The healthiest parts of Georgia

Six Georgia counties made US News & World Report’s list of the 500 healthiest in the country. So a GPhA Buzz tip of the hat to…

• #57 Forsyth County
• #69 Oconee County
• #108 Fayette County
• #241 Columbia County
• #358 Cherokee County
• #498 Harris County

Topping the list is Los Alamos County, N.M. We hear it’s the bomb.

EPA yes, DHA no

If you’re going to recommend or take a supplement with omega-3 fatty acids, a new study in the Lancet says…

1. Good for you; omega-3 fatty acids are good for your heart in lots of ways.
2. But … supplements with both EPA and DHA acids* weren’t as good as those with EPA alone. (The DHA might interfere with the EPA.)

This, the authors suggest, may be why studies of these supplements give conflicting results. You gotta separate your fatty acids, folks.

* Eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, only one of which was recognized by my spell-checker

Hormone therapy and Alzheimer’s

Hormone therapy seems to reduce Alzheimer’s risk in women, but it depends on “the type, route and duration” of the delivery.

A new University of Arizona Health Sciences study found women on hormone therapy were up to 58% less likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, and reduction of risk varied by type and route of hormone therapy and duration of use. The findings could lead to the development of a precision medicine approach to preventing neurodegenerative diseases.

Weird finding: Oral hormone therapies reduced combined neurodegenerative diseases, “while hormone therapies administered through the skin reduced the risk of developing dementia.”

Oh, and natural hormones were better than synthetic ones. No surprise there.

Georgia’s senators aim to close the gap

Both Georgia’s U.S. senators — Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, along with Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin — have introduced a bill to provide health insurance to lower-income people in the 12 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid. That’s about 2.2 million Americans who earn too much to qualify for (unexpanded) Medicaid, but too little for federal subsidies.

Essentially, it would close the gap left in states, like Georgia, that have turned down the federal funding that would cover 90 percent of the costs. (The money has already been allocated in Washington, so there’s no fiscal impact.)

In our next episode….

Lambda comes to town and competes with Delta for the spotlight on the national news. The townsfolk fondly remember the days of Alpha and hoarding toilet paper. JK Simmons guest stars as “Hap.”

Here’s what you need to know, courtesy of The Conversation.

Best diabetes meds

And the winners of the Best Medications for Controlling Blood Sugar (July 2021 edition) Award are…

Liraglutide and insulin! Congratulations!

(That’s according to a presentation, “Results of the Glycemia Reduction Approaches in Diabetes,” from the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.)

The study points out that glimepiride had a smaller effect, while sitagliptin appeared to have the least effect, with the highest frequency of developing A1C levels greater than 7%. On the other hand, in a secondary finding, insulin glargine was most effective in keeping A1C levels less than 7.5%.

Diabetes: Missing the mark

And while we’re on the subject of diabetes, here’s a lede from Healio that says it all*:

The percentage of U.S. adults with diabetes meeting glycemic and blood pressure control targets declined from 2010 to 2018 after steadily increasing from 1999 to 2010, according to data published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

* This is known as “lazy writing”

Kimchi? I hardly know her

Having good gut bacteria is important — that’s understood. What’s not clear is exactly which bacteria we need most of. It’s the problem with prebiotics — there’s no way to know if you’re getting the good stuff.

But here’s a new twist: Researchers at Stanford have found that eating fermented food (e.g., yogurt, fermented cottage cheese, kimchi, kombucha tea) for 10 days increases the diversity of your gut microbiome, and the resultant bacterial zoo reduces inflammation.

[F]our types of immune cells showed less activation in the fermented-food group. The levels of 19 inflammatory proteins measured in blood samples also decreased. One of these proteins, interleukin 6, has been linked to conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Type 2 diabetes and chronic stress.

So it’s possible that it’s not just having the right gut bacteria that’s important, but having a wide variety. You know the drill: More studies are needed.

Elsewhere: Israel goes for boosters

Probably a good idea to keep track of what they’re doing over there — Israel has been leading the world in dealing with the pandemic. The latest: The country is offering (not requiring or even suggesting) Covid-vaccine boosters for severely immunocompromised adults. Just in case.