buritora - stock.adobe.com.
This article is free for a limited time. Because CSPI takes no corporate or government donations, we rely on supporters like you to fuel our content. Donate now. |
Here's the latest research about fake Ozempic, reversing prediabetes, preserving your memory, calorie-dense foods, and more.
- Can a healthy lifestyle keep your brain healthy?
- Does low-dose aspirin protect your eyes?
- Ozempic can reverse prediabetes
- Is eating 3 times a day better than 6?
- Strength training can keep leg muscles strong
- Endometriosis means a higher ovarian cancer risk
- Ozempic without a prescription? It could be a scam.
- Cheesecake vs. ice cream? Calorie density counts.
Can a healthy lifestyle keep your brain healthy?
A healthy lifestyle may protect your mind.
Researchers studied 586 people who died (on average at age 91) after being tracked for up to 24 years.
A higher lifestyle score was linked to better scores on the participants’ last cognitive tests (about a year before dying).
The lifestyle score depended on exercise, limited alcohol intake, cognitive activities (like reading, doing puzzles, playing cards, etc.), not smoking, and a MIND (Mediterranean-DASH-like) diet.
A healthy lifestyle was linked to better cognition even after accounting for tau tangles, beta-amyloid, and other Alzheimer’s pathology (seen on autopsy).
What to do
This study can’t prove that a healthy lifestyle—rather than something else about people who have one—can maintain your mind. But a healthy lifestyle protects your body, so what have you got to lose?
Does low-dose aspirin protect your eyes?
A daily low-dose aspirin didn’t lower the risk— or progression—of age-related macular degeneration in a 3-year randomized clinical trial on 3,171 people aged 70 or older.
What to do
Don’t take a daily low-dose aspirin unless your doctor recommends it. Aspirin may prevent a second heart attack or stroke, but it may also cause bleeding.
Ozempic can reverse prediabetes
Semaglutide (sold as Ozempic) can reverse prediabetes, in part by causing weight loss.
Researchers randomly assigned 207 people with prediabetes and obesity to take either semaglutide or a placebo (along with diet and exercise advice). Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic, funded the study and employs some of the authors.
After a year, 81 percent of the semaglutide takers—versus 14 percent of the placebo takers—had normal levels of hemoglobin A1c (a long-term marker of blood sugar). On average, the semaglutide group lost 14 percent of their initial weight, while the placebo takers lost only 3 percent.
Six months after stopping the drug, many semaglutide takers had regained weight and nearly half had returned to prediabetes.
What to do
Got prediabetes? Weight loss—via diet or meds—may reverse it.
Is eating 3 times a day better than 6?
A typical U.S. adult eats 5 or 6 times a day. Would fewer times be better?
Researchers had 50 people eat the same amount of the same food spread over either 3 or 6 eating occasions every day for 3 weeks each. Most had a healthy weight.
Ghrelin (a hormone that boosts appetite), leptin (which curbs appetite), and C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) were no different when participants ate 3 versus 6 times a day.
What to do
Heard that it’s better to eat more (or less) frequently? Odds are, how much—and which—foods you eat matters more. (Note: This study didn’t look at whether eating fewer meals leads people to cut calories.)
Strength training can keep leg muscles strong
Heavy strength training lasts longer.
Researchers randomly assigned 369 older adults to 1 year of heavy or moderate-intensity resistance training or a control group.
Three times a week, the heavy-training group worked out on gym machines at 70 to 85 percent of their maximum resistance loads.
The moderate group did circuit training with resistance bands at 50 to 60 percent of their max.
After 4 years, leg strength had dropped in the moderate and control groups, but not in the heavy group.
What to do
The best strength training? The one you do.
Endometriosis means a higher ovarian cancer risk
Women with endometriosis have a higher risk of ovarian cancer.
Researchers examined health records of 78,893 women with—and 379,043 women without—endometriosis.
Those with endometriosis had four times the risk of ovarian cancer versus those without. And those with ovarian endometriomas or deep infiltrating endometriosis had 10 times the risk.
What to do
If you have endometriosis, be aware of ovarian cancer symptoms like bloating, back pain, or urinary frequency. And ask your doctor what might reduce your risk.
Ozempic without a prescription? It could be a scam.
Want to buy semaglutide (Ozempic) without a prescription? Not a good idea.
When scientists searched for the drug online, 42 percent of 317 pharmacies offering Ozempic without a prescription were illegal operations.
When the researchers ordered the drug from 6 sites, 3 (wieghtcrunchshop.com, puremedsonline.com, and genius-pharmacy.com) never delivered it. (The initial cost ranged from $220 to $410 for 1 to 2 injection pens, but the companies later asked for $650 to $1,200 more, supposedly to get it through customs.)
The remaining 3 websites (semaspace.com, uschemlabs.com, and biotechpeptides.com) delivered the drug. However, the purity was low (7 to 14 percent). And one contained an endotoxin indicating possible bacterial contamination, though no viable microorganisms were detected.
What to do
Use the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s website to see if an online pharmacy is legit.
Cheesecake vs. ice cream? Calorie density counts.
Some foods have more calories per bite than others. Do people compensate by eating less of them?
Researchers offered 34 people a sandwich plus one of three desserts for lunch on different days. The desserts’ calorie density—that is, the calories per gram of food—was lowest for vanilla yogurt (1.2), higher for vanilla ice cream (1.9), and highest for vanilla cheesecake (3.5).
The participants were told to eat as much as they wanted of each dessert. On average, they consumed 186 calories of the yogurt and ice cream, but 427 calories of the cheesecake.
What to do
Minimize calorie-dense foods and lower your meals’ calorie density by packing them with vegetables and fruits.
Support CSPI today
As a nonprofit organization that takes no donations from industry or government, CSPI relies on the support of donors to continue our work in securing a safe, nutritious, and transparent food system. Every donation—no matter how small—helps CSPI continue improving food access, removing harmful additives, strengthening food safety, conducting and reviewing research, and reforming food labeling.
Please support CSPI today, and consider contributing monthly. Thank you.
