Health News

31/01/2023

Updated boosters are cutting the risk of getting sick from Covid-19 by about half


The updated Covid-19 boosters are cutting the risk that a person will get sick from the coronavirus by about half, even against infections caused by the rapidly spreading XBB.1.5 subvariant.

New studies, conducted by researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are among the first looks at how the bivalent boosters have continued to work in the real world as the virus has evolved. The data shows that the boosters are continuing to offer substantial protection against currently circulating variants.

WHITE OAK, MD - JULY 20: A sign for the Food And Drug Administration is seen outside of the headquarters on July 20, 2020 in White Oak, Maryland. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
FDA wants to simplify the use and updating of Covid-19 vaccines
The near-real-time data was collected by the federally funded Increased Community Access To Testing program, which administers Covid-19 tests through pharmacies. It includes results for adults receiving tests at participating pharmacies from December 1 to January 13.

Of nearly 30,000 test results included in the analysis, more than 13,000 (47%), were positive for Covid-19.

More people who tested negative had gotten an updated bivalent booster compared with those who tested positive.

On average, people in the study who had not gotten a bivalent booster also had not had a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in more than a year. That’s about the same as the national average, the study authors said. Their protection against illness was probably very minimal, they said.

The updated Covid-19 boosters are cutting the risk that a person will get sick from the coronavirus by about half, even against infections caused by the rapidly spreading XBB.1.5 subvariant.

31/01/2023

Surgeon General says 13 is ‘too early’ to join social media

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says he believes 13 is too young for children to be on social media platforms, because although sites allow children of that age to join, kids are still “developing their identity.”

Meta, Twitter, and a host of other social media giants currently allow 13-year-olds to join their platforms.

“I, personally, based on the data I’ve seen, believe that 13 is too early … It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children,” Murthy said on “CNN Newsroom.”

The number of teenagers on social media has sparked alarm among medical professionals, who point to a growing body of research about the harm such platforms can cause adolescents.

Murthy acknowledged the difficulties of keeping children off these platforms given their popularity, but suggested parents can find success by presenting a united front.

“If parents can band together and say you know, as a group, we’re not going to allow our kids to use social media until 16 or 17 or 18 or whatever age they choose, that’s a much more effective strategy in making sure your kids don’t get exposed to harm early,” he told CNN.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says he believes 13 is too young for children to be on social media platforms, because although sites allow children of that age to join, kids are still "developing their identity."

31/01/2023

Children lost about 35% of a normal school year’s worth of learning during the pandemic, study suggests

A new paper adds to the mounting evidence that school-age children across the globe experienced significant setbacks in their learning progress during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Students “lost out on about 35% of a normal school year’s worth of learning” when in-person learning stopped during the public health crisis, according to a paper published Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. The school closures were intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus, but the new paper suggests that learning deficits emerged and persisted over time. The paper included data from 15 different countries.

“Schoolchildren’s learning progress slowed down substantially during the pandemic. So on average, children lost out on about one-third of what they would have usually learned in a normal school year, and these learning deficits arose quite early in the pandemic,” said Bastian Betthäuser, an author of the paper and researcher at the Sciences Po Centre for Research on Social Inequalities in France and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

A new paper adds to the mounting evidence that school-age children across the globe experienced significant setbacks in their learning progress during the Covid-19 pandemic.

30/01/2023

Blue zone recipes were also found in Gullah Geechee cuisine, a method of cooking developed by descendants of enslaved Africans who settled in the Sea Islands of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. Stews and soups may be thickened with benne seeds, an heirloom version of sesame seeds brought over on slave ships.

30/01/2023

Heritage meals

One of the most visually striking recipes in the book is made from purple sweet potatoes, which Buettner considers a key longevity staple for people in the blue zone of Okinawa.

“The dietary intake of Okinawans until 1975 came from purple sweet potatoes,” he said. “I would argue it produced the longest-lived population in the history of humankind.”

30/01/2023

With the help of researchers, Buettner spent dozens of hours searching for a glimmer of blue in traditional foods brought to the United States. He found it, but not in his own lineage.

“As it turns out, my European ancestors did not bring over a longevity diet,” Buettner said. Instead, it was the African, Asian, Latino and Native Americans “who ate a diet that is nearly a dead ringer for the blue zone style.”

30/01/2023

Live longer with these dishes from ‘blue zones’ in America

In a few, unique communities around the globe, people live long and heathy lives, up to and past 100. Dubbed “blue zones,” residents of these areas share a common environment and lifestyle that scientists believe contribute to their longevity.

The Italian island of Sardinia was where one of the first groups of centenarians were studied — soon, similar long-lived people were discovered in Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California.

People in blue zones walk, garden and bike as part of their daily lives. They are close to friends and family, have a purpose in life, handle stress well, and are often members of a social or religious group. They eat a plant-based diet and stop eating before they are full.

Dan Buettner, who first brought blue zones into the public consciousness with his National Geographic articles and later books, doesn’t like to call the blue zone eating pattern a “diet.” Instead, it’s part of a healthy lifestyle, Buettner said, one that he believes anyone can copy, no matter where they live and eat — even in highly processed, food-obsessed cultures such as the United States.