Sweeteners tied to cancer: In a recent article from Reuters, Jennifer Rigby and Richa Naidu report that one of the world’s most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen. Even though we noted the word possible, we found this article alarming, given the amount of information available on the potential problems with artificial sweeteners. You can check previous articles from PWN on the subject and read the Reuters article here.
Scientist and physician harassment on social media continues to be a problem: It all started with the politically charged COVID-19 vaccines and spilled over to other areas of medicine, including pituitary and endocrine diseases. Social media harassment is nothing new, but it is something that should worry us all as it may cause qualified Doctors and other healthcare professionals to stop providing information to advocacy and support groups who rely on social media to engage and help members, causing inaccurate, sometimes dangerous misinformation to spread unchecked. A recent JAMA Network article reports on this alarming trend. In another related study, Med Page Christina Fiore reports on a study showing the number of physicians on Twitter is flat, and engagement is down. Click here to read more. And stay tuned; we will have more to say about this problem.
The relationship between the gut and the brain: what you eat, the gut microbiome and mental health: This article from Washington Post reporter Jessica Wapner caught our attention as we constantly sweep the WebSphere for exciting information that can inform our readers on important factors to improve overall health and well-being. A significant analysis of depression and the gut microbiome was published in December at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The study found several types of bacteria notably increased or decreased in people with symptoms of depression. Here’s a link to the study.
Pain and the spoon theory metaphor: This popular analogy can help you explain the daily struggle with chronic pain. Think of it this way: one spoon equals a finite amount of energy. People without a chronic condition have enough spoons to get through the day’s activities. People with chronic illnesses have a limited number of spoons to get through the day, having to ration their activity so they don’t run out of energy. To learn more about the spoon theory, click here.
Psychological aspects of endocrine disease: Although this is not new, and we have written extensively on the subject, we thought this NIH review on the psychological aspects of endocrine disease merited another mention. In the abstract, the authors mention, “Important psychological issues pertain to all the different phases of an endocrine disorder. Before disease onset, stressful life events may play a pathogenetic role and, together with chronic stress, may contribute to a cumulative burden, also called allostatic load; psychological and psychiatric symptoms are common both in the prodromal and in the active phase of illness; after cure or remission, there could be residual symptoms and impaired quality of life that deserve attention“. You can access the complete review here.
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