Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Think Multivitamins Are Good For You? You May Think Again, Say Researchers
Los Angeles Times: Why You Should Think Twice Before Taking Daily Multivitamins
If you’re taking a multivitamin to help you live longer, a new study by researchers at the National Cancer Institute may prompt you to reconsider. After analyzing health and nutrition data from nearly 400,000 Americans, the researchers found that people who took multivitamins had a small but significantly greater risk of premature death than people who eschewed the supplements. The findings, reported Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, may seem baffling. (Kaplan, 6/26)
In other health and wellness news —
Stat: By The Numbers: America’s Alcohol-Related Health Problems Rising Fast
In the pit of the pandemic, with no one to see and nowhere to go, and horrors unfolding daily outside the front door, there was for many a reliable bright spot: the 5 p.m. drink that would mark the end of the workday. (Cueto and Parker, 6/27)
The Washington Post: Scientists Found Another Way We’re Exposed To ‘Forever Chemicals’: Through Our Skin
A first-of-its-kind study has found that “forever chemicals” — toxic compounds found in everyday beauty and personal care items like sunscreen, waterproof mascara and lipstick — can seep through human skin and enter the bloodstream. “If you put some of these products directly onto your skin and they contain PFAS, there’s a very high potential for them to be transferred across the skin,” said study co-author Stuart Harrad, whose research was published this week in Environment International. ... It was previously thought that PFAS were unable to breach the skin barrier. (Ajasa, 6/26)
CBS News: Smoked Salmon Sold At Kroger And Pay Less Super Market Recalled Over Listeria Risk
Foppen Seafood is recalling smoked salmon sold at Kroger and Pay Less Super Market stores in 15 states after routine tests detected listeria in the product. The recall involves Smoked Norwegian Salmon Slices — Toast-sized, 8.1-ounce, identified by lot number 412 in the clear plastic window on the front of the package, the Harderwijk, Netherlands-based company said Tuesday in a notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration. (Gibson, 6/26)
The Washington Post: What Is Avocado Hand? Injuries While Cutting Avocados Are On The Rise
Thousands of people slice their hands and fingers every year while cutting avocados, and research shows that most of these injuries occur from April through July. Hand surgeons see these injuries so often that they have a name for it: Avocado hand. Eric Wagner, a hand surgeon and associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Emory University in Atlanta, and his colleagues encountered so many patients needing hand surgery because of avocado-related knife wounds that in 2020 they published a study that examined the phenomenon’s nationwide prevalence. They found that between 1998 and 2017, more than 50,000 people in the United States went to emergency rooms seeking treatment for avocado-related knife wounds. (O'Connor, 6/26)
KFF Health News: Chorus Or Cacophony? Cicada Song Hits Some Ears Harder Than Others
Shhhooo. Wee-uuu. Chick, chick, chick. That’s the sound of three different cicada species. For some people, those sounds are the song of the summer. Others wish the insects would turn it down. The cacophony can be especially irritating for people on the autism spectrum who have hearing sensitivity. (Dyer, 6/27)
The Washington Post: Neanderthal Community Cared For Child With Down Syndrome, Fossil Suggests
The word Neanderthal is sometimes used as a synonym for stupid or brutish, but a new fossil analysis has added weight to the hypothesis that our prehistoric cousins actually had collaborative or even compassionate qualities. Evidence of a Neanderthal child with Down syndrome who survived to the age of 6 suggests the youngster was cared for by the social group, according to a new study. The piece of bone was found in the Cova Negra cave site in Spain’s Valencia region and analyzed by a research team led by Mercedes Conde-Valverde of the University of Alcalá in Madrid. The results, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, concluded that the fragment likely came from the inner ear of a 6-year-old. (Vinall, 6/27)
