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EVERYTHING
No Health Benefits to Alcohol In Major Study
What: A study of over 135,000 adults in Britain age 60 or older found that “even light drinking was associated with an increase in cancer deaths,” and that there was “no reduction in heart disease deaths among light or moderate drinkers.” A light drinker among women was defined as having 10 grams of alcohol daily. In the United States one unit of alcohol is 14 grams, such as one 5-ounce glass of wine.
Why it matters: “The findings add to a mounting body of evidence that is shifting the paradigm in alcohol research. Scientists are turning to new methodologies to analyze the risks and benefits of alcohol consumption in an attempt to correct what some believe were serious flaws in earlier research, which appeared to show that there were benefits to drinking. Much of this new research compares rates of heart disease and death in moderate and occasional drinkers, instead of abstainers. Abstainers as a group include many individuals who stopped drinking because they were already seriously ill, and relying on this group for comparisons may have falsely made light drinkers look healthier.”
Source: New York Times
FERTILITY
Conservative Christians Continue Building Opposition to IVF
What: The New York Times investigates the evangelical movement to ban IVF, even as Republicans like presidential nominee Donald Trump try to hide the party’s unpopular positions on extreme restrictions to abortion and fertility treatments.
Why it matters: They’ve had victories even after the debacle in Alabama, ranging from “a successful campaign in June to get the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, to oppose the use of I.V.F. for the first time,” to “several state Republican parties added new anti-abortion language to their own platforms, even if the national party went the opposite direction.”
Source: New York Times
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Researchers: It Would Be Good to Actually Track Pregnancy Physiology
What: Researchers had 97 women wear the Oura ring during pregnancy to provide “direct physiological measurement” instead of just “subjective feedback” collected from patients by providers at regular appointments. As the authors put it: “Pregnancy remains surprisingly underexplored at high temporal resolution, despite the importance to every single human.”
Why it matters: The authors say they identified “deviations” among women whose pregnancies advanced past the first trimester and those that did not, which could help decision making in that time period. They also said they “did not find significant deviations between full-term pregnancies of people younger than 35 and of people with ‘advanced maternal age’, suggesting that analysis of continuous data within individuals can augment risk assessment beyond standard population comparisons.”
Source: NPJ Digital Medicine
BIRTH CONTROL
The Story Behind the IUD Pain Update
What: Salon talks to health officials about their decision to update the guidelines for IUD insertion and pain. While they *don’t* “credit the public outcry about pain as the lead motivation behind their update in guidance, [Dr. Eve Espey, chair of ACOG’s Contraceptive Equity Expert Work Group] said the change reflects a bigger moment of progress in medicine, reflecting an ‘overall trend towards more patient-centered care.’”
Why it matters: “The issuance is not only seen as a win for reproductive health — as fear and anxiety of pain has been a barrier for some women to get IUDs in the first place — but also as a moment when public health finally took women’s experiences seriously.”
Source: Salon
ABORTION ACCESS
Large Majority of Women Oppose Abortion Bans (Again)
What: Yet another survey shows that a large majority of American women of reproductive age, 74%, think abortion should be legal. And “around 70% support a federal right to abortion — the position held by Vice President Kamala Harris in a presidential election in which abortion rights are expected to be a motivating factor for many voters.”
Why it matters: “The choice to have an abortion crosses partisan divides, according to the KFF survey. Roughly similar shares of reproductive-age women from each party reported having had abortions: 12% of Republicans, 14% of Democrats and 15% of independents.”
Source: NBC
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