The Health News USA December 8 2017

  • According to preliminary estimates, opioid abuse contributed to more than 33,000 deaths in 2015— a toll that likely rose last year as deadly fentanyl floods the heroin market.  According to the CDC, for every person who died from an opioid overdose in 2015, there were 18 more Americans with a heroin problem, 62 people abusing prescription opioids and 337 people who had misused an opioid at some point over the course of the year.
  • Republicans are advancing a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, supplying all the votes to move it out of committee. The state House Health Committee voted sixteen to ten Monday for Senate-passed legislation that also would restrict how most second-trimester abortions are performed. Pennsylvania law currently allows abortions during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy
  • Dieters expect to eat foods like celery and sugar-free gelatin in unlimited quantities. But now they can throw in fish, skinless chicken breast and non-fat yogurt, too. Weight Watchers, the preeminent weight-loss plan in the U.S., announced Monday that it’s adding more than two hundred items to its list of foods that have zero SmartPoints, the rating system the company uses to help members monitor and control what they eat.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 7th of December 2017. Read by Tabetha Moreto.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/4/trump-admin-says-overdoses-are-tip-iceberg-opioids/

Deadly overdoses are just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the opioids crisis, Trump

administration officials argued Monday, saying that for every person who dies, there are dozens more hooked on prescription drugs or heroin. According to preliminary estimates, opioid abuse contributed to more than thirty three thousand deaths in two thousand fifteen — a toll that likely rose last year as deadly fentanyl floods the heroin market.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every person who died from an opioid overdose in two thousand fifteen, there were eighteen more Americans with a heroin problem, sixty two people abusing prescription opioids and three hundred thirty seven people who had misused an opioid at some point over the course of the year.

The one hundred thousand dollar check from Mister Trump’s quarterly pay will help the agency plan and launch the campaign, which will use personal stories to get Americans to think twice about getting hooked on prescription drugs and heroin in the first place. President Trump declared a public health emergency around the opioids problem in October. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have praised Mister Trump for highlighting the crisis, though Democrats have criticized him for failing to demand a specific amount of taxpayer money to combat the problem. Senate Democrats want to spend forty five billion dollars over ten years, saying it’s the same amount Senate Republicans and Mister Trump were willing to spend on the fight as part of their Obamacare replacement plan, which failed in July.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/abortion-limits-advance-in-state-house-in-party-line-vote/

Republicans are advancing a ban on abortions after twenty weeks of pregnancy, supplying all the votes to move it out of committee. The state House Health Committee voted sixteen to ten Monday for Senate-passed legislation that also would restrict how most second-trimester abortions are performed. Pennsylvania law currently allows abortions during the first twenty four weeks of pregnancy.

The proposal would generally prohibit dilation and evacuation abortions, termed in the legislation as “dismemberment abortion.” The bill would allow exceptions when the mother’s life is at risk, or if she could suffer a serious, permanent injury. It doesn’t provide exceptions for rape or incest. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf says he intends to veto the measure if it’s passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/12/04/weight-watchers-adds-chicken-yogurt-corn-more-its-eat-much-you-want-list/905969001/

Dieters expect to eat foods like celery and sugar-free gelatin in unlimited quantities. But now they can throw in fish, skinless chicken breast and non-fat yogurt, too. Weight Watchers, the leading weight-loss plan in the U.S., announced Monday that it’s adding more than two hundred items to its list of foods that have zero SmartPoints, the rating system the company uses to help members monitor and control what they eat. The news comes less a month before people traditionally make New Year’s resolutions, which often include losing weight. Weight Watchers emphasizes that this change, part of its new Weight Watchers Freestyle program, is about healthy eating and creating a system that is easy to follow.
…..
The New York-based weight-loss business has benefited from the so-called Oprah effect. TV mogul Oprah Winfrey, who’s faced weight problems herself, bought a ten percent stake in the company in two thousand fifteen and has repeatedly praised Weight Watchers publicly. The company initially got a boost from her, but then faltered in two thousand sixteen. The next year, it bounced back. In its third-quarter earnings report on November six, Weight Watchers beat Wall Street expectations and posted net revenue of  three hundred twenty three point seven million dollars, compared with two hundred eighty point eight million dollars during the same period in two thousand sixteen. Net income rose to forty four point seven million dollars from thirty four point seven million a year earlier. According to the Centers for Disease Control, close to seventy one percent of U.S. adults age twenty or older are overweight or obese.

Weight Watchers had three point four million subscribers as of the third quarter — the highest in half a decade. The company declined to release subscriber information for the years before two thousand twelve, but said that was the year it had the most subscribers ever. Last New Year’s, twenty nine percent of American adults resolved to eat healthier and twenty four percent resolved to lose weight, according to the Harris Poll.

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