If you need another reason to brush and floss, here it is: Research suggests keeping your mouth healthy might also protect your brain and heart.
Two new studies published Oct. 22 in Neurology Open Access linked gum disease and cavities to a higher risk of stroke and brain damage.
In the first study, adults with gum disease were more likely to have white matter changes in their brains.
“Gum disease is associated with a higher chance of inflammation, and inflammation has been tied to atherosclerosis as well as hardening of the small blood vessels, as we saw in this study,” study author Dr. Souvik Sen, a professor of neurology at the University of South Carolina, told CBS News.
In the second study, Sen’s team found that people with both gum disease and cavities had an 86% higher risk of stroke compared to those with healthy teeth and gums.
“If you have cavities on top of gum disease, it is double trouble. It means your risk of stroke or adverse heart event doubles,” Sen explained.
The good news: Regular oral care can make a big difference.
Brushing and flossing daily, along with routine dental visits, were linked to an 81% lower risk of stroke among participants who maintained those healthy oral habits, Sen said.
While the research does not prove that poor oral health directly causes stroke, it adds to growing evidence that inflammation in the mouth may play a role in heart and brain health.
Globally, 3.5 billion people suffer from gum disease or cavities, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Further, more than 795,000 Americans have a stroke each year, according to the American Heart Association. Experts say maintaining healthy teeth and gums could be one simple way to reduce that risk.
About 35% of U.S. adults are deficient in vitamin D, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This fat-soluble vitamin is essential for helping the body absorb calcium, supporting bone strength, and boosting immune function. You can get vitamin D naturally from sunlight, fatty fish, fortified dairy products, and supplements.
But experts warn that you can, in fact, get too much of a good thing. High doses of vitamin D can trigger dangerous side effects—including nausea, vomiting, kidney stones, and even death, reports Eating Well.
How Toxicity Happens
Vitamin D deficiency often leads people to overcompensate with supplements, sometimes taking far more than their bodies need. Unlike water-soluble vitamins that flush out easily, vitamin D builds up in fat tissue. Over time, this can cause dangerously high blood calcium levels, especially when very large doses are taken for several months.
“Vitamin D acts like a hormone in the body,” experts note, which is why excess intake can disrupt normal function and damage organs.
Warning Signs of Vitamin D Overload
Symptoms of vitamin D toxicity may include:
Persistent nausea
Vomiting
Weakness
Frequent urination
Confusion
Dehydration
Elevated calcium levels, which can cause kidney stones or organ damage
If left untreated, vitamin D toxicity can progress to kidney failure, irregular heartbeat, and even death. Anyone experiencing these symptoms while taking supplements should seek medical advice immediately.
How Much Is Too Much?
The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin D varies by age and health status:
Children, teens, and adults up to age 70: 600 IU daily
Adults over 70: 800 IU daily
In general, experts say you should not exceed 4,000 IU per day from all sources unless directed by a healthcare professional.
Safer Ways to Get Vitamin D
Whenever possible, aim to meet your vitamin D needs through food and safe sun exposure. A simple blood test can reveal your vitamin D levels, allowing your doctor to provide personalized recommendations.
Rising Heart Disease Rates in Younger Adults: Causes, Risks, and Prevention.
Think heart disease only affects older adults? Think again. More adults under 40 are experiencing heart problems than ever before, and the trend is concerning OU Health experts.
“We’re seeing younger patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and even heart attacks,” said OU Health cardiologist Dr. Stavros Stavrakis, M.D., PhD, associate professor of cardiology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. “The reality is that heart disease doesn’t suddenly appear at 60. It develops gradually over decades, often beginning in your 20s and 30s.”
In Oklahoma, heart disease trends among younger adults paint a concerning picture. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, cardiovascular disease is now the third leading cause of death for Oklahomans aged 25-44, with rates consistently higher than the national average. The state has seen a 30% increase in heart disease-related hospitalizations among adults under 45 over the past decade, reflecting a troubling shift toward earlier onset of cardiovascular problems.
Nationally, the American Heart Association reports that heart attacks are becoming more common in adults under 40, with a 2% annual increase in heart disease-related hospitalizations for this age group since 2018. More alarmingly, studies show that 1 in 5 heart attacks now occur in adults aged 40 or younger, a significant jump from just a decade ago when this age group accounted for only 1 in 10 cases.
What’s Behind the Trend?
Risk factors like obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes are appearing earlier in life, with nearly half of adults aged 20-44 having at least one major cardiovascular risk factor.
Several lifestyle factors common among young adults also contribute to early heart disease:
Prolonged sitting and screen time
High-stress jobs and poor work-life balance
Processed food-heavy diets
Vaping and tobacco use
Inconsistent sleep patterns
Delayed medical check-ups
“Many young adults have never had their cholesterol checked or don’t know their blood pressure,” Dr. Stavrakis said. “These simple screenings can reveal early warning signs before problems develop.”
The good news? Most risk factors are within your control. Small changes now can significantly impact your heart health later:
Taking Control of Your Heart Health
Taking control of your heart health begins with scheduling an annual physical with a basic heart health screening. However, lifestyle changes also play a major role in the continued health of the heart. Small changes to make include:
Move more throughout the day–even short walks count
Choose whole foods over processed options
Prioritize 7-8 hours of quality sleep
Find healthy stress management techniques
Know your family history
Red Flags Young Adults Shouldn’t Ignore:
Oklahomans of any age should be aware of the warning signs of heart disease, which can include:
Unexplained fatigue
Shortness of breath during normal activities
Heart palpitations
Chest discomfort or pressure
High blood pressure readings
Family history of early heart disease
“The choices you make in your 20s and 30s lay the foundation for your heart health later in life,” said Dr. Stavrakis. “It’s much easier to prevent heart disease than to treat it once it develops.”
Quick Heart Health Check
When was your last blood pressure check?
Do you know your cholesterol numbers?
Have you discussed your family history with your doctor?
Are you getting regular physical activity?
How’s your stress level?
Ready to Take Charge of Your Heart Health?
OU Health’s comprehensive heart care team specializes in early detection and prevention. Our experts can help you understand your personal risk factors and develop a plan to protect your heart health for decades to come.
OU Health Physicians Cardiology, Pulmonary & Vascular Medicine Clinic brings together Oklahoma’s most comprehensive team of heart and vascular specialists, combining advanced technology with pioneering research to deliver exceptional cardiac care. As the state’s only comprehensive academic health system, OU Health provides access to groundbreaking clinical trials and the latest treatment options while training the next generation of cardiovascular specialists.
OU Health’s multidisciplinary approach means patients benefit from collaborative care that includes preventive cardiology, advanced diagnostic testing, minimally invasive procedures, and complex surgical interventions, all available in one integrated system.
Medically speaking. Florida making a mistake on vaccines?
This is not a political question, but a medical. Please do not bring politics into this. If you do, I will delete your comment.
Florida is scrapping all vaccine mandates. That includes scrapping immunization requirements, including hepatitis B, polio, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and chickenpox, for all Florida schools.
I agree that with COVID Vaccines that would be the right move, but I disagree with the children’s vaccines.
Joseph Ladapo’s announcement came in conjunction with the establishment of the Florida Make America Healthy Again commission, which will be chaired by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Jay Collins.
At the press conference in the Tampa suburb of Valrico, Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the commission will focus on tenets that include “individual medical freedom, informed consent, parent rights and also market innovation.”
Most Pain Patients Quit Medical Weed Within a Year.
More than half of people prescribed medical weed for chronic muscle or joint pain quit using it within a year, a new small-scale study says.
About 58% of a group of 78 Pennsylvania patients certified for medical cannabis decided to discontinue treatment within a year, researchers report in the journal PLOS One.
In fact, nearly half (45%) stop using weed within the first three months of trying it, results show.
These high drop-off rates indicate that “despite growing enthusiasm and widespread adoption, medical cannabis does not meet expectations for a significant subset of chronic pain patients,” researcher Dr. Asif Ilyas, a professor of orthopedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, said in a news release.
For the study, researchers tracked the 78 pain patients for two years to see how they fared using medical marijuana. The patients all were treated at the Rothman Orthopedic Institute in Philadelphia between October 2022 and December 2024.
Results showed that people who quit using weed for their pain were about as healthy as those who remained on the treatment.
Likewise, where a person was feeling their pain — in the low back, neck, joints, muscles or elsewhere — was not associated with the odds they’d stop using weed, researchers said.
Instead, a complex mix of reasons is likely behind why people gave up on medical weed, researchers said.
Some might become dissatisfied with the treatment, while others might not like the side effects, researchers said. Others might decide to pursue more time-tested treatments like injections or surgery.
“These results are consistent with previous studies, which have shown mixed responses to medical cannabis treatment in chronic pain patients,” the researchers wrote. “While some patients report significant relief, others may not find sufficient therapeutic benefit, leading to early discontinuation.”
There was one major difference between those who kept on medical weed and those who dropped it — the patient’s age. Those who stopped using weed were seven years older, with an average age of 72 compared with 65 for those who stayed with it.
“Older adults may be more cautious in using alternative therapies like medical cannabis due to concerns about long-term effects or a preference for more conventional treatments,” researchers wrote.
Researchers point out that they did not gather specific details about the type of cannabis products that patients used, nor did the study collect data on improvements in function and pain.
“These findings suggest that while medical cannabis may offer benefits for some patients, further research is needed to better understand the long-term effects of medical cannabis on pain management and patient satisfaction, as well as the factors influencing treatment adherence,” the researchers wrote.
Looking for a few good men and women to write articles.
We need a few folks who would be interested in writing non-political articles for this website. If you are interested, please let me know at the email below.
The format here is WordPress. The only type of articles that are not permitted are religious and articles of a sexual nature. Civility is a must and personal attacks are not permitted.
Type of articles.
Feel good, Music, Medical, Social Interests, TV/Movies, Science. Nothing Political
US Obesity-Related Cancer Deaths More Than Tripled.
Cancer deaths linked to obesity more than tripled in the U.S. during the past two decades, a new study says.
Deaths linked to the 13 types of obesity-related cancer rose to 13.5 deaths per million from 3.7 deaths per million between 1999 and 2020, researchers reported Sunday at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco.
“Obesity is a significant risk factor for multiple cancers, contributing to significant mortality,” said lead researcher Dr. Faizan Ahmed of Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City, N.J.
“This research underscores the need for targeted public health strategies such as early screening and improved access to care, especially in high-risk rural and underserved areas,” Ahmed added in a news release.
More than 40% of U.S. adults have obesity, and obesity-related cancers represent 40% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, researchers said in background notes.
These include esophageal, breast, colon, uterine, gallbladder, stomach, kidney, liver, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid and brain cancers, as well as the blood cancer multiple myeloma, researchers said.
For the new study, researchers used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track more than 33,500 deaths from obesity-related cancers.
Overall, obesity-related cancer deaths rose by nearly 6% a year on average between 1999 and 2000, results show.
Between 2018 and 2020 the death rate took a dramatic turn upward, rising by more than 19% on average, researchers said.
The study revealed sharp increases in obesity-related cancer deaths among specific groups, including women, seniors, Black people, Native Americans, and folks living in rural areas.
The Midwest had the highest rate of obesity-related cancer deaths at nearly 8 per million, while the Northeast had the lowest at under 6 per million, results show.
Vermont, Minnesota and Oklahoma had the highest state-specific rates of obesity-related cancer deaths, while Utah, Alabama and Virginia had the lowest.
“Given these trends, targeted public health interventions, including preventive measures, early screening, and equitable healthcare access, are pivotal,” researchers concluded in their presentation abstract.
Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
RFK Jr. Announces “Health Insurance Breakthrough” That Affects Nearly 260 million Americans.
Here’s what’s changing—and why it could save you time, stress, and money.
By The Vigilant Fox.
In a press conference on Monday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced a landmark agreement with the nation’s largest health insurers to tackle the number one healthcare problem plaguing hundreds of millions of Americans: prior authorization.
Prior authorization is the requirement for doctors and patients to get advance approval from insurance companies BEFORE certain treatments, tests, or procedures are covered. It was meant to control costs, but for 85% of Americans, it’s become a serious barrier to care.
“Doctors like myself are continually struggling with this issue,” Dr. Oz said, explaining how the bureaucratic process not only delays treatment but deeply frustrates both providers and patients.
In 2023 alone, Medicare Advantage (which covers about 32 million people) initially denied 3.2 million prior authorization requests. Dr. Oz made clear these are not just numbers: they represent “individuals who often, in the most vulnerable time in their lives, needed something done and it was denied.”
The burden also falls heavily on physicians. On average, doctors spend 12 hours per week on paperwork, handling about 40 prior authorization cases weekly. Dr. Oz said it contributes to burnout, slows down care, and “erodes public trust in the health care system.”
But under RFK Jr.’s leadership, things are changing for the better.
An HHS press release announced today that “health insurers pledged six key reforms aimed at cutting red tape, accelerating care decisions, and enhancing transparency for patients and providers.”
These changes aim to ensure that patients and their doctors no longer have to battle insurance companies just to access common treatments like imaging, outpatient surgery, or physical therapy.
The cooperating insurers include UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, The Cigna Group, Centene Corporation, Elevance Health, Highmark Health, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and GuideWell, along with the industry trade group AHIP.
Participating insurers (which cover nearly 80% of Americans) have committed to:
• Standardize electronic prior authorization submissions using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®)-based application programming interfaces.
• Reduce the volume of medical services subject to prior authorization by January 1, 2026.
• Honor existing authorizations during insurance transitions to ensure continuity of care.
• Enhance transparency and communication around authorization decisions and appeals.
• Expand real-time responses to minimize delays in care with real-time approvals for most requests by 2027.
• Ensure medical professionals review all clinical denials.
“These commitments represent a step in the right direction toward restoring trust, easing burdens on providers, and helping patients receive timely, evidence-based care,” said Dr. Oz.
Editorial credit: Poetra.RH / Shutterstock.com
Eric Dane, best known for playing Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan on Grey’s Anatomy, then took the stage.
Speaking not as an actor but as a patient, Dane revealed he is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), a condition where the nervous system progressively breaks down, causing the body’s muscles to weaken and eventually stop working.
Dane described how a diagnosis like ALS brings “great uncertainty” and warned that unnecessary prior authorization only adds more stress to an already devastating situation.
“Anything we can do to give patients more certainty with fewer delays is a worthwhile endeavor,” he said. Though grateful for his ability to access top-tier care, Dane acknowledged, “I’m lucky. Not everyone is in the same position.”
He thanked CMS, HHS, and insurers for taking action, adding, “Today is about all those who need more certainty, faster answers, and more hope for recovery.”
When RFK Jr. stepped up to the podium, he shared that during the presidential transition, he was told the single most important thing he could do to improve the patient experience in America was to “end the scourge of pre-authorization.”
And that’s what Kennedy did by bringing together the nation’s largest health insurers and securing a landmark agreement to overhaul the system.
Kennedy shared a chilling account of what would happen when doctors dared to put patients before insurance company policies.
He described a patient from New Jersey who was suffering from severe heart failure and was transferred to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for a life-saving transplant.
The transplant itself had been approved by the insurance company, but shockingly, the mechanical heart pump needed to keep the patient alive until the transplant could take place was denied.
With the patient already in the operating room, the medical team faced an impossible choice: follow the insurer’s decision and let the patient die, or act to save his life, risking their careers. They chose to implant the device.
The patient survived and ultimately received the transplant. But Kennedy revealed that “my friend—the doctor—was then sued by the insurance company” for defying the denial.
That lawsuit was later dropped, but Kennedy said the ordeal highlights the madness of a system that punishes doctors for putting patients ahead of insurance companies.
In case health insurers decide to flake out, Kennedy outlined the safeguards in place to ensure they follow through on their new prior authorization reforms—something he acknowledged they’ve failed to do in the past.
“This time is very, very different,” he said. One reason is scale: “257 million patients are covered by the group that we met with this morning,” Kennedy noted, calling it “unprecedented.”
But what truly sets this effort apart, Kennedy explained, is structure. “We have standards this time. We have deliverables. We have specificity on those deliverables. We have metrics. We have deadlines. And we have oversight.”
Kennedy ended his speech by calling the prior authorization reform a “monumental accomplishment”—a breakthrough decades in the making.
He highlighted that Congressman Greg Murphy has been fighting to address this issue for 35 years, and now, real change is underway.
Kennedy thanked the insurance companies and hospital systems for stepping up, and gave special credit to President Trump for providing the leadership that made the agreement possible.
“We hope to see the dividends of this success story immediately materialize, as a better experience for the American, for millions, hundreds of millions, literally, of American patients,” Kennedy said.
SUMMARY:
• 85% of Americans have been affected by prior authorization delays, making it the top complaint from both patients and doctors, according to Dr. Oz.
• In 2023, Medicare Advantage denied 3.2 million prior authorization requests—often for urgent, life-saving care.
• Doctors spend an average of 12 hours a week handling about 40 prior authorization cases, contributing to burnout and delayed treatment.
• RFK Jr. secured a landmark agreement with insurers covering 257 million Americans to overhaul the prior authorization system.
• Six major reforms were pledged: standardizing electronic submissions, reducing services requiring approval by 2026, honoring authorizations during plan changes, improving transparency, expanding real-time decisions by 2027, and ensuring clinical denials are reviewed by medical professionals.
• Unlike past efforts, this deal includes clear metrics, deadlines, and CMS oversight to hold insurers accountable. “We have standards… and we have oversight,” Kennedy said.
• Kennedy called it a “monumental accomplishment” and a long-overdue fix for a broken system.
Oregano is typically a popular garnish for pizza and a variety of Mediterranean dishes, but what other potential uses does this herb have? While oregano is commonly notorious in the culinary world for enhancing the flavor profiles of various types of cuisine, I have found that it can also provide an extensive range of medicinal benefits.
There are three types of oregano: fresh, dried, and in the form of an essential oil. In regard to culinary uses, oregano has become a common ingredient in many Italian, Mexican, and Greek dishes and is often paired with basil as it complements it very well, especially in pizza. Dried oregano is often present in processed foods and drinks such as certain alcoholic beverages, tomato sauces, meat and meat products, condiments and relishes, snack foods, and milk products.
Oregano contains rich sources of antioxidants, which slows the aging of cells and helps fight infection, along with vitamin K, which aids in the promotion of bone growth, maintenance of bone density, and the production of blood clotting proteins. It also provides iron, manganese, vitamin E, iron, calcium, omega fatty acids, manganese, and tryptophan. The high fiber content present in oregano binds to bile salts and cancer-causing toxins present in the colon and eliminates them from the body. As a result, the body is forced to produce more bile salts to break down cholesterol, which will aid in reducing high cholesterol levels and therefore may help decrease the risk of colon cancer.
This herb has been found to possibly contribute to a wide array of medicinal uses. Oregano in the form of an essential oil possesses antimicrobial, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Some healing uses include treating foot or nail fungus, killing parasites and infections, and alleviating sinus infections and colds. Utilization of oregano essential oil also supplies health benefits to both the respiratory and immune systems. It helps prevent and treat infections including urinary tract infections (UTIs), respiratory, yeast, and parasitic infections, and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. It has shown promise in preventing the onset of food-borne illnesses caused by pathogens such as Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli, and Shigella dysenteric. Additionally, antiseptic characteristics are present in oregano essential oils, which are beneficial in practices of aromatherapy due to the relief of coughs and respiratory illnesses provided through the steam method of this oil. Other aromatic advantages of oregano oil are warding off insects, relieving bug bites and poison ivy rashes, helping with the healing process of cold sores and dandruff, easing sore throats and toothaches, and relieving muscle and joint pain, rheumatoid arthritis, sprains, and cramps. Further benefits of oregano oil include working as an anti-inflammatory agent for osteoporosis and arteriosclerosis and slowing down or preventing the progression of breast cancer. Lastly, different studies on oregano oil have shown that it is used to help treat the following illnesses and conditions: acne, bronchitis, bloating, headaches, heart conditions, allergies, intestinal parasites, earaches, fatigue, and menstrual cramps. However, it is imperative to note that additional research in the future is necessary to back these particular health claims.
Next time you are savoring a slice of pizza or your favorite Mediterranean dish, consider topping it with oregano to reap the numerous health benefits that this herb provides!
New BlooCeliac disease patients currently must make themselves sicker before they’re able to seek treatment.
The tests now used to diagnose celiac disease require patients to eat gluten, the protein that provokes an autoimmune reaction, then chart their response.
But a new blood test promises to change all that, researchers reported.
The test looks for a specific immune response to gluten within a person’s blood, and can detect celiac disease even if a person is on a gluten-free diet for their GI symptoms, researchers reported recently in the journal Gastroenterology.
“There are likely millions of people around the world living with undiagnosed celiac disease simply because the path to diagnosis is difficult, and at times, debilitating,” said senior researcher Jason Tye-Din, head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute’s Celiac Research Laboratory in Parkville, Australia.
“This new test promises to simplify and speed up accurate diagnosis, while also avoiding the suffering that comes with eating gluten for extended periods to reactivate celiac disease,” he added in a news release.
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which eating gluten causes the immune system to attack and damage the small intestine. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.
Researchers developed the test based on an unexpected discovery in 2019, when a team found that the immune marker interleukin 2 spikes in the bloodstream of people with celiac disease after they eat gluten.
Based on this, the researchers created a test that provokes this immune response by exposing blood samples to gluten in a test tube.
For the new study, researchers tried out their blood test on samples from 181 volunteers recruited at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia.
The volunteers included 75 celiac patients on a gluten-free diet; 13 people with untreated celiac disease; 32 people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity; and 61 healthy folks to serve as a control group.
As expected, the IL-2 signal only increased in the blood of volunteers with celiac disease, demonstrating that the immune response can be detected in a test tube, researchers said.
The test proved 90% accurate in identify people with celiac disease, and 97% accurate in ruling out folks who don’t have the disorder, results show.
“We also found the strength of the IL-2 signal correlated with the severity of a patient’s symptoms, allowing us to predict how severely a person with celiac disease might react to gluten, without them actually having to eat it,” lead investigator Olivia Moscatelli, a doctoral student at the University of Melbourne, said in a news release.
Moscatelli herself was diagnosed with celiac disease at 18, and said she’s thrilled with the results.
“This breakthrough is deeply personal as it could spare others from the grueling diagnostic process I had to endure,” she said. “Knowing I’ve played a role in this achievement is a powerful, full-circle moment.”
However, the technology used by the researchers is highly sensitive and can detect the IL-2 signal at very low levels, meaning this test currently is out of reach for most pathology labs, the team noted.
“It’s like the equivalent of being able to detect a single grain of sand in a swimming pool,” Moscatelli said.
Researchers said future studies should see whether similar blood tests could be used to detect other conditions, including type 1 diabetes, cancer, transplant rejection and infectious diseases.
Heartburn, a common condition characterized by a burning sensation in the chest or throat due to acid reflux, affects millions of people globally. As the population ages, it becomes increasingly common, with certain age-related factors contributing to its progression.
Heartburn happens when stomach acid travels up into the esophagus, the tube that connects your mouth to your stomach. As we age, several physiological and lifestyle factors contribute to the worsening of heartburn symptoms. Gastroenterologists say there are three main reasons for this, says HuffPost Life.
• Weakening of muscles. The lower esophageal sphincter, a muscular ring at the junction of the esophagus and stomach, plays a critical role in preventing stomach acid from refluxing into the esophagus. With age, this muscle can weaken, leading to increased susceptibility to acid reflux. Factors such as prolonged physical strain, obesity, and dietary habits exacerbate this weakening.
Aging can also impair esophageal motility, the coordinated movement of muscles that helps transport food and liquids from the mouth to the stomach. Reduced motility slows down the clearance of stomach acid from the esophagus, prolonging exposure and exacerbating symptoms of heartburn.
• Medications. Older adults are more likely to take medications that can exacerbate heartburn, including blood pressure meds, such as nitrates and calcium channel blockers. Erectile dysfunction medications and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can also increase the risk for heartburn.
• Weight gain. Age can also bring changes to dietary preferences and lifestyle habits, such as reduced physical activity and the consumption of large meals, which can cause weight gain and increase the risk of heartburn. Research shows that both men and women gain an average of between half a pound to one pound every year, says HuffPost Life. Popular weight loss drugs called GLP-1 agonists like Ozempic and Mounjaro have been associated with reflux because they delay emptying the stomach.
How to Prevent and Manage Heartburn
While heartburn may worsen with age, it is not inevitable. There are effective strategies to alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life. Pay attention to what foods seem to cause heartburn. Foods such as citrus fruits, fatty meals, caffeine, and alcohol are common triggers, and older adults may be more sensitive to these due to a slower metabolism,
Eating smaller meals and maintaining a balanced diet can help reduce heartburn episodes. Incorporating high-fiber foods and staying hydrated are essential for digestive health. Older adults should consult healthcare providers to review their medications and identify those that may contribute to heartburn. Alternatives or adjustments may be recommended.
Eat your last meal at least two hours before bedtime, say experts. When you go to bed, elevate your upper body up to 30 degrees by using a wedge or pillow, suggests Dr. Ali Kazemi, a gastroenterologist with Gastro Health in Virginia. If these lifestyle measures don’t do the trick, speak to your doctor about medication to ease heartburn.
FDA Approves First Blood Test to Detect Alzheimer’s.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it has cleared Fujirebio Diagnostics’ blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, making it the first of its kind to detect the condition.
Blood testing is initially likely to be used to rule out Alzheimer’s, with positive results signaling the need for more advanced diagnostics.
Alzheimer’s, which gradually destroys memory and thinking skills, is characterized by changes in the brain including buildup of amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles that result in loss of neurons responsible for transmitting information.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it has cleared Fujirebio Diagnostics’ blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, making it the first of its kind to detect the condition.
Blood testing is initially likely to be used to rule out Alzheimer’s, with positive results signaling the need for more advanced diagnostics.
Alzheimer’s, which gradually destroys memory and thinking skills, is characterized by changes in the brain including buildup of amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles that result in loss of neurons responsible for transmitting information.
You make the call. You Could Live to 100 If You Can Pass This Test.
Lynn C. Allison. Author.
A simple test can help gauge longevity. Research published in the journal Clinical Interventions in Aging found that grip strength is “an indispensable biomarker for older adults.” Grip strength refers to the measure of force exerted by the hand and forearm muscles when gripping an object. It is a simple yet powerful indicator of overall muscle health, which can reflect the body’s physical condition.
Studies have shown that reduced grip strength is associated with frailty, decreased mobility, and a higher risk of falls among older adults. Furthermore, it can indicate underlying health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, or neurological disorders, which often become more prevalent with age.
In a Canadian study, researchers examined the connection between grip strength and mortality in 140,000 adults. They found that poor hand grip strength was linked to a higher risk of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and death.
Grip is also an indicator of cognitive and mental health. A 2022 study found that increased grip strength was associated with better cognitive function, less depression and anxiety, and higher life satisfaction.
Researchers have found that individuals with weaker grip strength are more likely to experience early mortality, slower recovery from illnesses, and a diminished quality of life. Conversely, those with stronger grip strength tend to enjoy longer, healthier lives.
The simplicity of the grip strength test using a dynameter makes it a convenient and cost-effective tool for assessing aging and longevity across diverse populations.
According to Eat This, Not That! you can test your grip strength at home, without the need for a dynameter, by simply squeezing a tennis ball. Researcher Joshua Davidson, of the University of Derby in England, developed this test.
Grab a tennis ball in one hand and squeeze for as long as you can before being fatigued. Try to squeeze the ball for 15 to 30 seconds. If you can perform this test successfully, it’s one measure that could predict you may live to 100, according to research.
But don’t lose heart if you didn’t pass the test. You can improve your grip strength, says GoodRx. Some of those moves might already be part of your fitness routine. For example, functional exercises –– such as deadlifts, woodchops, and pull-ups on a bar –– engage your hands and other muscle groups.
“Our study highlights the significant burden of cardiovascular disease in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, which disproportionately affect women,” said senior researcher Dr. Heba Wassif, director of cardio-rheumatology at the Cleveland Clinic.
“It is critical to screen for and address cardiovascular risk factors early, at the time of diagnosis and periodically thereafter,” she said in a news release.
Women are two to three times more likely than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis, and about nine times more likely to develop lupus, researchers said in background notes.
Systemic sclerosis also is more common among women than men, researchers said. That autoimmune disease involves the tightening and hardening of skin, potentially affecting the digestive tract, blood vessels and internal organs.
For the study, researchers analyzed data for more than 127,000 heart disease-related deaths among more than 281,000 deaths associated with the three common autoimmune diseases between 1999 and 2020.
Overall, heart disease deaths declined for people with these autoimmune disorders, from 3.9 to 2.1 per 100,000 in women and from 1.7 to 1.2 per 100,000 in men between 1999 and 2020, results show.
However, the death rate remains higher among women compared to men, despite the overall reduction in deaths.
Stroke and clogged arteries were the main causes of heart-related death in autoimmune patients, and women died from both at higher rates than men.
Women also were more than twice as likely to die from irregular heart rhythms or cardiac arrest, researchers found.
People with rheumatoid arthritis had the highest heart-related death rate, results show.
“There is a common perception that people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases primarily die from infections or kidney disease,” lead study author Dr. Issam Motairek, an internal medicine resident at Cleveland Clinic, said in a news release.
“However, our study revealed that one-third of deaths in this population were due to cardiovascular disease, highlighting the significant burden of heart disease in these patients,” he added.
“This study reinforces the need to investigate drivers of these disparities between women and men and how to improve treatment for patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases,” Motairek concluded.
Cancer before age 50 is rare, but increasing, in the United States and researchers want to know why.
A new government study provides the most complete picture yet of early-onset cancers, finding that the largest increases are in breast, colorectal, kidney and uterine cancers. Scientists from the National Cancer Institute looked at data that included more than 2 million cancers diagnosed in people 15 to 49 years old between 2010 and 2019.
Of 33 cancer types, 14 cancers had increasing rates in at least one younger age group. About 63% of the early-onset cancers were among women.
“These kinds of patterns generally reflect something profound going on,” said Tim Rebbeck of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who studies cancer risk and was not involved in the research. “We need to fund research that will help us understand.”
The findings were published Thursday in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
The researchers compared cancer rates in 2019 to what would be expected based on 2010 rates.
Breast cancer made up the largest share of the excess cancers, with about 4,800 additional cases. There were 2,000 more colorectal cancers compared with what would be expected based on the 2010 rates. There were 1,800 more kidney cancers and 1,200 additional uterine cancers.
Reassuringly, death rates were not rising for most cancers in the young adult age groups, although increasing death rates were seen for colorectal, uterine and testicular cancers.
Explanations will take more research. The big databases used for the study don’t include information on risk factors or access to care. Theories abound and a big meeting is planned later this year to bring together experts in the area.
“Several of these cancer types are known to be associated with excess body weight and so one of the leading hypotheses is increasing rates of obesity,” said lead author Meredith Shiels of the National Cancer Institute.
Advances in cancer detection and changes in screening guidelines could be behind some early diagnoses.
For breast cancer, the trend toward women having a first child at older ages is a possible explanation. Pregnancy and breastfeeding are known to reduce risk.
This isn’t happening across the board. Cancer rates in people under 50 are going down for more than a dozen types of cancer, with the largest declines in lung and prostate cancers.
Cigarette smoking has been declining for decades, which likely accounts for the drop in lung cancer among younger adults.
The drop in prostate cancer is likely tied to updated guidelines discouraging routine PSA testing in younger men because of concerns about overtreatment.
Cedars-Sinai investigators are using AI to analyze images from a common heart test to identify signs of valve disease. Image by Getty.
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AI Identifies Heart Valve Disease from Common Imaging Test.
Stephanie Cajigal
Senior Communications Specialist
Anartificial intelligence (AI) program trained to review images from a common medical test can detect early signs of tricuspid heart valve disease and may help doctors diagnose and treat patients sooner, according to research from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai.
The work builds upon research published last year showing that an AI program can detect disease in the heart’s mitral valve by analyzing ultrasound images of the heart. For this new study, published in JAMA Cardiology, investigators applied AI to identify tricuspid regurgitation, a condition in which the heart’s tricuspid valve doesn’t close fully when the heart contracts, causing blood to flow backward, which can result in heart failure.
David Ouyang, MD
“This AI program can augment cardiologists’ evaluation of echocardiograms, images from a screening and diagnostic test that many patients with heart disease symptoms would already be getting,” said David Ouyang, MD, a research scientist in the Smidt Heart Institute, an investigator in the Division of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and senior author of the study. “By applying AI to echocardiograms, we can help clinicians more easily detect the signs of heart valve disease so that patients get the care they need as soon as possible.”
Investigators trained a deep-learning program to flag patterns of tricuspid regurgitation in 47,312 echocardiograms done at Cedars-Sinai between 2011 and 2021.
The program detected tricuspid regurgitation in patients and categorized cases as mild, moderate or severe. They then tested the program on echocardiograms that the AI program never saw before from additional patients who underwent echocardiography at Cedars-Sinai in 2022 and patients from Stanford Healthcare. The program predicted severity of tricuspid regurgitation with similar accuracy as cardiologists who evaluated echocardiograms and when compared with results from MRI images.
Sumeet Chugh, MD
“Future studies will focus on obtaining even more specific information about valve disease, such as the volume of blood flowing backward through a valve, and predicting outcomes if patients undergo treatment for heart valve disease,” said first author Amey Vrudhula, MD, a research fellow at Cedars-Sinai.
Investigators in the Smidt Heart Institute are applying AI to a variety of cardiac imaging tests.
“A major advantage of AI algorithms is that they never get fatigued and have the capacity to identify valve abnormalities from large populations of patients, taking personalized cardiology to a whole different level,” said Sumeet Chugh, MD, director of the Division of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and the Pauline and Harold Price Chair in Cardiac Electrophysiology Research.
Other Cedars-Sinai authors involved in the study include Amey Vrudhula, MD; Milos Vukadinovic, BS; Alan C. Kwan, MD; Daniel Berman, MD; Robert Siegel, MD; Susan Cheng, MD, MMSc, MPH.
Other authors include Christiane Haeffele, MD, and David Liang, MD, PhD.
You make the call. Alzheimer’s Signs Can Appear Prior To Middle Age.
Risk factors for dementia could start taking their toll as early as a person’s 20s and 30s, a new study says.
Younger adults who carry known risks for dementia performed worse on memory and thinking tests between ages 24 and 44, researchers report in the May issue of the journal The Lancet: Regional Health Americas.
The findings lay the groundwork for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, researchers say.
This is the first study to look at risk factors of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in a large group of generally healthy younger adults, researchers say.
“Previously, research on Alzheimer’s disease risk factors has focused on individuals aged 50 and older,” lead researcher Allison Aiello, a professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Aging Center, said in a news release.
These new results show that well-established risk factors and blood biomarkers for dementia appear to start affecting cognitive function even before middle age, Aiello said.
These risk factors include education level, gender, blood pressure, cholesterol, exercise and body mass index, a measure of body fat based on height and weight, results show. All these are measured using a Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) score.
Researchers also learned that certain Alzheimer’s risk factors are present and related to brain function in people in their 40s or earlier, Aiello added.
These include levels of proteins like amyloid beta and tau that form plaques and tangles in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, along with heart health and immune biomarkers.
“Additionally, we learned that certain Alzheimer’s risk factors — such as cardiovascular health, ATN (amyloid, tau, neurodegeneration), and immune biomarkers — are present and related to cognition in individuals in their forties and even earlier,” Aiello said.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from two waves of a long-term study tracking the health of teenagers as they grow into adults. The study started in 1994-1995, and researchers looked at participants again as they hit ages 24-34 and again at 34-44.
In their early 20s and 30s, participants completed brain function tests of their memory and thinking. Scores on those tests were compared to the participants’ CAIDE score as they approached middle-age.
Results showed that the higher a person scored on CAIDE, the worse they performed on tests of thinking skills at 34 to 44 years old.
“Exploring the relationship between the CAIDE score and cognitive function in young adulthood and early midlife in the U.S., showed that significant associations with cardiovascular risk factors can be observed well before age 50,” Aiello explained.
Researchers also looked at blood tests from the study participants, and found that a combined amyloid/tau score called ATN was linked to people’s brain function prior to middle age.
“Our overall findings suggest that blood-based biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s disease are linked to differences in cognitive function decades before clinical symptoms and impairments even appear, highlighting the importance of early prevention strategies across the life course,” Aiello said.
“Identifying the early pathways to Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment before older age is critical to slowing the expected rise of Alzheimer’s disease in the coming decades,” she added.
You make the call. Medicare Advantage Squeezing Billions More From US Government.
Medicare Advantage plans are squeezing billions out of the federal government by billing more for patient care, a new study says.
Medicare Advantage plans received an extra $33 billion in revenue from the feds in 2021 due to coding differences in billing compared to traditional Medicare, researchers reported April 7 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
About 42% of that excess revenue, nearly $14 billion, went to UnitedHealth Group alone – even though the Minneapolis-based insurer has a 27% share of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, researchers said.
“Medicare Advantage plans are paid more for sicker members and less for healthier members,” wrote the research team led by Richard Kronick, a professor in the School of Public Health & Human Longevity Science at the University of California-San Diego.
This provides “a strong incentive for Medicare Advantage plans to find and report as many diagnoses as they can legitimately support,” researchers wrote.
For the study, researchers studied billing data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from 2015 to 2021, including 697 Medicare Advantage contracts offered by 193 different insurers.
Medicare Advantage plans are operated by private health insurance companies, while traditional Medicare is run by CMS.
Advantage plans offer all-in-one coverage, while people on traditional Medicare must juggle several different plans that cover hospital care, doctor services and prescription drugs.
However, people on Medicare Advantage typically must receive care from a more limited network of providers and they might need pre-authorization to see specialists, according to Consumer Reports.
Results show Medicare Advantage plans billed more persistently for diagnoses, with about 78% of patients having year-after-year illnesses compared to 72% in traditional Medicare.
Medicare Advantage plans also billed more often for new diagnoses, about 46% of the time compared to 33% for traditional Medicare.
This billing led to an estimated $33 billion in additional payments to Medicare Advantage plans in 2021.
For UnitedHealth Group, this billing resulted in an estimated $1,863 increase in revenue per member, substantially greater than the industry average of $1,220, researchers wrote.
The research team did raise the possibility that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans actually might be billing more accurately than traditional Medicare (TM), explaining this difference.
“However, the MA payment system is calibrated on diagnostic patterns in TM, and regardless of whether MA is overcoding or TM is undercoding, differential coding in MA results in greater payment overall and widely different levels of greater payment across MA insurers,” researchers wrote.
An accompanying editorial agreed that “it is well documented that the system’s reliance on diagnosis codes that insurers can influence for gain is responsible for tens of billions of dollars in payments to MA plans above what would be spent in traditional Medicare, adding to Medicare’s fiscal challenges.”
Unfortunately, any reform efforts likely will increase out-of-pocket costs for people on Medicare Advantage, according to the editorial written by Dr. J. Michael McWilliams, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.
“To the extent it is socially desirable to provide seniors with better coverage than the traditional benefit, policymakers must grapple with this tradeoff,” McWilliams wrote.
Old wives’ tales about health have been around for generations. Health myths persist because misinformation spreads easily, especially with the popularity of social media. Here is the truth about some of the most common health myths:
• Drink 8 glasses of water daily. According to WebMD, there is no need to count cups. People who drink when they are thirsty stay well-hydrated. In addition, fruit, vegetables, soup, and beverages such as juice, coffee, and tea all contribute to our daily hydration needs.
• Eggs cause heart disease. By now, it’s been pretty well established that eating eggs is good for you, as long as you don’t overdo it. According to Real Simple, all eggs are rich in protein, phosphorus, selenium, chlorine, iron, vitamin A and B vitamins. The B vitamins and choline found in eggs are beneficial to brain health. While eggs do contain cholesterol, experts say that dietary cholesterol does not significantly raise blood cholesterol levels enough to trigger heart disease in healthy people.
• You can catch a cold by being out in cold weather. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, contrary to popular belief, cold weather or feeling chilled doesn’t cause a cold. However, more colds do occur during the cold weather seasons because schools are in session, increasing the risk for exposure to the virus. People also stay indoors more when it’s cold and are in closer proximity to each other, making it easier to pass along germs. The low humidity of winter causes dry nasal passages, which are more susceptible to cold viruses.
• You need a daily multivitamin. You should get most of your daily nutrients from a well-rounded diet that includes lots of fruit, vegetables, nuts, healthy oils and whole grains. But if your doctor feels you are suffering from a deficiency, a vitamin supplement may be needed.
• You need to eat breakfast to lose weight. Not so, say experts from Cornell University who found that people who skipped breakfast didn’t overeat at lunch and dinner and, in fact, ate 400 fewer calories a day.
• Green mucus means infection. One study looked at green mucus samples from people with a cough and no other lung conditions. It found that only about 1 in 10 of those green mucus samples were caused by a bacterial infection. This means that most people with green mucus don’t have a bacterial infection. In short, mucus color alone isn’t a reliable way to say whether you need antibiotics, says GoodRx.
• Sugar makes kids hyper. While sugar isn’t good for children, research shows that it won’t cause them to act out or be unable to focus on their schoolwork.
• Toilet seats can pass along germs. According to WebMD, toilet seats are usually clean. It’s the doorknobs, handles and floors that can be covered with bacteria like E. coli, norovirus and the flu. Use paper towels to cover your hands when opening doors or touching handles and a hand sanitizer afterwards.
• Cracking joints triggers arthritis. While the sound of someone cracking their joints can be annoying, it does not cause arthritis. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic say one reason that your joints may make a cracking noise could be gas escaping from a synovial membrane, or a ligament or tendon passing over another ligament or tendon. However, if you feel regular or severe pain in your joints, seek medical help.
Antidepressants appear to increase people’s risk of sudden cardiac death, a new study says.
People taking the mood meds are more likely to die suddenly from heart problems, and their risk rises the longer they’re on the drugs, according to findings presented Monday in Vienna at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.
“Exposure time to antidepressants was associated with a higher risk of sudden cardiac death, and linked to how long the person had been exposed to antidepressants,” said lead researcher Jasmin Mujkanovic of Rigshospitalet Heart Center in Copenhagen.
“Those exposed for six years or more were at even more increased risk than those exposed for one to five years, when compared with people unexposed to antidepressants in the general population,” Mujkanovic said in a news release.
For the new study, researchers examined all deaths among adults in Denmark in 2010, looking for people taking andepressants and people who suffered sudden cardiac death.
Sudden cardiac death involves a person’s heart unexpectedly stopping due to some heart-related problem, researchers said in background notes.
Younger adults usually suffer sudden cardiac death due to heart disease or an electrical problem with the heart, while older people most often fall prey due to clogged arteries, researchers said.
Overall, people who’d been taking antidepressants for one to five years had a 56% increased risk of sudden cardiac death, and a more than doubled risk if they’d been taking the drugs for six or more years.
However, the risk posed by antidepressants appears to affect younger people more than older folks, researchers found.
Results show that younger adults 30 to 39 were three times more likely to suffer sudden cardiac death if they’d been taking antidepressants for one to five years, and five times more likely if they’d been on the drugs for six or more years.
Likewise, middle-aged folks 50 to 59 had a doubled risk from one to five years of antidepressant use and a quadrupled risk for six or more years on the meds.
And seniors 70 to 79 had an 83% increased risk for one to five years and a doubled risk for more than six years on the drugs, researchers report.
It’s not clear why antidepressants might increase a person’s risk of sudden cardiac death, Mujkanovic said.
“The increased risk of sudden cardiac death may be attributed to the potential adverse effects of the antidepressants,” Mujkanovic said. “However, the exposure time to antidepressants might also serve as a marker for more severe underlying illness. Additionally, the increase could be influenced by behavioral or lifestyle factors associated with depression, such as delayed healthcare seeking, and poor cardiovascular health. Further research is warranted.”
Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
