Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Walking Between 3,800 And 9,800 Steps A Day Reduces Dementia Risk: Study
Want to reduce your risk for dementia? Slap on a step counter and start tallying your steps -- you'll need between 3,800 and 9,800 each day to reduce your risk of mental decline, according to a new study. (LaMotte, 9/6)
As Amazon works to shoulder its way into health care, a new study 鈥 funded by the company 鈥 suggests that a feature of its wearable devices can accurately assess users鈥 mobility. (Aguilar, 9/6)
Nutrition advocates and food-industry groups are revving up for a fight over whether an additional label should go on the front of many packaged-food items to more clearly indicate whether they pose a health risk. A long-running debate over what those new labels should look like鈥攁nd whether they should be required鈥攊s intensifying ahead of a White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health later this month. (Peterson, 9/6)
Julie Chin, a television news anchor in Oklahoma, was telling viewers about a local event connected to the now scrubbed launch of the Artemis I rocket over the weekend when, all of a sudden, she was struggling to speak. 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry,鈥 Ms. Chin said after stumbling over her words. 鈥淪omething is going on with me this morning, and I apologize to everybody.鈥 (Oxenden, 9/6)
KHN: 鈥業t鈥檚 Becoming Too Expensive To Live鈥: Anxious Older Adults Try To Cope With Limited Budgets
Economic insecurity is upending the lives of millions of older adults as soaring housing costs and inflation diminish the value of fixed incomes. Across the country, seniors who until recently successfully managed limited budgets are growing more anxious and distressed. Some lost work during the covid-19 pandemic. Others are encountering unaffordable rent increases and the prospect of losing their homes. Still others are suffering significant sticker shock at grocery stores. (Graham, 9/7)
On the infant formula crisis and Cronobacter 鈥
Jeanine Kunkel had been the healthy twin, the one who came home from the hospital that day in 2008 while her brother James stayed a few nights in intensive care. But within days of arriving, she spiked a fever that sent her back to the hospital. The newborn had developed an infection 鈥 caused, her doctors said, by ingesting formula tainted with the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii. The infection led to a severe case of meningitis that caused irreparable brain damage. Jeanine鈥檚 family sued the formula maker, Abbott Laboratories, arguing the company was responsible for her illness, but a jury found the company not liable. The company鈥檚 lawyers dredged up incidents from the family鈥檚 past and argued that the bacteria could have come from anywhere, including the family kitchen. (Reiley and Bogage, 9/6)
Abbott鈥檚 lawyers at Jones Day negotiated secret settlements and used scorched earth tactics with families whose infants fell ill after consuming powdered formula. (Enrich, 9/6)