Latest news with #StatNews
New York Post
4 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
Why one mom is trying to delay her daughter's first period — as experts warn of the risks of early puberty
According to studies, girls who get their menstrual cycles at a young age are more susceptible to long-term health problems. As a result, one mom is trying to prevent her young daughter's body from maturing too soon. According to Stat News, over the past 55 years, young girls in the US have been getting their periods earlier and earlier. Nowadays, the average age is 11 years and nine months. As if that age was startling enough, 16% of girls are getting their cycle before they even celebrate their 11th birthday. Advertisement Nowadays, the average age for a young girl to get her first period is 11 years and nine months. zakalinka – The concerning part is that, according to the National Library of Medicine, females who start their period at this young age have a 23% higher risk of developing different cancers — like breast, endometrial and ovarian — later on in life. Aside from the increased risk of being diagnosed with serious illnesses down the road — another concern about early puberty is that young girls are forced to endure the emotional and physical toll periods can have before their brains and bodies are fully developed. Advertisement '…modern teens have to deal with painful periods, the risk of getting pregnant and sometimes actually getting pregnant well before their brains and bodies are actually mature enough,' Elena Bridgers, a mom of two and a wellness and mental health writer, said in a recent Instagram reel. Because of this alarming news, moms like Rebecca Kinderman are trying to delay their daughter's first period by following a holistic lifestyle. 'I believe that if we can delay this part of 'growing up,' especially when their brains are not developed enough to be able to handle everything that they could be exposed to online, we are allowing our girls to stay young for longer,' Kinderman told Newsweek. Advertisement The 36-year-old posted a viral Instagram reel where she explained her thought process in helping her daughter live a long, healthy life. Believing household toxins and poor diets are contributing factors to early periods, Kinderman stressed in her post that feeding your family whole foods without seed oils and artificial ingredients is major. And in the era of parents raising 'iPad kids,' the mom also stressed the importance of removing kids from their tech devices and encouraging them to get outside and play. Advertisement And it seems that Kinderman might have a point — especially regarding diets and lifestyle choices. 'I think that that is very reflective of the obesity epidemic that we are seeing,' Aviva Sopher, a professor of pediatrics at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, told Stat News. 'To me, this is concerning as well, this kind of confluence of obesity and earlier puberty and more irregular cycles,' she said.
Axios
08-05-2025
- Health
- Axios
Meet the siblings tapped for RFK's health agenda
The Trump administration is staking its Make America Healthy Again agenda to a pair of health influencers with a major online following and little government experience. Why it matters: Casey and Calley Means — allies of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — have turned their disillusionment with the U.S. medical system into influence shaping American health policy. One stunning stat: The siblings' appearance on Tucker Carlson's podcast was Apple Podcasts ' most-shared episode of 2024. "I truly believe you guys are going to change the world," Carlson told the siblings in the interview that garnered millions of listens. Catch up quick: Trump on Wednesday tapped Casey Means as his surgeon general nominee, withdrawing the nomination of Janette Nesheiwat. Her brother Calley Means is a White House adviser. The death of their mother, Gayle, of stage 4 pancreatic cancer during the pandemic, solidified their skepticism of the health care system they're crusading against, per Stat News. The intrigue: Kennedy's former running mate, Nicole Shanahan, criticized Means' nomination. "I don't know if RFK very clearly lied to me, or what is going on," she wrote on X. Asked about his new nominee, Trump said he didn't know Casey Means. He had spoken about the siblings on Joe Rogan's podcast last October. Here's what to know about the siblings. Casey Means: surgeon general nominee Casey completed her medical education at Stanford, but dropped out of an otolaryngology head and neck surgeon residency program in 2018 during her fifth year, per her LinkedIn profile. Her medical license is currently inactive, per the Independent. She said she left the residency to focus on "how to keep people out of the operating room," according to her website. Afterward, she went on to practice functional medicine, per the New York Times. Later, she co-founded Levels, a food logging and habit tracking application paired with glucose monitoring. She co-authored a book with her brother last year called "Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health." Zoom out: Like Kennedy, she's focused on chronic disease in the U.S. She frames " metabolic dysfunction" as the root of chronic conditions. " You are the primary person in charge of understanding your body," her website said. "You may have been indoctrinated to think you're not capable of understanding your body or your lab tests, but this stops here." Between the lines: Casey Means said in a blog post that the Trump administration should "increase unbiased research on the safety of the cumulative effects of vaccines." She referenced vaccine claims that have no basis in science linking them to autism in youth. Calley Means: White House food policy adviser Calley Means was tapped as a "special government employee" to implement the Trump admin's plan to address chronic illness. He is specifically focused on food policy, per Bloomberg. In April during an interview with Politico, he defended the administration's' cuts to research and science. In January, speaking with the Free Press, he focused on ultra-processed foods and Ozempic. His website calls the American health care system a "sick care system." "It is a big problem when the largest (and fastest growing) industry in the country is incentivized for us to be sick" he wrote. Context: The startup founder's rise in conservative circles was swift, Bloomberg reported.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration ‘proposing a silly new bureaucracy': Former HHS secretary
Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Donna Shalala criticized the Trump administration's efforts to cut back the department she once led, calling it an insult that puts Americans' health at risk. In an op-ed for Stat News published Thursday, Shalala said the administration was 'insulting a generation of patriotic federal workers, proposing a silly new bureaucracy, and appointing people who are anti-science and anti-government with no management or leadership experience.' 'That's exactly [what] you would do if you wanted to have no positive impact on the country's health, welfare, and future,' she added. Shalala, who served as the HHS secretary under former President Clinton from 1993-2001, called the Trump administration's decision to cut 10,000 people from HHS 'deeply misguided.' 'Cutting 10,000 people from HHS, on top of the 10,000 who have already resigned, is deeply misguided. I found the civil service at HHS exemplary — thoughtful, engaged, creative, and hardworking. If HHS is to be reinvented, the best approach would be to work with the civil servants who know it best, not remove them,' she wrote. Shalala went on to say that Trump administration officials don't understand the impact of the HHS on the country's economy. 'The current administration is led by people who don't understand leadership or the extraordinary impact that HHS programs have on our economy and our future.' On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it was getting rid of roughly a quarter of the department's staffers prompting a flurry of warnings from Democrats, former officials and policy experts over the potential consequences for the health of Americans. In a press release, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the department would reorganize and cut about 10,000 jobs through layoffs. The department will seek to cut an additional 10,000 employees through buyouts, early retirement and the administration's 'Fork in the Road' offer. Responding to the move, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) held a press briefing Thursday afternoon, along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). 'Today's announcement is not just a restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services. It is a catastrophe for the health care of every American,' Markey said. The Hill reached out to the HHS for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
28-03-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Trump administration ‘proposing a silly new bureaucracy': Former HHS secretary
Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Donna Shalala criticized the Trump administration's efforts to cut back the department she once led, calling it an insult that puts Americans' health at risk. In an op-ed for Stat News published Thursday, Shalala said the administration was 'insulting a generation of patriotic federal workers, proposing a silly new bureaucracy, and appointing people who are anti-science and anti-government with no management or leadership experience.' 'That's exactly [what] you would do if you wanted to have no positive impact on the country's health, welfare, and future,' she added. Shalala, who served as the HHS secretary under former President Clinton from 1993-2001, called the Trump administration's decision to cut 10,000 people from HHS 'deeply misguided.' 'Cutting 10,000 people from HHS, on top of the 10,000 who have already resigned, is deeply misguided. I found the civil service at HHS exemplary — thoughtful, engaged, creative, and hardworking. If HHS is to be reinvented, the best approach would be to work with the civil servants who know it best, not remove them,' she wrote. Shalala went on to say that Trump administration officials don't understand the impact of the HHS on the country's economy. 'The current administration is led by people who don't understand leadership or the extraordinary impact that HHS programs have on our economy and our future.' On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it was getting rid of roughly a quarter of the department's staffers prompting a flurry of warnings from Democrats, former officials and policy experts over the potential consequences for the health of Americans. In a press release, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the department would reorganize and cut about 10,000 jobs through layoffs. The department will seek to cut an additional 10,000 employees through buyouts, early retirement and the administration's 'Fork in the Road' offer. Responding to the move, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) held a press briefing Thursday afternoon, along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.). 'Today's announcement is not just a restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services. It is a catastrophe for the health care of every American,' Markey said.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump administration cuts funding to long-term diabetes study: Report
The Trump administration has reportedly canceled funding to an ongoing, three-decade study tracking patients with diabetes, despite Donald Trump's campaign promise to 'Make America Healthy Again' and fight chronic disease. The cuts were made via the National Institutes of Health, which pulled funding for the Diabetes Prevention Program, researchers told Stat News. The scientists don't know why the funding was cut, but speculated it might be because Columbia University helps administer funding for the study to research institutions across the country. The Trump administration recently pulled $400 million in federal funding from Columbia, alleging the Ivy League school hadn't done enough to stop antisemitism on campus. The Independent has contacted the agency for comment. The National Institutes of Health, which handed out $35 billion in grants last year, has been hit with multiple cuts since Trump took office, including more than 1,000 employees who were eliminated, as well as individual grants that were canceled because they involved aspects of now-banned diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The White House has also directed the institutes to dramatically reduce funding for existing grants, too, though that effort was blocked in federal court earlier this month in a lawsuit from 22 states and organizations representing universities and hospitals. The changes at the health agency have prompted universities to freeze hiring, and some aspiring scientists have been unable to pursue prevision positions funded by the institutes. 'You don't take these jobs that pay worse and have insane hours and are really stressful unless you care about helping others and taking our love for science and translating that into something that can improve people's lives,' Connor Phillips, who was interviewing at Brown University for a program researching cerebral palsy, told The Associated Press. The administration is eyeing changes that could have even more sweeping impacts on the nation's health. White House adviser and Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk frequently refers to Social Security as a 'Ponzi scheme,' and was considering ending the program's phone-based services to seniors, before later reportedly abandoning the effort amid media scrutiny.
