March 30, 2022 — Objectivity about the risks of drinking alcohol is not easy to find. Just like sweet beverages, alcohol has been part of human culture and a source of pleasure for thousands of years. An awareness of its health risks also has a very long history. Because humans can rationalize just about anything, we embrace assurances from […]
March 25, 2022 — Sweet drinks never cease to activate controversies. For millennia, people have enjoyed them. But that enjoyment has also long sparked a reaction from folks who find fault with enjoying them. So often, people turn to science to justify their beliefs that these sweet beverages are either a good source of refreshment or a hazard to […]
January 26, 2022 — The relationship between diabetes and COVID-19 grows more interesting by the day. Early in the pandemic, it became clear that diabetes is an important risk factor for severe complications with COVID-19. As more research emerged, it became clear that inflammation is a mediator for this risk. And now it seems that diabetes might even raise […]
January 25, 2022 — Some people really don’t like low calorie sweeteners. So once again we have a wave of fear-mongering headlines. This time, they’re suggesting that pregnant women who consume these sweeteners may harm their babies. The proposed harm is a change in the baby’s microbiome and a higher risk of obesity. The evidence? A study of rats […]
January 10, 2022 — Many of us are on an anxious journey right now. We know that being older, or living with a condition like obesity, means added risks for COVID. So we’ve been careful. But now the Omicron variant adds a bit of uncertainty because it is so contagious and so many people are getting the infection. Yet, […]
August 20, 2021 — Between 2011 and 2019, the rate of gestational diabetes rose from 48 to 64 cases per 1,000. The rate rose across all racial and ethnic subgroups. But the risk is highest for Asian Indian individuals – twice the risk in the non-Hispanic White population. These data, published in JAMA this week, raise a note of […]
April 30, 2021 — As the UK variant (B.1.1.7) became dominant in the U.S., something else started to change. More young people started showing up in the hospital. In fact, COVID wards are filling up with younger patients in Michigan. This may simply be a result of more infections in young people. Teens in Michigan are testing positive at […]
April 19, 2021 — Does staying active reduce the risk of severe outcomes with COVID-19? A new study suggests this possibility. In fact, the authors of this study found that being inactive was a top risk factor for landing in the hospital or dying from COVID-19. Only advanced age or an organ transplant had higher risks. This makes sense. […]
February 6, 2021 — For some time now, speculation about the impact of COVID-19 on obesity risk in children has been plentiful. It makes sense. COVID has turned the lives of kids and their parents upside down. On top of that, models suggest childhood obesity rates could go up markedly. However, these were projections and speculation. So we have […]
January 28, 2021 — Media images of good health are a tricky business. On one hand, fashion and lifestyle businesses are feeling pressure to include more diversity in the imagery they blast at us. But when they do, guardians of public health protest. So we have debates about what is healthy to show people in Cosmopolitan. Or the health […]
