Архив рубрики: Здоровье Америка

Zen Honeycutt and droves of other supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement cast their votes for President Donald Trump last year after hearing the promises that he and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, made about cracking down on pesticides and chemicals in food.

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“Many people voted for Trump because he talked about pesticides and chronic diseases in the same sentence on the campaign trail,” says Honeycutt, the founder and executive director of Moms Across America, a group linked to the MAHA movement. “It was historic. Millions of mothers and fathers heard that and we cheered and cried. We thought, ‘They’re actually going to do something about pesticides in the food supply.’”

But as the Administration has floundered in making real progress on these issues—and some Republicans in Congress push back against their agenda—MAHA supporters are voicing their frustration, and with it, a threat to take..

Plastic is everywhere in most kitchens: cling wrap seals food instantly; disposable utensils require no washing; and dishwasher pods skip the hassle of measuring powders or liquids.

All of that convenience involves a major downside, though. After plastics are used, they often break down into tiny pieces, called microplastics, that wind up in the environment and, ultimately, our bodies.

In the case of dishwasher pods, companies have tried to design the plastic films to dissolve harmlessly. Even so, some researchers are concerned these pods may persist in the environment, ultimately adding to other plastic-related exposures that science is increasingly linking to chronic diseases.

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Here’s the latest research on how dishwasher pods might affect health.

The unique plastic used in pods

Plastics production has doubled in the past two decades, and only 9% of it is successfully recycled. The resulting microplastics are so widespread, they’re found in pla..

The number of babies being born with syphilis in the U.S. kept increasing last year, even as the number of cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the country dropped, according to new government data.

The overall number of reported STI cases fell 9% in 2024 from 2023, the third year in a row that case numbers have declined, provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week shows. But cases of syphilis in newborns, also known as congenital syphilis, increased for the twelfth straight year. Nearly 4,000 cases were reported in 2024—up almost 700% since 2015, when just under 500 were reported.

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The rise in congenital syphilis cases wasn’t as steep in 2024 as it has been in previous years—just under 2% from 2023. Dr. Bradley Stoner, the director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, says that it’s promising that the rate of increase is slowing, but that the rising case numbers are still concerning.

Onl..

Gene therapy is becoming a powerful way to treat challenging diseases that don’t respond to traditional treatments, and researchers now report the first success in modifying genes to slow Huntington’s disease.

In a study reported by Uniqure, which developed the experimental gene therapy, scientists found that it slowed progression of Huntington’s disease by 75% over three years. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

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“I went into the trial cautiously optimistic but very anxious, as one does when starting a gene-therapy trial,” says Dr. Sarah Tabrizi, director of the University College London Huntington’s Disease Center and a lead investigator on the study. “I was blown away when I saw all of the data and it was very, very clear that the gene therapy worked.”

The study involved 29 patients with Huntington’s disease who were given one of two doses of gene therapy that targeted the huntingtin gene, which is mutated in the disease..

You get older every day. But how old are your cells and organs, really?

Understanding that could help us live longer, healthier lives, many longevity experts believe. Dr. Douglas Vaughan is among them. He is the director of Northwestern University’s Potocsnak Longevity Institute and its Human Longevity Laboratory, where people can go to get their so-called biological age calculated. By gleaning whether a 50-year-old person’s cells and organs look more like a 65-year-old’s—or a 30-year-old’s—scientists like Vaughan hope to pinpoint treatments and lifestyle changes to help people live healthier for longer, a notion known among longevity enthusiasts as “healthspan.”

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Vaughan believes that researchers are getting close to being able to find treatments to slow or even reverse aging in people. He says he wants to ensure that everyone benefits from these advancements and not just the ultra-rich.

“We want to find ways to slow down aging for the 99% of peopl..

Home is where the heart is, sure. It might also be where the volume-cranking, heavy-footed, parking spot-stealing neighbors are, seemingly just waiting to annoy you.

But even the most inconsiderate neighbors deserve empathy. Though it might be hard to remember in the heat of the moment, the people who live around you want to enjoy their space as much as you do yours. “So often, when our emotions get the best of us, we forget the humanity of it all,” says Lindsey Rae Ackerman, a marriage and family therapist and vice president of clinical services at Clear Behavioral Health in Los Angeles. That’s why she suggests approaching annoying neighbors with short, simple requests, and operating under the assumption that they didn’t know they were bothering you. “It’s amazing how far that goes,” she says.

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We asked experts exactly what to say when your neighbors are ruining your peace.

“Hey, I just wanted to check in. The music last night went past midnight, an..

You’re late, with no time to chop fruit or rinse lettuce before driving to work. In your race out the door, you pitstop at the pantry for a protein bar or toaster pastry. Not exactly textbook nutrition, but it’s okay, you remind yourself. Earlier, you took a multivitamin.

That multivitamin may seem like armor against a hasty, nutrient-sparse breakfast. About one-third of adults take them, and many doctors recommend them for some children and other specific groups.

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But several recent studies have found that multivitamins don’t actually improve health outcomes—with a few exceptions—and pills with too much“nutrition” might even backfire. Here’s what to know about multivitamins: when they’ll likely help, harm, or do absolutely nothing.

Multivitamins vs. nutrition

A daily multivitamin probably won’t be your savior. The bedrocks of healthy behavior are your biggest assets for staying disease-free. “Diet, exercise, and other healthy lifestyle habits mat..

President Donald Trump on Monday repeatedly urged pregnant women not to take acetaminophen, claiming that doing so is linked to a “very increased risk of autism.” His remarks—which immediately drew warnings and pushback from experts—contradicts leading medical advice that acetaminophen, when used properly, is safe during pregnancy.

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The President, who does not have a medical background, provided no new evidence to support his assertion, and many respected medical organizations—including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine—have rejected the claim, emphasizing that years of research have found no causal link between the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism. Experts have also pointed out that acetaminophen helps manage pain and fever, both of which can be very dangerous to pregnant people and fetuses if left untreated. It is the only over-the-counter medication approved to treat f..

In an announcement on Sept. 22, President Donald Trump said that using Tylenol during pregnancy increases the risk of having a baby with autism, contradicting advice from leading obstetrics experts who say the popular drug is very safe in pregnancy.

“Don’t take Tylenol. Fight like hell not to take it,” Trump said during a White House briefing.

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The president, who was flanked by U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other cabinet officials, said pregnant women shouldn’t take acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, unless they have an “extremely high fever.”

“If you can’t tough it out, if you can’t do it, that’s what you’re going to have to do,” Trump said.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists was quick to dispute Trump’s claims, saying that there was no clear evidence linking the use of acetaminophen to autism or other risks to fetal development. Other pain- and fever-reducing medicatio..

The after-school program disappeared from the Utah school where Jessica Langford sends her two older children, ages 7 and 9, in October 2024.

At first, the charter school for neuroatypical kids replaced the program that had been charging Langford’s family $200 a month with one that charged around $1,500 a month, Langford says. Then, when not enough families—including Langford’s—decided they could pay the high price, the program closed down.

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Now, Langford, a data-science engineer for a tech company, takes on the lion’s share of after-school duties, picking up her children around 3, bringing them home, and trying to get some work done while they amuse themselves. Her husband, a pharmacist, doesn’t get home until around 6, when she gets back on the computer and finishes any work she hadn’t completed during the day.

She knows she’s lucky that her job affords her this flexibility—two other families had to leave the school for places with after-school pr..