
YoCrunch yogurt recalled afterr plastic pieces in packaging found
July 16 (UPI) -- YoCrunch yogurt products are being pulled from store shelves nationwide due to a safety concern, its manufacturer announced Monday.
Danone U.S., the maker of YoCrunch, said small, sharp pieces of plastic may be inside the dome toppers of some products, CNN reported.
The plastic could cause choking or injury if eaten. The yogurt itself is not affected.
The company is recalling all flavors and sizes of YoCrunch with expiration dates from early July through early September.
There have been reports that transparent plastic pieces were found in the dome, which holds toppings such as cookie bits or candy, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"The company is working swiftly with retail partners to remove the impacted product from shelves, while it works to address the issue and bring back the YoCrunch products so many people enjoy," Danone said in a statement.
"Danone U.S., the makers of YoCrunch, takes every consumer experience seriously and is initiating this voluntary recall in line with its commitment to product quality and consumer safety," the company added.
People who have the affected YoCrunch products should not eat them. Instead, call the 877-344-4886 for refund information.
More information
Read the full recall notice at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Rush now offers a blood test to help detect more than 50 types of cancer, as other health systems remain wary
Jack Welter didn't feel sick when he agreed to take a new blood test that looks for multiple types of cancer. But, approaching 60, he thought it couldn't hurt. To his surprise, the test came back positive. Welter then underwent multiple rounds of follow-up tests, and ultimately, doctors found cancer in his throat. The now 61-year-old Elkhart, Indiana, resident endured radiation and chemotherapy in 2023 and is now cancer-free. 'Without that test, I still would have had (cancer), obviously, but it might not have appeared for another year or more,' said Welter, who is expecting his first grandchild. 'Early detection is the key to success.' In recent years, the blood test, called Galleri, and others like it, have been gaining momentum among doctors who use them to help detect cancers that otherwise might go unnoticed until patients become ill. Now, at least one local health system, Rush University System for Health, has decided to start offering Galleri to patients widely in hopes of finding cancer early, when it's easier to treat. The test has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not covered by most health insurance plans. At Rush, it will cost most people $749 out-of-pocket. Providers at other local health systems have expressed wariness about offering the test broadly at this point, given those concerns and others. But Rush leaders felt it was important to move forward with the test, given its potential life-changing benefits for patients and because of its performance in clinical trials, said Dr. Lisa Stempel, director of the high-risk cancer screening program at Rush. 'The goal of all screening is to find cancer early when we can treat it,' said Stempel, who noted that 1 in 3 people will get cancer in their lifetimes. 'It's such a simple test in the fact that it can find so many cancers and the fact that it can find it in early stages is what's extremely exciting to me.' The test works by identifying DNA in the bloodstream that's shed by cancer cells. It can detect a cancer signal shared by more than 50 types of cancer, and it can also reveal roughly where in the body the cancer might be. A positive result is not the same as a diagnosis. If a patient gets a positive result, the patient must undergo additional testing, such as CT scans or PET scans, to help assess if they really have cancer. There's a 43% chance that a positive test result will be cancer, according to a study from Grail, the company that makes the Galleri test. The test has a false positive rate of 0.5% among patients who don't have cancer, meaning about 1 out of every 200 people who take the test and don't have cancer might still get a positive result. The test is only available by prescription, and it's recommended annually by Grail for people at higher risk of cancer, such as those ages 50 and older. Rush is also offering it to younger adults with risk factors such as a family history of cancer, smoking, diabetes or obesity. If a patient gets a positive result but doctors can't find any cancer, Grail offers a second test to the patient free of charge. That's what happened to Welter, the Indiana patient who had throat cancer. The first time he took the test, it came back positive for cancer somewhere between his chest and head, he said. But more traditional follow-up tests didn't turn up any cancer. He then took a second, free Galleri test about six months later and, again, it was positive. He underwent more testing, and the second time around, doctors found the cancer. 'At that point in time it was so small they really couldn't pinpoint it,' Welter said of doctors' efforts to find the cancer after his first Galleri test. Welter has been speaking to doctors at Rush about his experience in recent months as part of their training to offer the tests to patients widely. Welter said he hasn't been paid by Grail nor Rush. 'To me it's amazing the test could actually find something like that,' Welter said. Not everyone, however, is as gung-ho about the test. Though health systems in other parts of the U.S. are also offering Galleri, some Chicago-area health systems and providers say they don't believe the test is ready for prime time. Northwestern Medicine is not systematically offering the Galleri test at this point, with a spokesperson saying, 'The technology isn't sufficiently sensitive and specific enough for us to use this as a screening tool at this time.' Feighanne Hathaway, a genetic counselor at UChicago Medicine, said she also has a number of concerns. For one, she worries that the out-of-pocket cost creates more disparities in health care. She also worries that the test may be less adept at picking up signals for early-stage cancers than later stage ones, raising questions about its usefulness and value. A Grail study found that 48% of confirmed cancers detected by Galleri were stages 1 or 2, and that adding Galleri to standard-of-care screening about doubled the number of cancers detected. Hathaway also fears that if a patient gets a negative test result, they may think they can forgo screenings such as mammograms and colonoscopies. Rush and Grail caution that the test is not meant to replace routine screenings. Largely, though, she's concerned that the test is not yet approved by the FDA. Hathaway said she likes the idea of the test, but, 'I just don't think we're there yet.' 'I think more research needs to be done before we start offering it,' Hathaway said. So far, more than 380,000 people are or already have participated in studies of Galleri, according to Rush. That includes a recently completed trial with 140,000 participants in the United Kingdom. The company is also sponsoring a clinical trial that's now seeking to enroll an additional 50,000 Medicare beneficiaries to test whether Galleri can help find cancer early and decrease the number of late-stage cancer diagnoses. Though Galleri is not approved by the FDA, Grail said it has been granted breakthrough device designation by the agency, which is meant to speed up development and review of devices that can more effectively treat or diagnose life-threatening and debilitating conditions. The company expects to finish submitting information to the FDA next year for premarket approval. 'Now, for the first time we've got breakthrough technology that can find cancer in adults who have no idea they have cancer, they have no symptoms, there's no suspicion of cancer, and we can look for more than those five cancers,' said Dr. Joshua Ofman, president of Grail, referring to the cancers that now have recommended screening tools, such as mammograms for breast cancer and colonoscopies for colorectal cancer. 'We can look for all the other cancers that are taking people's lives, because when you can find cancer early that is your best chance to cure it,' Ofman. Many patients feel the same way. Peter Crowell, 65 of Bucktown, was among the first group of Rush patients to sign up this month to be tested. After his primary care doctor mentioned it, Crowell made an appointment to get his blood drawn. 'He asked me if I was interested, given my history, so I said, 'Yeah,'' Crowell said, noting he has a family history of cancer. 'It's just something I think I'd rather be proactive about.' Of course, Crowell wishes insurance would pay for it, but he's willing to shell out the $749 for the test. He said he'll likely pay for it using a flexible spending account. 'If I can find out if I have any of those markers, then it will be worth it,' Crowell said. Maggie Hornung, a nurse practitioner at Rush, recently had her blood drawn for the test. It takes about three to four weeks to get results. 'I obviously was excited as a provider to start offering this and working on this but as a patient I absolutely wanted to proceed,' said Hornung, 58. She wanted to take the test because she's had family members with cancer, and because of what she's seen in her work with patients in the high-risk breast cancer clinic at Rush. 'To me, $749 is a small cost compared to what things could be,' Hornung said.


UPI
2 days ago
- UPI
Number of family caregivers has skyrocketed in U.S.
Overall, 1 in 4 Americans (24%) is now a family caregiver, according to the Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 report from the AARP and the National Alliance on Caregiving. Adobe stock/HealthDay July 25 (UPI) -- The number of Americans caring for an older or disabled family member has risen dramatically during the past 10 years, according to a new AARP policy report. There's been a 45% increase in the number of family caregivers between 2015 and 2025, with 63 million Americans now looking after an aging or ailing relative, Rita Choula, senior director of caregiving at the AARP Public Policy Institute, told HealthDay Now in an interview. Overall, 1 in 4 Americans (24%) is now a family caregiver, according to the Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 report from the AARP and the National Alliance on Caregiving. "That is a huge number when you think about the individuals that are providing this care," Choula said. "We also know that family caregivers are doing higher intensity care, so they're doing more complex tasks in addition to things such as providing transportation or taking individuals to appointments. And they're doing it for longer periods of time." The aging of the U.S. Baby Boomers is driving this increase, she said. Nearly half of the care recipients are 75 or older, and many face multiple chronic health conditions, the report says. "People are living longer and with that, they're getting sicker and they're living with illnesses that decades ago they might not have lived that long for," Choula said. "And so now we see individuals that are still in the home with very serious illnesses that need individuals to provide that care." There's also been a reassessment in terms of the importance of caregiving from family members, she added. "Even up until 2020, when we talked about somebody being a family caregiver and really recognizing the different things that they did, they didn't necessarily associate that with a caregiving role," Choula said. "They were being the daughter, they were being the spouse, they were doing the things that they were called to do." About 70% of caregivers 18 to 64 juggle a full- or part-time job with their care responsibilities, the report found. "Imagine being that family member who is working a full-time 40-hour a week job and you're having to provide transportation, you're having to give and manage heavy medication regimens," Choula said. "You're having to do this while you're working, and that means that there could be potential impacts upon your work." What does that look like? "It means you may have to take off work more often. It may mean that you're not able to move up the so-called ladder in your career because you're having to be very focused in how you provide that care," Choula said. "We hear this especially from millennial and Gen Z caregivers who really take a hard hit when it comes to being able to advance in their careers." Choula understands about the stresses and strains of caregiving, as she spent 15 years caring for a mother with a form of dementia called frontotemporal degeneration. "During that entire time I was working a full-time job," Choula said. In the midst of caring for her mom, Choula gave birth to a daughter and son. "I had at one point a mother with dementia and two children under 2," while maintaining a job, Choula said. Nearly half of caregivers report at least one negative financial impact from their care responsibilities, including one-third who have stopped saving money and one-quarter who have run through their short-term savings, the report says. All this increases the amount of stress placed on family caregivers. Nearly two-thirds (64%) reported high emotional stress, while another 45% reported heavy physical strain, the report found. The AARP has advocated a number of changes that could better support family caregivers, including federal and state tax credits to support their out-of-pocket expenses, Choula said. The group also supports a recent move by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to pay health care providers to give family caregivers training they need, Choula added. Finally, family caregivers could be immensely aided by any efforts to help them coordinate their loved one's medical care, Choula said. "My person has been in the hospital for several days and it comes time for them to be discharged," Choula said. "Well, all of a sudden that family caregiver becomes the most popular person in the room because they're going to be the one that is taking that person home." The caregiver now must become a "master coordinator," she said, arranging follow-ups with specialists, tracking new medications, coordinating insurance payments and the like. "Those are some of the invisible things that family caregivers are having to face every day, in addition to working and caring for their children," Choula said. She recommends that caregivers reach out to Aging and Disability Resource Centers, programs across the country that are able to refer them to resources in their community. "At the end of the day, caregivers need help, and the more caregivers take on and the more newer caregivers that we get, the more they're going to be seeking these resources," Choula said. More information The Administration for Community Living has more on Aging and Disability Resource Centers. Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

3 days ago
1st pill for obstructive sleep apnea could be around the corner
The first oral pill for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) could be around the corner after pharmaceutical company Apnimed Inc. reported positive results from its stage III clinical trial. Currently, many people diagnosed with OSA patients require a machine that covers their nose or both the nose and mouth during sleep and delivers air through a mask to help keep their airways open. Apnimed's lead candidate AD109 showed "clinically meaningful and statistically significant reductions" in airway obstruction after 26 weeks, the company said in a press release. AD109, a once-a-day pill, is a neuromuscular modulator that increases upper airway muscle tone, which is how contracted the muscles are in the upper airway. OSA patients treated with the medication saw a nearly 50% reduction in the severity from baseline at week 26, compared to 6.8% of those in the placebo group. The reduction was "significant" at the end of the study period, which concluded at 51 weeks. At the end of the trial, nearly 23% of participants saw "complete disease control." The results were part of Apnimed's 12-month study looking at the safety and efficacy of AD109 in adults with mild, moderate and severe OSA. AD109 was well-tolerated among participants with only mild or moderate adverse events. Which was consistent with prior studies, according to Apnimed. No serious adverse events were reported in the trial. "With two large Phase 3 studies now demonstrating a consistent and significant efficacy profile for AD109, we are closer to delivering the first oral pharmacotherapy for over 80 million U.S. adults with OSA," Dr. Larry Miller, CEO of Apnimed, said in a statement. "Given the scale of unmet need in OSA, where the majority of patients remain untreated, we believe AD109, as a simple once-daily oral drug, has the potential to expand and reshape the treatment landscape, which would represent a significant commercial opportunity for Apnimed." OSA is a sleep disorder in which the airways become narrowed or blocked while sleeping, causing breathing to pause, according to MedlinePlus. Soon after falling asleep, people experience loud and heavy snoring. The snoring is often interrupted by a long silent period during which breathing stops and then followed by a loud snort and gasp as the patient attempts to breathe. This can cause excessive daytime sleepiness and affect quality of life, mental well-being and cardiovascular health. In addition to a CPAP machine, there are lifestyle changes that people with sleep apnea can make including avoiding alcohol or medications that cause drowsiness and losing excess weight. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded approval of Eli Lilly's obesity medication Zepbound to include treating moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea for people with obesity. The clinical trial did examine patients with a wide range of "weight classes" and did not see differences in efficacy based on weight. Apnimed plans to file a New Drug Application with the FDA in early 2026, according to Miller.