…and other items from this week’s health news:

Time for a replacement?

❝With the developments of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality❞

~ Vladimir Putin, 72, this week, in a “hot mic” moment

This has clearly been on his mind for a while, as he upped the ante last year in 2024, funneling a lot of state money into his pet project, the New Health Preservation Technologies Initiative, after some years of close connection with the idea, starting 2019 at the latest, including per the company that his eldest daughter (an endocrinologist) works at, owned by his friend Kovalchuk. This too stems from earlier projects dating back to at least 2013, so it’s no flash-in-the-pan whim on his part.

He even oversaw increased funding into organ bioprinting and related technologies fivefold in 2022, when one might have expected his attention (and national resources) to be focused elsewhere.

But… will it work? Per current prevailing scientific consensus… Probably not, no.

This is because for now and the foreseeable future, transplantable organs are scarce, lab-grown full-size organs are still far from feasible, aging reduces recovery ability (organ transplant operations are not trivial), and brains cannot be replaced without losing identity.

Read in full: Putin says organ transplants could grant immortality. Not quite.

Related: Age & Aging: What Can (And Can’t) We Do About It?

Kidney disease deaths are on the rise

Deaths from hypertensive kidney disease in the US increased 48% between 1999–2023, and notably high blood pressure is the second leading cause of end-stage kidney disease and a major contributing factor to cardiovascular and renal morbidity and mortality.

In fewer words: high blood pressure is driving kidney disease and heart disease, which are killing increasingly many people in the US.

Men had higher mortality than women, with 22% higher mortality in those with renal failure, and the West had the highest regional rate, but the highest state-level rates were in Washington DC, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Black people had the highest mortality rates (more than 3x higher than others), and white people the lowest.

Researchers are urging more attention to be paid to early diagnosis and intervention:

Read in full: Deaths from high blood pressure-related kidney disease up nearly 50%

Related: Are your Kidneys Ok? Detect Early To Protect Kidney Health (Here’s How)

No hovering

Do you have kids (or grandkids) furthering their education this fall?

If so, it may be as well to let them fend for themselves unless they actively ask you for help. Researchers (Dr. Lidia Panier et al.) found that students with overprotective parents showed a stronger link between exposure to stressful events and higher anxiety levels.

One hypothesis is that overprotective parenting may limit their ability to develop coping and emotion regulation skills, leaving them more vulnerable to anxiety when facing stress.

Another hypothesis is that overprotective parents are, themselves, causing unnecessary extra stress—which makes other things harder to deal with rather than easier.

All this is consistent with past research linking overprotective parenting to insecure attachment, poor emotion regulation, and greater anxiety risk:

Read in full: Overprotective parenting linked to higher anxiety in first year university students

Related: If Your Adult Kid Calls In Crisis…

Take care!

It’s that time of the week again… We hope all our readers have had a great and healthy week! Here are some selections from health news from around the world:

Moderation remains key

Eggs have come under the spotlight for their protective potential against dementia, largely due to their content of omega-3 fatty acids, choline, and other nutrients.

Nevertheless, the study had some limitations (including not measuring the quantity of eggs consumed, just the frequency), and while eating eggs daily showed the lowest rates of dementia, not eating them at all did not significantly alter the risk.

Eating more than 2 eggs per day is still not recommended, however, for reasons of increasing the risk of other health issues, such as heart disease.

Read in full: Could eating eggs prevent dementia?

Related: Eggs: Nutritional Powerhouse or Heart-Health Timebomb?

More than suitable

It’s common for a lot of things to come with the warning “not suitable for those who are pregnant or nursing”, with such frequency that it can be hard to know what one can safely do/take while pregnant or nursing.

In the case of COVID vaccines, though, nearly 90% of babies who had to be hospitalized with COVID-19 had mothers who didn’t get the vaccine while they were pregnant.

And as for how common that is: babies too young to be vaccinated (so, under 6 months) had the highest covid hospitalization rate of any age group except people over 75.

Read in full: Here’s why getting a covid shot during pregnancy is important

Related: The Truth About Vaccines

Positive dieting

Adding things into one’s diet is a lot more fun than taking things out, is generally easier to sustain, and (as a general rule of thumb; there are exceptions of course) give the greatest differences in health outcomes.

This is perhaps most true of beans and pulses, which add many valuable vitamins, minerals, protein, and perhaps most importantly of all (single biggest factor in reducing heart disease risk), fiber.

Read in full: Adding beans and pulses can lead to improved shortfall nutrient intakes and a higher diet quality in American adults

Related: Intuitive Eating Might Not Be What You Think

Clearing out disordered thinking

Hoarding is largely driven by fear of loss, and this radical therapy tackles that at the root, by such means as rehearsing alternative outcomes of discarding through imagery rescripting, and examining the barriers to throwing things away—to break down those barriers one at a time.

Read in full: Hoarding disorder: sensory CBT treatment strategy shows promise

Related: When You Know What You “Should” Do (But Knowing Isn’t The Problem)

Superfluous

Fluoridated water may not be as helpful for the teeth as it used to be prior to about 1975. Not because it became any less effective per se, but because of the modern prevalence of fluoride-containing toothpastes, mouthwashes, etc rendering it redundant in more recent decades.

Read in full: Dental health benefits of fluoride in water may have declined, study finds

Related: Water Fluoridation, Atheroma, & More

Off-label?

With rising costs of living including rising healthcare costs, and increasing barriers to accessing in-person healthcare, it’s little wonder that many are turning to the gray market online to get their medications.

These websites typically use legal loopholes to sell prescription drugs to the public, by employing morally flexible doctors who are content to expediently rubber-stamp prescriptions upon request, on the basis of the patient having filled out a web form and checked boxes for their symptoms (and of course also having waived all rights of complaint or legal recourse).

However, some less scrupulous sorts are exploiting this market, to sell outright fake medications, using a setup that looks like a “legitimate” gray market website. Caveat emptor indeed.

Read in full: CDC warns of fake drug dangers from online pharmacies

Related: Are You Taking PIMs? Getting Off The Overmedication Train

A rising threat

In 2021 (we promise the paper was published only a few days ago!), the leading causes of death were:

1. COVID-19
2. Heart disease
3. Stroke

…which latter represented a rising threat, likely in part due to the increase in the aging population.

Read in full: Stroke remains a leading cause of death globally, with increased risk linked to lifestyle factors

Related: 6 Signs Of Stroke (One Month In Advance)

Take care!