Good Morning. Journalists get countless email pitches every day. Yesterday, I had someone mention Hannah Montana in the subject line. But the tone that kicks off Elaine Chen’s latest story isn’t one we’re used to seeing. The title line read: “URGENT: PAY BOOKING.”
A new field of study for the mind-body connection
Earlier this year, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted that changing one’s diet could “cure” schizophrenia. Experts say this is not true, but there is a growing cohort of scientists who are interested in the connection between nutrition, diet, and mental health.
Stanford University researcher Shebani Sethi is leading some of this work, in a new field she calls metabolic psychiatry. “I can’t comment on his or other people’s way of expressing science,” Sethi told STAT’s O. Rose Broderick about Kennedy’s comments. “I think we need to focus on the science, what the data shows.”
So far, Sethi has found promising data. Read more about his conversation with Rose to learn about the patients who inspired his interest in this relationship, what this growing field can accomplish, and why Kennedy’s comments have sparked interest in his research.
We know that a poor diet can lead to heart disease. But the long exposure to lead?
Two very different risk factors for coronary artery disease will each cause 4 million deaths worldwide by 2023, two new analyzes from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimate. One danger is rooted in the food we eat and the other in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the products we use (cookware, cosmetics), which can lead to seep into – and remain – in our body, hardening our arteries.
A study published Monday in JAMA reminds us that the problem of lead is still with us, even though cardiovascular deaths decreased after the US passed laws limiting lead exposure 50 years ago. But people born in the heavy industrialization years of the 20th century still carry the poison. And other countries without strict lead limits are still seeing harm. You can read my story here.
4 million deaths caused by poor diet also vary widely by region, a report also out Monday in Nature Medicine said. Central Asia has the highest death rate, while the high-income Asia Pacific region reports the lowest burden. Rather than any single food group, the culprits are not enough protective elements such as omega-3 fatty acids found in seafood and or fiber, fruits, and vegetables in healthy diets. — Elizabeth Cooney
‘unconscious’
That’s what the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders called the biopharma company Gilead for refusing to sell its HIV prevention treatment directly to humanitarian organizations. The move comes after months of talks in which Doctors Without Borders asked Gilead Sciences for a “limited” supply of lenacapavir, which it had requested after studies showed a set of injections every six months offered almost complete protection from infection. STAT’s Ed Silverman has everything you need to know about the latest controversy surrounding this innovative drug.
The Psychedelics Company is at an important time. Two years ago, the FDA rejected a controversial application from Lykos Therapeutics for MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, several biotechs have advanced into late-stage trials, and the FDA may soon approve the first psilocybin treatment. That’s why Elaine Chen STAT is interested when she sees YouTube videos, made by influencers and paid by marketing agencies for drug developers.
“What if a dose of nasal spray can do what antidepressants can’t do, and it only takes 90 minutes? It’s not hypothetical. It’s real clinical data,” a video claims about the drug candidate from AtaiBeckley. Another video about a biotech called Helus Pharma claims that the FDA just gave the company a “golden ticket.”
Paid promotions are nothing new, but this video makes exaggerated claims about the cure. Read more from Elaine about the wrong email pitch that started below this report, what the company had to say about the promotion, and the impact they can have on the whole field.
The bright side: gender euphoria and mental health
You’ve heard of gender dysphoria — a diagnosis for the psychological distress many transgender people experience when their identity doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth. Gender euphoria consists of positive feelings experienced by a person related to gender expression and gender affirmation. It can look like a collection of small moments: dressing in a more masculine or feminine way, getting a new haircut, being called by your new name, being called with the correct pronoun. It feels good, and a new report from the Trevor Project shows that, among trans and nonbinary young people, gender euphoria is associated with real, positive mental health outcomes.
A survey of nearly 1,000 trans and nonbinary people ages 13 to 24 found that higher levels of gender euphoria were associated with 47% lower likelihood of depression, 37% lower likelihood of anxiety, and 37% lower likelihood of suicide. Respondents rated how much they agreed or disagreed with the gender-positive statement, and the average answer was translated into a measure of euphoria. Older respondents tend to experience more euphoria than younger ones, which the authors hypothesize may be related to better access to resources such as health care.
HSAs want to rebrand
Republicans have wanted to expand the use of health savings accounts for several years. Now, with the momentum gained by the reforms passed in last summer’s tax bill, a coalition of industry groups has formed a nonprofit called the Great American Health Alliance (GAHA) to continue pushing for more.
The group is trying to rebrand HSAs as “healthier spending accounts” and recently conducted a poll framing HSAs as having health care and health insurance like renting them. But perhaps more important: as a 501(c)(4), GAHA can engage in unlimited lobbying, support political candidates, and avoid disclosing where its money is. Read more from STAT’s John Wilkerson.
What we read
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A nursing home owner got Trump’s pardon. The patient’s family had nothing, ProPublica reported
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Heart breaking luxury birth center on the Upper East Side, The Cut
- First opinion: America needs more last-minute clinics for patients who can’t get answers, STAT
- Camp promises to turn you — or your son — into an alpha male, New Yorker
- First opinion: How the next CDC director can win back America’s trust, STAT
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