Greg Kirk passes

Georgia State Senator Greg Kirk passed away on Sunday, about six months after announcing he had cancer and retiring from the senate.

While the senate remembers him as “A man of outstanding character, and one who was a champion for doing what is right, made him one of our most fervent leaders and also one of our most gracious,” we at GPhA will think of him as a good man and one of pharmacists’ biggest supporters.

Our thoughts are with his family, including his wife Rosalyn, his seven children, and his 10 grandchildren.

Add this to your resolutions

“Learn new stuff.” Specifically, take advantage of two of GPhA’s new webinars coming in January!

And check out all GPhA’s education offerings at GPhA.org/education!

It’s about the destination, not the journey

A French study seems to find that obesity itself is what raises the risk of dementia — it doesn’t matter whether it comes from poor diet or lack of exercise.

“[O]besity in midlife was linked with dementia 15 or more years later. Obesity is a well-established risk factor for cerebrovascular disease. Cerebrovascular disease contributes to dementia later in life.”

Type 2 diabetes: Coffee is good

Filtered coffee — the way most coffee drinkers drink it* — might help reduce people’s risk of developing type-2 diabetes. So finds a new study out of Sweden, anyway.

“We have identified specific molecules – ‘biomarkers’ – in the blood of those taking part in the study, which indicate the intake of different sorts of coffee. […] Our results now clearly show that filtered coffee has a positive effect in terms of reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”

* The alternative is boiled coffee, where you put the ground beans in a cup and add water. Yuck.

Type 2 diabetes: “Ultra-processed” food is bad

After a six-year study, French researchers found that foods such as “crisps, sausage rolls and pasties*,” because they are often high in calories and low in nutrition, not only contribute to heart disease but to type 2 diabetes as well.

In fact, “The risk of developing type 2 diabetes rose by 5% for each additional 100g of processed food consumed per day,” so … if you eat two kilos of processed food a day, it’s pretty much a given.

* Translation: potato chips, sausage rolls, Hot Pockets

E for EVALI

So it’s almost for sure probably definitely vitamin E acetate that’s causing the Mysterious Vaping Illness, otherwise known as EVALI*. It’s a thickening agent that’s used in a lot of products. It’s safe on your skin. It’s safe to eat. Apparently it’s not safe to inhale.

* “E-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury”