THURSDAY, Nov. 7, 2024 (HeathDay News) — The active chemical in “magic mushrooms” may help treat anorexia, a new study has found. Following psilocybin treatment, 4 of 10 study participants showed clinically significant reductions in their anorexia-driven eating habits, researchers report. “Our findings suggest that psilocybin may be helpful in supporting meaningful psychological change in…  read on >  read on >

Nearly 16% of American adults — that’s close to 1 in 6 — now has diabetes, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Increasing age and widening waistlines greatly increase the odds for the disease, which happens when the body doesn’t use insulin properly, resulting in high blood…  read on >  read on >

Women who are pregnant but who also have the ovarian cyst disorder polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are at higher odds of giving birth to an underweight baby, new Norwegian research shows. The risk rises even higher if the woman with PCOS is also obese, the study found. “In women of normal weight who have PCOS,…  read on >  read on >

The omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in fish oil supplements might help protect people from cancer, a new study claims. Study participants with higher levels of omega-3s had lower rates of colon, stomach, lung and other digestive tract cancers, researchers found. Likewise, high omega-6 levels led to lower rates of 14 different cancers, including brain,…  read on >  read on >

Exposure to any one of 22 pesticides may bring heightened odds of developing prostate cancer, a new analysis suggests. The study was conducted over decades because prostate cancer is known to grow very slowly, noted a team led by Dr. Simon John Christoph Soerensen, of Stanford University in California. The researchers looked at U.S. data…  read on >  read on >

Poorer folks’ access to blockbuster weight-loss drugs through Medicaid remains limited, a new KFF analysis has found. Only 13 states currently allow Medicaid to cover treatment of obesity using glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist (GLP-1) medications, researchers discovered. Under the Medicaid system, individual states are allowed to decide whether to cover GLP-1 drugs, which include Wegovy (semaglutide),…  read on >  read on >

The home front hardships of World War II illustrate how too much sugar is harming people’s health today, a new study shows. British children who endured wartime rationing of sugar wound up with lifelong health benefits, researchers discovered. Sugar restrictions during kids’ first 1,000 days after conception was associated with an up to 35% lower…  read on >  read on >

Text messages and other online feedback can help prevent obesity in very young children, a new study demonstrates. Kids had a healthier weight-for-height growth curve during their first two years if parents were offered electronic feedback on feeding habits, playtime and exercise, researchers found. “What is kind of exciting from our study is we prevented…  read on >  read on >

The GLP-1 drug semaglutide can help obese people manage debilitating knee arthritis, a new trial has found. People who received weekly injections of semaglutide — the active agent in the diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight-loss medication Wegovy — had a nearly 14% decrease in their body weight after 68 weeks, compared with 3% of…  read on >  read on >