Media Coverage

Dr. Ruchi S. Gupta of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who conducted the study, was not immediately reachable for comment. But Dr. Sara Anvari, director of clinical trials of the food and allergy program at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, agreed people should seek a doctor’s clarification. Potentially allergic patients may merely have intolerances to foods like milk, which can be treated, or may require an epinephrine injection in case of serious allergic reactions. The study comes as research emerges for a new peanut allergy treatment that could build some tolerance to peanuts in those who are allergic. Also, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases issued new guidelines in 2017 saying peanut allergies can be curbed by introducing children to the legume as young as early infancy.

Researchers found that 19 percent of those surveyed thought they had a food allergy. But when the investigators dug into people’s symptoms, they found that only 10.8 percent reported “convincing” signs of a true allergy. Experts said the findings highlight two important facts: Food allergies are common among U.S. adults, and many mistakenly believe they have one. “There are many misconceptions around reactions to food,” said lead researcher Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, in Chicago. According to Gupta, it can be easy for people to assume food-related symptoms signal an allergy. But other conditions can be the real culprit, she said.

“Nearly twice as many adults think that they are allergic to foods, while their symptoms may suggest food intolerance or other food related conditions,” lead author Dr. Ruchi Gupta, from Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern University, said in a press release. “It is important to see a physician for appropriate testing and diagnosis before completely eliminating foods from the diet.” Nearly half – 48 percent – of food-allergic adults surveyed reportedly developed their allergy as an adult, and only 24 percent said they have a current prescription for epinephrine, a drug used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions, according to the report, published Friday in the JAMA Network Open journal.

Humans are meant to be outside much, much more than we are. As the AMN (Applied Movement Neurology) Academy puts it, “being outside is in our DNA.” For obvious reasons, we can’t move all our technology-heavy offices outdoors. But we can, for starters, vastly increase the amount of natural light we let in. “Office workers with more light exposure at the office had longer sleep duration, better sleep quality, more physical activity and better quality of life,” Northwestern Medicine and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found in a study. More natural light in the morning especially has beneficial effects for mood, alertness and metabolism.

You don’t need a DEXA scan to know whether your excess pounds are piling up in the wrong places, experts said. “Simplistically, if you look in the mirror, you can see if the fat is concentrated in your middle rather than your chest and legs,” said Dr. William Gradishar, a breast cancer specialist and a professor of medicine at Northwestern University. “You don’t need to be a fashion editor or scientist to see that.”

Study author Dr. Matthew O’Brien said the new findings call for a “paradigm shift in how we’re treating diabetes.” Currently, people with type 2 diabetes are given metformin, and if they need a second treatment, they’re often given sulfonylureas or basal insulin. But these findings call that practice into question. “People who started taking sulfonylureas and basal insulin have a much higher incidence of cardiovascular disease. So, if all the new drugs lower cardiovascular disease risk, that’s where we should go first to treat type 2 diabetes,” O’Brien explained. He is an assistant professor of general internal medicine, geriatrics and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

But user beware: Cannabinoid receptors are so widely distributed throughout the body that activating one for a certain purpose, say to treat arthritis pain, may activate others and cause unwanted effects. That has caused challenges for pharmaceutical development, according to the research. More valid scientific experiments must be conducted to determine whether and how CBD — and marijuana, for that matter — is effective, said Dr. Stephen Hanauer, medical director of the Digestive Health Center at Northwestern Medicine. “Aspirin can be very helpful for a headache or a joint ache, but if you’ve got a bleeding ulcer, it’s got harmful effects,” Hanauer said. “We need to know both the good and the bad.”

At Prentice, some women have asked if the gas is available, said Dr. Nicole Higgins, section chief and medical director of obstetric anesthesiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Until now, she’s had to say no, though she hopes it will be approved for use within the next six months. Word of the gas has spread quickly in recent years as moms and moms-to-be swap information in mom groups on social media, she said. Her own mother used nitrous oxide to deliver her in the early 1970s.

Part of the reason it’s so hard is because often patients’ hearts have stopped and “you really can’t get consent ahead of time,” says William O’Neill, a cardiologist and Abiomed consultant at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit who was an early adopter of Impella. His study of 104 patients treated with the Impella shows 77% survived to leave the hospital, versus a 50% historical survival rate. Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, says it’s all about selecting the patients who have the best chance of being helped. “The Impella is definitely a step forward. It’s less than a perfect device, but better than what we have had before.”

This advanced stage of black lung leaves lungs crusty and useless, says Dr. Robert Cohen, a pulmonologist at the University of Illinois, Chicago who has spent decades studying black lung and PMF disease. “You have a much harder time breathing so that you can’t exercise,” Cohen noted. “Then you can’t do some simple activities. Then you can barely breathe just sitting still. And then you require oxygen. And then even the oxygen isn’t enough. And so … they’re essentially suffocating while alive.”