She’s had one of the most front-and-center views of history among all Americans; in fact, it’s been said that as a teen, Maria Shriver realized what she wanted to be when she traveled with the press corps during her father’s presidential bid in 1972.

In March Shriver was present at the White House when President Biden signed the first-ever executive order “that builds upon the establishment of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research,” which calls for $200 million to be allocated to this effort, according to the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health.

For decades Shriver, 68, has been an audible advocate for women, as well as for Alzheimer’s research that leads to advanced understanding and treatment of this neurogenerative disease that 6 millions of Americans are diagnosed with, per 2023 NIH data. Shriver recalls being touched by the effects of Alzheimer’s firsthand after caring for her father, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2003.

Because growing research suggests that Alzheimer’s happens to women more than men—in fact, it’s reported that two-thirds of the brains that develop Alzheimer’s belong to women—Shriver says it has been her mission to drive recognition of Alzheimer’s as a women’s health issue and advance research to prevent the disease.

Last week The Healthy by Reader’s Digest spoke with Shriver about the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement at Cleveland Clinic, which Shriver herself founded as the world’s first organization devoted exclusively to women and Alzheimer’s disease.

The Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement first partnered with the Cleveland Clinic in 2020 to open the world’s first and only Alzheimer’s disease prevention center for women, the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention and Research Center at Cleveland Clinic.​ Since 2016, WAM at Cleveland Clinic has funded $5.35 million for 48 studies at 17 leading institutions and positioned its grantees to earn an additional $83 million more in government and foundation funding.

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The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: Maria, we saw your Instagram post when President Biden signed the executive order. It was such a “Yes! Yes! Yes!” moment for so many of us. Can you just talk about this moment that we’re in?

Maria Shriver: Well, it is a moment. We’re in a moment when it comes to women’s health, and I think the President and the First Lady have helped usher in that moment. Obviously, there’s been many people working for years in this space, whether it’s in the Alzheimer’s space or breast cancer space, or the heart space or the depression space. But this is a space where everybody’s united, where everybody has come together.

And I think when the President of the United States says, “Here’s a situation we need to rectify, and I’m going to start by issuing a Presidential initiative, by highlighting it in my State of the Union, by doing an executive order that gets everybody’s attention”—I can tell that this is a moment because wherever I go around the country, people are talking about it, women are talking about it, doctors are talking about it. Everybody feels like they’re included. It’s an incredible moment for women.

The Healthy: It is. The Cleveland Clinic is an organization many of our readers trust. What brought about that particular partnership?

Maria Shriver: I started the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement in 2010 and had been kind of going on my own. Several people had come up to me and said, “Would you ever partner with a hospital?” So I traveled around the country meeting different hospitals, looking at different hospitals about where, who, I wanted to “get married to.”

I had some friends, Larry and Camille Ruvo, who had started the Ruvo Brain Center with the Cleveland Clinic in Vegas. I went to them and said, “Would you start a women’s Alzheimer’s prevention center with me? Because I really feel like we need a prevention center—we need one focused on women.”

And they said, “Let’s do it.” So we did it for four years there, and it was kind of a pilot center that’s now grown. That was an introduction, a way to “date” the Cleveland Clinic, so to speak. They really believed in what I was doing, and I was interested in pushing that further into women’s health in a bigger way. So it just happened to work out for both of us. Like any good marriage, they were ready to commit, and I was ready to grow. So our partnership really has been several years in the making. It started strictly with Alzheimer’s and then grew into a broader comprehensive center for women.

The Healthy: Women’s health needs those voices! You’ve also been one of the nation’s proponents for greater awareness and efforts around Alzheimer’s disease. Remind us what first prompted your action.

Maria Shriver: Well, I got involved in Alzheimer’s in 2003, and my father was diagnosed. I wrote a children’s book. I went and did a big five-part series on HBO by [the executive producer for] Still Alice, which is having its 10th anniversary this year.

As I went through the country learning about Alzheimer’s, I started seeing that more and more women were being impacted. And yet all the researchers that I went to said no, that wasn’t correct. So I thought, I don’t think that they have this right.

So we [published] a Shriver Report, which reported for the first time to the nation that Alzheimer’s did in fact discriminate against women and that women were at the center of this disease. That changed the entire narrative around Alzheimer’s, and it changed the narrative for women’s health.

I started the Women’s Alzheimer’s movement out of that finding, because there were no nonprofits focused on funding research into women’s health. And the more I started looking into that, the more I realized, Wow, there’s no funding for women’s health— not just in the Alzheimer’s space, but generally. We’re way behind. And so kind of trying to solve the women in Alzheimer’s crisis led me into the women’s broader health crisis and the lack of funding. It really became a social justice cause for me at that point.

The Healthy: Are you encouraged by this time we’re in?

Maria Shriver: I’m encouraged by the growth of the women’s Alzheimer’s movement at the Cleveland Clinic. I’m encouraged by the brand new Women’s Comprehensive Center that they’ve just opened; I’m incredibly encouraged by the executive order, by the $12 billion mentioned in the State of the Union.

Everywhere I’m going, people want to talk about women’s health. They want to talk about this moment. They want to talk about ushering in a new era. They’re beginning to think about women’s health in a broader way. People used to think about it in terms of abortion or breast cancer. And I’m really adamant about explaining that—it’s a holistic conversation that I’m trying to have. That includes depression, that includes mental health, that includes osteoporosis, that includes endometriosis, that includes all of these things, autoimmune MS. Things that disproportionately impact women, that women’s health is far broader than reproductive health, and particularly focusing on women at midlife when so many of the chronic diseases take hold in women and men’s lives. So getting people engaged in their health care and their prevention at an early age seems to be the key.

The Healthy: And we’re learning more and more that so much past research, even on a vital like heart health, has been done with male research participants. Meanwhile just this week, a study found that female doctors may be helping their patients live longer! On Instagram, you recently had a really strong message to women. Can you repeat it for Reader’s Digest readers?

Maria Shriver: Well, I think that doctors are human beings, right? They have very limited time with you. So I think it’s really important that you go into the doctor’s appointment as your own advocate, knowing what you want out of that appointment, not abdicating your power, not allowing yourself to freeze or be powerless in the meeting about your body. You know your brain. You know what you feel, right? You have to stay true to that and voice it.

A doctor is not a mind reader. A doctor doesn’t know what’s going on with you unless you tell them. I’m a partner with my doctor. I have to tell him or her what I’m feeling, what I’m going through. I write it down. I come to the appointment with the questions I want answered, the things I’m experiencing. People have to understand that they need to advocate for themselves, and that advocating has to start early on. It doesn’t just come out in the doctor’s office. You have to advocate for yourself in life.

For more wellness updates, subscribe to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:

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This interview was edited for length and clarity.

We’ve all experienced the visceral sensations of anger—like clenched fists, a clamped jaw, tight chest, even a racing heart. While anger can be a natural part of the human experience, research suggests the physiological effects of it are not always harmless. Today the American Heart Association has shared a study that discovered a remarkable way a temperamental reaction may affect heart risk and presumably even life expectancy.

Published May 1, 2024 in the Journal of the American Heart Association and conducted by a team of 11 doctors and medical researchers at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York, the study aimed to assess the real-time physiological changes associated with negative emotions like anger, sadness, and anxiety. Their goal was to understand how changes to heart rate and blood flow during these emotional states could affect the risks of heart attack and stroke.

For the study, researchers enrolled 280 healthy adults with an average age of 26. They were invited to a lab to be assessed for physiological changes during simulated negative emotion scenarios.

The participants underwent several baseline tests for blood pressure and heart health. They were then hooked up to continuous blood pressure monitoring, an intravenous catheter to assess blood vessel contraction and release (which is a cardiovascular metric signifying physiological stress response), and a pulse oximeter worn on the finger to measure blood oxygen levels.

At the beginning of the test, participants sat in a quiet room for 30 minutes without phones or stimuli. Each, the researchers say, was “randomly assigned to one of four emotional tasks for eight minutes: recalling a personal memory that made them angry; recalling a personal memory of anxiety; reading a series of depressing sentences that evoked sadness; or repeatedly counting to 100 to induce an emotionally neutral state.”

The participants’ medical metrics were assessed at three minutes into the task; then 40 minutes, 70 minutes, and 100 minutes afterward.

In a press release, the researchers share their main takeaway: “A brief episode of anger triggered by remembering past experiences may negatively impact the blood vessels’ ability to relax, which is essential for proper blood flow.” Interestingly, only anger produced changes that appeared to impair this blood vessel function. As the researchers put it: “When adults became angry after remembering past experiences, the function of cells lining the blood vessels was negatively impaired, which may restrict blood flow.”

Another observation was that these changes generally lasted for an extended period—up to 40 minutes in some participants. Feelings of anxiety and sadness did not show statistically significant effect on the blood vessels.

The researchers highlight that simply remembering a previous episode of anger had such pronounced effects. These changes imply that anger can have a powerful and potentially damaging impact on health, say the researchers: “Previous research has found that this may increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.”

Experts believe that these changes could even potentially lead to a heart attack or stroke, particularly in predisposed people. “Impaired vascular function is linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke,” said the study’s lead author Daichi Shimbo, MD, a professor of medicine at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the AHA’s official press release. “We saw that evoking an angered state led to blood vessel dysfunction, though we don’t yet understand what may cause these changes. Investigation into the underlying links between anger and blood vessel dysfunction may help identify effective intervention targets for people at increased risk of cardiovascular events.”

Glenn Levine, MD, FAHA, chief of the cardiology section at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, agreed, saying that the study “very eloquently shows how anger can negatively impact vascular endothelial health and function, and we know the vascular endothelium, the lining of blood vessels, is a key player in myocardial ischemia and atherosclerotic heart disease.”

While a few outbursts of anger are unlikely to lead to a heart attack in young healthy people, like those in the study, over time they could damage arteries. “Repeated episodes of a negative emotion may affect cardiovascular physiology over time, causing delayed recovery and eventually irreversible damage leading to increased CVD risk,” conclude the researchers. 

What’s clear is finding a healthy way to blow off steam and rein in anger is good for you. Whether you find the nearest rage room, try a cyclic breathing technique, or find relief in a decompressing talk with a friend or licensed therapist, finding creative ways to manage anger can be good for your heart—and your relationships.

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A cancer diagnosis comes as a shock, no matter the circumstances. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that thanks to scientific and medical advancements, more individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer are triumphing over the disease and subsequently going on to lead long, healthy lives.

For those individuals and anyone going through treatment, a new study suggests one essential element that can complement cancer care long-term.

Recognizing that a cancer diagnosis can make the patient feel isolated or enhance previously existing feelings of loneliness, researchers affiliated with the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the Cancer Prevention and Control Program in Philadelphia conducted a study to examine the impact of loneliness on the long-term survival of cancer patients. Their findings, published in the April 25, 2024 issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (JNCCN), compared self-reported loneliness levels with mortality rates among a sample of 3,447 cancer survivors aged 50 years and older. 

The study analyzed data the participants had contributed to the Health and Retirement Study between 2008 and 2018, with the researchers collecting health and well-being information from the participants every two years until 2020. Loneliness levels were assessed by participants’ responses to a mental health survey, with scores ranging from None to Severe. 

Notably, loneliness was widespread across the group, even among those who’d been diagnosed more than two years before the study commenced. More than 74% reported experiencing some level of loneliness, with 27% reporting severe loneliness.

The study revealed that in general, the participants who’d reported the highest levels of loneliness were also the most likely to die during the study period. 

The researchers emphasize that these findings should prompt healthcare providers who care for the millions of cancer survivors in the U.S. to take action, especially in the face of the seclusion the pandemic created starting in 2020. They advocate that healthcare providers should screen for loneliness as a routine aspect of caring for cancer survivors. Similar to other cancer symptoms, early detection of problematic loneliness can be addressed before it escalates. Jingxuan Zhao, MPH, one of the study’s lead authors and senior associate research scientist at the ACS, said in a press release: “There are more than 18 million cancer survivors in the U.S., and that number is expected to increase to 22 million by 2030. We need to address this critical issue now.”

And while the authors note that loneliness existed independently of whether participants had friends, family, or caregivers, this study may serve as a good reminder for the loved ones of cancer patients to gather round for support and smiles as much as possible. Increasing science suggests that loving relationships are the single biggest contributor to longevity.

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Markers for COVID infection have waned in the U.S. for several weeks following a winter peak after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. National data suggests that over the past few weeks, positive tests, hospitalizations, and serious outcomes have all declined, which is encouraging.

However, as seen in previous years, the warmer weather accompanying spring doesn’t always bring a significant lull in COVID cases like it does for seasonal illnesses such as flu. The recent emergence of a new dominant mutation of the COVID-19 virus could lead to a resurgence of cases during the summer.

While it’s too soon for experts to predict, increased COVID infections could be on the horizon as a new variant, dubbed KP.2, takes over as the most prominent strain, according to projections from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

JN.1 had been the dominant strain for several months, rapidly displacing all other strains due to its transmissibility. Although JN.1 was highly transmissible, it has generally caused milder illness, with previous infections and vaccines working to prevent serious outcomes compared to other strains.

Experts are explaining that KP.2 evolved from JN.1 and carries two mutations of the spike protein that could raise concerns. COVID-19 is known for its frequent mutations that can help it evade immunity and continue infecting people. 

Current, though early, research on KP.2 suggests it will behave similarly to JN.1 in some ways. The fact that it has risen to prominence further supports that it will be highly transmissible, like JN.1.

Preliminary research suggests KP.2 may have some ability to evade the immunity often provided by vaccines and previous infections. However, since it is a mutation of JN.1, vaccines designed for JN.1 will likely provide some level of protection against it. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes in its update on improving future vaccines that KP.2 is “rapidly spreading in multiple regions as of April 2024.” The organization adds that “the potential public health impact of newly emerged (e.g., KP.2) and future variants remains unknown.”

Symptoms that could mean a new COVID infection

While this new variant is being studied, if you become ill even though you’ve had COVID before or have been vaccinated, be on the lookout for the following symptoms, according to the CDC:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

Research consistently illustrates that the best way to prevent a new COVID-19 infection is to stay up to date with your vaccines. Your vaccination status depends on your age and previous vaccinations. According to CDC guidelines, people aged five to 64 years should have received one dose of the updated vaccine, while those 65 or older should have received two doses. Anyone with a compromised immune system should consult a healthcare provider to discuss adequate vaccination.

As always, focusing on preventing the spread of new infections is crucial, including frequent handwashing and staying away from others when you’re sick. Although CDC guidelines say people are no longer mandated to isolate with a COVID infection, they should stay home when they’re sick and return to normal activities only when they’re feeling better and have been fever-free for 24 hours.

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Last month she appeared on the cover of People with Christina Applegate—two actors mass audiences first embraced for their roles as sweet and strong-minded daughters in TV series of decades past. Today, the two are confidantes, comrades, and co-hosts of the MeSsy podcast, holding space for candid discussion about their experiences with multiple sclerosis.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler is 42 but in 2016 revealed that she’d been dealing with MS since around 2001, which was prime time for The Sopranos as well as for the then-rapidly up-and-coming young actress herself. Recently she’s revealed she was dealing with neurological symptoms such as a bout of paralysis on set that it’s said was initially misdiagnosed as Lyme disease. For 15 years, Sigler kept her MS diagnosis private throughout subsequent work on projects like Entourage in 2008-09.

Today with husband Cutter Dykstra, a former Major League Baseball player, Sigler is a mom of two active school-aged sons. In partnership with the Novartis drug Kesimpta, Sigler spoke with The Healthy by Reader’s Digest about what it took to become a voice for ability and awareness in an industry that demands perfection.

The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: Jamie, in a way, we could say it’s starting to feel like a new world with so many women being able to speak openly about our health experiences that it seems like generations past felt they needed to keep private, probably rightfully so. What inspired you to start sharing about your experience?

Jamie-Lynn Sigler: I think my own experience of keeping my diagnosis a secret for 15 years and knowing how incredibly difficult that was, the added layer of suffering it created, and the feelings of shame and guilt that I started to harbor because of it, made me realize that I probably wasn’t alone in my suffering. It was also not a way I could live my life anymore. My willingness and openness to how much I share has evolved over time. It comes from my courage and self-work in realizing that relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) didn’t define me and didn’t take away anything of who I am and my value as a wife, mom, actress and friend. I also didn’t want other people to feel those feelings or feel alone.

With the MeSsy podcast with Christina, I’m not doing it alone. I have a partner to open a space to be vulnerable, honest and share really difficult things we both go through. We also hope to give other people permission to share those parts of themselves.

Through this process of finding myself and my voice, I collaborated with Novartis (independent of my MeSsy podcast) to develop a three-step guide to help other people living with RMS speak up and voice their needs.

I find that the first part, reflecting, was the most difficult because that meant sitting with the hard stuff, including those difficult emotions that can come with a diagnosis like RMS. There’s grief and sadness, but allowing yourself to feel those feelings and accepting that it’s part of your life and something that you’re going to have to deal with and honoring that it’s OK as a human being to feel those feelings allowed me to go into the next step of reframing to say, “This is part of my life, but there’s still a lot of things I want to accomplish as a wife, mom and actress.” It’s all about how I reframe my life with RMS to do those things.

The third step is reaching out for help. As an actress, my trailer gets parked a little closer to set, or I’ll have a chair near the set so I can rest in between takes. As a mom, I am at the baseball field all weekend with my son, so I’ll get a wagon I can lean on to push when it’s a long walk from the parking lot to the field and we have all our gear. I also travel a lot for work, so I have a four-wheel suitcase that I can push through the airport. These little adjustments that I can make to allow me to still do what I want to do.

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The Healthy: We’ve learned you’ve been living with MS for more than 20 years, since your early twenties. What were the early symptoms that started hinting to you that something was going on? How did you come to a final diagnosis?

Jamie-Lynn Sigler: My first symptoms were similar to the feeling right before you’re getting pins and needles—where your leg is asleep, and you feel like it’s about to wake up but doesn’t quite get there. I remember I woke up one day with that feeling in my feet and over the course of a week, that sensation was rising in my legs every day.

I was also having issues with my bladder with initiating and incontinence. I was a young, healthy 20-year-old woman at the time, and these were alarming and concerning. I ended up getting an MRI, spinal tap, and a full evaluation by a neurologist and that’s how I was diagnosed with RMS.

The Healthy: You’ve talked about the boundaries you’ve been practicing in your work life for your health. A lot of us can learn from that! What have the reactions been like from the people you’re working for and with? What’s a takeaway about this that you’d share with women, whether it’s in navigating MS, another condition, or even menopause or fertility?

Jamie-Lynn Sigler: I didn’t ask for help for a long time, so I understand the two different ways to do it. I white-knuckled through for a very long time, and it was really difficult. I couldn’t be the actress, mom, or friend I wanted to be because I was trying to do it all alone and pretending that I was fine and didn’t need help. I pushed through until a point where it was obvious that I did need help and was at a point where I was going to give up on it all because I didn’t understand how it could be possible. There was no joy in it and it was hard.

I was on a show called Big Sky for two seasons, and it was one of the first times I had asked for help. After an initial conversation, nothing else needed to be done on my part. I was fully supported. My trailer was parked close, I had an arm to lean on anywhere we had to go, and every time there was a new director, they were already briefed on my limitations. That’s when I realized I wasn’t a burden. I was initially so afraid of feeling like people would have to go out of their way for me, but realizing that it wasn’t the case at all allowed me to find the joy again and do the best job that I could do. Setting those boundaries and voicing my needs was a complete game-changer, and it bled into every area of my life.

My conversations with my doctor and advocating for myself also helped me find the right RMS treatment plan for me. After a long discussion, we decided that KESIMPTA (Ofatumumab) would be the right medication. It works for me and my schedule, I can take it myself, at home, or on the go. It also typically takes me less than a minute a month after I complete my three weekly starter doses.

As with any medication, there can be risks. My doctor told me that people with active Hepatitis B infection shouldn’t take KESIMPTA, so I needed to be tested for that. He also told me that there could be serious side effects such as life-threatening and fatal infections, injection reactions, lowered antibodies, and other common ones like headaches. But of course, everyone’s experience with MS is different, so it’s important to talk with your doctor to find a treatment plan that works for you, especially if you’re pregnant or planning to be.

KESIMPTA is the right medication for me and being able to find my voice and set boundaries allowed my doctor and I to get to that conclusion together.

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The Healthy: We’ve had a listen to the podcast, we love that you’re doing this! What have you gained or learned from it so far?

Jamie-Lynn Sigler: MeSsy is called MeSsy for a reason. There is no format, and we are not professional interviewers. You are truly getting to listen into an open, honest, vulnerable conversation between two really good friends, and two women who have been through a lot in life, who are here for each other to lift each other, to give each other permission to say that’s it hard, and to push each other when needed.

The value that Christina has brought into my life is immeasurable, and how we can inspire each other in our own individual ways just by being honest has been such a gift. We are hoping that MeSsy is not just a podcast for people living with MS, but that people, in general, can find themselves in our voices and our stories, and find a way in their own lives to feel like it is OK to share that life is hard and to find the people that are willing to hold the space for you to say that and still love you despite it.

The Healthy: How do you manage life as the mom of a busy young family? Are there days when you can go full-steam, and days when you need to slow down?

Jamie-Lynn Sigler: That’s exactly it. There are days when I’ll come home and look at my Oura ring and I’m like, “Wow I took 11,000 steps today; I pushed through and there was a lot we accomplished.” And there are other days where that’s not the case and I need to rest more.

With any chronic illness, the people in your family and closest circle are affected, too. This is just our reality. My kids know that, my husband knows that, and we make the accommodations that are needed. I accept them both because I have the good days and the days that are a little bit slower. I know that neither one is the end-all-be-all, and as human beings, RMS or not, we all have days when we can do more and days when we can’t. The acceptance around that has helped me not judge either one of them.

The Healthy: What’s one self-care routine you refuse to skip?

Jamie-Lynn Sigler: Meditation—allowing myself to sit with me, slow down and disconnect. Sometimes it’s only two minutes, other times it’s 30. I don’t give myself any pressure or judgment about whether it was good, bad, or not enough. Closing my eyes and connecting with myself has been a complete game-changer in every area of my life. Sometimes, if I am getting frustrated with my kids, I’ll walk to another room, and take a couple of deep breaths, whatever it may be. It’s been a practice that has been nonnegotiable for me.

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This interview has been edited for length.

A popular battery-powered racing car for kids is being recalled due to a dangerous malfunction with one of its key parts, which has caused several crashes and one injury. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall of 17,500 Mario Kart 24V Ride-On Racer Cars sold by JAKKS Pacific on April 25, 2024. The acceleration pedals in the affected cars can become “clogged with debris,” causing them to stick even when the child’s foot has been removed, thereby causing the car to continue moving.

The 24-volt battery-powered red and blue car, branded with Mario’s signature red ‘M’, was sold at Target, Walmart, Amazon, Macy’s, and several other retailers from October 2022 through January 2024. The car weighs just over 114 pounds, has three speeds with a maximum speed of eight miles per hour, and has large wheels for “drifting,” or sliding sideways. It is designed for children between the ages of three and eight. The recall notes that none of the Mario Kart 24V Ride-On Racer Cars currently being sold have the pedal issue.

JAKKS put out a statement on its recall page, urging anyone with a defective car to immediately stop using it and contact the company for a free replacement pedal:

“At JAKKS Pacific, product quality and consumer safety are our top priority. We recently identified a safety issue affecting the Mario Kart™ 24 Volt Ride-On Racers. If the acceleration pedal becomes clogged with debris, it can stick after the user’s foot is removed from the pedal, posing a crash hazard. Accordingly, in cooperation with the CPSC, we are voluntarily conducting a product recall. JAKKS will be providing free, newly-developed pedals and installation instructions to all consumers who have units affected by this recall.”

PepsiCo Has Recalled 2,800 Cases of a Popular Soda in 6 States

To date, 65 cars have experienced the sticking issue caused by excess debris, with 15 crashing into “permanent structures.” One minor hand injury has been reported. Customers who have any of the cars are urged to check the bottom of the vehicle for the eight-character code that identifies the cars with the defective pedal. Only the vehicles with the following seven date codes are affected: 1752VE01, 1782VE01, 1952VE01, 2242VE01, 2352VE01, 2852VE01, and 0583VE01.

Anyone with questions can contact JAKKS Pacific at 855-602-5464 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT or online at www.jakks.com.

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This week Pepsi received the AdAge award for the Best Rebrand, but fans of two brands that fall under the PepsiCo umbrella may benefit from learning that a few well-known sodas have been landing in inaccurate packaging.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has posted an “enforcement report” noting that 2,801 12-ounce cans of Mug Root Beer, packaged as 12 cans per carton (and two 12-packs per case), may have been mislabeled. Cans labeled as Mug Root Beer may contain the formula for Mug Zero Sugar, and the product is said to have been distributed to retailers in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Product code details are as JUL2224XXXXAS02234 with a Best by Date of July 22, 2024. It’s said the under-the-radar recall was initiated on March 22, 2024 and is ongoing.

While the FDA calls this a Class III recall, which means they suggest “use of, or exposure to, a violative product is not likely to cause adverse health consequences,” earlier this month it was reported that packages of another PepsiCo brand, Schweppes Ginger Ale, had also been mislabeled. In that case, an internal investigation found that product labeled as Schweppes Zero Sugar contained the full-sugar formulation of Schweppes. It appears that recall remains ongoing.

It’s important to note such a packaging error may be more likely to pose a risk to some consumers, including diabetics or those who are otherwise managing blood sugar, as well as weight, heart, and other health issues.

Editor’s note: Friday, April 26 at 3:21 p.m. EST, an official representative for MUG Root Beer said PepsiCo confirmed: “There is currently no impacted product on shelves for sale.” The representative added that the same statement also applies for Schweppes.

Get health-related updates delivered to you daily with The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:

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A sliced deli meat product distributed to retailers in eight states is being recalled. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the recall on April 24, 2023, citing insufficient inspection as the reason that 85,984 pounds of ready-to-eat prosciutto was being pulled from shelves.

The 5.29-ounce plastic packages of Stockmeyer Prosciutto were distributed to retailers in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington by ConSup North America Inc., which operates out of Lincoln Park, NJ. While the specific sellers were not mentioned, Trader Joe’s has been known to carry the lightly smoked sliced prosciutto.

The recalled prosciutto is identifiable by the blue Stockmeyer logo at the top right with Prosciutto written across the red package and Product of Germany below. The recall announcement states that all affected packages were produced from Sept. 25, 2023, through March 6, 2024 and bear various lot codes and best-before dates, listed below.

The FSIS was notified of the inspection oversight by Germany’s Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety. The FSIS explains that products sold in certain countries can be inspected there if the country’s inspection procedures are equivalent to those used by the FSIS.

Lot codes of the recalled prosciutto:

• 09118-3A
• 09118-3B
• 09120-3A
• 09120-3B
• 13133-3A
• 13133-3B
• 13104-3A
• 13104-3B
• 13105-3A
• 13105-3B
• 13109-3A
• 13109-3B

Best before dates: 

• 4/28/2024
• 5/26/2024
• 7/7/2024
• 8/4/202
• 8/11/2024
• 10/7/2024

The FSIS recommends that consumers and retailers check their refrigerators for the recalled product and throw it away or return it to the place of purchase. No injuries or adverse reactions have been reported in connection with the prosciutto ham, to date.

However, anyone who has consumed the product and is experiencing concerning symptoms should contact a healthcare provider. All consumer questions are directed to Luann Servidio, the director of imports for ConSup North America Inc., who can be reached at 973-628-7330 or [email protected].

Get health-related updates delivered to you daily with The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:

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• Expert Doctors: A Non-Invasive Urine Test Just “Changed the Game” for Prostate Screening

Affecting nearly 13% of American men, prostate cancer is the most prevalent male cancer aside from skin cancer. The primary screening method for prostate cancer is the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test, a blood test that measures a protein produced by both healthy and cancerous prostate cells.

Elevated PSA levels suggest the presence of prostate cancer, but these levels can also be elevated due to other conditions, such as prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate) or benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlargement of the prostate).

Prostate cancer varies widely in its progression: Some forms grow slowly and pose minimal risk, while others are aggressive and require immediate intervention. Historically, the challenge for doctors has been in determining which cases of prostate cancer are likely to spread without resorting to unnecessary biopsies. A prostate biopsy can be a painful experience, and some patients have discovered particular sensitivity when there’s a need for the clinician to collect multiple specimens for pathological examination.

To address this challenge on both the patient’s side and the doctor’s, University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researchers have developed a new diagnostic tool: The MyProstateScore2.0 (MPS2) test. This new prostate cancer urine test, covered in the April 2024 issue of the peer-reviewed American Medical Association journal JAMA Oncology, is designed to differentiate between aggressive and non-aggressive forms of prostate cancer and, by doing so, has the potential to improve the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer.

Here’s what the researchers discovered

The prostate cancer urine test assesses 18 genes linked to high-grade prostate cancer—cancers that are more likely to grow and spread. It targets cancers classified as Gleason 3+4=7 or Grade Group 2 (GG2) or higher. The Gleason score is a grading system used to assess the severity of prostate cancer, where higher scores indicate more severe forms of the disease.

John T. Wei, MD, co-senior study author, chief of urology, and professor at Michigan Medicine, discussed this evolution of prostate cancer diagnosis in a press release: “Our standard test [PSA test] is lacking in terms of its ability to clearly identify those who have significant cancer. Twenty years ago, we were looking for any kind of cancer. Now we realize that slow-growing cancer doesn’t need to be treated. All of a sudden, the game changed.” Dr. Wei went on to help highlight what this means for patients: “Nobody wants to say, ‘Sign me up for another biopsy.’ We are always looking for alternatives and this is it.”

This isn’t the first prostate cancer urine test developed by Dr. Wei and his colleagues. A previous version was created nearly a decade ago but failed to distinguish high-grade cancers. To develop the MPS2 test, the team analyzed over 58,000 genes and narrowed them down to 18, reliably indicating the presence of more serious disease. They then tested MPS2 on over 800 urine samples.

The results were remarkable: The MPS2 test accurately identified GG2 or higher cancers and was nearly 100% effective at ruling out Grade Group 1 (GG1) cancers, which are less likely to progress and cause harm. “If you’re negative on this test, it’s almost certain that you don’t have aggressive prostate cancer,” explains Arul M. Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and professor of urology at Michigan Medicine.

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How patient care for prostate cancer is improved

The researchers found that MPS2 testing can help avoid up to 41% of unnecessary prostate biopsies, compared to just 11% with PSA testing alone. This is especially beneficial for men who have already undergone biopsies and face the prospect of additional procedures due to rising PSA levels. MPS2 testing improves patient care and aligns medical interventions more closely with individual health needs, marking a major step forward in the management of prostate cancer.

If you’re wondering whether this prostate cancer screening will be available to you, for now the University of Michigan shares: “MPS2 is currently available through LynxDx, which is University of Michigan spin-off company that has an exclusive license from the university to commercialize MPS2. Patients interested in learning more can call the Michigan Medicine Cancer AnswerLine at 800-865-1125.”

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Listening to your favorite murder podcast or watching that based-on-true-story crime series is among the best ways to decompress for up to 50% of Americans, according to 2022 statistics published by Milwaukee’s NPR station. Besides the engaging escapism and guilty pleasure true crime delivers, new research suggests it’s affecting the subconscious in perhaps an unsurprising way. 

Being a voyeur to stories of violence has a unique way of holding your focus in an attention-grabby world—and while, on some level, these accounts can make everyday mundanity feel welcome, new research suggests consuming true crime content is compelling an overwhelming percentage of consumers to glance over the shoulder more often.

If you’re suddenly double-checking locked doors and examining the front porch security footage with scrutiny, a new nationwide survey suggests you’re in good company. The survey sought to pinpoint whether people are experiencing true crime-induced anxiety, and the geographical regions where this worry is trending the highest. Participants were asked whether this type of content increased their unease, followed by a variety of questions designed to gauge the levels of anxiety—such as whether true crime content has prompted them to carry self-defense equipment, take a break from the genre, or become more suspicious of others. The data uncovered some interesting themes.

The researchers report nearly 50% of Americans say true crime content has made them more anxious. Even more, 61% said true crime has made them more suspicious of others, while 78% said it has made them more conscious of their surroundings than before. One-third of fans have even invested in home security measures.

Parts of the South reported the highest anxiety levels: Louisiana was the state with the highest anxiety rating, according to the researchers’ scale, with two in five people reporting that being a true crime fan led them to carry some form of self-defense tool.

In Mississippi, the state with the second-highest true crime anxiety, a quarter of people have had to resort to engaging with true crime during the day because it’s too disturbing for them at night. Mississippi was also the state where most residents reported the greatest need for a break from the content. Texas came in third, with the average Texan admitting they watch, view, or listen to true content an average of six hours per week. 

The survey also drilled down into specific cities with New Orleans coming out on top for the most anxious true crime viewers. In The Big Easy, half of true crime viewers have beefed up their home security and reported they were more likely to share their location with loved ones just in case. In Baltimore, MD, the second-most-anxious city, people were the most likely to take a break from true crime content. People in the third-most-anxious city, Las Vegas, NV, reported a whopping 86% increase in awareness of their surroundings. 

While listening to or watching true crime can be an entertaining way to unwind, this survey underscores its real-life effects. Arm yourself with effective methods to relax, and remember that the occasional break from media can be the actual best way to take your mind off real life.

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It’s that hold-your-breath moment, often at the start of the day: The numbers on the scale can have so much influence on your sense of self-worth. Each one of us is so much more than the figure that flashes up—yet research has shown that consistently weighing yourself is one of the most effective ways to lose weight and subsequently keep it off.

But when can you take a step back from all that vigilance over your food intake, exercise, and weight? A study conducted by researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Virginia set out to determine how often an individual should weigh themselves to effectively keep weight off.

The results and analysis were published in March 2024 in the journal Obesity. Led by scholars of metabolism, cardiovascular health, and psychology, the study followed 74 adults who were overweight or obese with an average age of 50. The study tracked  these participants throughout a nine-month maintenance period after completing a three-month-long weight loss plan, asking them to monitor their weight, food intake, and activity and to report on the days they tracked every week. 

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The researchers found that weight re-gain correlated with the frequency per week that the participants monitored their weight. Those who continued monitoring their weight, diet, and activity at least three days per week were likelier to have maintained their weight at the end of the nine months. Participants who tracked their values for five days or more each week were more likely to continue losing weight. And interestingly, tracking for one to two days per week was associated with “significant weight gain.”

The researchers were encouraged by the results because in this study, maintenance was attainable with just three to four days of monitoring per week. “These results provide support for using modified schedules of self-monitoring during maintenance, with the potential to lower self-monitoring burden and ultimately improve long-term adherence and weight-loss maintenance,” they said.

Additionally, they note that the data support the idea that a “slow and steady” approach is more effective than “bursts” of weight monitoring. Also, consistently reporting metrics three to four days per week worked much better than reporting seven days one week and then only one day on another week.

This modified maintenance is encouraging for people who want to be a little more flexible, but still mindful, with their diets after weight loss.

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When you’re establishing a new relationship with a medical practice, you might find it thoughtful for the staff to ask whether you prefer a doctor of one gender over another. It may be no surprise that in some cases, that’s a welcome question: Peer-reviewed research in 2021 found in reference to obstetrics and gynecology practices that “a significant proportion of women feel a higher comfort level with female doctors and find it easier to discuss their medical issues and develop rapport.”

That might seem natural for reproductive and sexual health…but today a new study at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) suggests that even for more general health concerns, the gender of your physician could affect the likelihood of a future hospital stay as well as earlier mortality.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine and led by Dr. Yusuke Tsugawa, MD, MPH, PhD, associate professor of Medicine and Health Policy and Management at UCLA, found a significant difference in patient outcomes when they saw a female physician. (Study co-authors were Dr. Atsushi Miyawaki of the University of Tokyo, Dr. Anupam Jena of Harvard University, and Dr. Lisa Rotenstein of UC San Francisco.)

The researchers used data from Medicare claims between 2016 and 2019 that represented 458,100 female and 319,800 male patients. About 31% of both groups were treated by female physicians, while all patients were over age 65 and were hospitalized for an urgent medical condition. The researchers then tracked the patients for hospital readmission and mortality rates following care.

The researchers found that patients who interacted with female physicians experienced lower rates of mortality and hospital readmissions than those who saw male physicians. This affected women seeing female doctors more than men seeing female doctors, but it was true for both sexes. When females saw female doctors the mortality rate was 8.15% versus 8.38% with a male physician, which a representative at UCLA says is “a clinically significant difference.”

Men benefited from seeing a female physician, as well, but the gap in mortality rate was smaller, 10.15% with female doctors, versus 10.23% with male doctors.

The trend was similar to hospital readmission rates. Females treated by females returned for treatment 15.51% of the time versus 16.01% when treated by male physicians. For men, the numbers were much closer, 15.65% with a female physician versus 15.87% with a male. While the difference between these percentages is small, they may hold weight considering there are greater than 4,000,000 Medicare hospitalizations per year.

For the study’s senior author, this suggests a concerning difference in the way that the two genders provide care. “What our findings indicate is that female and male physicians practice medicine differently, and these differences have a meaningful impact on patients’ health outcomes,” Dr. Tsugawa said. “Further research on the underlying mechanisms linking physician gender with patient outcomes, and why the benefit of receiving the treatment from female physicians is larger for female patients, has the potential to improve patient outcomes across the board,” he added.

While no one can say conclusively what caused the individuals to experience different care, a representative for Dr. Tsugawa and the study’s fellow authors have three theories: One is that females may be more comfortable speaking about sensitive issues or being able to communicate more effectively with female physicians. A UCLA representative for the study noted that “female doctors may communicate better with their female patients, making it likelier that these patients provide important information leading to better diagnoses and treatment.”

Also, a trend in healthcare that’s gaining greater awareness is that some male physicians don’t take female patients’ reports of pain as seriously as their female counterparts might, which has led to a delay in care or even an inaccurate mental illness diagnosis.

Further, studies have shown that certain conditions present differently in women than in men, but that many standards are based on research that was conducted on men. For instance, nausea and vomiting are more likely to present as female heart attack symptoms versus the classically referenced “crushing chest” sensation.

For Dr. Tsugawa, this study and those that have come before it highlight the need to address this discrepancy and see where changes can be made. “A better understanding of this topic could lead to the development of interventions that effectively improve patient care,” he said.

The researchers also call for gender gaps in physician pay to be eliminated, stating, “It is important to note that female physicians provide high-quality care, and therefore, having more female physicians benefits patients from a societal point-of-view.”

For more wellness updates, subscribe to The Healthy by Reader’s Digest newsletter and follow The Healthy on Facebook and Instagram. Keep reading:

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When fifth-graders are shopping for retinol products, you know you’re living in a society that puts a significant emphasis on youth and appearance. Historically many women have perceived a shift that happens over time in both our personal and professional lives when we may start to feel overlooked. Unheard. Unseen. That can hurt psychologically, but it can also be a health hazard.

Actress Jane Seymour knows how this feels firsthand. “Unseenism,” Seymour explains, is something that some older women, as well as many patients with chronic conditions, can experience. This can make an individual feel hesitant to raise their issues and questions with a healthcare provider, for fear that they’ll be ignored or dismissed. Seymour wants to change that.

From her role as a Bond girl in 1973’s Live and Let Die to her beloved starring role in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman to now co-starring with Lindsay Lohan in the new Netflix movie, Irish Wish—with awards and a Hollywood star along the way—Seymour has seen how aging can change how people view, speak and listen to you. That’s why, in a new partnership with global biopharmaceutical company Insmed, Seymour is raising awareness about unseenism.

In a conversation with The Healthy by Reader’s Digest, she shared her clever strategy to make sure she’s being heard at the doctor’s office, how she practices gratitude, and the simple wardrobe trick she uses to feel energetic when she needs a lift. 

The Healthy by Reader’s Digest: Jane, please talk to us about your own experiences with “unseenism.” The idea that this can be tied to health is a really important point.

Jane Seymour: I’ve noticed that when I went to the doctor, I was not treated probably in the same way as if I were a man. I also realized that I’m willing to—and not afraid to—stand up for myself and say, “Hey, pay attention to me. Please pay attention to what I’m doing.” I think a lot of women, especially people who have diseases and things: They’re not listened to, they’re not paid attention to in the proper way. I have actually spoken to doctors recently about it who have said, “You know what? In medical school now they are really [teaching] about listening to women, especially women over 50.” Insmed surveyed 2,000 people, and 62% of those women felt overlooked when they age. 

I think women in general … do have to stand up for themselves. As you age, maybe you don’t always remember exactly what the doctor told you, or you don’t remember what it is you want to ask the doctor. You have to self-advocate or have someone come with you. Or what I do is ask for permission to record it. That way I can’t get their, “Oh, you’re menopausal,” or, “Oh, you are older,” or “your memory” or “We told you that already.” 

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The Healthy: Are age or gender bias experiences you’ve had personally?

Jane Seymour: Well, inside of me, and I think inside of all of us, is a young woman. She’s a teenager, maybe one that was never allowed to get up and do whatever, or we have our spirits that are young and our bodies that sometimes tell us otherwise. But on the other hand, there’s a lot of people who, women especially, who just go, “OK, well I’m 50, I’m done,” and hide under a rock and just accept that they are unseen.

I really feel that I’m in this privileged position of being able, maybe through my Instagram or through public speaking or even the roles that I play, to say, “Hey, you’re not done yet. You’re not done being young. Take care of your body. Take the vitamins, do the exercise, keep your brain going, but get out there and communicate with other people.”

I had a very resilient mother who passed at the age of 92, having survived World War II for three and a half years in a camp in Indonesia. She always said to me that everyone has challenges in life. The natural instinct is you close off and don’t let anyone know you need help. But if you accept whatever your challenge is … and find a community to talk to one another about it, get your head around it, and then say, “OK, this is what I can do, and this is what I need to do and be positive about it.” 

And I think when you have a purpose in life, it’s about having a positive attitude. I personally will take care of my skin first thing in the morning. I will exercise, at least walk around. I will take a look at nature and just have a moment of gratitude whether I meditate or I just look out at the ocean or look at a bird flying by, whatever it is, I come from a place of gratitude to be here at all. And then I ask myself, “What can I do today to make a difference for myself and others?”  I find that if I have managed to move the dial even slightly just by listening to someone who’s having a tough time, creating, painting, designing—whatever it is that I know fills my spirit—I feel I’ve had a good day and I am inviting people, especially women over 50, to give themselves the opportunity to feel good about themselves in every possible way. 

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The Healthy: A great example of embracing that confidence and vibrance as you age is when you became the oldest woman to pose for Playboy at 67 years old in 2018. So many women need the reminder that you can still feel beautiful or sensual as you get older. What do you do to embrace that internal feeling of beauty? 

Jane Seymour: Well, I just don’t wear gray all the time. I will throw a splash of color into my life, it’s like a joke around here. My fans know it too, that when I feel I need to perk myself up, I will have something red on somewhere. Maybe it’s the sole of my shoe or a scarf or whatever it is. If I’m feeling down, a pop of any kind of color just livens my life up. That’s one thing that I do. I look at myself in the mirror and I just say, “OK, you’re here. You matter. What are you going to do to help other people? And how are you going to feel good about yourself?” Maybe you’ll take an extra minute to comb your hair or put some lipstick on or go outside and exercise, or like I said, a way to have some fun, find some people that you really have something in common with. 

When people read I was in Playboy it’s, “Oh my God, this is going to be something very salacious.” But I had more clothes on than anyone who just went to the swimming pool. I think the concept was that you can feel sensual. You can feel like a whole woman for your whole life. There is no reason to stop being a complete woman for as long as you want to be. And I think that’s really important. There’s no cutoff date. When I was growing up, I would look at my mother at 50 and just go, “She’s old.” I’m 73, and I don’t think of myself as old.

Take on some new venture, try something new. Learn an instrument. I mean, it’s never too late to do the things that a lot of people say, “Oh, well, I should have. I could have. I didn’t. I couldn’t because of the kids, I couldn’t because of whatever.” There are a lot of ways of moving the dial and just going, “You know what? I’m trying this. This is actually fun.” I mean, I started out with dancing. You put some music on in the morning, put it on your headphones when you’re walking, and rock out to the sixties or whatever it was that got you excited in the first place about life. I think that’s important. 

I do notice that I’ve lost a lot of friends to illness, and I do see a lot of my friends having to have this replacement, that replacement, this treatment, going into hospitals and visiting people. But you can lift people’s spirits wherever they are. I think that’s really what this is about, too. It’s about owning the right to be heard, to be seen, to be listened to, be attended to, and you’ve got to do it for yourself as well. 

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The Healthy: We love that! How about self-care? Is there a self-care routine or practice that you can’t skip? 

Jane Seymour: Absolutely. I know most people don’t wash their hair every day, but I do. So I wash and condition my hair. I exfoliate the skin all over my body, especially my face. I make sure to protect myself from the sun. I wear a hat so I don’t get too many UV rays and wear sunscreen. I want to take time to make myself look as good as I can—look good for me, not for anybody else. Obviously, I have to do it for my work as well, but it’s just minimal. It doesn’t take too much time. I definitely stretch and exercise. I will just even do some calisthenics and some isometrics. I’ve been known to work out in a tiny room in a hotel during COVID. If I could do it there, I can do it anywhere, wherever I am. 

I think listening to music and either going for a fast walk in nature if I can, or even just dancing, all of that boosts and empowers me, body, mind, and spirit. The other thing is that I eat really healthy food, and I grow it. I love to eat something I’ve grown. So I have chickens in the back and a garden. I have all kinds of vegetables and things. A lot of them are grown in pots. My kids are all doing the same thing now. There’s nothing like showing children and grandchildren that what you eat is who you are. And if you can grow it yourself, I think you value it even more. Health is everything. 

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This interview was edited for length and clarity.

While COVID-19 infections have dropped significantly after a wave that had been accurately projected following the holiday season, the virus is still circulating.

National data state that the week of April 6, 2024—the latest for which data is available—resulted in more than 7,000 hospitalizations and 266 COVID-related deaths in the U.S.

While these figures contrast significantly with the greater-than 35,000 hospitalizations and 2,469 deaths reported the week of January 6, 2024, keeping up-to-date with vaccines has been demonstrated to prevent serious illness, especially in individuals with compromised immune systems and people 65 and older. Now authorities have said that if the last time you had a shot was in the fall, it could be time for you to get another one to be fully protected.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued its latest recommendations on February 28, 2024, informing people 65 and older that they were eligible for another dose of the updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine. “Today’s recommendation allows older adults to receive an additional dose of this season’s COVID-19 vaccine to provide added protection,” said Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, the director of the CDC in the release.

Staying on top of the vaccine schedule is important for everyone, but those who fall into the high-risk category are more likely to be hospitalized if they contract COVID. While the dominant variant, JN.1, which accounts for over 83% of current cases, isn’t considered to be severe, it is extremely transmissible and can still cause serious illness and death among the most vulnerable. “Most COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations last year were among people 65 years and older. An additional vaccine dose can provide added protection that may have decreased over time for those at highest risk,” said Dr. Cohen. 

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If you are 65 or older and received an updated vaccine in the fall or early winter months, you are eligible for another dose four months after your latest. Lisa Dunkle, MD, the vice president and global medical lead at Novavax, a biotech company that develops vaccines believes that a spring dose of the COVID vaccine “remains the best means of protection against death and serious illness.” She too highlights that age is one of the biggest factors in how severely the virus affects people: “I have seen firsthand how COVID takes a disproportionate toll on older Americans. Most COVID deaths and hospitalizations last year were among the 65+ population.” 

CDC vaccine schedule guidelines note that anyone over 65 who has received two doses of the 2023-2024 updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax, spaced four months apart, is considered up-to-date. If you have recently been diagnosed with COVID you can wait three months before getting a vaccine, but be sure to talk with your licensed healthcare provider for specific guidance.   

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You know exercise is good for you—and maybe you love to do it—but if you don’t spring out of bed eager to get breathless before breakfast, new research suggests there may actually be some heart-healthy benefit to getting your movement later in the day. 

The study, published in the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Care journal on April 10, 2024, was led by researchers studying respiratory medicine, exercise and metabolism at The University of Sydney. Their aim was to pinpoint the best time to exercise for overweight people and those with type 2 diabetes, analyzing whether the timing of exercise affected the rates of heart disease, vascular disease, and overall chances of dying.

The team referred to data from the UK Biobank to identify 29,836 adults with an average age of 62 years who were overweight (with body mass index of 30 or greater) or who had a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. All participants wore fitness tracking devices and were followed for an average of eight years for their longitudinal incidence of heart disease, blood vessel disorders, and death. The researchers also contrasted these same statistics between adults who exercised, and a set who didn’t.

Further, the “exercise” group had shared at which point in the day they tended to exercise: Before noon, between noon and 6 p.m., or between 6 p.m. and midnight. The study focused on moderate to vigorous exercise performed for more than three minutes at a time, like brisk walking, running, or other “high-energy” activities such as playing with children.

Overall, participants who exercised had a lower rate of heart and vascular disease and lower death rates than those who didn’t. But, among exercisers, those who tended to move in the evening experienced benefits that the morning and afternoon exercisers didn’t.

For one, moderate and vigorous exercise in the evening hours led to a lower mortality rate. Rates of cardiovascular disease were also lower among those who chose to move the most in the evening. Surprisingly, researchers revealed, “5-year all-cause mortality risk was 25–32% lower for participants in the evening aerobic moderate-to-vigorous physical activity group” than the afternoon or morning exercisers.

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This is an interesting finding, considering several past studies that showed the morning is a better time to exercise. For instance, a 2023 study in the journal Obesity concluded that those who were looking to lose weight should exercise in the morning between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Other studies have shown that morning is a sweet spot for exercise because of its brain-boosting power.

However, the Australian study specifically examined longevity and cardiovascular disease. Maybe evening exercise is a relief to the heart because it’s a window to blow off steam from the day. The researchers note: “Although further research is needed to uncover the precise mechanism behind this association, our findings align with previous studies indicating that moderate- or vigorous-intensity exercise performed in the evening may be linked to lower mean arterial blood pressure, whereas among morning exercisers, it was increased.” They add that because the trend for type 2 diabetics is for blood sugar to be highest in the morning, this effect might be mitigated by evening exercise (though more research is warranted).

If you enjoy morning or afternoon exercise, you shouldn’t switch your routine unless you think it could help manage morning blood sugar issues or unless you speak with your doctor. It’s also safe to say that overall, exercise is generally good for both the heart and longevity no matter when you can fit it into your day.

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On April 17, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an alert stating that it had identified the source of 12 cases of salmonella infection it had been tracking across several states. The source was pinpointed as a popular herb sold at Trader Joe’s locations in 29 states and Washington D.C.

The FDA informed consumers about a traceback initiated in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on April 10. The illnesses in New Jersey, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, Florida, and Rhode Island were determined to be caused by a similar strain of salmonella. After interviewing the patients, the FDA found that seven out of eight patients had consumed the same brand of basil, all purchased at Trader Joe’s locations. Trader Joe’s has issued an immediate voluntary recall in response to the investigation of Infinite Herb Organic Basil across all of its stores. 

The basil was sold between February 1, 2024, and April 6, 2024, in 2.5-ounce clear plastic clamshell packaging with UPC 8 18042 02147 7. The product was sold at 29 Trader Joe’s locations, including those in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

Trader Joe’s has already removed all packages of the Infinite Organic brand organic basil from its shelves. Although the potentially affected product is past its shelf life, the FDA is concerned that some consumers might have frozen the basil for later use. It is also possible that people could have cooked with the basil and then frozen those meals. While cooking a product will kill salmonella, it needs to be reheated to 165 degrees to be safe, according to the CDC.  

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To date, 12 people have reported symptoms, with one requiring hospitalization. The last illness was reported on April 2, 2024. No deaths have been reported in connection with this strain of salmonella. The FDA notes that the investigation is ongoing with the potential for other products to become implicated in the illnesses.

If you purchased Infinite Organic basil during the recall timeframe, you can return it to any Trader Joe’s for a full refund. Anyone with questions can contact Trader Joe’s Customer Relations at (626) 599-3817 or email the company via its online form. Anyone who experiences symptoms should contact a healthcare provider and report their symptoms to the FDA.

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Signs of salmonella infection

Salmonella is a bacteria that lives inside the intestinal tracts of animals and spreads through feces. The bacteria typically gets on plants through direct contact with animal feces or via contaminated water. 

Symptoms generally do not require hospitalization and can include headache, diarrhea, blood in your stool, stomach cramps and fever, according to the CDC. Symptoms can begin as early as a few hours and up to six hours after exposure and can last as long as a week, making it difficult to identify the source. Symptoms are typically mild but can sometimes be serious. 

Be sure to contact a healthcare provider for a fever over 102 degrees or any signs of dehydration. A salmonella infection can become serious quickly, requiring hospitalization. Contact a healthcare provider if symptoms worsen or do not improve.

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