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(NEW YORK) — Taking semaglutide, the active ingredient in drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic used for weight loss, can help boost heart health in people without diabetes, according to new research.
In a study of over 17,000 people, semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist medication, was found to lower the risk of cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes by 20% in people who have pre-existing cardiovascular disease and who are overweight, but do not have Type 2 diabetes.
The research, published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine, is significant because semaglutide was initially prescribed for adults with Type 2 diabetes, a condition in which cells don’t respond normally to insulin, the hormone made by the pancreas. It is a condition that affects tens of millions of people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Interest in semaglutide has surged over the past year for its role in helping people lose weight.
Novo Nordisk, the company that funded the most recent study, makes both Wegovy and Ozempic, the two most popular drugs that have semaglutide as the active ingredient.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Ozempic as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes alongside diet and exercise if other medications cannot control blood sugar levels well enough.
Although Ozempic is not explicitly approved for chronic weight management, it can be prescribed off-label and used safely for people who are obese.
Wegovy is essentially the same injectable drug as Ozempic prescribed at a higher dosage. The FDA has specifically approved Wegovy for patients with severe obesity, or who are overweight and have one or more weight-associated conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
Both drugs work by slowing down movement of food through the stomach and curbing appetite, thereby causing weight loss.
ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a board-certified OB-GYN, who was not involved in the study, said there are different theories on why semaglutide can help lower the risk of cardiovascular events.
“What’s really interesting about this drug is the more it’s studied, the more we’re finding possible other theories,” Ashton said Monday on “Good Morning America.” “Data has shown in lab animals that semaglutide can reduce inflammation, so … it can promote what’s called plaque stability in those arteries, making the plaque less likely to break off and close off that artery, and then it almost works like a blood thinner in lab animals in terms of reducing platelet clumping.”
She added, “When you combine that with weight loss, [there are] significant cardio protective effects.”
(NEW YORK) — Kelsey Hatcher, a 32-year-old mom of three, and her husband Caleb said they were very surprised to learn earlier this year that Kelsey was pregnant.
The couple was even more surprised to learn at Kelsey Hatcher’s eight-week ultrasound appointment that she was expecting two babies.
Hatcher and her husband described themselves as completely shocked to learn that the babies are each in their own uterus, a result of Hatcher being born with a rare condition known as uterine didelphys, or double uterus, meaning she was born with two uteruses and two cervixes.
While uterine didelphys is rare on its own, the odds of being pregnant at the same time in each uterus are about “1 in a million,” according to Dr. Richard Davis, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Women & Infants Center, where Hatcher is being treated.
“When I first found out, I was like, ‘I wonder if there’s anybody I can reach out to just to, you know, see what their experiences were,'” Hatcher told “Good Morning America.” “But I think I’ve only read of two other cases [in which] they’ve had [pregnancies] in completely separate uteruses, and no one that I’ve been able to reach out to.”
Hatcher said she learned she had a double uterus at age 17, but with each of her three previous pregnancies, she had a single baby carried in one uterus. She said each of her pregnancies with her kids — now ages 7, 4, and 23 months — also went full-term, with no complications.
Knowing there was still a chance she could be carrying twins with this fourth pregnancy, Hatcher said that was one of the first questions she asked at her eight-week ultrasound appointment.
“I said, ‘There’s only one right?,’ and the [nurse] said, ‘Yeah, there’s only one,'” she recalled. “So, I just kind of laid back and was relaxing. Everything looked good. There was only one.”
Hatcher said that as she was telling the nurse to not be alarmed if she saw a second uterus on the ultrasound, both she and the nurse saw a second baby on the scan.
“Before she could say anything, I said, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s another one,'” Hatcher said, adding of her reaction, “Probably all I did was laugh for 30 minutes or so because it was just like, this is not happening.”
Caleb, Hatcher’s husband, said when his wife called to tell him they were expecting two more babies, his reaction was, “I don’t know what happened differently this time, but it’s wild.”
According to both Davis and Dr. Shweta Petal, the OB-GYN caring for Hatcher, the two babies are considered fraternal twins.
“There are lots of different types of twin pregnancies out there,” Petal told “GMA,” adding of Hatcher’s specific case, “Most likely what happened is that she ovulated separately and had one egg come down each fallopian tube, meaning coming down on each side of the uterus, and then sperm traveled up on each separate uterus and fertilization occurred separately.”
Petal and Davis are both part of a team at UAB that has spent the last several months planning for Hatcher’s delivery. Neither of the doctors, nor anyone else at the university’s medical center, has ever cared for a patient carrying two pregnancies in two uteruses.
“There’s no true expert out there who knows how to manage a patient with two uteruses and two babies, with one in each uterus,” Petal said. “So we really are relying on our baseline teaching and our baseline knowledge and the normal physiology of pregnancy that we understand, and applying it in her scenario.”
Hatcher is currently around 34 weeks pregnant and her due date is Dec. 25 — Christmas Day.
Davis said the plan is to allow Hatcher to carry her pregnancy as long as both she and the babies are healthy.
She could deliver each baby individually in two vaginal births, which could happen over the span of a few minutes or a few days, or if there are complications, Davis said they could deliver the babies via cesarean section.
“Each uterus can contract on its own at different times,” Davis said. “It could be that one side contracts, and the other side is not doing anything.
Petal noted there are a “lot of different scenarios” for which the medical team is working with Hatcher to prepare ahead of her delivery.
“They could be born minutes apart, or they can be born days apart,” Petal said. “It’s so unpredictable, and that’s why we’ve had a lot of conversations with Kelsey kind of talking about the different scenarios that could happen, where she could have a vaginal delivery with both babies, she could have a vaginal delivery with one and a C-section with the other, or maybe end up having a C-section for both of them as well.”
Hatcher said that despite the rarity of her pregnancy, it has been a smooth one so far, with just more fatigue in the first trimester than she had experienced in her previous pregnancies.
“Past the first trimester, a lot of things have been very similar, other than just feeling the movement of two,” she said, adding that in the last two weeks she has been able to see the two pregnancies separate when she lays down. “There’s like a divet in between my stomach so that you can see that each uterus has one on each side. It is pretty wild.”
(BOSTON) — A sickle cell disease center is leading the way in treatment with a new, innovative approach to caring for those with the illness.
Dr. Sharl Azar, Medical Director of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), hired a medical exercise specialist to work with their patients on fitness programs that will help improve their lives.
“One of the parts of the lore of this disease has been patients living with sickle cell disease can’t exercise or they shouldn’t, because exercising can exacerbate symptoms of their disease,” Azar told ABC News. “It can put them into the painful crises that are the hallmark of the illness.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sickle cell disease is a red blood cell disorder, in which the affected individual has abnormally shaped red blood cells (sickle cells) rather than round ones because of abnormal hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen. Sickle cells perish early resulting in a shortage of red blood cells. They also block blood flow when they get clogged in vessels. The constricted blood flow can cause a crisis of agonizing pain for the patient.
That painful crisis is all too familiar to Amy Diawara, 27, who has had sickle cell disease her entire life. She said that a crisis feels like excruciating throbbing pains embedded deeply in the muscles of her body.
Diawara is a patient at MGH and worked with its medical exercise specialist Jen Miramontes on a personalized training program to run the Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon on Nov. 12.
“You need people that are going to want to ride with you to the finish line and I’m so grateful for Jen and Dr. Azar,” Diawara told ABC News. “They’ve encouraged me and this is how I’ve gotten to this point, and super excited to run the Boston half this Sunday.”
Miramontes, 59, isn’t only training Diawara, she agreed to run the race with her. She has competed in a total of 80 marathons throughout her life and created a training program specifically tailored to Diawara’s needs.
“We’re going to keep it at one mile, three times a week for the first two weeks,” Miramontes, who said she had to err on the side of caution when training Diawara, told ABC News. “Whereas, if I was training a person that did not have sickle cell disease, the process would have been probably two to three times faster to get to where we are [today].”
Other factors that Diawara had to be careful of were extreme heat and cold climates during her runs because dehydration and exceedingly cold temperatures could initiate a crisis, according to Miramontes. To avoid that, she instructed Diawara to run on treadmills during much of her training.
Miramontes was hired by the hospital through a grant, according to Azar. She was selected to offer medically approved fitness programs tailored to each patient she sees. Jen, who lives in California, flies to Massachusetts monthly to assess patients and create an exercise plan to meet each individual’s needs and goals. Afterward, she stays in constant communication and coaches the patients through virtual care, Azar said.
According to Azar, even though scientists have known about the genetic cause of sickle cell disease for over 100 years, population studies on the illness are far behind other chronic congenital diseases like cystic fibrosis or hemophilia. Azar says that is because sickle cell mostly affects people of color, resulting in the lack of adequate resources toward research for the illness.
According to the CDC, 100,000 people are living with sickle cell in the United States, but Azar says the data hasn’t been properly updated in decades. One out of every 365 African Americans are born with the disease and one in 13 African Americans are born with the trait inheriting a single copy of the sickle cell gene. If those numbers are expanded to today’s population of African Americans it should far exceed 100,000, according to Azar.
“It’s shameful to say that here we are in 2023, putting together the first program where we’re exploring the role of exercise in patients living with sickle cell disease.”
Most suffering from the disease have always been told not to overexert themselves with exercise because of a crisis risk, but Diawara and Miramontes are bucking the trend.
“I was shocked and just extremely disappointed to discover that there was very, very, very little research on exercise and sickle cell disease,” Miramontes said. “If you look up cancer, or MS [multiple sclerosis], or Parkinson’s and try to find research on how fitness can affect the disease, how it can impact positively the disease, you can find 1000s and 1000s of studies. I found two [for sickle cell]. And, so it’s certainly groundbreaking at a minimum.”
According to Azar, the Food and Drug Administration is set to make its first approval of a gene therapy product in December that will help to improve the lives of those with sickle cell disease. As for Diawara, she doesn’t think she’ll take the gene therapy treatment since she rarely has crises anymore. She’s more focused on her training and accomplishing her goal of running her first half marathon.
“I’m super excited because, again, this is something that I didn’t even think I could do,” Diawara said. “it’s always just been a dream. But now it’s like manifesting into an actual goal that’s about to be accomplished.”
(NEW YORK) — In the more than two weeks since a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, occurred at a bowling alley and local bar and restaurant, questions have swirled about mental health care in the state.
The alleged gunman displayed glaring signals that his mental health was declining, which his family was aware of and had warned law enforcement about, according to documents obtained by ABC News.
It’s unknown why he was not taken into protective custody and then evaluated by a medical professional, but mental health experts and advocates told ABC News that, separately from the shooting, the state has been struggling to address the needs of residents for years.
Long waitlists for programs and a reduced workforce have led to a small-scale version of the larger mental health crisis sweeping across the United States.
Greg Marley, clinical director of suicide prevention at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Maine, has been working in mental health in the state since the 1980s and said there is currently a “perfect storm” of people needing help and not enough resources to address it.
“During the pandemic, people’s levels of anxiety, levels of depression, reliance on substances in an unhealthy way, rose sharply as did people’s sense of isolation,” he told ABC News. “At the same time, the pandemic did more than anything I’ve ever seen to break down the stigma about asking for help around mental health issues.”
He continued, “And so, as a result, there was a wave of people saying, ‘I need help.’ At the same time, we were seeing people getting burned out in mental health, clinical work or support work and so we had a reduction in our mental health workforce.”
Mental health care workers have left the state
Experts told ABC News there has been a lack of in-person services in the state because many health care professionals are leaving for a variety of reasons.
Stress and burnout from the COVID pandemic have caused health care workers to leave the field across the U.S., including Maine. Some people have reduced their hours or are now exclusively focusing on telehealth services, experts told ABC News.
“We’ve had an increase in people doing what’s called telehealth and telehealth is a wonderful way of accessing care, particularly if you’re in a remote area of the state, but working with someone on a screen doesn’t serve everybody,” Marley said.
In January 2023, Gov. Janet Mills proposed $94 million to support mental health and substance use disorder services, including funds to reimburse MaineCare, Maine’s version of Medicaid, according to local ABC News affiliate WMTW.
Additionally, in March 2023, Mills proposed an additional $19.7 million in state funding to address immediate needs in Maine’s behavioral health system.
Experts said these are great first steps, but more is needed to draw more workers into the state to meet the demand for services.
Jayne Van Bramer, president and CEO of Sweetser, a nonprofit community mental health provider statewide in Maine, said she would like to see more state and federal solutions to incentivize people to become behavioral health care workers in Maine.
“I think more student loan forgiveness, tuition assistance, paid internships, sign-on bonuses,” she told ABC News. “I think there’s a lot we could do to encourage folks and we are working collaboratively with the governor, the legislature in the state, but we really do need these things to happen.”
Malory Shaughnessy, executive director of the Alliance for Addiction and Mental Health Services, Maine — a statewide membership association for community behavioral health organizations — said she would like to see more resources invested in emergency responses, so that people who are having crises are met by a crisis worker, as well as the creation of more crisis receiving centers throughout the state such as the first one that opened in Portland.
“We should have crisis receiving centers everywhere, where somebody can just walk in and say, ‘I’m in the middle of this and I need some help,'” she told ABC News. “There should be one in every major community and a couple in every county that people could walk into and get the help for themselves and their child.”
“Maine has somewhere around 100 crisis response workers for the entire state, which just is not anywhere near meeting the needs,” Shaughnessy added.
Patients left on waitlists for months
Due to the reduction of the workforce, patients are often left on waitlists for months as they try to access mental health services.
Kennebec Behavioral Health told WMTW last month that it has 1,200 people on its waitlist, almost double compared to three years ago.
“By the time people call, by the time they pick the phone up and call, they already need service,” CEO Thomas McAdam said. “So, to be on the waitlist longer just makes things worse.”
Sweetser has a waitlist that it says it tries to manage aggressively via its coordination team but is still quite extensive.
“It is approximately 2,000 people [on the waitlist],” Van Bramer said. “We are one organization. You can be on a waitlist anywhere from a couple of months to up to a year. We do call you every month, check in, see if you still need services, see what we can do to help you, see if you’ve found services elsewhere. But it is difficult and it’s not acceptable.”
Van Bramer said these needs are only going to increase as people cope with the trauma experienced from the Lewiston shooting,
“I was at a program [recently], and I was hearing things like some of their clients, every time they hear a hunter’s rifle, they’re terrified,” she said. “So yeah, I think we are definitely seeing an increase in fear and anxiety, that the trauma from this event is reverberating through our community.”
Julie Redding, a licensed therapist and clinical director at the Community Caring Collaborative in Maine, said it is going to be hardest for people who were already dealing with trauma they experienced in the past.
“If we’re thinking about who might be at risk for having felt something like the mass shooting in Lewiston the hardest, one of the best predictors of who will struggle with that is actually people who have a past trauma experience,’ she told ABC News. “For people who have experienced any form of trauma in the past, but particularly if they have experienced traumas that include a violent nature…could disproportionately be more affected and have a recurrence of symptoms.”
Leaving people on a waitlist can sometimes result in people slipping through the cracks, experts said. The majority of people with mental illness may never become violent, but experts say, sometimes, help comes later than they would like it to.
“What we see far too often is an intersection of somebody who is in a mental health crisis and unable to get help, family is unable to get them help, and they can sometimes either do damage to themselves or others because of the lack of that support that they need in that moment,” Shaughnessy said.
“It appears that is a situation that happened in Lewiston, unfortunately, and we see it in small ways every day where somebody who is in a mental health crisis or a psychotic break or something and interacts with the police. Law enforcement shows up because they’re called, and, oftentimes, it’s not a good outcome,” she continued.
To try to address some of these needs, the city of Lewiston has approved funding for a long-term community center to provide resources for victims and Gov. Mills announced last month a new website dedicated to providing resources for Maine residents affected by the Lewiston shooting and to connect them with behavioral health support.
(LANSING, Mich.) — Michigan lawmakers have passed a series of 9 bills repealing certain abortion restrictions, which are now headed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk.
The package, called the Reproductive Health Act, aims to help increase access to abortion that may have remained unavailable or inaccessible in some parts of the state.
It comes a year after Michiganders voted overwhelmingly in favor of Proposal 3 (Prop 3), which enshrined abortion rights in the state’s constitution.
The new bills, which passed the state House last week and the state Senate Tuesday, repealed a law requiring the patient to receive information on abortion provided by the state, such as depiction of a fetus, and allowing residents to sue if their right to an abortion is infringed under Prop 3.
The legislation also requires private insurance companies to provide coverage for all pregnancy-related health care, including abortion, through an optional rider and removed some regulations for clinics that provide abortion that could cause them to close if they are not met.
However, due to pushback from some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, two provisions of the RHA did not pass. The first was overturning the requirement that patients wait 24 hours between seeking an abortion and receiving the procedure and the second was removing a ban on Medicaid coverage for abortion care.
The ACLU of Michigan said in a press release that not eliminating these barriers would make it difficult for marginalized groups including Black and brown people, working class residents and rural residents to access abortion.
In a statement to WPBN-TV, Whitmer praised the passage of the RHA as progress and in line with what residents voted for last November.
“Michiganders spoke loud and clear in the last election when they voted overwhelmingly to protect the constitutional freedom for people to make their own decisions about their bodies,” Whitmer said in a statement. “For years, Michigan has had politically motivated and medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion on the books.”
“These laws criminalized doctors for providing medical care, jacked up out of pocket health care costs, and imposed needless regulations on health centers. This legislation makes important steps toward expanding access and protecting our personal freedoms. We will continue to take action to ensure that Michiganders can access the reproductive health care they deserve,” the statement continued.
Last year, Michigan voters said yes to an amendment, Prop 3, that would add protections for reproductive rights and enshrine them in the state’s constitution.
The amendment defines reproductive freedom as “the right to make and carry out pregnancy-related decisions uch as those concerning prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion, miscarriage management, and infertility care.”
On Wednesday, Right to Life Michigan and 15 other plaintiffs announced they filed a lawsuit in federal court to overturn several elements of Prop 3. They are asking for a permanent injunction, claiming the proposal is unconstitutional.
“Earlier this morning, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed challenging the constitutionality of central elements of Proposal 3,” the group said in a statement. “The provisions asserted to be unconstitutional under federal law threaten legal protections for pregnant women seeking healthcare, the rights of physicians to care for patients, and the rights of parents already under attack on many fronts.”
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the diabetes drug Zepbound to also treat obesity on Wednesday.
The drug’s active ingredient is called tirzepatide. As a diabetes drug, it is sold under the brand name Mounjaro, which is manufactured by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co.
It has now been approved under the brand name Zepbound as a weight loss management treatment for people with obesity, or those who are overweight with at least one related underlying condition, such as high blood pressure.
The drug is similar to semaglutide, the active ingredient in the medications Ozempic and Wegovy — both made by Novo Nordisk — but works slightly differently because it targets two hormones involved in blood sugar control rather than just one.
Studies suggest it could lead to more dramatic weight loss than semaglutide.
Last month, a study found that tirzepatide helped some people with obesity or overweight lose about a quarter of their body weight — when paired with an extensive diet and exercise program.
Earlier this year, Eli Lilly released clinical trial results showing participants who were overweight or obese and had type 2 diabetes — who took Zepbound compared to a placebo — lost up to 15.7% of their body weight over 72 weeks of treatment.
In general, medications like Mounjaro, Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda, the latter of which is also made by Novo Nordisk, and several others were originally approved to treat diabetes.
However, researchers have learned over the past several years that the drugs can also lead to weight loss.
Wegovy was approved by the FDA for long-term weight management in people who are overweight or obese in 2021 while Saxenda was approved for adults in 2014 and in those aged 12 and older in 2020.
Ozempic is still only approved for diabetes, although some physicians have prescribed it as a weight loss drug.
Increasingly, obesity specialists have recognized that obesity is a metabolic condition that cannot be adequately managed with diet and exercise alone for most people.
For some people, surgery or lifelong medication management may be an appropriate way to help manage obesity.
Currently, 41.9% of the U.S. adult population is living with obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer — all of which are leading causes of preventable, premature death, the CDC said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the diabetes drug Zepbound to also treat obesity on Wednesday.
The drug’s active ingredient is called tirzepatide. As a diabetes drug, it is sold under the brand name Mounjaro, which is manufactured by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co.
It has now been approved under the brand name Zepbound as a weight loss management treatment for people with obesity, or those who are overweight with at least one related underlying condition, such as high blood pressure.
The drug is similar to semaglutide, the active ingredient in the medications Ozempic and Wegovy — both made by Novo Nordisk — but works slightly differently because it targets two hormones involved in blood sugar control rather than just one.
Studies suggest it could lead to more dramatic weight loss than semaglutide.
Last month, a study found that tirzepatide helped some people with obesity or overweight lose about a quarter of their body weight — when paired with an extensive diet and exercise program.
Earlier this year, Eli Lilly released clinical trial results showing participants who were overweight or obese and had type 2 diabetes — who took Zepbound compared to a placebo — lost up to 15.7% of their body weight over 72 weeks of treatment.
In general, medications like Mounjaro, Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda, the latter of which is also made by Novo Nordisk, and several others were originally approved to treat diabetes.
However, researchers have learned over the past several years that the drugs can also lead to weight loss.
Wegovy was approved by the FDA for long-term weight management in people who are overweight or obese in 2021 while Saxenda was approved for adults in 2014 and in those aged 12 and older in 2020.
Ozempic is still only approved for diabetes, although some physicians have prescribed it as a weight loss drug.
Increasingly, obesity specialists have recognized that obesity is a metabolic condition that cannot be adequately managed with diet and exercise alone for most people.
For some people, surgery or lifelong medication management may be an appropriate way to help manage obesity.
Currently, 41.9% of the U.S. adult population is living with obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Obesity raises the risk of heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer — all of which are leading causes of preventable, premature death, the CDC said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The CDC is warning about “dire” levels of babies born with syphilis in the U.S., with a new analysis showing a tenfold increase from 2012 to 2022. The agency’s data shows that 3,761 babies were born with syphilis in 2022, and more than 200 babies died from the disease that year.
Nine in 10 of those cases of babies born syphilis could have been prevented with better testing and treatment for syphilis in pregnant people, according to the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection that has been on the rise in recent years. The infection can be dangerous if left untreated — particularly during pregnancy. “You may not know you have syphilis, and that’s why it’s so important, particularly when pregnant, to get tested,” said Dr. Debra Houry, the chief medical officer at the CDC.
CDC data shows that more than half of the babies born with congenital syphilis in 2022 were born to women who tested positive for syphilis during pregnancy but did not get appropriate treatment. “This increase in cases of congenital syphilis really speaks to a large issue about healthcare disparity, including awareness and access to prenatal care,” said ABC News Medical contributor Dr. Alok Patel.
Syphilis is easily treated with antibiotics, which can be given safely during pregnancy. “Treating at the right time can prevent nearly all congenital syphilis cases,” Patel said. “So any case of syphilis in a newborn baby represents a failure of healthcare access.”
The CDC is calling for “exceptional measures” from healthcare providers and public health officials to slow these trends. That includes testing pregnant people in more settings, including at emergency departments, jails and needle exchange programs.
The CDC recommends screening for syphilis during pregnancy at all first prenatal care visits or as soon as pregnancy is identified. People with higher risk should also be screened again at 28 weeks and at delivery, according to the CDC.
Houry defined “high risk” as “people who live in a community that has high rates of syphilis, engage in unsafe sexual behaviors, or had prior sexually transmitted infections.”
In addition to increased testing, Houry said doctors should also consider using more timely “rapid tests” which can give a quick response and don’t require days of waiting for results to be sent to a laboratory. Rapid tests, while less accurate, could give doctors an opportunity to start patients on treatment if they are concerned the patient might not be able to come back for a follow up visit.
The new uptick in congenital syphilis could signal a “very concerning warning of a looming public health disaster that we will see if you continue to have poor access to maternity and prenatal care,” Patel said. “We can’t let this get any worse.”
Anna Roesler, MD, is a resident physician in pediatrics at Jacobi Medical Center and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton shares what to know about natural remedies for hair loss. — ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Hair has been called a person’s “crown and glory,” so when a person starts to lose their hair, it can be stressful, distressing and confusing.
The causes of hair loss run the gamut, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, from age and poor diet, to significant weight loss, chronic iron deficiency, thyroid disorders, childbirth, and more.
In the United States, the most common type of hair loss, androgenetic alopecia, commonly known as male or female pattern hair loss, is hereditary and affects more than 50 million men and 30 million women, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Given that hair loss is so common, the marketplace can seem crowded with products promising to help.
The first step to treating hair loss, though, is to work with a health care provider to identify the cause, according to Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent and a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist.
Once a root cause is identified, there are natural, cost-effective remedies that may help stop hair loss and even boost hair growth.
Here, Ashton breaks down six of the most scientifically proven natural remedies for hair loss.
What to know before trying a natural remedy: Ashton notes that the natural remedies are topical solutions, meaning they should be applied to the skin and scalp, and not ingested. Because applying the remedies could potentially cause scalp irritation, Ashton suggests testing the solution on a small patch of skin for a day or two and observing the results before applying it to the scalp.
She also says each remedy below is one that should be used every other night or every two to three days, not daily. Also, patience is required, as it could take as long as three to six months to see any results. There are also FDA-approved medications available for hair loss. Talk to your doctor to see if you may be eligible.
1. Coconut oil
Coconut oil has been shown in research to potentially help prevent hair loss.
While it is more a preventive option than a remedy for regrowing hair, Ashton said coconut oil – which comes both in liquid and solid forms – is a low-risk option that she loves.
“There’s very limited data that shows a dramatic improvement with hair growth or hair thickening with a coconut oil,” Ashton said. “But … you always have to say to yourself: risk versus benefit. This is incredibly low-risk. There may not be a benefit there, but it’s certainly not going to do harm.”
Pro tip: Ashton suggests also using coconut oil as a moisturizer, noting that it is safe to be absorbed into the bloodstream and can be used “from head-to-toe.”
2. Rosemary oil
At least one study has found that rosemary oil is similarly effective as the over-the-counter hair-growth medication minoxidil – commonly sold under the brand name Rogaine – in promoting hair growth.
The oil, which is extracted from the rosemary plant, can be directly applied to and massaged into the scalp, according to Ashton.
Pro tip: Ashton suggests vigorously massaging rosemary oil into the scalp to increase absorption and blood flow.
3. Peppermint oil
Peppermint oil has been shown to stimulate hair growth in animal studies by working to increase blood flow to the scalp.
“Peppermint oil vasodilates,” Ashton said. “[That] means it takes the blood vessels and makes them larger. When you make a tube larger and you’re talking about a blood vessel, that increases blood flow. Menthol, eucalyptus, peppermint absolutely can do that.”
Ashton said peppermint oil needs to be diluted with another oil, after which it can be applied and massaged directly into the scalp.
Pro tip: Ashton recommends washing your hands thoroughly after using peppermint oil, to avoid skin irritation.
4. Red ginseng
Red ginseng is a widely-used herbal remedy that has also been shown in studies to improve hair growth in mice.
“There is some improvement in thickening [hair], in transitioning the hair follicle from the resting phase to the more active phase,” Ashton said of using red ginseng. “Again, pretty low risk, and may have some benefit.”
Pro tip: Ashton says that red ginseng also needs to be diluted with another oil, or used sparingly in droplet form on the scalp.
5. Onion juice
Onion juice has been shown in studies as well to promote hair growth in people.
It’s said to work because of its sulfur content, which is said to help strengthen hair, reduce inflammation and hydrate the scalp.
Onion juice can be rubbed directly into the scalp on its own.
Pro tip: Be aware that onion juice carries with it a potent odor, and make sure to wash your hands thoroughly after use, recommends Ashton.
6. Scalp massage
Studies show that simply massaging your scalp can help increase the thickness of your hair.
The technique works by helping to boost blood flow to the scalp, according to Ashton.
“There are a lot of different instruments out there,” Ashton said of scalp massager options. “They’re inexpensive. You can order them online or find them in in some drugstores.”
Pro tip: While there are many scalp massager products on the market, Ashton says using your own fingers to massage your scalp is equally effective.
BONUS: What ingredients to look for in hair products
Just like packaged foods have nutrition labels that list their ingredients, hair-care products do as well.
While those hair-care product ingredients may be intended to help support hair growth or treat hair loss, they can also potentially cause hair loss, as well as affect your overall health, according to Ashton.
“Anything you put on your skin, including your scalp, will be absorbed into your bloodstream,” she said. “So it really is a good idea to make sure that those ingredients are as clean and low in chemicals as possible.”
The first ingredient to look for in a hair-care product, according to Ashton, is alcohol.
“It’s oftentimes one of the first three ingredients, but it does real damage to your hair,” Ashton said of alcohol. “It literally dries out the hair, makes it subject to breakage, and, ultimately, it can also dry out your scalp, depending on where you’re applying it.”
She continued, “So that’s something that’s in almost every hair product, but you want to try to pick one that either doesn’t have it at all or doesn’t have it in the first three ingredients.”
On the other hand, beneficial ingredients to look for in hair-care products include caffeine, menthol or mint, according to Ashton. She noted that those ingredients will increase blood flow when applied to the scalp, which in turn helps overall scalp health.
(NEW YORK) — Americans are set to change their clocks back to standard time overnight on Sunday, which some doctors say should be permanent.
“Fixed national time is the best option as it most closely matches the human sleep-wake cycle,” said New York-based clinical psychiatrist Yalda Safai in an email to ABC News. “Any changes to the body’s natural circadian rhythm has the potential to disrupt the natural functioning of the body.”
Right now, the majority of the United States “springs ahead” in the spring, setting the clocks forward by one hour, so that there’s more light later in the day. “Falling back” to standard time leads to more light in the mornings.
But experts are calling for permanent standard time year-round. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), for example, has formed a new coalition to advocate for state and federal legislation making standard time permanent across the U.S. Other organizational members include the National Sleep Foundation, Save Standard Time, Sleep Research Society, and Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.
National, year-round standard time aligns best with the natural day-to-night rhythms of the human body, so sticking to it benefits public health, experts say.
“Having more light in the mornings is beneficial,” said Rebecca Robbins, PhD, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital says to ABC News, “Some positive evidence we’ve seen from switching to standard time is having more sunlight exposure so our children can safely walk and wait for the school bus. Morning sunlight exposure stops the floodgates of melatonin, our sleep hormone, and switches to the wake phase of our circadian rhythm. This is important for our brain to say we can start our day.”
But shifting the clocks back and forth has health repercussions, experts say.
The shift in time has been associated with increased heart attacks, strokes, abnormal heart rhythms, sleep disruption, mood disturbances, and even suicide, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. “The rate of stroke rises 8% [in the spring], which is substantial,” says Dr. Leah Croll, a neurologist and assistant professor at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.”
AASM describes the change in time as a means of developing chronic “jet lag.” The body’s innate clock and the environmental clock don’t align.
“Sleep is essential for promoting cardiovascular and neurological health. Those who are sleep deprived experience headaches, brain fog, memory and concentration issues, and do not make good decisions for themselves because executive function is not at its best,” says Croll.
While the changes can be an inconvenience for most, those with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder and other mood disorders are much more negatively impacted by time changes, experts say.
Dr. Judith Joseph, board-certified psychiatrist and researcher at NYU Langone Medical Center, and chair of Women in Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, told ABC News, “Sleep is very crucial in stabilizing mood. Those individuals experience more disruptive mood changes with regards to that shift. They’re more sensitive and more vulnerable.”
Experts say there are some ways to stay healthy while preparing for the clock change. Frequent walking and exercise can help reset circadian rhythm and be a mood booster. Limiting screen time and seeking therapy can improve sleep hygiene.
“If you know there’s going to be a schedule change, then start preparing a week in advance, by changing that routine 10 minutes every day. Go to bed earlier and shift your schedule slowly,” Joseph says.
She added, “If you have a history of anxiety and depression, or bipolar depression or seasonal affective disorder, schedule more frequent therapy sessions because you’ll need more support. Don’t be hard on yourself and be very real about it. If you have these vulnerabilities and risk factors, be proactive by planning your support ahead of time.”
Dr. Avish K. Jain, DO is a resident physician at Cooper University Hospital, and is a medical contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
