Health category, Page 124
Sheetz to sell CBD products at 140+ locations
People can now buy cannabidiol, or CBD, at more than 140 Sheetz stores across the region, the Altoona-based company announced Thursday. Cannabidiol products have become popular for a variety of ailments and, although it’s derived from marijuana, it’s legal to sell in Pennsylvania outside of medical marijuana dispensaries. Sheetz is...
62,000 pounds of raw meat recalled ahead of Memorial Day
Talk about bad timing. Aurora Packing Company is recalling more than 62,000 pounds of raw beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli, just days before one of the biggest grilling weekends of the year. The USDA reported that North Aurora, Ill.-based company’s recalled products were packaged April 19...
U.S. lawmakers demand U.N. health agency change opioid guidance
Two U.S. lawmakers are calling on the World Health Organization to withdraw pain care guidelines that include what they say are false claims about the safety of prescription opioids. They say the guidelines could lead other countries toward the same kind of addiction and overdose crisis that has plagued the...
Florida’s seniors are increasingly depressed and drinking more
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Although Florida seniors are living longer, they are smoking, drinking and experiencing depression more than the older population of other states, according to a new national health report. The America’s Health Rankings Senior Report found more than 9% of Florida’s 4.2 million seniors said they drink...
Cholesterol improves in U.S. kids despite high obesity rates
CHICAGO — Cholesterol levels in children and teens improved in the latest analysis of U.S. health surveys, yet only half of them had readings considered ideal. Overall, 7% of kids had high cholesterol in surveys from 2009 to 2016. That was down from 10% a decade earlier. In children, high...
Carbs: How low can we go?
“Fruit has carbs? I had no idea,” a stunned patient told me recently. She’s not the only one who doesn’t have a complete understanding of carbohydrates — the focus of our current craze for low-carb foods. I find that many people who say they “don’t eat carbs” may not really...
SisterFriend founder looks to provide feminine products, educationVideo
A young girl walks into Rachel Short’s office at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 School in Squirrel Hill. The school nurse knows what the student wants before either says a word. “I know ‘the look,’” Short says. “I nod my head, and she knows where to go for the supplies she needs.”...
Health Happenings
Blood drives — Noon-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Christ United Methodist Church, 201 Market St., Scottdale — Noon-6 p.m. Thursday, Excela Square, Norwin, 8775 Norwin Ave., Irwin — 1-5:30 p.m., Saturday, New Life Tabernacle, 851 S. Center Ave., Hunker — 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Monday, Excela Square at Frick, 508 South Church St.,...
When planning pre- and post-workout meals, listen to your body
I regularly exercise with a friend in the early morning. Before we meet in the dark, I chug a bit of green tea while she fits in two slices of whole grain toast with peanut butter. Is one of us better prepared for that workout? When I studied how the...
McConnell, Kaine want to raise minimum smoking age to 21Video
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Monday planned to introduce a bill that would raise the federal minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21, a measure that they say is aimed at reducing teen use of e-cigarettes. The move, from...
Amid #MeToo, states debate teaching consent to kids
Inside a Catholic school in Portland, Oregon, high school sophomores break into groups to discuss some once-taboo topics: abusive relationships and consent. At one desk, a girl with banana-colored fingernails begins jotting down some of the hallmarks of abuse: Physically hurting you, verbally abusive, can be one-sided. She pauses to...
For trans people, gender-swap photo filters are no mere game
Snapchat’s new photo filter that allows users to change into a man or woman with the tap of a finger isn’t necessarily fun and games for transgender people. Some say it reduces their very real and often painful experiences to folly. Thirty-one-year-old Bailey Coffman is a transgender woman from New...
Obesity surgery benefits may be bigger for teens than adults
Teens who have obesity surgery lose as much weight as those who have the operation as adults and are more likely to have it resolve other health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure, a study finds. The results suggest there’s a benefit from not waiting to address obesity....
UPMC, Attorney General’s legal teams face off before state Supreme CourtVideo
HARRISBURG — UPMC’s looming prepayment rule for out-of-network patients demonstrates the health giant’s efforts to serve the public have “deteriorated” in the past five years, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office argued Thursday before the state Supreme Court. Bart DeLone, chief attorney general, told justices that the controversial prepay rule —...
Ohio teen loses 115 pounds while walking to school every day
An Ohio student will graduate 115 pounds lighter than when he started high school. Michael Watson, 18, of Canton decided two years ago to do something about his weight. He was 6 foot, 4 inches tall and tipped the scale at 335 pounds, reports CNN. “My self-confidence was zero,” Watson...
Master herbalist to speak at Pittsburgh event
Sara-Chana Silverstein went through a range of feelings after finding herself sitting at her daughter’s hospital bedside and then for months in a rehabilitation facility. The young girl had been hit by a tow truck, which doctors thought might have caused an undetected blood clot in her spine months later...
Health Happenings
Blood drives — 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Westmoreland County Courthouse Square, 2 North Main St., Greensburg — Noon-5:30 p.m. Friday, Quatrini Rafferty, 550 E. Pittsburgh St., Greensburg — 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday, St. Michael’s Orthodox Church, 1182 Ashland St., Greensburg — Noon-5:30 p.m. Monday, Vandergrift Masonic Lodge No. 617, 113...
Determining foods to avoid when managing Barrett’s esophagus
Dear Mayo Clinic: I was diagnosed with Barrett’s esophagus three months ago and was given some diet instructions, including eliminating alcohol and caffeine. Why is this necessary? Is it still possible for me to have an occasional alcoholic drink? Is decaffeinated coffee OK? Answer: One of the main goals for...
U.S. measles cases still climbing, topping 800 for year
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials say this year’s count of measles cases has surpassed 800, a growing tally that is already the nation’s highest in 25 years. A total of 839 cases were reported as of last week. That’s the most since 1994, when 963 were reported for the...
With measles still rising, what religion has to say about vaccination
Each new update in the nationwide surge of measles cases takes Dr. Paul Offit back to the battlefield that was Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia during a regional outbreak that began in 1990. By the time it ended the following year, more than 1,400 city and suburban residents had contracted the...
Yoga’s benefits include boosting mood, healthier eating, flexibilityVideo
The lights are dim and soft music plays as newly minted yoga instructor Tony Ranieri, 69, of Hempfield, teaches a beginners’ class at Greensburg’s Red Brick Yoga. “I’m going to ask you for the next hour to be mindful, not focus on things you can’t control,” he tells the group....
Police: Latrobe students use vape pens to smoke marijuana
Latrobe police are warning parents after some Greater Latrobe School District students were taken to the hospital for allegedly using vape pens, also known as e-cigarettes, to smoke marijuana, said police Chief John Sleasman. “We believe that marijuana is of a very high potency level,” Sleasman said. “The system or...
Why this spring’s pollen counts are bad for allergy sufferers
If it feels like a bad spring for allergies, blame it on higher-than-normal pollen counts. Pollen counts throughout the region are reaching the highest levels that can be measured by the National Allergy Bureau, said Dr. Merrit L. Fajt, an allergist with UPMC. “The higher the count, the greater the...
TV pitches for prescription drugs will have to include price
TV pitches for prescription drugs will soon include the price, giving consumers more information upfront as they make medication choices at a time when new drugs can carry anxiety-inducing prices. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday the Trump administration has finalized regulations requiring drug companies to disclose...
Walmart raises minimum age to buy tobacco to 21
NEW YORK — Walmart said Wednesday that it will raise the minimum age to buy tobaccoproducts and e-cigarettes at its U.S. stores to 21 amid growing pressure from regulators to cut tobacco sales and use among minors. The world’s largest retailer also said it will also stop selling fruit and...
