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The number of diabetes cases among adolescents has nearly doubled since 2001, according to a new study by the American Medical Association. Those numbers are expected to quadruple by 2050. The average age of onset for Type 2 diabetes among children? About 14 — an age that was unthinkable decades ago for a disease associated with adults. Spikes for Type 2 diabetes were highest among Black and Hispanic children. Some attribute the recent spike to COVID-19 — fueled by lockdowns and closed schools, which have reduced access to health care, healthy food and places to exercise. (Hensley, 10/15)

Butterball is recalling more than 14,000 pounds of ground turkey products sold nationwide because they may contain small pieces of hard blue plastic. The ground turkey items were produced on September 28, 2021, at the Butterball facility in Mt. Olive, North Carolina, according to a notice posted Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, or FSIS. The 675,000-square-foot plant outside Raleigh is the largest turkey processing plant in the world, processing 17 million turkeys a year, according to Butterball. (Gibson, 10/14)

If you’ve seen a barrage of food packages promising to help your immune system lately, you’re not alone. Even cans of cheese balls now are touting immune-system benefits. Good Crisp Co. this summer launched cheddar cheese balls with an ingredient that “helps strengthen the immune system and enhances its key functions,” the label says. (Chaker, 10/14)

College students nationwide are more stressed — with the coronavirus pandemic adding loneliness, worry about illness, economic distress, relentless uncertainty and churn to a time of life that is already challenging for many. Demand for mental health services had already been high, but a recent study of college students found increased levels of anxiety and isolation during the pandemic. (Svrluga and Anderson, 10/14)

The team at UNC Horizons is no stranger to public health crises — the opioid epidemic has ravaged the country for over 20 years and killed thousands — but when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in March of 2020, they were dealing with a new monster. “The opposite of addiction is connection,” said Hendrée Jones, executive director of Horizons, a Carrboro-based program that provides substance use treatment and resources for mothers. (Thompson, 10/15)

Former president Bill Clinton was hospitalized earlier this week for an issue not related to covid-19 and is recovering, his spokesman said Thursday. Clinton was admitted to the University of California at Irvine Medical Center on Tuesday “to receive treatment for a non-Covid-related infection,” his spokesman Angel Ureña said in a statement. (Wang, 10/14)