Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Which Types Of Exercise Are Best For Metabolic Health? It's Not All Equal
The New York Times: Aerobic Fitness May Trump Strength For Metabolic Health
Stamina may trump strength for improving metabolic health, according to an interesting and provocative new study of the molecular effects of different aspects of fitness. The study, which was published in August in JAMA Network Open, finds that people’s aerobic endurance — or lack of it — can influence their metabolisms more potently than their muscular weakness or might, a result with implications for anyone wondering which types of exercise could be most beneficial for health. (Reynolds, 9/4)
The Wall Street Journal: Psychedelic Drugs Draw Some Investor Attention—And Much Skepticism
Psychedelic substances are gaining legitimacy as a treatment for mental illnesses, prompting a handful of entrepreneurs and venture-capital investors to look for business opportunities in the nascent sector. Still, veteran health-care investors say it is too early to jump into the market given the legal ramifications. Psilocybin, found in “magic mushrooms,” has been decriminalized in countries including the Netherlands and Portugal, but remains illegal under U.S. federal law. “We would not invest in something where we were also betting that the illegality would change,” said Bryan Roberts, a partner at Venrock Associates, one of the U.S.’s oldest venture-capital firms. “But we would absolutely invest in something that was utilizing some novel understanding of biology and generating new research into drug development.” (Mack, 9/3)
Miami Herald: Sandoz Recalls 636,000 Bottles Of Losartan And Ezetimibe
Recalls of Losartan for a carcinogen impurity have been numerous since July 2018. But that’s not why Sandoz recalled about 636,000 bottles of Losartan Postassium and cholesterol medicine Ezetimibe last week. The exact problem, as stated in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commision recall notice: “The prescription drug packaging is not child resistant as required by the Poison Prevention Packaging Act, posing a poisoning risk if swallowed by children.” (Neal, 9/3)
CNN: You May Want To Ditch Soda To Live Longer. Here Are Tips On How To
Brace yourself, lovers of diet sodas and sugary drinks. It's more bad news and yet another reason to consider ditching your favorite soda or soft drink. A new study followed more than 450,000 people from 10 European countries for up to 19 years and found those who drank two or more glasses of any type of soda a day had a higher risk of dying from any cause of death than people who drank less than a glass each month. None of the people had cancer, diabetes, heart disease or stroke before their participation. (LaMotte, 9/4)
The Washington Post: Junk Food Diet: Teen Goes ‘Blind’ After Seven Years Of Fries, White Bread And Ham
An extreme case of “fussy eating” caused blindness in a United Kingdom teenager, according to a report published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. When Denize Atan, the study’s lead author, met the 17-year-old boy at Bristol Eye Hospital, his eyesight had been deteriorating for two years. But what shocked her most was “how long the patient’s eating behaviour had persisted,” Atan wrote in an email Tuesday to The Washington Post. “By the time I first met him, he had followed the same diet for [approximately seven] years.” (Paul, 9/3)
The New York Times: Getting Your Protein From Plants May Help You Live Longer
Getting your protein from plants instead of animals could prolong your life, a new study suggests. Researchers prospectively followed 70,696 Japanese men and women, average age 55, for an average of 18 years. All had completed detailed health and diet questionnaires, and none had a history of cancer or cardiovascular disease at the start. There were 12,381 deaths over the period. (Bakalar, 9/3)
WBUR: Trees Are Key To Fighting Urban Heat — But Cities Keep Losing Them
That lack of tree cover can make a neighborhood hotter, and a joint investigation by NPR and the University of Maryland's Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found just that: Low-income areas in dozens of major U.S. cities are more likely to be hotter than their wealthier counterparts, and those areas are disproportionately communities of color. (Anderson, Eckert and McMinn, 9/4)
