West Virginia Just Passed A Monumental Ban On These Food Additives
The West Virginia legislature recently passed a landmark bill that, if signed into law by the governor, could lead to drastic changes at the grocery store. House Bill 2354 aims to ban seven major commercial food dyes and two preservatives over concerns surrounding unhealthy side effects: Red Dye No. 3, Red Dye No, 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2, Green Dye No. 3, propylparaben, and butylated hydroxyanisole, also known as BHA,
If it becomes law, HB 2354 would take effect in two ways: First, it would ban the use of the additives from statewide school nutrition programs effective Aug. 1, 2025. Second, it would ban the sale of products containing the additives effective January 1, 2028.
The proposed ban on these food additives, many of which are synthesized from petroleum, seeks to improve public health. Studies have drawn potential links between certain food dyes and behavioral problems in children, such as hyperactivity. The preservative BHA is a potential carcinogen in humans, and propylparaben has drawn suspicion about disrupting the endocrine system. The FDA maintains that all of these additives are generally safe for humans at moderate levels.
Read more: What You Need To Know Before You Drink Your Next Diet Coke
There is a long history of artificial food additives drawing skepticism from health-focused consumers. Red Dye No. 3 is a popular artificial dye targeted by HB 2354 despite a recent ban from the Food and Drug Administration after decades of consumer concern about potential cancer links. (The FDA maintains that there is no known cancer risk to humans.) Unfortunately for lovers of bright red foods, Red Dye No. 40, a popular replacement, is also targeted by the West Virginia bill.
West Virginia is far from the first jurisdiction to take action against food additives. California has already banned many food additives for many of the same public health reasons that West Virginia legislators considered. Several countries have also tightly regulated or banned food additives that remain legal in the U.S., including synthetic dyes, propylparaben, and BHT.
A ban on this many food additives might raise concerns about drastically reducing shoppers' options, but one major grocery chain has already removed many from its products. Aldi-branded products contain zero artificial food dyes, showing Americans that it is possible to stock your kitchen free from controversial food dyes.
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Associated Press
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'Gas station heroin' is technically illegal and widely available. Here are the facts
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But after the state restricted tianeptine in 2021 calls began modestly decreasing while calls across other southern states continued to climb. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
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When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently cleared a blood test that detects signs of Alzheimer's disease in the brain, according to multiple studies. This is the first-ever blood test available for this common form of dementia. Here's how the new blood test works and why it could be useful to patients. Alzheimer's disease is on the rise, in part because the age group most prone to dementia is growing larger. In the U.S., an estimated 7.2 million Americans ages 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's dementia in 2025. The percentage of affected people increases with age: About 5% of people ages 65 to 74 have Alzheimer's, compared with more than 33% of people ages 85 and older. At the point when a doctor has verified that a patient has cognitive decline, the blood test can be used in place of standard tests to see if they likely have Alzheimer's. Previously, gold-standard methods of diagnosing Alzheimer's have been more invasive and expensive, involving positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which use radioactive substances; and lumbar punctures, (also called spinal taps) during which a clinician uses a needle to sample spinal fluid from the low back. Clinicians also sometimes use MRIs or CT scans to rule out other causes of cognitive decline. The new test measures the ratio of two proteins in human blood, and this ratio correlates with the presence or absence of amyloid plaques, a primary sign of Alzheimer's found in the brain. For people experiencing memory lapses that might be due to Alzheimer's, the first step is to see their primary care physician (PCP), who should do a cognitive test. If there are signs of cognitive impairment, the patient would then be referred to a neurologist for an in-depth evaluation. 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The test — called the "Lumipulse G pTau217/ß-Amyloid 1-42 Plasma Ratio" — is intended for people ages 55 and older who show signs and symptoms of cognitive decline that have been confirmed by a clinician. The test is designed for the early detection of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. (Amyloid plaques are unusual clumps found between brain cells and made up of a type of protein called beta-amyloid.) Related: Man nearly guaranteed to get early Alzheimer's is still disease-free in his 70s — how? Early detection is important, said Dr. Sayad Ausim Azizi, clinical chief of behavioral neurology and memory disorders at the Yale School of Medicine. That's because the Alzheimer's brain is like a rusty engine — the plaque is like rust settling onto the engine, interfering with the wheels' ability to turn, Azizi told Live Science. There are FDA-approved treatments that act like oil, helping the wheels to turn, but the medication does not remove the rust itself, he said. 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If the test detects signs of amyloid plaques 20 years before any cognitive symptoms surface, Azizi explained, it would not make sense to treat the patient at that time. "The treatments are not 100% benign," he added. To receive lecanemab, for example, patients must be able to receive an infusion every two weeks at first and every four weeks later on; donanemab is given every four weeks. Both medications can come with infusion-related reactions, such as headache, nausea and vomiting. Rarely, the treatment donanemab can cause life-threatening allergic reactions, and both lecanemab and donanemab have been tied to rare cases of brain swelling or bleeding in the brain. These latter side effects are related to "amyloid-related imaging abnormalities," which are structural abnormalities that appear on brain scans. The new test can give false positives, meaning a person can potentially test positive when they don't actually have Alzheimer's. 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RELATED STORIES —Could vaccines prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease? —Study unravels whole new layer of Alzheimer's disease —Alzheimer's comes in at least 5 distinct forms, study reveals The test will give researchers a more precise idea of how a patient's clinical symptoms relate to the findings on their blood test, Azizi said. "It's a great way of using a biomarker [measurable sign of disease] in the blood to make an earlier diagnosis to give a drug" to slow disease progression, he said. Azizi added that this blood test could help track whether a treatment for Alzheimer's disease is working, which would be useful both for patients receiving approved medicines and those in trials of new drugs. Looking forward, researchers will also be able to evaluate how well blood-based testing works in more diverse populations, Day noted. This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
Yahoo
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Your Favorite Herb Could Soon Become a Key Treatment for Alzheimer's
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