Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here.
Nine years ago, I had my gallbladder removed. While I would never say I’m grateful for the many gallstones that invaded my college years, I am feeling somewhat relieved after reading the news linking red meat consumption to dementia. (My body can’t process fatty foods like bacon anymore.) If you want to see a gnarly photo of a gallbladder cross-section filled with 20+ stones, email me at [email protected].
FDA rules promise sweeping changes on food dyes, cigarettes
The Food and Drug Administration published two rules Wednesday that could spark major changes for public health and consumers — curbing nicotine levels in cigarettes and banning red dye no.3 from food and drugs.
The first proposal would significantly lower the legal nicotine limit per gram of tobacco for cigarettes, most cigars, and pipe tobacco compared to the levels in popular cigarette brands today. The ambitious change is a bid to make smoking less addictive and could prevent 8.5 million tobacco-related deaths by 2100, according to a 2018 Journal of the American Medical Association paper.
The second rule regarding dye is long overdue, arriving 30 years after the additive was found to cause cancer in rats. Advocates have routinely pushed the FDA to ban the substance, which the agency formerly included on a list of color additives “generally recognized as safe.”
Read more about the public health implications from STAT’s Sarah Todd and Lizzy Lawrence.
H5N1 study suggests primates are susceptible to virus, but virulence remains uncertain
New data from a National Institutes of Health team has provided long-sought evidence that primates are also susceptible to H5N1 infection through consuming raw milk, although the fallout appears to be less deadly than some feared.
As H5N1 has spread through U.S. dairy herds, scientists have worried about what might happen to people who drink unpasteurized milk laced with the virus, as cats on farms with sick cows have died from drinking it.
The study found that monkeys infected through the nose and windpipe with a strain of the H5N1 virus circulating in dairy cattle developed moderate to severe disease, including pneumonia. Animals exposed directly in the mouth and stomach, to mimic drinking, became infected but showed no signs of illness. However, even without symptoms they still developed antibodies and shed low levels of virus through their nose and mouths, indicating the potential to further spread the disease.
The new research may shed some light on a handful of unexplained H5N1 bird flu cases in children discovered in California in recent weeks. To date, the CDC has confirmed 67 human cases of H5N1, the majority of them in dairy and poultry workers with exposure to infected animals, and the majority in California. But two pediatric cases — one identified in San Francisco County last week and one in Marin County in November — have not yet been linked to a known exposure. — Megan Molteni
The first step to addressing the physician shortage
The U.S. faces a dramatic physician shortage that can’t be solved without restructuring the country’s residency programs, write Nicole McCann, a public health researcher, and Rochelle Walensky, the former director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Medical residencies are concentrated in the Northeast where hospitals boast sub-specialty and super-specialty programs, depriving both rural and primary care programs. This concentration has consequences. Across the country, 76 million people live in primary care deserts and the supply of health care workers is lagging woefully behind the demand, in part caused by pressing health care needs of the aging U.S. population.
To learn more about how incremental improvements in the number of rural and primary care graduate medical education slots will not match the intensifying shortage of doctors in the least healthy areas of the country, read this First Opinion essay.
DEA proposes new rules for telehealth prescriptions of controlled medications
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Wednesday issued an announcement 16 years in the making: it will create a special registration process for prescribers wishing to provide controlled substances, like opioids or stimulants used to treat ADHD, via telemedicine.
The move quickly garnered pushback from telehealth providers. Under the new regulations, providers who prescribe Schedule II medications, which include Ritalin and Adderall, would need to be physically located in the same state as their patients. They would also be required to issue at least 50% of their prescriptions after in-person appointments.
The new regulations are the latest chapter in a saga dating back to the passage of a law in 2008 that regulated online pharmacies, which also required the DEA to create this special registration process. However, the system is merely a proposal, meaning the incoming Trump administration could nix the idea. Read more about the DEA’s proposal from STAT’s Lev Facher.
Bacon, sausage and other red meats associated with increased risk of dementia
Diets high in processed meats, like bacon, hot dogs and sausage, were associated with a 13 percent higher risk of dementia later in life, according to a new study published in Neurology.
To assess the risk of dementia and cognitive decline, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers followed 133,771 participants for up to 43 years. They found that participants who ate the equivalent of two slices of bacon or a hot dog compared to those who consumed less than one-tenth a serving each day had a 13 percent higher risk of developing dementia, adjusting for numerous clinical, demographic and lifestyle factors such as socioeconomic status and family history of dementia. They are still exploring possible mechanisms by which processed meats may be linked to dementia risk.
While follow-up studies will need to corroborate the team’s data, the researchers recommend updating dietary guidelines so consumers know that reducing red meat consumption can promote cognitive health. Previous research had linked red meat consumption with poorer health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.