That plastic wrap you find around the food you eat is far from benign: A new study shows that more than 3,600 chemicals leach into food during the packaging process. Of that number, 79 chemicals are known to cause cancer, genetic mutations, and endocrine and reproductive issues, a team of international researchers reported Tuesday in the Journal… read on > read on >
As wildfires continue to burn across parts of California, a new study finds that smoke from these blazes and other air pollution could be harming kids’ mental health. Repeated exposure to high levels of particle pollution increases kids’ risk of depression, anxiety and other mental health symptoms, researchers reported. What’s more, each additional day of… read on > read on >
Brain training aimed at improving memory can ward off symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease for years, a new study claims. Seniors experienced a slower decline in their memory and thinking abilities after undergoing brain training, compared to others who didn’t get the training, researchers found. This benefit persisted for five years after the seniors got the… read on > read on >
Most parents are placing their kids in harms’ way by moving them out of their car booster seat too soon, a new study warns. Four out of five parents moved their kid out of a booster seat before the child was big enough, according to the report, Booster Seat Use in the USA: Breakthroughs and… read on > read on >
With implications for research around postpartum depression and other health issues, scientists have tracked the changes pregnancy brings to the female brain. These changes weren’t subtle: Big shifts in what’s known as the brain’s “white matter” versus “gray matter” were observed, according to a team from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). “The maternal… read on > read on >
For the first time, scientists have detected microscopic microplastics lodged in the human brain. Researchers in Germany and Brazil say that 8 out of 15 autopsied adults had microplastics detected within their brain’s smell centers, the olfactory bulb. The particles were likely breathed in over a lifetime, since tiny floating microplastics are ubiquitous in the… read on > read on >
Fatty liver disease linked to diabetes and obesity can easily progress to liver cirrhosis, but new research suggests that GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic can help stop that. In a new decades-long study, veterans with diabetes and what’s known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) were 14% less likely to progress to cirrhosis if they’d… read on > read on >
People with rare genetic variants linked to degenerative brain disorders like Parkinson’s disease are at increased risk of developing ALS, a new study finds. Further, having these genetic variants increases the risk of a person having faster-progressing ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and dying earlier, researchers found. The strongest link was with Parkinson’s disease, results show.… read on > read on >
Vaping may look cool when you’re young, but it appears to be dulling the brains of college students, a new study warns. College students who vape have lower cognitive function scores than those who don’t, researchers reported Sunday at the American Neurological Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. And the more students vape, the lower… read on > read on >
Many parents worry that their kids aren’t popular enough, or that they aren’t making the right friends, a new survey finds. About 1 in 5 parents say their child aged 6 to 12 has no friends or not enough friends, according to the results of the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National… read on > read on >
