Blood-pressure earbuds
Raleigh, North Carolina-based health tech company Valencell introduced a prototype of an earbud that measures blood pressure. President Steven LeBoeuf told CNET at this winter’s CES technology show in Las Vegas that the ear is by far the best area to measure blood pressure compared to a finger or wrist. That’s because it has more blood flow and a richer heart rate reading, and ears stay the same distance from your heart (as long as you’re not bending over). The goal is to launch earbuds that use Valencell’s new tech as “general wellness” devices, not medical-grade ones, reports CNET. Valencell is already talking to several partners, and sees the earbuds as a way to screen for high blood pressure, and dovetail with meditation and calmness audio apps. These earbuds would skip the FDA clearance path for now, with a possible goal in the future of pursuing that extra level of approval.
Eye vitamins?
Don’t believe makers of dietary supplements marketed as eye vitamins, which they say can prevent glaucoma or reversing vision loss due to glaucoma, warns Mayo Clinic. Few clinical trials of eye vitamins or supplements for glaucoma have been conducted, writes Alaina Softing Hataye, O.D., in a Mayo Clinic newsletter. “Some evidence suggests that a high intake of vitamin B through dietary sources, including green leafy vegetables, may reduce the risk of some types of glaucoma,” she writes. “But B complex supplements, including folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12, don’t appear to offer the same benefit.”
Paid family leave pays off
Implementing paid leave policies after childbirth reduces the number of women leaving their jobs, according to a study funded by the March of Dimes Center for Social Science Research and conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. An analysis of states that have implemented paid leave policies found a 20% reduction in the number of women leaving their jobs in the first year after welcoming a child, and up to a 50% reduction after five years. The study, shared in January 2020 at the American Economic Association Annual Meeting, analyzed labor market participation among women in California and New Jersey before and after each state implemented a paid family and medical leave system. Over the long term, paid leave nearly closes the gap in workforce participation between moms of young children and women without minor children. For women who do not have access to this leave, the study found that nearly 30% will drop out of the workforce within a year after welcoming a child, and one in five will not return for over a decade.
Read the label
You may have noticed that on Jan. 1, new FDA rules went into effect regarding how food nutrition labels look, reports Cleveland Clinic News Service. Flip over an updated food item, and you will now see two columns – one for a ‘serving size’ and one for how much is in the whole container. According to Cleveland Clinic’s Susan Albers, PsyD, the idea behind the change is to give Americans a more accurate reflection of how much they’re typically eating. Prior to the change, many people didn’t realize that they were actually eating perhaps two or three serving sizes in one sitting, she said. Other changes: 1) Types of fat, such as the less-healthy saturated fats and trans fats, will now be listed, in addition to the total amount of fat; 2) vitamin D and potassium totals have been added, while listing for vitamins C and A have been dropped (because deficiencies of C and A among Americans are rare); and 3) a new listing for “added sugars” has been added.
Tax on sugar worked
What looked like an old-fashioned tax ploy actually led to some good things for the citizenry of Cook County, Illinois, according to research published in the “Annals of Internal Medicine.” Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago found that short-lived Cook County Sweetened Beverage Tax – one cent per ounce on sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages – led to a 21% reduction in volume sold of taxed beverages in the county, even when counting for some cross-border shopping. Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has been associated with adverse health outcomes. (The unpopular tax was short-lived, having lasted only a few months in 2017.)