Author name: Admin

• Healthgrades has revealed its 2025 awards for America’s top hospitals for specialty care.
• The rankings include overall specialty rankings, outpatient rankings, and specialty rankings by state.
• These facilities are among the top 5% or 10% of hospitals nationwide in each specialty area.

Choosing the best hospital for healthcare can be challenging, especially if you or someone you know haven’t been there before.

Healthgrades aims to make it easier to know whether you are getting care from the best doctors and hospitals.

On October 22, 2024, Healthgrades announced the recipients of hospital quality achievements recognizing excellence in specialty care:

• 2025 Specialty Excellence Awards
• 2025 Outpatient Awards
• 2025 Specialty State Rankings

In a press release, Healthgrades stated that its specialty excellence rankings “recognize hospitals for outstanding clinical performance in 16 specialty care areas, including cardiac surgery, critical care, and stroke care.”

The outpatient rankings “recognize the national leaders in outpatient care,” and the state rankings “identify the top three or five hospitals in each eligible state across 18 key specialties.”

Healthgrades noted that they used clinically validated methodologies to make their selections based on patient outcome data.

To choose the top hospitals for specialty care, Healthgrades examined clinical performance data on more than 4,500 hospitals across 31 common procedures and conditions. This enabled them to recognize hospitals with the following awards:

• America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Specialty Care (for 11 specialty areas)
• America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Specialty Care (for three speciality areas)

How Healthgrades determined the top hospitals for speciality care

Healthgrades explained that the Specialty Excellence ratings and awards were determined using Medicare inpatient data for years 2021 through 2023. 

This included data on deaths of patients undergoing certain procedures or with specific health conditions, and complications resulting from other procedures. 

To identify the top hospitals, Healthgrades uses a four-step procedure:

1. Calculate the predicted number of deaths or complications at each hospital for these procedures and conditions.
2. Compare the predicted value to the actual number of deaths or complications at each hospital.
3. Determine whether the difference between the predicted and actual values is statistically significant.
4. Use the statistical analysis to determine a hospital’s performance in each category.

For each condition or procedure, hospital performance was broken down into three categories:

• Better than expected
• As expected
• Worse than expected

A similar methodology was used for the Outpatient Awards and Specialty State Rankings.

The top 5% or 10% of hospitals within each specialty area are recognized as Specialty Excellence Award recipients or Outpatient Speciality Excellence Award recipients.

How Healthgrades’ hospital rankings can help patients

In the press release, Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer and head of data science at Healthgrades, said, “Our specialty awards highlight top-performing hospitals across medical specialties, empowering consumers to find high quality care for their unique needs. Doing your research ahead of time and understanding where you can find high quality care can positively impact your healthcare journey and overall experience.”

Sara Mathew, associate director of research and operations administration at Weill Cornell Medicine, says Healthgrades hospital rankings are “valuable tools” for patients.

“[These rankings] include data on surgical outcomes and complication rates, making it easier for patients to make informed decisions without needing specialized knowledge of the healthcare system,” she told Healthline.

Mathew noted that in the past, people searching for high quality healthcare depended on referrals from primary care physicians, friends, or family members. But now, many prefer to conduct their own research, including using online reviews and rankings.

“This is especially important in areas with multiple hospitals and healthcare providers, where the right choice can significantly impact not only treatment outcomes but also the overall patient experience, including how doctors, nurses, and staff interact, the cleanliness of facilities, and how promptly concerns are addressed,” she said.

However, she emphasized that Healthgrades rankings should be used as just one part of the decision making process. Patients should also consider other factors, such as whether a hospital or provider is in their health insurance’s network, the location of the facilities, and recommendations from their primary care physician.

“By combining these considerations, patients can make the best healthcare decisions tailored to their individual needs,” she said.

Takeaway

Healthgrades announced the recipients of hospital quality achievements for excellence in specialty care, including the 2025 Speciality Excellence Awards, 2025 Outpatient Awards, and 2025 Speciality State Rankings.

The rankings are based on clinical performance data on more than 4,500 hospitals across 31 common procedures and conditions, including cardiac surgery, critical care, and stroke care.

Experts say the Healthgrades rankings are a valuable tool for patients and can help them make informed healthcare decisions. However, this information should be used in conjunction with other factors such as insurance coverage, location, and recommendations from their own primary care physician.

Healthgrades and Healthline are part of the RVO Health portfolio of brands.

Unlocking the Benefits of Treadmills and Alternatives for Home Fitness Treadmills have become essential tools for home fitness, providing a convenient way to maintain an active lifestyle regardless of outside conditions. They cater to different fitness levels, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced athlete, making them a popular choice for households.  As more options,

• Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, may protect against Alzheimer’s disease in people living with type 2 diabetes.
• People using the drug had a reduced risk of being diagnosed with the disease.
• Both diseases have insulin resistance and inflammation in common.
• Semaglutide might also help remove amyloid-beta from the brain.
• Amyloid-beta plaques can damage and kill brain cells, leading to dementia.

According to a study published on October 24, 2024, in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the type 2 diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide (sold under the brand names Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus) may reduce people’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Those people who were using semaglutide had a lower risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease than those using other diabetes drugs.

The Alzheimer’s Association states that Alzheimer’s is a common type of dementia, accounting for around 60% to 80% of all dementia cases.

People with this disease experience memory loss and cognitive decline that is severe enough to interfere with their day-to-day life.

It is incurable and becomes progressively worse over time.

How Semaglutide is associated with lower Alzheimer’s disease risk

The team of Case Western Reserve researchers examined three years of medical records for over 1 million people living with type 2 diabetes in the United States.

Study participants had to be new users of antidiabetic medications, defined as not using these medications within the past 6 months.

Six different populations were identified who had never been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s: all patients, people ages 60 and above, women, men, patients with obesity, and patients without obesity.

For each of these groups, they conducted seven target trials comparing semaglutide with insulins, metformin, dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, and other GLP-1RAs (albiglutide, dulaglutide, exenatide, liraglutide, and lixisenatide).

Their methodology involved using target trial emulation, a type of study that aims to mimic a randomized controlled trial (RCT) but uses existing data rather than recruiting new participants and studying how the intervention affects their outcomes.

RCTs are considered to be the gold standard for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of drug treatments for diseases. However, sometimes, observational studies are conducted instead due to constraints like time, money, or ethical considerations.

A target trial emulation is meant to produce an observational study with better-quality data that is closer to an RCT.

When they analyzed the data, they found that semaglutide use was associated with 40% to 70% less risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in patients with type 2 diabetes. This was in comparison with the seven other similar diabetes drugs.

Results were consistent even when people’s obesity status, biological sex, and age were considered.

However, the study authors did note that the limitations of their study did not allow them to say for certain that semaglutide was responsible for this effect. Further studies are needed to confirm that semaglutide really does protect against Alzheimer’s.

Why semaglutide might reduce Alzheimer’s disease risk

Dr. Ramit Singh Sambyal, a General Physician associated with ClinicSpots who was not involved in the study, explained that semaglutide belongs to a class of medications known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs).

These drugs work by mimicking the action of the hormone GLP-1; this helps regulate insulin and blood sugar levels.

“Semaglutide has been found to have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties, which are crucial because inflammation and insulin resistance are both heavily involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.

Sambyal went on to explain that people with type 2 diabetes are up to 50% to 100% more likely to develop Alzheimer’s when compared with those without diabetes.

“Brain insulin resistance is an emerging factor in Alzheimer’s research,” he continued, “sometimes leading to the condition being dubbed ‘type 3 diabetes‘ due to the metabolic dysfunctions observed in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.”

Dr. John Lowe, a Physician at Restore Care who was not involved in the study, spoke about another way that semaglutide might be able to protect the brain. “They [GLP-1 drugs] can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and might aid in the clearance of amyloid-beta, which is a characteristic feature of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said.

Amyloid-beta peptide, also known as beta-amyloid, is a “sticky” substance that can build up in the brain—perhaps due to problems with its production, accumulation, or disposal—leading to the formation of plaques that can disrupt brain cell communication and eventually kill the cells.

“This two-pronged approach—especially the potential for metabolic health and brain health improvement—suggests semaglutide may be the answer for how to lower the risk for the development of Alzheimer’s in diabetic patients,” said Lowe.

Takeaway

According to a new study, the type 2 diabetes and weight loss drug semaglutide might also have applications in preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

This progressive and incurable form of dementia has been referred to as “type 3 diabetes” due to the insulin and inflammation that type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s appear to have in common.

Semaglutide can improve insulin resistance and inflammation.

It might also be able to clear amyloid-beta, the damaging substance that is thought to cause Alzheimer’s, from the brain.

However, more research is needed to confirm whether semaglutide can truly protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

• The Biden-Harris administration has proposed a new rule that would significantly expand contraception coverage for 52 million females of reproductive age.
• If finalized, the rule would require private health insurers to cover over-the-counter birth control and other contraceptives at no additional cost to patients.
• With reproductive rights at the forefront of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, access to contraception has never been more important.

For the first time in more than 10 years, the Biden-Harris administration has proposed a rule aiming to significantly expand contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The rule would provide access to over-the-counter birth control pills and other contraceptives to 52 million women in the United States with private health insurance at no cost, the White House announced on October 21.

The proposal from the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury would build on the ACA mandate requiring private health insurers to cover contraception as preventive care without cost-sharing.

This means for the first time, females of reproductive age could obtain OTC contraceptives without a prescription at no additional cost, such as emergency contraception and Opill, the first FDA-approved OTC birth control pill that recently became widely available across the U.S.

If finalized, the rule is expected to go into effect sometime in 2025. It would be the largest expansion of contraceptive coverage under the ACA since 2012.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Biden-Harris administration has remained committed to reproductive rights by strengthening contraception access and affordability under the ACA through Medicare and Medicaid, the White House said.

While most people with health insurance can already obtain free birth control, the addition of OTC birth control at no additional cost could further improve access.

“When someone needs to get their birth control pills over the counter, it should be covered by health insurance,” said Sarah W. Prager, MD, a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. 

“People need to access over-the-counter contraception for lots of reasons, including traveling and forgetting to bring pills, running out of the prescription, and needing to stay covered until getting in to see a provider. Extending health insurance to birth control pills that are obtained over the counter just makes sense,” Prager told Healthline.

OTC birth control helps prevent unplanned pregnancy

Opill, the only daily birth control pill from drug manufacturer Perrigo, is approved for use without a prescription by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Under the Biden-Harris administration’s proposed rule, OTC contraceptives like Opill would be covered without cost-sharing.

Other methods of birth control, such as sponges, condoms, and spermicides would be covered under the new rule, as well as some contraceptive devices, such as intrauterine devices (IUDs). Emergency contraceptives like Plan B, the morning-after pill, would also be provided at no additional cost.

With reproductive rights at the forefront of the 2024 presidential election, access to effective and affordable contraceptives has never been more important.

Kecia Gaither, MD, MPH, double board certified OB-GYN and maternal-fetal medicine specialist and director of Perinatal Services/Maternal Fetal Medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln in the Bronx, agreed OTC birth control is key for preventing unintended pregnancies.

“Easier access reduces the likelihood of unintended pregnancies, which can have significant economic, social, and emotional consequences for women and their families,” Gaither told Healthline.

“Allowing OTC birth control enhances [a person’s] autonomy — [they have] more control over their reproductive health without requiring consultation with a healthcare provider,” she added.

Gaither listed other ways OTC birth control is an essential aspect of preventive care:

• Increased accessibility: Obtaining birth control and emergency contraceptive pills without a prescription or a doctor’s visit can lower barriers to access, which is crucial for people in rural or undeserved communities and those who live in “medical deserts.”
• Immediate availability: OTC birth control can be obtained quickly, and discretely, making them more effective when taken soon after intercourse without a barrier method.
• Cost-effective: OTC contraceptives may be more affordable than a doctor’s visit and a prescription, which helps alleviate financial barriers to obtaining contraception.
• Public health impact: Access to free birth control can help lower the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which can contribute to better overall public health outcomes. Of course, not all birth control methods, such as condoms, lower the risk of STIs.
• Increased health literacy: OTC contraceptives often come with simplified instructions, which help enhance awareness and understanding of reproductive health.

Takeaway

The Biden-Harris administration proposed a new rule on October 21 that would significantly expand coverage for contraceptives, including OTC birth control and emergency contraception. With reproductive rights at the core of the 2024 presidential race, access to effective and affordable contraceptives has never been more crucial.

Discover the Top Foods to Enhance Your Cognitive Performance and Memory Maintaining sharp focus and cognitive function is essential in today’s fast-paced world. Luckily, certain brain foods can significantly enhance focus factors, improve memory, and boost overall brain health. Whether you’re looking for the best brain food for memory or supplements to elevate cognitive function,

• Exercise has a complex relationship with appetite that may make you feel hungry or satiated.
• New research indicates that high-intensity exercise could mitigate feelings of hunger, particularly in women, by decreasing ghrelin levels.
• Ghrelin, popularly referred to as the “hunger hormone” stimulates appetite and signals when the stomach is empty.

High-intensity exercise appears to play an important role in mitigating feelings of hunger, according to a new small study. Those findings were even more prominent among females.

The research, published online on October 24 in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, investigates the complex relationship between exercise, the hormone ghrelin, and perceived hunger.

Ghrelin is popularly known as “the hunger hormone,” due to its ability to stimulate appetite. Researchers also sought to fill in gaps in the literature, specifically related to sex. While there is plenty of research available on exercise and appetite, the study authors note that little of it involves females.

Additionally, prior studies have typically utilized only one form of ghrelin, known as acylated ghrelin (AG), but this latest research offers a more complete picture by including a second form, deacylated ghrelin (DAG).

“The key take-home message from the study is that exercise, particularly at a higher intensity, suppresses total, acylated, and unacylated ghrelin, and this effect appears to be more pronounced in women than men,” Alice Thackray, PhD, a senior research associate in exercise metabolism at Loughborough University who wasn’t affiliated with the research, told Healthline.

Both Thackray and the study authors acknowledge there is still much more to learn about the effects of exercise on appetite, but the study helps to confirm prior findings across sex and hint at a potential mechanism.

How exercise affects the ‘hunger hormone’

Your body is constantly burning calories, even when at rest. When you exercise, your body’s energy requirements ramp up too, burning more calories, which can make you feel hungry. But that isn’t always the case.

Unintuitive though it may seem, exercise can also suppress hunger. The exact reasons for this aren’t entirely certain, but researchers have homed in on the impact of exercise on circulating ghrelin.

In their study, researchers investigated this relationship utilizing 14 adults — eight of them male and six female. The participants were younger adults; the average age for men was 43 years old and 32 years old for women. Participants were not overweight, with both groups having an average body mass index (BMI) of about 22.

Each participant had three randomized visits of exercise. During their visit the participant would take part in no exercise, moderate exercise, or high intensity exercise.

Baseline and post-exercise measurements were taken for AG, DAG, total ghrelin, and lactate. Lactate is a metabolic byproduct that builds up during exercise and serves as a biological marker of muscle fatigue.

Participants also had to answer questions about their appetite, fullness, and desire to eat to create a composite score of perceived hunger.

In both groups, high-intensity exercise suppressed DAG, but women, whose baseline ghrelin was already higher than men, showed a dramatic drop in AG.

 “The decrease in acetylated ghrelin after high intensity was really driven by the female group,” Kara Anderson, PhD, first author of the study and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, told Healthline.

However, decreased ghrelin levels didn’t clearly correlate with a similar drop in perceived hunger for either group.

“The hunger scores in response to exercise are pretty similar between men and women. So, there’s still a lot of research to be done, but this does suggest that males and females may respond to exercise differently, especially considering their ghrelin levels,” said Anderson.

Why exercise intensity matters

The impact of exercise on hunger and ghrelin levels varied across exercise intensity. High-intensity exercise had the most significant effect on ghrelin across males and females. However, perceived hunger told a different story.

For females, both high-intensity and moderate-intensity exercise resulted in nearly identical hunger scores, both of which were higher than the control (no exercise). For males, high-intensity exercise resulted in diminished perceived hunger compared to the control, while moderate exercise resulted in increased hunger. 

But the most important aspect of high-intensity exercise may have to do with lactate, which the authors theorize could be involved in “exercise-induced ghrelin suppression.”

Essentially, when you exercise, your body builds up lactate as a byproduct. When your body produces lactate faster than it can be used aerobically, your body has crossed what’s known as the lactate threshold. 

To cross the lactate threshold, you have to be engaged in high-intensity exercise. And it may be the presence of lactate from crossing that threshold that is key for mitigating hunger. 

“The exercise-induced changes in ghrelin were observed alongside increases in lactate which has been proposed previously as a potential mechanism for ghrelin suppression with exercise,” Thackray said.

“We need more research to support the mechanisms involved in exercise-related appetite responses, including how exercise influences appetite regulation within the brain,” she noted.

Takeaway

Exercise has a complex relationship with appetite that can both stimulate and suppress hunger.

New research indicates that both exercise intensity and sex are factors for the effects of exercise on appetite.

In their study, researchers from the University of Virginia found that high-intensity exercise resulted in significantly diminished levels of ghrelin, popularly known as the “hunger hormone.”

The effects were more pronounced in females compared to males. More research is needed to better understand the mechanisms involved in exercise-related appetite responses.

• Liam Payne, a former member of pop group One Direction, passed away on October 16. 
• His death is still under investigation, but authorities believe that drug use was a potential contributing factor.
• Over the years, Payne had been outspoken about his mental health journey and living with substance misuse.

The death of Liam Payne on October 16th is a tragic reminder of the complexities of navigating mental health and drug misuse, even for those with the resources to do so.

Payne, a singer and former member of the pop group One Direction, fell to his death from the balcony of a hotel in Argentina on October 16, 2024. He was 31 years old.

The incident is still under investigation, and police have yet to determine if the death was caused by accident or suicide.

In the months leading up to his death, Payne had apparently told those in his inner circle that he was sober.

But the scene in his hotel room told a different story, where suspected drug paraphernalia, unknown powder, and anti-anxiety medication were littered around.

According to early toxicology results, a cocktail of drugs, including “pink cocaine,” ketamine, MDMA, and methamphetamine, were all found in his system.

Reports indicate that an individual at the hotel had been acting erratically before the incident. Police have suggested that a drug-induced hallucination may have led to the fall, but that has not been confirmed at this time.

Nicola Payne, Liam’s sister, wrote a tribute to her brother after the news of his death.

“You led your life with a motto of why bother doing something unless you are brilliant at it, and Liam you were certainly brilliant at everything you did!! … I hope you have finally found peace up there and that you’ll continue to look after us all as you have done in life,” she wrote.

Payne had shared details about his mental health journey and substance use before his death

The former One Direction member had been outspoken over the years about his mental health journey and drug misuse, exacerbated by the pressures of fame and celebrity. 

The singer, who was only 16 when he joined One Direction, was catapulted to fame after the group took off on the television show “The X Factor” in 2010. Payne left the band in 2015, and the group disbanded in 2016.

Payne later revealed some of his experiences with alcohol and suicidal ideation on the Diary of a CEO podcast, describing going through a “pills and booze phase” while touring with One Direction.

“Where’s rock bottom for me? And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. No one would ever have seen it… There is some stuff that I have definitely never, never spoken about. It was really, really, really severe. And it was a problem,” he said.

He also described some of his time with the group as boring and unfulfilling, referring to getting up on stage as “putting the Disney costume on.” 

Rachel Goldman, PhD, a licensed psychologist in private practice in NYC and clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at New York University, told Healthline that those kinds of negative feelings are all too common.

“Mental health concerns and mental health illnesses don’t discriminate. Celebrities have a lot of pressure; they often have a different persona on stage or on camera than in real life, and that isnt easy to manage. Mental health resources need to be more readily available, accessible, encouraged, and normalized — even for celebrities,” she told Healthline.

Goldman also points out that discussing mental health is still heavily stigmatized, especially for men.

“We can do better regarding raising awareness around men’s mental health and continuing to break the stigma regarding asking for help and seeking help,” she said.

Signs of drug misuse and emotional distress

It can be difficult to identify the signs of drug misuse and emotional distress.

Payne’s story highlights how even when an individual is adamant about their sobriety, they can still relapse. But if you’re worried about someone and suspect they are struggling somehow, there are still things to look out for.

“In general, I like to ask people if they have noticed changes in mood, sleep, energy, focus/concentration, appetite, or motivation,” said Goldman.

Emotional distress can manifest in specific ways, including:

• Declining performance at work or school
• Trouble making decisions
• Eating more or less than usual
• Unusual irritability or aggression
• Withdrawal from loved ones and friends

Signs of drug misuse may overlap with signs of emotional distress and include:

• Losing interest in favorite activities
• Quickly changing emotions (e.g. feeling very sad followed by very happy)
• Not caring for oneself (e.g. not showering or brushing teeth)
• Sleeping strange hours
• Changing friends frequently
• Having interpersonal and familial problems

Drug misuse and mental health are complex issues, but Goldman suggests that beginning by validating someone’s feelings is a good place to start addressing them.

“Oftentimes, people need to know their feelings are valid and want to be heard. Many times people aren’t looking for advice or others to solve their problems (although sometimes that is what people want). Just simply listening and offering a listening ear can show that you care and you are concerned,” she said.

“Making the connection, validating their feelings, and showing that you care and are concerned is often the first step as it gives them a safe space,” added Goldman.

The bottom line

Liam Payne, a former member of the pop group One Direction, died on October 16 in Argentina after falling from his hotel balcony.

His death is still under investigation by police, but early reports indicate that drug use was a potential contributing factor.

Payne was outspoken about his struggles with mental health and drug misuse over the years.

Identifying the signs of drug misuse and emotional distress can be difficult. They often include changes to sleep, mood, social life, and performance at work.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. In the United States, call or text the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988.

• In a recent study, having a sweet tooth was linked with a greater risk of depression compared to those who favor healthier foods.
• Preferring sweets was also associated with greater metabolic disease risk.
• People who strongly prefer sweets had higher inflammation, blood sugar, and lipids.
• Small, sustainable changes will make it easier to reduce your sugar intake.
• You may even find that you feel better in just a few weeks, giving you an incentive to continue.

Do you have a sweet tooth? According to Statista, many people in the U.S. do. In fact, when they surveyed Americans in 2022 and 2023, 41% said they ate sweets regularly.

However, if you consume a lot of sugary foods, research indicates that you may want to reconsider your choices.

In the October 2024 study, which was published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, the researchers found that people who favored sweets had a higher risk of depression than those who preferred healthier foods.

These individuals also had higher levels of inflammation, blood sugar, and lipids, which can indicate a risk of metabolic disease.

On the other hand, those people who had a more health-conscious eating pattern had reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, per the authors.

How having a sweet tooth affects metabolic disease risk

The researchers examined data from blood samples taken from the UK Biobank, a large database containing health and genetic information for half a million volunteers in the U.K.

The data contained information about 2,923 proteins and 168 metabolites that had been measured to look for changes.

The research team used unsupervised machine learning to look for patterns in this data, finding three distinct groups based on people’s food preferences: Health-conscious (preferring vegetables and fresh fruit to animal-based foods and sweets), Omnivore (preferring all foods), and Sweet-tooth (having a high preference for sweet foods and beverages).

Looking at the various proteins and metabolites, they found those in the sweet tooth group had higher C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation.

They also had higher blood sugar and worse lipids, elevating their risk of metabolic conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

The team further found that having a preference for sweets was linked with a greater likelihood of having depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease compared with the other two groups.

On the other hand, the Health-conscious group had a reduced risk of heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and stroke; and the Omnivore group had only moderate health risks.

While they did not directly observe what people ate, the researchers noted that food preferences alone could potentially be used to predict people’s risk for metabolic diseases.

However, more research is required to confirm their findings.

Why having a sweet tooth might increase health risks

Dr. Michael O. McKinney, a physician and nutritionist with Healthy Outlook, said that the risks to physical and mental health increase when we eat a lot of sugar because of how sugar affects the body’s functioning.

He said that when you consume sugar, your blood sugar rises, which in turn increases the amount of insulin produced to cope with the added sugar.

“The consumption of food items containing excessively high glucose levels in the long course can result in insulin resistance,” said McKinney, “which is a root cause of metabolic illnesses such as Type II diabetes.”

Ingesting excess sugar and carbohydrates can also lead to high levels of inflammation, he said, which is linked with heart disease, stroke, and mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.

“Inflammation can damage the brain and impair the body’s capacity to govern emotions, increasing mental illness susceptibilities,” explained McKinney.

How you can reduce your sugar consumption

Dr. Ramit Singh Sambyal, an MD/General Physician associated with ClinicSpots, said that reducing your sugar consumption doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

“Small, gradual changes can make a huge difference,” he said.

The first step is becoming aware of all the places that sugar can hide.

“Many everyday foods, even ones marketed as ‘healthy,’ contain hidden sugars,” said Sambyal.

He suggests taking a closer look at labels, especially those of products like sauces, salad dressings, and flavored yogurts.

Sambyal also advised learning to look for sugar’s different names, such as glucose or maltose.

Another step in reducing your sugar consumption is to reach for whole fruits like apples and berries rather than grabbing a candy bar or other sugary snack.

“They provide natural sweetness while also offering fiber, which helps stabilize blood sugar,” he said.

However, you don’t need to make any drastic changes right away.

“Start by making small adjustments — like using less sugar in your coffee or choosing whole grains over sugary cereals,” suggested Sambyal. “This makes the change more manageable and sustainable in the long term.”

Finally, he advises looking at any sugary drinks that you regularly indulge in. “Sodas, fruit juices, and energy drinks are some of the biggest sources of added sugar in our diets,” said Sambyal. “Switching to water, sparkling water, or herbal tea can make a big difference.”

While cutting out sugar can result in some temporary sugar detox symptoms, you may find that you feel better within just a few short weeks.

In fact, Sambyal mentioned that those with depression may experience changes in their well-being relatively quickly.

“Patients who reduce their sugar intake often notice improvements in their energy levels and mood,” said Sambyal. “They feel less sluggish and experience fewer mood swings.”

And, of course, in the long term, you reduce your risk of not only depression but also conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

“Reducing sugar is one of the best steps you can take for your health,” said Sambyal. “Even small changes can significantly improve your physical and mental well-being over time.”

Takeaway

According to a new study, having a sweet tooth may be linked with a greater risk for depression.

These people also had higher inflammation, blood sugar, and lipids, which may indicate a greater risk for metabolic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

To eat less sugar, you can start slowly by reading labels and making better choices, like having whole fruits when you crave sweetness and putting less sugar in your coffee.

Small changes will add up over time to a happier, healthier you.

• Sitting and sedentary behavior are linked to a higher risk of many health conditions, including cardiovascular disease.
• Standing isn’t enough to offset the negative health effects of a sedentary lifestyle, according to a new study. 
• Prolonged standing may increase the risk of circulatory diseases, such as varicose veins, the authors suggest.
• Doctors recommend brief bursts of exercise or activity throughout the day to offset the health risks of sedentary behavior.

Many people are familiar with the modern-day sedentary routine: you sit all day at your work computer, and then you decompress by sitting at home watching television. All that sitting has serious negative effects on health. 

Excessive sitting has been linked to everything from increased risk of cardiovascular disease to early death.

Standing desks and other innovations have made standing a popular antidote to extended periods of sitting. Unfortunately, standing may not be enough to offset those risks, according to new research.

A new study published in International Journal of Epidemiology suggests that prolonged standing may not offer much in the way of health benefits and raise the risk of orthostatic circulatory disease.

Australian researchers cast doubt on the benefits of standing and underscored the necessity for daily activity to combat sedentary behavior.

“Standing, although not associated with higher risk for heart disease, was also not associated with lower risk. More time spent standing was associated with higher risk for circulatory conditions,” Matthew Ahmadi, MD, first author of the study, research fellow, and deputy director of the Mackenzie Wearables Research Hub at the University of Sydney, told Healthline.

Sitting and ‘stationary’ behavior linked to circulatory disease

Using accelerometer data from more than 83,000 adults in the United Kingdom, researchers investigated the outcomes of sedentary behavior on cardiovascular disease and orthostatic circulatory disease outcomes.

Orthostatic circulatory disease refers to a cluster of conditions related to circulation, including orthostatic hypotension and varicose veins.

The findings were confirmatory of the risks related to sitting. 

Sitting for more than 10 hours per day increased both cardiovascular and orthostatic disease risk. For every hour of sitting above 10 hours, cardiovascular disease risk increased by 15%, and orthostatic disease risk increased by 26%.

“Stationary behavior,” which includes both standing and sitting without movement, showed similar risks when performed more than 12 hours per day: for every additional hour CVD risk increased by 13% and orthostatic disease risk jumped by 22%. 

Standing time was not associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, but was positively associated with orthostatic disease risk.

After 2 hours of standing per day, every additional 30 minutes was associated with an 11% increased risk.

“It’s not sitting or standing, it’s the lack of movement or continuous uninterrupted sedentary behavior that’s problematic and you can still do that when you’re standing. You can be sedentary while standing,” Scott Lear, PhD, a professor of health sciences and Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at Simon Fraser University, told Healthline.

Is standing better than sitting?

Despite the findings, other experts maintained that standing is still likely a better option than sitting, although the health benefits may be limited.

“For the same amount of sedentary time, standing was better than sitting,” Michael McConnell, MD, a clinical professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford Medicine told Healthline. “But more standing is not a panacea in that it doesn’t decrease CVD risk — you need to move for that,” he added.

Evan L. Brittain, MD, MsC, an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, agreed that standing still has health benefits.

“I disagree with the idea that standing isn’t ever a valuable replacement for sitting. If you’ve got to be in one place and you’ve got to be stationary, then I think these data do support standing,” he told Healthline.

Although standing may not be protective against CVD or orthostatic disease risk, it was still associated with a lower risk overall than sitting.

“Less harmful is the same as being beneficial. If you’ve got to be in one place in front of your computer, then compared to sitting, standing is beneficial. That’s another way of interpreting these data,” said Brittain.

How to offset sedentary behavior

According to the CDC, about 1 in 4 Americans sit for more than 8 hours per day, and the average U.S. adult sits between 6.5 to 8 hours per day.

There’s no clear solution on how to solve the sedentary behavior problem in America, but the experts interviewed by Healthline offered a variety of strategies, including:

• using a treadmill desk
• changing your position at regular intervals using a convertible sit-to-standing desk
• setting an alarm reminder to get up and move every hour
• being active at work (i.e., taking phone calls while walking or walking meetings)
• incidental activity like getting up for coffee
• incorporating chores like laundry throughout the day if you work from home

“To optimize cardiovascular health and lower the risk for circulatory conditions, standing should be mixed with periods spent walking or doing other forms of activity that gets the body moving. Such as taking the stairs or a short walk around the block mixed in with standing,” said Ahmadi.

Takeaway

A new study of more than 83,000 individuals investigated the effects of sitting and standing on cardiovascular disease risk and circulatory disease risk.

Contrary to popular belief, standing was not shown to be protective against cardiovascular disease risk. And, like sitting, extended periods of standing may increase the risk of circulatory diseases, such as varicose veins.

To offset the deleterious health effects of sedentary behavior, doctors recommend periodic exercise and activity throughout the day. This could include set periods of walking or light activity, or incorporating activity into work itself, such as through walking meetings or phone calls.