled with cryptic, unpronounceable ingredients, many of them chemicals. Research points to potential consequences. “There is extensive evidence that synthetic chemicals, unintentionally and intentionally added to food, contribute to chronic disease across the lifespan,” says Dr. Leonardo Trasande..

Dangerous fungus spreading in US hospitals has ‘rapidly increased’

A dangerous fungus spreading among U.S. healthcare systems isn’t slowing down, reports claim.
New research has revealed that Candida auris (C. auris) has spread rapidly in hospitals since it was first reported in 2016.
In March 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported more than 4,000 new clinical cases of C. auris, dubbing it an «urgent antimicrobial (AR) threat.»
SHAMPOO RECALLED FOR BACTERIA CONTAMINATION THAT COULD CAUSE INFECTION
The fungus can be resistant to multiple antifungal drugs and can cause «life-threatening illness.»
C. auris «spreads easily» in healthcare facilities and mostly impacts people who are already sick, the CDC stated on its website.
A new study published in the American Journal of Infection Control on March 17 analyzed clinical cultures of C. auris across the U.S. collected from 2019 to 2023.
The number of clinical cultures increased by 580% from 2019 to 2020, by 251% in 2021, by 46% in 2022, and by 7% in 2023.
FRIGHTENING NEW F..

Department of Health and Human Services Will Cut 10,000 Jobs as Part of Major Restructuring Plan

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will eliminate 10,000 jobs as part of a major restructuring plan, it announced Thursday.

Overall, the agency, which is responsible for monitoring infectious diseases, inspecting foods and hospitals and overseeing health insurance programs for nearly half the country, says it will decrease its workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 positions. That includes 10,000 in layoffs as well as another 10,000 workers who are taking early retirements or buyout offers that were given to nearly all federal employees by the Trump administration.

Most of the cuts will come from the public health agencies: The Food and Drug Administration, responsible for setting standards for Americans’ foods and medications, will shed 3,500 workers, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks infectious disease outbreaks, will cut 2,400 positions.

Meanwhile, the National Institutes for Health, the world’s leading public health research a..