Runners race for breast cancer research in New Britain
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WTNH) — Runners gathered to race for a cause: breast cancer research funding.
The annual 'Race in the Park' raised money for research and education on breast cancer.
'My mom actually had breast cancer, so I have a personal connection there,' Gina Airoldi, a participant, said. 'It's just great to have everyone come out, wearing pink, showing their support.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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WebMD
36 minutes ago
- WebMD
The Next-Gen Sweetener You May Be Eating
June 6, 2025 – It's time to add the word "neotame" to your ingredient label watch list, especially if you vape. It's a relatively new artificial sweetener found in every disposable e-cigarette that researchers tested – and the ultra-sweet substance is increasingly being used in food and drink. You probably have heard of aspartame. But neotame is its lesser-known sibling, with just one molecular difference. It showed up in laboratory tests of 11 top disposable e-cigarette brands when researchers from Duke and Yale Universities were trying to figure out what makes the vapes, like Elf and Geek Bars, so, so sweet. Neotame is between 7,000 and 13,000 times sweeter than table sugar and up to 65 times sweeter than aspartame. The sweetened e-cig study results were published this week in The Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA. Neotame wasn't found in JUUL or other cartridge-based devices, which have their own checkered ingredient history, including the 2019 finding that the sucralose used in them was linked to the production of toxic aerosols. Even if you don't vape, you may already be consuming neotame, since it's found in baked goods, candy (Mentos, for example), and gum – plus salad dressing, fruit spreads, dairy desserts, and yogurt. It's also used in some flavored sparkling waters and drinks like Tampico Mango Punch. Some researchers have soured on neotame because its use makes e-cigs appealing to young people, and because lab tests show it may harm our intestines when ingested. Why You've Never Heard of Neotame Maybe you saw it on an ingredient label and passed over it sometime in the past two decades. It has zero calories, no nutritional value, and was FDA-approved as a food additive in 2002. It's not listed on disposable e-cigarette packaging. Researchers track these sweeteners. Havovi Chichger, PhD, a professor at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England, says that for more than four decades, we have been consuming "traditional" artificial sweeteners like acesulfame potassium (Ace-K), sucralose, saccharin, and aspartame. But newer substances like neotame "herald the next generation of sweet additives," she said. The substance was developed in the 1990s in a quest for a more stable sweetener for processed products, and its use has steadily grown, she said. It's even used now in some lip cosmetics that have a sweet flavor and aroma. Neotame has also become the 21st-century spoonful of sugar Mary Poppins sang about: It's used to make some pharmaceuticals more palatable. According to a website about neotame set up by Georgia-based maker NutraSweet Co., neotame has an "ability to mask the taste of supplements, vitamins, bitter food ingredients and active pharmaceuticals. Moreover, its high sweetness intensity allows formulation at very small quantities, leaving ample room for your pharmaceutical ingredients." Neotame is not, however, approved for use in products that are inhaled. Why Neotame Is Used in E-Cigarettes – and in Baked Goods The liquid vaporized by e-cigarettes is heated sometimes as hot as 800 degrees Fahrenheit, said Sven Jordt, PhD, senior author of the JAMA study and a Duke University professor who is an expert in chemical sensory biology. Heating vape liquid can chemically change its ingredients, and neotame's strong sweetness and heat stability seem to have led to its new use in vapes, he said. If a lot of a sweetener is burned up or chemically changed when heated, the desired taste profile can still be achieved if just a bit of the ultra-sweetness remains. "The FDA also has determined that neotame can be used for baking, for example, because it's more heat stable than many of the other sweeteners," Jordt said. "Sweeteners like aspartame or Ace K, they are basically burned at normal baking temperatures. However, with neotame, a large proportion survives baking and likely also survives being vaporized by e-cigarettes." His team is concerned that the sweetness makes the products particularly attractive to kids. It's not used in the few e-cigarettes that are legal to sell in the U.S. and was just found in the disposable ones that are illegal but widely available amid lack of enforcement. "We did this study specifically because this category of disposable e-cigarettes is seeing an explosive growth in sales and use," Jordt said, noting that their nicotine concentration is higher than in older products, and at a fraction of the price. "You buy this once and then you can use it a whole week. And kids are puffing on these all the time," he said. "Some have like 15,000 or 20,000 puffs [compared to a few hundred puffs in the older JUUL devices]. So if you use this continuously, you become really heavily addicted to nicotine … and now we are asking: Is it just the design or is there something else in it that makes them much more attractive to kids to use and make them taste better? And then we found this neotame." The Damage Neotame Can Cause Approval of neotame for use in food products was based on studies on mice and other animals that didn't show any adverse physical effects. But what about the effects on humans? Findings published last year suggest that neotame can damage the human intestine. "Neotame can cause previously healthy gut bacteria to become diseased and invade the gut wall – potentially leading to health issues including irritable bowel syndrome and sepsis – and also cause a breakdown of the epithelial barrier, which forms part of the gut wall," said Chichger, who is a cell and molecular biologist and senior author of the study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition. The study showed that neotame can damage the "intestinal epithelium," or lining, by causing the death of epithelial cells. It also damages bacteria commonly found in the gut, she added. "Despite the smaller quantities used, the impact of neotame on the epithelium-microbiota relationship has the potential to cause poor gut health, which in turn could lead to metabolic and inflammatory diseases." The findings were the latest in a line of studies showing the effects of artificial sweeteners on gut health. Another recent study led by Los Angeles-based endocrinologist Ruchi Mathur, MD, linked artificial sweeteners to changes in the microbial composition and diversity in stool and the small intestine. That research, which was published in the journal Cell, didn't include neotame. Changes observed in the gut microbiome's biochemical activity "raise concerns regarding the potential impacts of non-sugar sweeteners on metabolic and gastrointestinal health," said Mathur, who is director of the Diabetes Outpatient Teaching Education Center and a professor of medicine at Cedars-Sinai in California. All the experts interviewed for this article said that while there's not enough data to say for sure that inhaling neotame is bad for you, the existing research suggests reasons to be cautious. When you vape, some of the "smoke" can mix with saliva and get swallowed – so neotame could reach your gut, Chichger said. "In fact, there are other studies which show that e-cigarette fluid can cause the same level of damage that we noted from neotame." Unanswered Questions About Neotame Big questions about neotame: How does it affect the lungs? How can we keep track of how much we've consumed (eating, drinking, or inhaling)? And how much is too much? 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"I do think it is reasonable to assume that there should be consumer awareness and caution, as there is little if any data on what happens when this substance is inhaled," Mathur said. You should also be aware of artificial sweeteners in food and drink, Mathur said. Make a plan with your doctor, especially if eating artificially sweetened foods is part of how you manage your body weight or diabetes. "There is enough data to suggest it is safe to use these non-sugar sweeteners in moderation," Mathur said. "If someone uses artificial sweeteners in non-traditional ways, such as inhaling it through an e-cigarette, they are doing so without the benefit of any good information on the potential long-term consequences of taking in the substance through their airways and down into their lungs or what byproducts may be created in the process."
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Dr. Arthur Zacco Celebrates Three Decades of Excellence in Hair Restoration
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About AZ Hair Restoration AZ Hair Restoration, founded by Dr. Arthur Zacco, is a premier hair restoration clinic based in Raleigh, North Carolina. With over 30 years of experience in the field, Dr. Zacco has earned a reputation for providing personalized care and natural-looking results through a range of advanced techniques, including Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), and Multiple Follicular Unit (MFU) grafting. The clinic offers comprehensive consultations and tailored treatment plans designed to meet each patient's unique hair restoration goals. AZ Hair Restoration is committed to helping patients regain their confidence and improve their quality of life through expert hair transplantation. Contact Info: Name: Dr. Arthur Zacco, Founder Email: Send Email Organization: AZ Hair Restoration Address: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 27613 Website: Release ID: 89161824 In case of identifying any errors, concerns, or inconsistencies within the content shared in this press release that necessitate action or if you require assistance with a press release takedown, we strongly urge you to notify us promptly by contacting [email protected] (it is important to note that this email is the authorized channel for such matters, sending multiple emails to multiple addresses does not necessarily help expedite your request). Our expert team is committed to addressing your concerns within 8 hours by taking necessary actions diligently to rectify any identified issues or supporting you with the removal process. Delivering accurate and reliable information remains our top priority.
Associated Press
an hour ago
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Oncoscope Officially Launches, Ushering in a New Era of Real Time Oncology Intelligence
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