(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday the state will not be doing business with Walgreens Boots Alliance over its decision not to dispense an abortion pill.
Last week, the national pharmacy chain said it would stop distributing mifepristone in 20 states after conservative attorneys general threatened legal action.
In a tweet, Newsom criticized the decision, writing, “California won’t be doing business with Walgreens or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk. We’re done.”
The governor’s office did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
Last month, the group of attorneys general sent a letter to CVS and Walgreens saying that if they sold mifepristone, they would be in violation of the Comstock Act, an 1873 law that makes it illegal to send contraceptives, substances that induce abortion, pornographic content, sex toys and any written material about these items.
Several of the states that signed the letter — including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana — currently allow abortion access, including abortion medication, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group focusing on sexual and reproductive health.
In a statement to ABC News last week, Walgreens said it sent a letter to each of the attorneys general confirming it would not sell mifepristone in their states.
“From the outset, we have made our intentions clear to become a certified pharmacy to distribute mifepristone wherever legally possible,” a spokesperson said about the Newsom decision.
Newsom has been outspoken about his support of abortion rights. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade over the summer, he vowed to protect both women and healthcare providers.
“California must do everything it can to protect the fundamental rights of all women — in California and beyond,” Newsom said at the time. “California will continue to be a safe haven for all women seeking reproductive healthcare services in our state.”
More than half of abortions in the U.S. are medication abortions, meaning they involved the use of mifepristone, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The drug, which was authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000, works by blocking the hormone progesterone, which the body needs to continue a pregnancy.
This causes the uterine lining to stop thickening and to break down, detaching the embryo. The second drug, misoprostol, taken 24 to 48 hours later, causes the uterus to contract and dilates the cervix, which will expel the embryo.
ABC News’ Anne Flaherty and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — At-home stool tests can be an easier way to screen for colorectal cancer than a dreaded colonoscopy. As the rates of the cancer continue to rise in younger people, home tests might help improve detection and get people treated sooner.
March marks the beginning of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed and third most common cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., according to the American Cancer Society. Diagnosis of the disease is on the rise among younger people under age 55, according to a new study from the ACS, and it’s being diagnosed at more advanced stages.
That’s why the American Cancer Society is reminding people that any screening for colorectal cancer can save lives. Adults with average risk should get screened starting at age 45, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
“Identifying cancers earlier make it a lot easier to treat”, Dr. Jeffrey Farma, a surgical oncologist and interim chairman of surgery at Fox Chase Cancer Center, told ABC News.
At-home stool tests, where people collect stool samples and send them to a lab, can help make the process easier for some people. Here’s how to know if this is a good option for you.
Who is a good candidate for at-home stool tests?
The first step is to have a discussion with your doctor about whether you qualify for at-home stool tests given your family history and medical history.
Only people with “average” colorectal cancer risk – who don’t have any family or medical history that makes them high-risk — can use the tests. High-risk individuals aren’t eligible, experts say.
High-risk individuals are those with colon cancer in a first-degree relative (like parents or siblings), or personal or family history of a higher risk polyp in the colon or rectum. Those people should “only get screened with a colonoscopy”, Dr. Fola May, a gastroenterologist, quality director and health equity researcher at UCLA Health, told ABC News.
Other high-risk individuals for colorectal cancer are those with inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, and people with genetic conditions that put them at risk for cancers.
People at increased risk may need to start screening for colorectal cancer earlier and get tested more often.
What are the available at-home stool tests?
Several at-home stool-based tests exist.
These tests check the stool for signs of cancer such as blood, unusual changes in DNA, or both. There are a few types of tests. Some, like the fecal immunochemical test, are done every year. Others, like stool DNA tests, only need to be done every three years.
Companies offering these tests include Cologuard, Labcorp, or QuestDirect. Talk to your doctor about which one is best for you.
What are the pros and cons of at-home tests?
The biggest advantage to at-home stool tests is that they can be done in the comfort of your own home.
That convenience is one reason why the rate of colorectal cancer screening was stable in the second year of the pandemic, a recent study found, even when rates of other types of cancer screening went down. “The pandemic pushed everyone to think about more convenient or more person-centric ways to get cancer screening completed”, Dr. Arif Kamal, Chief Patient Officer for the ACS, told ABC News.
Additionally, unlike a colonoscopy, at-home stool tests do not require patients to take the unpleasant step of clearing out their bowel with fluids, pills, enemas, or a combination. Patients also will not need sedation or need to miss a day of work to do the stool test.
While not leaving your house adds a large appeal to at-home stool tests, they’re not always as accurate as a colonoscopy. They can miss many polyps and some cancers. Some stool-based tests may also be affected by your diet or drugs you take.
Is a colonoscopy still needed?
Doctors stress that while these at-home stool tests may be more convenient and done in the comfort of home, if any of these test are abnormal, you’ll still need a colonoscopy.
“If you don’t get that second step, colonoscopy, you have not completed the screening process and are more likely to get and die from colorectal cancer,” May says.
You should also talk to your doctor about timely colorectal cancer screening if you have changes in bowel habits, blood in your stool, diarrhea, constipation, feeling your bowel does not empty all the way, abdominal pain, aches, cramps that do not go away, or unexplained weight loss, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Get screened, in any way
The ACS estimates that in 2023, approximately 153,020 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in the U.S., and 52,550 people will die from the disease, including 19,550 cases and 3,750 deaths in individuals younger than 50.
Colonoscopies are the gold standard for colorectal cancer screening, but experts say any test is better than no test — which is where at-home stool testing comes in.
“The best cancer screening is the one that gets done,” Kamal said.
Kimberly Loo, MD is an internal medicine resident at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — The popularity around weight loss drugs like Ozempic is worrying eating disorder experts, who say the conversation risks making recovery harder and could put others at risk of developing disorders.
“My fear is that there is now a belief that anyone can and should achieve a certain body shape and size with the help of these medications, so there’s going to be an even greater drive towards a certain body type,” said Tracy Richmond, director of the eating disorder program at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro were originally developed and FDA approved to treat people with Type 2 diabetes. But they also lead to weight loss, and many doctors also prescribe them off-label to patients with obesity. They’re medically necessary for people with Type 2 diabetes, and the associated weight loss can also have health benefits for some people who are overweight or obese.
Now, celebrities and public figures are either taking or are rumored to take these drugs, as are others who aren’t overweight but who have the means to pay for a prescription out of pocket. Telehealth startups are advertising the drugs to anyone who wants to lose weight with little medical oversight, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
“You see celebrities shrinking,” Richmond said. “It points out that there is a desire for smaller and smaller body size. Even in people who are ‘normal’ sized, there’s still a drive to do something as extreme as taking these medications.”
That’s a risky environment for people with eating disorders — some of whom are also seeking out the drugs themselves, said Dr. Kim Dennis, a psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders and co-founder and CEO of SunCloud Health.
“It’s just another new tool in the toolbox for self-destruction for people who have eating disorders,” she said.
Dennis said she’s seeing that most from people who don’t fit the stereotype of a person with an eating disorder, including “folks in larger bodies.”
That could include people with atypical anorexia, a diagnosis where someone has all of the symptoms of anorexia but is not underweight, or people with binge eating disorder, Dennis said. A doctor might prescribe them Ozempic or a similar drug because they have a higher BMI, with the assumption that using the drug to lose weight would make that person healthier.
“That’s for sure not the case if the person has an eating disorder,” she said.
Experts also worry that people who take these drugs without a medical need and do see weight loss could go on to develop an eating disorder. People who lose a significant amount of weight often become fixated on body size and food and can develop eating disorders, Richmond said.
“We don’t know what that’s like with a medication like Ozempic, but I wouldn’t expect it to be very different,” she said.
The drugs don’t cause permanent changes — people can gain weight back if they stop taking it, research shows. Richmond said she’d be concerned about how people might react when the effects plateau or if they’re no longer taking the drug.
“You could see a drive for higher doses or more restrictive eating,” she said.
Overall, the conversation around the drugs risks reversing progress on the idea that there can be health at every size, Richmond said.
For some people, weight loss can help lower diabetes risk or lower blood pressure. But other people at higher weight might not have any health problems. Someone’s weight does not in and of itself give any information about any diseases they might have, she said.
“Weight alone is not a health issue,” Richmond said. “Weight is a health issue when it’s tied to adverse outcomes — and for some people it is, and some it isn’t.”
But the focus of the conversation around Ozempic and similar drugs is on the weight loss aspects, not improved health, Dennis said.
“It makes my work a lot harder,” she said. “It reinforces all of these ideas about the thin ideal that are so deeply embedded in culture and the medical establishment and are not founded in truth, or reality, or science.”
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or NationalEatingDisorders.org.
(NEW YORK) — On the last day of February, Estefania Alvarado was experiencing a whirlwind of emotions, but mostly she was feeling excited. Her baby boy, who had been in the hospital since he was born last August, was finally getting discharged.
“I couldn’t sleep the night before,” Alvarado told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “I was so ready. It’s like, I finally get to take my baby home because I’ve been a mom for six months but I haven’t had my baby with me.”
Alvarado, along with her own mother, headed to Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, where her 6-month-old son Giorgio had been in the neonatal intensive care unit for the last 190 days. Giorgio’s team of doctors, nurses and hospital staff gathered to see him off, lining the hospital hallway and cheering with blue pompoms.
“All of them were there. Some of [the staff] were off and they even took the day to come in. So I just felt the love and I think not just for us, but for my kid, which is the most important thing,” Alvarado recalled.
“It was the best day of my life,” the 30-year-old added.
Alvarado and her partner Richard Fabsits welcomed Giorgio on Aug. 22, 2022. It was unexpected for the couple as Alvarado told GMA she was only six months pregnant at the time and had been feeling fine.
“I went to work. It was a normal day for me,” said Alvarado, who works for a fragrance company. “Basically, when I got to my job, I used the bathroom. I noticed there was some bleeding. I called my doctor and she was like, ‘Oh, just come in. Don’t worry. Sometimes, things like that happen.’ And I didn’t feel any pain.”
When Alvarado was seen at a local hospital in Carmel, Indiana, a doctor there broke the news to her that things weren’t going to go as planned.
“Another doctor came in because my doctor was going to leave and she checked me and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ She’s like, ‘You’re not going home.’ She’s like, ‘You’re dilated three centimeters already,'” Alvarado said.
Alvarado was transferred to Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent, and three days later, Giorgio was born via cesarean section at 23 weeks and five days gestation.
“He came out actually crying, so immediately me and mom knew at that moment … I don’t know if it’s a mother or dad’s intuition, but we knew he was going to make it,” Fabsits, 33, said. “However, it was quite the roller coaster.”
According to his dad, Giorgio was born with various health issues, including a hole in his heart, a birth defect called patent ductus arteriosus, or PDA, where a heart valve doesn’t close as it should, and a brain bleed. The baby boy also had to be treated for at least two septic infections, a skin infection called cellulitis, and seizures, among other developments, and had to undergo tests and surgeries for months.
Alvarado and Fabsits said they would visit Giorgio, who they call their “miracle baby,” every day at the hospital and never gave up on their son, even when there were times no one knew whether Giorgio would make it to the next day.
“I feel like what kept us alive, me and dad, is our faith. We prayed every day,” Alvarado said. “We had each other, we had our family. So to be honest, even though we went through what we went through, I do feel blessed, because I know there’s some people that don’t even have that.”
The first-time parents said they wanted to share Giorgio’s story publicly to offer hope to families, especially to other NICU parents facing the unknown with their kids, and to encourage parents to advocate for their child’s care.
“The utmost, No. 1 thing that has pushed me through is intuition,” Fabsits said. “A parent’s intuition is unmatched. A doctor knows their field and they know that the medicine that they need to provide, and they know their treatments, and they need to operate when they need to, but a parent’s intuition is something that can’t be beat because you have a connection with your kid.”
Speaking to other parents experiencing similar situations, Alvarado added, “I want them to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It might take a long time but there is. Just keep praying and advocate for your kids. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s a great feeling.”
They also said they want Giorgio to know he’s been a strong child from the get-go and that from their view, his future looks bright.
“I just want Giorgio to know that he’s got loving parents that would do absolutely anything for him and that he is the strongest person I know,” Fabsits said. “In the six months he’s lived, he has went through so much, more than I have in my entire life and that no matter what, I know he can power through anything and to keep that mindset and that fight that he has, because he is absolutely a miracle to us and to the world. And I know he’s going to do great things.”
(NEW YORK) — Statins, drugs that are used to lower one’s cholesterol, can save lives – but come with steep side effects for up to a third of people who need them. Now, a new study shows an alternative drug can also dramatically reduce heart disease risk.
The study in The New England Journal of Medicine finds a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug reduces risk of heart disease, similar to statins, but without side effects many statin users experience.
At least 93% of Americans over 40 are prescribed statins like Lipitor or Crestor each year to reduce heart disease risk, but a sizeable minority of patients experience significant side effects like muscle aches, according to the study.
Statins are a class of cholesterol-lowering medications that are currently recommended for people who are at high risk of getting heart attacks and strokes. However, they have side effects, most common being muscle aches. Anywhere from 7% to 29% of people taking statin experience this side effect.
A newer drug called Nexletol was approved in 2020 by the FDA to treat high cholesterol, but the new study published in NEJM shows that the drug also reduces the risk of heart disease.
Researchers believe this data supports using Nexletol as a safe and effective alternative for many people who cannot take statins.
“Now we have a therapy we can give patients that is not a statin, does not have statin-related side effects that can lower LDL cholesterol substantially and importantly reduce cardiovascular morbidity,” Dr. Steven E. Nissen, the lead investigator of the study, told ABC News.
“Very notable impact was decrease in heart attack, which was 23%,” Dr. Howard Weintraub, of NYU Langone and an expert in preventative cardiology, told ABC News.
Doctors say patients should speak with their physician before starting or stopping any new medication.
Kaviya Sathyakumar, M.D., M.B.A., is a family medicine resident physician at Ocala Regional Medical Center in Florida and member of ABC News Medical Unit.
(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — Psychosomatic effects may be contributing to the symptoms of headaches, fatigue, or respiratory issues being reported by some residents of East Palestine, Ohio, following a hazardous chemical spill last month, experts say.
But “psychosomatic” does not mean that the symptoms are made up, according to experts. There is a body of evidence that suggests that smelling chemicals believed to be dangerous can induce feelings of stress and fear, which may lead to physical symptoms.
“If you’re in the presence of something where there’s a strong odor in the air, and you’re concerned about the impact of it because you don’t really understand the chemical that produce the odor, you probably start even breathing a little bit differently that can change your heart rate that can change all manner of physiological responses,” Pamela Dalton, Ph.D., a researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, told ABC News.
Researchers have done studies where they have misled people about the danger of a chemical they are smelling and shown that they will experience symptoms under those conditions.
“I can generate these symptoms so easily in an experimental situation and that’s in a situation where I’ve already told people…they’ve signed an informed consent and I’m telling them, I’m not going to hurt you, nothing about this is dangerous, and they still come out of the experience complaining about the same constellation of symptoms,” Dalton said.
It’s been four weeks since a Norfolk Southern train derailed in the town on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, releasing vinyl chloride, ethyl acrylate and isobutylene into the environment — chemicals that are considered to be very toxic, possibly even carcinogenic with high exposures. These chemicals have been known to cause symptoms including drowsiness, lethargy, headaches and nausea.
Homeowners have been complaining of an array of symptoms including eye and skin irritation as well as nausea and headaches. Recently, a medical clinic opened to address those with health questions and concerns so far — and that they continue to test.
The regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, Debra Shore, told residents this week that officials had not found any chemical levels that posed a health concern.
Air monitoring has not detected any levels of health concern in the East Palestine community since the chemical fire went out on Feb. 8, according to a statement from the EPA. Yet, there are reports that the smell has lingered around the contamination site.
“We call it interoception. It’s like an awareness of how you’re feeling, across your body. Some people are more likely to scan that than others. But when you think you might be exposed to something harmful, it makes perfect sense to think ‘how am I feeling’ right?” Dalton said.
There continues to be many unknowns about the level of exposure, concentration of chemicals, and potential harm to health within the community.
“People are very suggestible when it comes to odors. Having said that, a lot of these irritants do cause a lot of chest congestion, nasal irritation, allergic reactions, and they operate on the autonomic nervous system which will affect breathing, [congestion] of the nose, eye watering and so on,” Richard Doty, Ph.D., director of the smell and taste center at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, told ABC News.
The belief that an odor may cause bodily harm may be linked to stress and fear and thus, contribute to a bodily response like an increased heart or respiratory rate.
“People don’t like that term [psychosomatic] because it makes them feel like they’re somehow creating these symptoms. I like to say that it really happens independently of anyone’s wish or desire to feel that but it’s an adaptive response to scanning how you feel in the presence of something that you believe might be dangerous,” Dalton said.
An emotional town hall in East Palestine on Thursday led to residents conveying their frustration with state and federal officials as they expressed their lack of trust and demanded to know why some community members were feeling sick.
“The fact that people are uprooted from their houses, they’re stressed, they coughed and smelled [the chemicals] and then they couldn’t drink the drinking water…and you add all those things together, people aren’t going to believe there’s no problem,” Doty said.
In terms of what people can do, experts emphasized relieving stress may be helpful but that it’s difficult to break the mind-body connection.
“Certainly, I would recommend everybody try some stress relieving…but there isn’t a magic bullet, there isn’t something good we can give them to smell that’s going to break this association. I wish there were,” Dalton said.
(NEW YORK) — Australian regulators announced in February that psychiatrists will be able to prescribe psilocybin and MDMA as medication for certain mental health conditions starting July 1 of this year. The move makes Australia the first nation to approve the legal use of MDMA and psilocybin.
This is a major regulatory step forward as medical interest in the use of psychedelic substances for the treatment of mental health conditions has surged in recent years, and as other countries — including the United States — loosen restrictions on their use.
“Australia is creating an interesting model that could pave the way forward for the rest of the world,” Dr. Michael Alpert, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who studies MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD, told ABC News.
Australia’s new rules allow MDMA to be prescribed for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psilocybin to be prescribed for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Several pivotal research studies suggested the legitimacy of these treatments as new tools in the treatment of mental illness.
A trial published in May 2021, for example, found that MDMA (otherwise known by street names “Molly” and “ecstacy”) can help people suffering from PTSD when given with talk therapy. In the study, one group of people with PTSD received MDMA along with talk therapy, and the other took a placebo with identical talk therapy. This treatment went on for 18 weeks.
Ultimately, 67% of those in the MDMA-assisted therapy group no longer had PTSD after three sessions, compared to 32% in the placebo with therapy group.
Experts think MDMA helps PTSD by adjusting fear and memory circuits in the brain and bolstering social behaviors.
Psilocybin, which is the active ingredient found in “magic mushrooms,” creates psychedelic effects by altering neurotransmitters in the body. Researchers think it may help with depression by altering serotonin to create a positive mental state of interconnectedness, termed a “mystical experience” in research studies.
In a 2021 trial, psilocybin worked just as well as the antidepressant escitalopram, with significant improvements in well-being noted in the psilocybin group.
Many other governments, organizations and businesses have looked favorably upon these research findings, speculating that FDA approval, marketing and distribution of this new class of medication may be imminent.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is anticipating an eventual FDA approval of MDMA and psilocybin treatments, according to a letter from the department in May 2022. Financial experts estimate the market for psychedelic treatments will soon be valued in the billions.
Despite the promise of psychedelic drugs, they also place users in a vulnerable state due to their altered mental status during treatment, said Alpert of Harvard Medical School. As MDMA and psilocybin become legalized for prescription in Australia, the country is thinking proactively about how to ensure proper surveillance and quality of treatment.
They have specified that the medications may only be prescribed by psychiatrists in medically controlled environments. They’re requiring specific training for clinicians to create safe therapeutic conditions, which includes medical and psychiatric evaluation prior to use, monitoring of response, and supportive integration therapy.
“Australia will need to have clinicians demonstrate some familiarity working with these substances, provide a sort of additional training requirement or possibly some degree of clinical supervision while getting started, as well as accountability measures to identify a standard of care for these treatments and consequences for violations,” Alpert said.
Although no other countries have legalized psychedelics for depression and PTSD, others are taking steps to make them more accessible. Canada approved MDMA and psilocybin for those suffering from “life-threatening mental illnesses” in 2022. A number of South American countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, have legal frameworks to allow the use of other psychedelics.
In the United States, many cities and states are taking steps to loosen legal restrictions around psychedelics. The city of Denver, Colorado was first to decriminalize psilocybin, removing legal penalties for possession in 2019. Other cities, including Santa Cruz, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, followed suit in 2021.
Oregon became the first state to decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for therapeutic use in 2020. The drugs are not officially approved for medical use, but the state issues permits to trained facilities allowing them to offer sessions using the drug. Colorado passed similar guidelines in 2022.
Whether the United States will follow Australia’s lead and lift restrictions on MDMA and psilocybin at the federal level is still to be determined. Researchers are still gathering data and regulatory systems are still being developed to ensure that psychedelics are safe, effective and can be responsibly administered.
Experts working in this space will be keeping a close eye on how the Australian policies play out, Alpert says.
“It will be interesting to see what Australia is going to do to ensure that patients receive a consistent standard of care when receiving these services. Proper implementation will be key in ensuring that patients have access to life saving treatments for diseases that lack other great options,” he said.
Nicholas Nissen, M.D., is an author, host of the “Brain Health with Dr. Nissen” podcast and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned parents in a new report to thoroughly clean all infant feeding items to avoid bacterial contamination after two infants were reportedly infected with a rare bacteria.
The CDC reported that two infants were infected with the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii, in 2021 and 2022. One of the infants reportedly died as a result of the infection.
Cronobacter sakazakii infections are rare but can cause severe illness, like meningitis and sepsis, and death in infants, according to the CDC.
The first case occurred in September 2021 and was linked to an opened container of powdered infant formula. The CDC reported that it tested an unopened container of the same powder and did not detect the bacteria, concluding the open container may have been contaminated by a scoop or other utensil, according to the report. The infant was treated and made a full recovery.
In February 2022, another infant bacterial infection was identified and linked to contaminated breastfeeding equipment that was “cleaned in a household sink, sanitized, and sometimes assembled while still moist,” according to the report. The infant died 13 days after the onset of the infection.
Although the report does not specify the brand of formula involved in the 2021 case, Cronobacter sakazakii is the same bacteria central to the shutdown of Abbott Nutrition’s infant formula plant and formula recall in 2022, after four babies who had consumed Abbott’s formula contracted a Cronobacter sakazakii infection. Abbott maintains there has not been conclusive evidence that its formula caused infant illnesses or deaths.
The CDC recommends if an infant is fed with a powdered formula, all surfaces should be cleaned, as well as all feeding items and hands, to prevent germs that can make a baby sick.
It also recommends not setting the formula scoop on the counter, in the sink, or on any other surface. Additionally, it recommended to keep lids and scoops clean and completely dry and close containers of formula as soon as possible after using them.
(NEW YORK) — Increased time spent on social media is a risk factor for disordered eating, research shows.
Andrea Vazzana, a child psychologist who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders in children, adolescents and adults at NYU Langone, said the negative influence of social media is largely owed to the amount of social comparisons that are part of engaging in these social media platforms.
Increased use of social media has also contributed, in part, to the shifting demographics of those affected by eating disorders, according to Vazzana. She said there has been an increase in younger individuals, including tweens as young as 9 and 10 years old, suffering from eating disorders.
“This may be correlational data, but we’re seeing people joining social media platforms at an earlier age as well,” she told ABC News.
Vazzana noted that in addition to showing overedited, filtered photos, social media sites also offer users ways to find content like weight loss challenges, videos of purging techniques and unhealthy diets.
Nearly 10% of the world’s population and an estimated 30 million people in the United States are affected by an eating disorder, according to a report from the Academy for Eating Disorders and Deloitte Access Economics.
During National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, now through March 5, health professionals and recovery advocates are raising awareness about the importance of social media literacy to combat eating disorders.
Vazzana suggests parents and teens have conversations about social media literacy: comparisons, the use of filters and Photoshop and the concept of a highlight reel.
She believes “friending” people on social media that you know in real life, instead of following influencers and strangers, may be a protective factor in combating poor self-esteem from comparison. Limiting time on social media, as multiple studies have highlighted, can also be beneficial for both mental health and weight esteem.
When it comes to allowing children on social media, Vazzana said age is an important factor for parents to consider as research demonstrates that girls who engage on social media earlier than their peers have a higher drive for thinness.
In January, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said he believes 13 is too young for children to be on social media platforms, despite some of the most popular platforms allowing users to be that age.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, requires users to be at least 13 years old to use its platforms, according to the company’s website.
TikTok and Snapchat each also require users to be at least 13-years-old, according to their respective websites.
Google, the parent company of YouTube, does not allow kids under age 13 to create their own Google Account. YouTube allows parents to set up a “supervised account” for a child under age 13, for which they can control the content settings, according to its website.
In most cases, the social media sites require people to enter their birth dates in order to sign up as users.
Sam Dylan Finch, a recovery advocate, told ABC News that while social media can be a powerful tool in eating disorder recovery — including his own — it can also trap users in cycles of comparison and self-critique.
“It can be a vehicle for fad diets, health misinformation, harsh criticism, especially for those of us that don’t conform to society’s ideals of beauty and achievement,” he said. “And perpetuates standards of perfection that are impossible to achieve.”
Dylan Finch added that he believes how you curate your social media feed is important, in order to rule out false promises of esteem that the diet culture tries to sell, often through sponsored posts.
“This makes curating our feeds a powerful act of self-care that every one of us should take seriously,” he said.
Some social media sites have started to provide in-app resources for eating disorders and raise awareness.
In 2020, TikTok partnered with the National Eating Disorder Association, telling ABC News at the time, “At TikTok we work to foster an inclusive, body-positive environment where people can find support, affirmation and empathy within their community. Our goal is to create a space where our community feels comfortable and confident to be exactly who they are and express themselves freely.”
Instagram also has protections for kids, including support for people struggling with body image issues, age verification, parental controls, decreasing visibility of content that is potentially sensitive, time control settings, default settings to provide more privacy, as well as in-app resources offering mental health support, a spokesperson told ABC News last year.
When preoccupations with eating, exercise and photographs for social media start to distract a child from what is happening in real life, Vazzana suggests seeking professional help.
She said that pushing back against appearance ideals allows for more meaningful engagement in the real world, saying, “It’s almost like a bit of obstinance that can be used in a healthy way.”
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or NationalEatingDisorders.org.
Mallory Rowley is a fourth-year medical student and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 call centers and testing sites are closing across the United States as more Americans look to move on from the pandemic and with the emergency declaration set to end in May.
In Rockland County, New York — just north of New York City — the call center closed Tuesday after three years in operation.
The center was launched in early March 2020 after the county’s health department became inundated with telephone calls from people asking questions about the virus. According to a press release, the center received 19,163 calls during its operation and provided residents and businesses with information about COVID-19 guidance, testing sites, testing results and how to schedule vaccination appointments.
“I commend our staff for their tireless efforts to assist the community during this global pandemic,” said county health commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel in a statement. “As the number of COVID-19-related calls continues to decrease, the health department is able to reallocate personnel to other critical health work.”
In nearby Massachusetts, the state’s department of public health announced Monday it is shutting down its remaining free PCR testing sites, which were known as “Stop the Spread” sites, at the end of March.
UMass Memorial Health, which runs one of the sites in Worcester — located in central Massachusetts — cited “less demand for COVID-19 testing” as the reason behind the health department’s decision.
Drive-thru testing sites are also coming to an end. Carilion Clinic, a health system based in Roanoke, Virginia, closed its drive-thru testing sites on Wednesday.
According to a press release, the sites completed more than 340,000 tests over the course of three years and saw staff members often working from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m.
Kim Roe, vice president of family and community medicine, said testing personnel “truly worked tirelessly these past three years; their work was invaluable in keeping our workplace and communities safe.”
“A closure is an odd thing to celebrate, but this is a moment to recognize all that was accomplished as we transition into the endemic stage of this virus,” her statement continued.
It comes as several COVID data trackers also shut down, including Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center, one of the first to launch in early 2020 and a vital source that filled in information gaps.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also shut down its data website last month but has kept the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s dashboard running.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 cases have been declining for several weeks. During the week of Feb. 22 — the latest date for which data is available — a total of 236,131 cases were recorded in the U.S., a 48.2% decline from the 455,866 cases recorded the week of Jan. 11.
Hospitalizations and deaths, both of which are traditionally lagging indicators, have also been trending downward. Over the same period, weekly deaths have fallen from 4,448 to 2,407, according to CDC data.
The data also shows the seven-day average of hospitalizations declined from 39,837 on Jan. 11 to 22,766 on Feb. 22.
