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FDA moves to ax heart benefits claim from soy foods

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators want to remove a health claim about the heart benefits of soy from cartons of soy milk, tofu and other foods, saying the latest scientific evidence no longer shows a clear connection. The announcement by the Food and Drug Administration marks the first time the agency has moved to revoke a health food claim since it began approving such statements in 1990. The claim that soy protein can reduce heart disease appears on about 200 to 300 products in the U.S., according to industry figures, including popular brands like Silk soy milk. Calls to ...

Panel recommends new, better shingles shot

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal panel recommended that older people already vaccinated for shingles get a new, better shot. The advisory group said the just-approved vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline works better at preventing shingles and may last longer than the one that’s been sold in the U.S. since 2006. Shingles, a painful condition that causes blisters, occurs when the chickenpox virus resurfaces decades later, often when people are in their 60s or older. About 1 in 3 U.S. residents will get it during their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and ...

Ultra-personal therapy: Gene tumor boards guide cancer care

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Doctors were just guessing a decade ago when they gave Alison Cairnes’ husband a new drug they hoped would shrink his lung tumors. Now she takes it too, but the choice was no guesswork. Sophisticated gene tests suggested it would fight her gastric cancer, and they were right. Cancer patients increasingly are having their care guided by gene tumor boards, a new version of the hospital panels that traditionally decided whether surgery, radiation or chemotherapy would be best. These experts study the patient’s cancer genes and match treatments to mutations that seem ...

College enshrines healthy living in bricks and mortar

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Pledges by college students to eschew drugs and alcohol are old hat. Now they’re meditating, working out, practicing yoga, eating healthfully, and at least one school, the University of Vermont, it has become a bona fide lifestyle. In UVM’s Wellness Environment, known as WE, students live in a new, big substance-free dorm, take a required class in what affects the health of their brains and bodies, and are given incentives to stay healthy like access to a free gym membership, nutrition and fitness coaches and an app that tracks their activities. “We ...

FDA panel considers gene therapy for blindness

By Marilynn Marchione AP Chief Medical Writer A girl saw her mother’s face for the first time. A boy tore through the aisles of Target, marveling at toys he never knew existed. A teen walked onto a stage and watched the stunned expressions of celebrity judges as he wowed “America’s Got Talent.” Caroline, Cole, Christian. All had mere glimmers of vision and were destined to lose even that because of an inherited eye disease with no treatment or cure. Until now. On Thursday, U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers will consider whether to recommend approval of a gene ...

Adult caregivers overwhelmed and undertrained

WASHINGTON (AP) — Adult caregivers looking after aging relatives and friends have little training for their stressful roles but still find the experience rewarding, according to a poll released Thursday. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey finds that long-term caregivers don’t just provide rides to the doctor and run errands. Nearly half perform some kind of medical care, from changing bandages (30 percent) to inserting catheters or feeding tubes (6 percent). Only 47 percent of those say they got most or all of the training needed for their often ...