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Rates of High Blood Pressure in Children Have Nearly Doubled in 20 Years
The rate of kids and teens with high blood pressure worldwide nearly doubled over the past two decades, according to a startling new report. In 2020, more than 6% of children and adolescents under 19 had high blood pressure, up from around 3% in 2000, researchers reported Nov. 12 in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.
Obesity is a major driver of this increase, the study found. About 19% of kids and teens with obesity have high blood pressure, versus fewer than 3% of those with healthy weight. “The nearly twofold increase in childhood high blood pressure over 20 years should raise alarm bells for health care providers and caregivers,” senior researcher Dr. Igor Rudan said in a news release. He’s director of the Center for Global Health Research at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute in Scotland.
Young people with high blood pressure have a higher risk of heart and kidney problems throughout their lives, researchers said in background notes. “But the good news is that we can take steps now, such as improving screening and prevention efforts, to help control high blood pressure in children and reduce the risks of additional health complications in the future,” Rudan said.
More Teens Are Taking Antidepressants. It Could Disrupt Their Sex Lives for Years.
Marie began taking fluoxetine, the generic form of Prozac, when she was 15. The drug — an SSRI, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor — was part of her treatment in an outpatient program for an eating disorder. It took its toll on her sexuality. “I was in touch with initial sparks of sexual energy relatively young,” she said, remembering crushes as far back as the age of six or seven. Shortly before starting on the drug, she was dazzled, from a distance, by a blue-eyed hockey player at school, tall and funny and charismatic. She recalled the fluster and fantasies he stirred. But on the medication, she felt the infatuation vanish swiftly.
“And then,” Marie said, “I realized, Oh, I’m not developing new crushes.” She had no clue that the drug might be the cause: “I wasn’t informed about sexual side effects.”
Even as the worst of the eating disorder abated, psychiatrists and family doctors told Marie and her parents that she should stay on an antidepressant. She complied, while trying and failing to escape the sexual side effects.
She traded fluoxetine for other antidepressants, including Wellbutrin, a different class of antidepressant, which is sometimes prescribed to combat low libido. She’s 38 now and has been off psychiatric medication for six years. But sexual desire remains absent. “For me it’s just an empty dark space,” she said. “There’s nothing there.”
EPA Panel Warns Plastics Threaten Kids’ Health — Bayer Says Evidence Lacking
A committee of expert advisers is calling for stronger environmental regulations to protect children from plastics and other harmful chemicals, despite a dissenting industry position claiming there is little evidence that plastic is toxic to children. The Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee was asked a year ago by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review scientific findings and then weigh in on several questions related to how plastic and related chemicals may affect children and what the agency should do about it.
The committee’s responses were posted publicly to the EPA website last week. A letter from the committee signed by 23 scientists, local government officials, health experts and advocates, pointed to “significant human health concerns” across the entire life cycle of plastic, with children especially vulnerable, and laid out several moves the agency should take.
“The science is clear that plastic pollution can harm children’s health and raise risks of developmental disabilities, birth defects, cancers, and other serious diseases — especially in communities that are subject to cumulative and aggregate exposures,” the committee letter states. “These harms can occur throughout the life cycle of plastics.”
Baby Formula Recall Linked to an Infant Botulism Outbreak Is Expanding
ByHeart, which makes organic infant formula, recalled all of its products sold throughout the U.S. on Tuesday amid a growing outbreak of infant botulism. At least 15 babies in 12 states have been sickened in the outbreak tied to ByHeart formula, state and federal health officials said. That’s an increase from 13 cases in 10 states reported Saturday.
No deaths have been reported in the outbreak, which began in August.
ByHeart officials said parents and caregivers who have the formula in their homes “should immediately discontinue use and dispose of the product.” Here’s what to know about the outbreak and infant botulism. The outbreak has sickened babies age two weeks to five months since it started. The infants were hospitalized after consuming ByHeart powdered formula, according to the CDC.
California officials confirmed that a sample from an open can of ByHeart baby formula fed to an infant who fell ill contained the type of bacteria that causes the toxin linked to the outbreak. The tests to confirm contamination involve injecting mice with the cultured bacterium and then waiting up to four days to see if they get sick, said Erica Pan, M.D., MPH, the state health officer. “These mice got sick really quickly,” Pan said in an interview.
Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to Increased Risk of Precancerous Polyps, Study Finds
Eating more ultra-processed foods is tied to an increased risk of precancerous colorectal growths in women under 50, according to a study published Thursday in JAMA Oncology. These growths, called adenomas or polyps, can later turn into cancer and are a good indicator of a person’s cancer risk, experts say.
Rates of colorectal cancer in people under 50 have risen sharply in recent decades. The findings could offer new insights into what’s driving this increase. “One approach we’ve been taking is trying to understand what has changed in our environment that could be driving this. What are some trends that mirror this acceleration in cancer rates?” said study leader Dr. Andrew Chan, a gastroenterologist and the chief of the clinical and translational epidemiology unit at Massachusetts General Brigham in Boston.
Dental Amalgam Set to Be Phased out by 2034 to Reduce Toxic Mercury Exposures
Mercury-containing dental amalgam, used to fill cavities, is set to be phased out globally by 2034 to reduce human exposure to the toxic heavy metal. The decision was taken by the 153 parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury at the Sixth Conference of Parties (COP-6) that took place last week in Geneva.
While 50 countries, including the European Union’s 27 member states, have already phased out dental amalgam, typically a mix of liquid mercury and silver, many countries, including the U.S, continue to allow the use of the amalgam in dental procedures. Mercury is a highly toxic element and exposure to even small quantities of it can cause developmental delays in children as well as affect the nervous, digestive and immune systems, according to the World Health Organization.
“Use of dental amalgam poses several challenges, including exposure to mercury of dental practitioners, also the cost challenges related to disposal of dental amalgam, and also mercury emissions from crematoria,” said Monika Stankiewicz, Executive Secretary of the Minamata Convention, a global treaty adopted in 2013 to protect both humans and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. Alternatives to the amalgam include composite resin, glass ionomer, ceramics and gold.
