Pregnancy Can Make You Age Faster
Pregnancy is a wonder of biology, but new research shows that feat may come at a price. In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists found that women who have been pregnant showed more signs of biological aging compared to women who had never been pregnant before. The more times a woman had been pregnant, the faster her rate of biological aging. “We’re learning that pregnancy has long-term effects on the body,” says Calen Ryan, associate research scientist at the Columbia University Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health. “They are not all bad,...
Source: TIME: Health - April 8, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

Most Cancer Drugs Granted Accelerated FDA Approval May Not Work
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval program is meant to give patients early access to promising drugs. But how often do these drugs actually improve or extend patients’ lives? In a new study, researchers found that most cancer drugs granted accelerated approval do not demonstrate such benefits within five years. “Five years after the initial accelerated approval, you should have a definitive answer,” said Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a cancer specialist and bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the research. “Thousands of people are gettin...
Source: TIME: Health - April 8, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Carla K. Johnson/AP Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news

Actually, It ’ s OK to Slouch
One of the latest and surprising findings in the field of physical therapy is that slouching is not as bad as we think it is. Certain researchers have gone so far as to say that the conventional fear mongering regarding poor posture can actually be more harmful than slouching itself.  Undoing over a century’s worth of public health messaging about the evils of poor posture—let alone the custom of elders telling youngsters to “sit up straight”—will be a monumental task. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] I know because I’ve spent the better part of a decade researching ...
Source: TIME: Health - April 8, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Beth Linker Tags: Uncategorized freelance Source Type: news

Evidence of Dangerous ‘ Forever Chemicals ’ Found in Bandages
Many brands of bandages may contain PFAS chemicals, according to a new report commissioned by Environmental Health News (EHN) and the consumer watchdog site Mamavation. Of the 40 bandages they analyzed in a lab, 65% contained signs of PFAS chemicals. Also known as “forever chemicals,” because that’s approximately how long they linger in the environment, there are at least 12,000 types of PFAS. The health consequences of PFAS exposure are unclear. But this class of chemicals has been linked by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increased risk of certain cancers, decreased fertility, high blood...
Source: TIME: Health - April 5, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

COVID-19 ‘Radically’ Changed the Leading Causes of Death
COVID-19 became the second leading cause of death globally in the year after it was declared a pandemic, according to a study published in the Lancet. While heart disease remained the top killer, COVID “radically altered” the main five causes of death for the first time in 30 years, displacing stroke, the publication said. In 2021, 94 in every 100,000 people died from COVID, on an age-standardized basis. Since 1990, global life expectancy increased by 6.2 years, mainly due to reductions in death from diarrhea and lower respiratory infections and better outcomes for people suffering from a stroke or ischem...
Source: TIME: Health - April 5, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alex Tanzi/Bloomberg Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news

Is It Safe to Eat Eggs and Chicken During the Bird Flu Outbreak?
The ongoing outbreak of bird flu has infected at least one person in the U.S. and has raised questions about how safe poultry and eggs are to eat right now. So far, there have been no reported cases of spread among people, or of a person contracting this strain of avian influenza (also known as H5N1) from contaminated egg or poultry products, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC says that the current public health risk is “low.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Here’s what scientists know right now about bird flu and food safety. Eggs Th...
Source: TIME: Health - April 5, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

Why Heart Disease Research Still Favors Men
Published in partnership with The Fuller Project, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to the coverage of women’s issues around the world. Katherine Fitzgerald had just arrived at the party. Before she could even get a drink, she threw up and broke out in a sweat. “I was dizzy. I couldn’t breathe. I had heart pain,” Fitzgerald says. She knew she was having a heart attack. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] What she didn’t know then was that the heart attack could have been prevented. Fitzgerald, a health-conscious, exercise-loving lawyer, should have been taking statin drugs to s...
Source: TIME: Health - April 5, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Maggie Fox Tags: Uncategorized freelance healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

Scientists Find New Genetic Variants for Obesity
Researchers believe they have discovered a new biological mechanism for obesity, pointing to rare variants on two genes that dramatically increase the risk of carrying excess weight. Research published in the journal Nature Genetics on Thursday points to variants that raise the chance of being obese by as much as six times. Unlike other known variants that affect weight gain in children, these only appear to play a role in adults. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Unraveling obesity’s mechanisms could help scientists develop new drugs, or tailor existing ones, for a condition that now affects ...
Source: TIME: Health - April 4, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ashleigh Furlong/Bloomberg Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news

How to Talk to Kids When a Parent Has Cancer
The U.S. is expected to hit a bleak milestone this year: For the first time, more than 2 million people will be diagnosed with cancer. More than 600,000 will die, according to projections from the American Cancer Society. Yet when you consider how many people are affected by a single diagnosis, those numbers balloon. As people with cancer grapple with fears about their health, they often describe being equally anxious about how their news will affect their family. When Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed on March 22 that she was being treated for cancer, she emphasized that she and her husband had “taken time t...
Source: TIME: Health - April 4, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Sarah Klein Tags: Uncategorized Evergreen freelance healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

The Menstrual Mood Disorder You ’ve Never Heard About
Ever since she was a teenager, Tanya knew her mood swings were a problem. She had periodic bouts of anger and depression that left her wanting to die. Her life was a roller coaster of highs and lows but doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Five years ago, she decided she’d had enough. She wanted to end her life. Tanya managed to talk herself out of it and instead did some googling. She stumbled across a website about premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a menstrual mood disorder, that impacts roughly 3 to 8% of menstruators. PMDD means having severe and debilitating mood swings right around one&rsq...
Source: TIME: Health - April 4, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Shalene Gupta Tags: Uncategorized freelance Source Type: news

Your Doctor ’ s Words Could Make You Sick
“You may feel a sharp pinch, but it will all be over quickly.” Before the COVID-19 jab was plunged into our arms, most of us probably heard words similar to these. After the anticipated pinch, the nurse or doctor likely told us something about possible vaccine side effects. For one of us, the nurse’s forewarning was rather specific: “Around 12 hours from now you may experience a pain in your arm or feel flu symptoms. But don’t worry,” the nurse aimed to reassure. “This can be easily managed by Tylenol.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Sure enough, like clo...
Source: TIME: Health - April 4, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Charlotte Blease, Michael Bernstein, Cosima Locher, and Walter Brown Tags: Uncategorized freelance History Source Type: news

Witness One Woman ’ s Margarita-Fueled Discovery of the Meaning of Fleetwood Mac ’ s Rumors —and Maybe Life Itself
One woman’s recent journey through Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 opus Rumors led to a truly wholesome moment online. Raven Baxter, who goes by @ravenscimaven on X (formerly Twitter), shared on Tuesday night that she heard one of the hit songs from Rumors, “Go Your Own Way,” and was shocked to learn about the drama behind it and the whole album. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Two margaritas deep, I heard a song playing called you can go your own way, and I was like wow they are really singing their ass off. Looked it up it’s two band members breaking up I am in TEARS! YOU CAN GO ...
Source: TIME: Health - April 3, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Moises Mendez II Tags: Uncategorized culturepod Source Type: news

Bird Flu Was Found in Chickens at the Largest U.S. Egg Producer
The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Ridgeland, Mississippi-based Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at a facility in Parmer County, Texas. The plant is on the Texas-New Mexico border in the Texas Panhandle abou...
Source: TIME: Health - April 3, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ken Miller/AP Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news

Hormonal Birth Control Doesn ’ t Deserve Its Bad Reputation
Almost two-thirds of U.S. women of reproductive age use some kind of contraception, according to the latest federal data. And millions of them use methods that contain hormones, including birth control pills, intrauterine devices (IUDs), rings, implants, injections, and patches. Although the specifics vary from method to method, hormonal birth control generally works by halting ovulation and/or changing conditions in the uterus or cervix to prevent pregnancy. And it works well: efficacy rates approach 100% when these methods are used correctly. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] But hormonal birth control ...
Source: TIME: Health - April 3, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized Evergreen Explainer healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

Trump Built His Brand Bashing Obamacare. Now It ’s More Popular Than He Is.
This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. A decade and a half ago, the Affordable Care Act set the stage for Donald Trump’s White House victory. The conservative backlash to Democrats’ massive and agenda-setting health care proposal was so strong that it gave rise to a newly empowered far-right faction in Congress, inspired a whole generation of angry political neophytes, and almost made Barack Obama a one-term President. Now, a solid 14 years later, those same rabble rousers seem to have convinced Trump, who spent year...
Source: TIME: Health - April 2, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Philip Elliott Tags: Uncategorized Donald Trump Source Type: news