A recent analysis revealed that the consumption of sugar substitutes can paradoxically lead to weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and other health problems. People use sugar substitutes, also known as artificial sweeteners, because they have fewer calories than sugar and are believed to prevent weight gain.

Researchers found recently that there is no rock-solid evidence to prove that sugar substitutes are a healthier alternative to sugar. Aspartame or sucralose may create a series of health problems if they are consumed regularly, a study published Monday shows.

The recent findings are all the more concerning since one in four U.S. kids consume them, and 41 percent of adults routinely replace sugar with these sweeteners. An even larger number of people may be consuming them unknowingly since many pre-packaged foods contain them.

Study authors claim they focused on people consuming these chemicals not because they wanted to lose some extra pounds, but because they believe sugar replacements are healthier than the real stuff.

Lead author Meghan Azad noted that study participants consumed the products for many years. She concluded that there is no link between sugar substitutes and weight loss, but there is a statistically significant link to higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and weight gain.

The New Research

The study, which appeared in the Canadian Medical Association Journal this week, is a review of 34 smaller studies involving 406,000 people in total. Some of them were observational studies, while a small portion were randomized trials.

In the randomized trials, which included 1,000 volunteers, people didn’t knew if they received sugar or a sugar substitute. However, because of the costs involved, these studies lasted less and involved fewer participants. These studies are more accurate than observational ones as they can pinpoint how real people behave in real settings.

In both types of studies, the newly-found associations are just statistically significant links, not cause-and-effect relationships.
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A new study found that boxed mac and cheese made with powdered cheese contained a fourfold higher concentration of a type of harmful chemicals, phthalates, than natural cheese.

In the U.S., phthalates were banned from toys and teething rings decades ago, but they are still present in packages, cosmetics, and industrial equipment. The toxic molecules can disrupt the production of male hormones such as testosterone and have been tied to birth defects and developmental issues mostly in boys.

The main source of exposure to phthalates is food, the Consumer Product Safety Commission found three years ago. Even though the commission urged the FDA to ban it from foods too, the federal agency hasn’t taken any steps until now.

Study authors tested 30 types of cheese products, and all of them contained the potentially harmful ingredient. Highly processed cheese powder seems to be the likely culprit. Even organic mac and cheese brands contained phthalates.

Americans buy two million boxes of mac and cheese every day. Researchers noted that you can’t just shop your way out of the issue. So, the FDA should do something about it.

The FDA Has Yet to Address the Issue

Researchers also advise consumers to contact producers and ask them to investigate how the chemicals landed into their favorite food. Nine of the types of mac and cheese were produced by Kraft, which manufactures most of the mac and cheese in America.

Consumer advocacy groups urged the FDA in 2016 to solve the problem and remove the chemicals from packaging, industrial equipment, and food. The FDA postponed the response to the petition, citing technical reasons.

A spokesperson for the agency said that it monitors the available research to see if the chemicals are indeed toxic when consumed. Phthalates are inserted in plastic packaging to soften it. They are also present in adhesives and solvents, but because they easily bind with fats, they are attracted to fatty foods such as macaroni and cheese.
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A study from Stanford University confirmed that America is one of the laziest nations in the world. The new research used smartphone tracking data from 700,000 people in more than 100 countries.

Study participants were tracked for 95 days via the smartphone app Azumio Argus that counted the number of steps taken daily. Researchers found that obesity was rampant in countries that had a large activity inequality, i.e. they had a huge difference in activity levels between the fittest and the laziest.

A big difference between people who walked a lot and those that sat all day long was associated with high obesity levels. The most active area is Hong Kong whose residents walk 6,880 every day. The laziest country is Indonesia whose residents barely walk 3,513 steps every day.

Americans take 4,774 steps every day on average, but the country has a huge activity inequality which ranks it fourth from the bottom.

Men More Active than Women

The study also confirmed past research that found that men tend to walk more than women. As activity levels decrease at a population level, women are more likely to become obese.

Co-author Jure Leskovec noted that when activity inequality tends to skyrocket in a country, women tend to be lazier than men, and, therefore, obesity affects women more than men.

For instance, in countries with considerable activity inequality such as the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, women tend to move a lot less than men. In countries where there is a low inequality and low obesity like Japan, men and women tend to exercise equally.

Study authors believe that if authorities create an environment that is enjoyable for physical activity, activity inequality could be greatly reduced. One researcher noted that if people in an area have to cross a major highway to get someplace, they would likely take the car.

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A new study revealed that a strong purpose in life is associated with a high-quality sleep. People with a clear sense of purpose are less likely to be affected by insomnia and other sleep disorders.

The research also showed that people who sensed their lives had a meaning had a lower risk of sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes breathing to briefly stop while asleep. Sleep apnea is tied to other conditions such as fatigue, higher risk of heart attack and stroke, and even weight gain.

Study participants who said their lives were the most purposeful had a better nighttime sleep than their peers with a less clear purpose in life.

The study was published in the journal Sleep Science and Practice.

Sleep disorders tend to get worse as people age, but the recent study, which involved seniors, could be applied to other age groups.

A Purpose in Life Better than Drugs

Lead author Jason Ong thinks that giving people a good reason to wake up in the morning is a fundamentally better solution to sleep disorders than medication. In the U.S., insomnia is a growing problem, while one in four adults is not happy with the quality of their sleep.

Helping people cultivate a purpose in life could be an effective drug-free strategy to improve sleep quality,

Prof. Ong said.

The findings add to the countless expert tips on how to improve sleep, but it is one of the most rational. Other tips include having a bedtime routine which includes going to bed and raising at the same hour, not eating late at night, or exercising before going to sleep.

Caffeine-based products are also a big no-no, and so are electronic devices before bedtime.

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After going fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, a 70-year-old woman became infected with a flesh eating bacteria. Vibrio vulnificus is incredibly dangerous. If might expand to an entire limb and, most of the time, it needs to be amputated to prevent the infection from further spreading.

Last month, the woman went fishing in Fairhope, Alabama. As she needed some bait, she reached for some shrimp in a bucket, and this is when she stung the back of her hand. She noticed how she was starting to feel ill and, after three hours, her husband reported she was in a precarious condition.

The woman escaped amputation

The woman was immediately transported to a hospital in Mississippi, where she had to spend over 10 days to regain a stable condition. A lot of dead tissue had accumulated on her hand, so she had to undergo two operations to remove it and avoid amputation.

The final step towards her recovery is a reconstructive surgery, as the bacteria ate deep into her tissue. Although she had to suffer a lot, doctors regarded her case as a miracle. Usually, statistics show that most people who contract flesh eating bacteria rarely survive and, when they survive, they often lose a limb.

Where does this flesh eating bacteria come from?

Now, officials are investigating the bait carrying the flesh eating bacteria, and are trying to find where it came from. In case it came from the Gulf, they need to issue a warning against a possible infection, and inform people to be careful.

You can contract Vibrio vulnificus if you eat raw or undercooked seafood, or if a wound on your body gets into contact with infected sea water. In 2016, 46 people became infected with the flesh eating bacteria in the area around the Gulf of Mexico, and 10 of them died days after contracting the infection.
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A professor from Stanford Law School came up with an interesting hypothesis regarding procreation. He believes, in about 20 or 30 years, humans will no longer use sex as the primary method to make babies. Instead, we would opt for selecting embryos for in-lab breeding, as this method would turn out cheaper and more practical.

A new method of procreation

Professor Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford Law School, is the one who thinks sex will become outdated in the next decades – at least as a method of procreation. A few days ago, during the Aspen Ideas Festival, he presented his idea of future, where people would opt for this cheaper method of selecting embryos and growing them into human beings in a laboratory.

He even described how the entire process should go. First of all, scientists have to collect DNA from both parents, and then scan it together. This will assure them the embryo is not susceptible to any genetic diseases, or that it doesn’t contain any genetic variants which make it vulnerable.

Parents would be able to customize their baby

What would be interesting about this method is the fact that parents would be able to ‘customize’ their child. Certain traits, such as eye color or hair color, could be selected beforehand. Also, it might be possible for intelligence genes to be sneaked into the genetic code. All of these will be possible thanks to CRISPR, the genetic editing technique currently used in labs.

This is not the first time when such an idea is suggested by scientists. As expected, it comes with certain ethical concerns. Removing genetic diseases from an embryo’s genes might sound fine, but introducing cosmetic features or improving the structure of the brain comes brings tons of controversy.

However, Greely says such a procreation technique is inevitable in the future. Also, this process won’t produce super babies. He claims the final result won’t exceed the traits that can be taken from two people, so there shouldn’t be any ethical concerns.
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A new study found that chocolate can improve brain functions and even fix the mental effects stemming from lack of sleep. Study authors say that the flavanols in cocoa can work wonders for one’s brain as they can protect mental functions such as memory and brain processing speed.

Researchers found that the more chocolate one eats, the better the health outcomes are. The team recommends daily consumption for optimal effect. People working the night shift can benefit even more from the delicious snack, researchers at the University of L’Aguila in Italy claim.

Their study was published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.

Flavanols undo the effects of lack of sleep on the brain, the team found such as drowsiness and lapses in concentration.

For their research, scientists sifted through data from previous research papers, reports, and other types of published data on cocoa and flavanols. They found that the nutrients have ‘neuroprotective’ effects which can last for hours after eating chocolate or any other cocoa-based food. The effect is even more persistent if cocoa is consumed regularly.

Chocolate Beneficial for All Age Groups

The new study gives hope to people affected by chronic sleep deprivation, shift workers, and even seniors who notice their cognitive abilities are not so sharp. For younger people, the health benefits of flavanols are more evident when they perform complex tasks.

Older people affected by cognitive impairment or memory decline would also see an improvement in working memory and concentration. Co-author of the study Michele Ferrara is confident that chocolate and other cocoa-derived products can improve cognitive performance in all age groups.

Past research had shown that flavanols are very good for preserving cardio-vascular health. They also improve blood flow to the brain’s areas that are impacted by aging processes the worst.

Researchers wrote that regular intake of chocolate and cocoa can lead to beneficial effects for the brain over time. The team recommends dark chocolate as being the healthiest since it has less sugar and more flavanols.
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Most of us believe that the cosmetic products we use on a daily basis undergo some safety oversight before being offered for sale. A new FDA report shows that this is not the case, as most personal care products don’t need FDA approval before going on the market.

Lead author of the study Steve Xu, a skin disease specialist at Northwestern University’s McGaw Medical Center explained that anyone can manufacture a cosmetic product and sell it the next day without any type of approval.

If a cosmetic product does have some side effects such as nausea, rash, or death you can report it to the producer or the FDA. However, if you opt for the first solution, you will usually get only an apology and no one can guarantee that your case will be investigated, or that the case will be reported to the FDA.

Last year, the FDA published a first study on the adverse effects of personal care products and foods reported by user starting 2004. Before last December, the public had to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the FDA to be allowed to see that information.

Number of Reported Products Skyrocketed in Recent Years

The FDA found that skin care products, hair care products, and tattoos are the most hazardous for people’s health. Consumers often reported hear breakage, hair loss, and local skin irritation. Other products with serious side effects including hospitalization and death were coloring products, baby products, and personal hygiene products.

Between 2015 and 2016, the number of reported products jumped twofold. Xu’s team found that there were a lot of problems with WEN products such as skin irritation and hair loss. The FDA promised to look into the complaints against WEN.

While only 121 complaints landed on FDA inspectors’ desks, a whopping 21,000 complaints were submitted to WEN. This is because producers are not required to forward those complaints to the FDA.
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The European Union’s highest court ruled Wednesday that a patient can sue a vaccine maker if he or she believes that a specific vaccine was behind an illness that appeared out of the blue later even when there is no scientific consensus on that specific link.

The ruling stems from a French case, in which the plaintiff claimed that a vaccine against hepatitis B triggered in his body multiple sclerosis a year later. The French patient was immunized in 1999 and he decided to sue the vaccine’s maker, Sanofi Pasteur, seven years later. The patient died in 2011.

After France’s top court ruled that there is no link between the vaccine and multiple sclerosis, the Frenchman brought the case to the EU.

This week, the union’s highest court decided that a vaccine could be defective and trigger an illness in some people, but there needs to be “specific and consistent evidence” that there is a causal link between the two.

Court Considers These Factors Consistent Evidence

The evidence includes no family history of the illness, the patient’s state of health prior to immunization, a short time between the vaccination and the new illness, and multiple similar cases to back the link. The court ruled that such factors combined are proof that the vaccine was a likely cause of the disease. The court issued a general ruling that does not apply exclusively to the French patient’s case.

Critics of the decision said that the court’s factors are not enough to prove that a link exists. Paul Offit, the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, noted that the European court’s causality bar is too low.

Offit, who believes that courts should not rule on scientific evidence, is concerned that more people could start rejecting vaccines after the ruling.
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A new study put up by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment in New York and King’s College in London discovered that older fathers were more likely to have geekier sons. Therefore, if they wait until they are older before having a child, they will probably have a socially awkward child, but of an outstanding smartness.

When is a child geekier?

First of all, researchers wanted to see what makes a child geekier. For this, they analyzed 15,000 pair of twins from Great Britain, and tested several of their features which might influence geekiness. These characteristics were IQ, social awkwardness, how much they focused on certain subjects, which activities they engaged the most in, and how much attention they gave to the others’ opinion on them.

According to these factors, researchers determined a geek index for each child. Results showed that those kids with older fathers were geekier. This shouldn’t be regarded as something bad, since these children are more intelligent, tend to care less about their peers’ opinion on them, and are better at focusing.

Having an older father also has advantages

Previously, children with older fathers were regarded as more likely to develop autism. Now, this study shows that they also have some benefits. Geekier kids have better prospects regarding career and education prospects, which brings some hope for those dads who had children later in life.

The explanation for this phenomenon is rather social than genetic. Usually, older fathers are more concentrated on their career, and have a better situation both economically and socially. Therefore, their children grow in the same enriching environment, and become more career-oriented.

This study could also offer an insight on autism as well. Researchers suspect the same genes which influence geekiness are also linked with autism. A smaller percentage of these genes might mean success in school, while a higher one might be the trigger of autism.
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