28-05-2025
The benefits of midlife weight loss — and more
For Tuesday, May 27, WGN's Dina Bair has the latest on new medical information, including:
More Coverage: WGN's Medical Watch
The benefits of midlife weight loss
Shedding those pesky pounds that build up as we age is a meaningful way to prolong life without surgery or medication. It's not always easy but it works.
Weight loss in middle age is a powerful tool to ward off diabetes and other chronic illnesses.
As part of a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients lost weight without surgical intervention or medication. Sustained weight loss decreased all-cause mortality.
When people went from being overweight to maintaining a healthy weight for decades of follow-up, they displayed better health in all categories.
This is among the first studies to show that weight loss not only decreases diabetes risk, but it also carries long term health benefits.
A decline in U.S. maternal mental health
Columbia University researchers report a concerning decline in mental health among mothers in the U.S.
Subsequently they discovered physical health suffering because of mental challenges.
Doctors reached their conclusion after studying nearly 200,000 mothers with children from newborns to 17-years-old.
Just 26% of mothers surveyed reported excellent mental health in 2023, down nearly 10% in just seven years. The declines were seen in every socioeconomic group.
A mother's unstable mental health can impact her child's growth and development.
HIV drug improves vision in diabetes patients
A long-approved HIV drug is seeing a new life helping treat diabetic eye disease.
Lamivudine improves vision in a common diabetes eye complication called macular edema (DME).
Currently, patients with DME require monthly injections in their eye to reduce fluid buildup in the retina that alters their vision.
University of Virginia vision scientists say the oral HIV medication is inexpensive and effective to treat the blinding diabetes eye disease which impacts millions of patients.
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