Medical News That's Not About Menopause

But still good to know...

As the medical correspondent for WGN Morning News in Chicago, I do regular segments on current health stories and recently published scientific articles. I love doing this because not only does it keep me current, but it also forces me to stay on top of things that have nothing to do with menopause. So, in this post, I am going to do a roundup of “hot” topics I covered in last week’s show.

Just to be clear, this is not an in-depth analysis of current research like my monthly News Flash posts. This is just quickies on things that caught my attention that I thought were “news worthy”

Is Chewing Gum Now a Health Hazard?

Every day, we eat, drink, and inhale tiny bits of plastic, known as microplastics. Microplastics can be found in almost every food, but processed foods, seafood, and salt (especially Himalayan pink salt) have particularly high levels.

It is estimated that some folks ingest the equivalent of a credit card every week.

This is a hot area of research. Microplastic particles accumulate in the body, alter the gut microbiome, increase inflammation, and potentially may increase the risk of cancer, neurological, and lung disease. It’s unknown exactly what kind of harm microplastics cause, or how much it takes to create a problem. What is known is that microplastics are not good for you and should be avoided if possible.

Eliminating exposure to microplastics is next to impossible. Food, drinks, clothes, cosmetics, and dust have significant levels. And in bad news for gum chewers, gum is now also on the list.

A report recently released at the American Chemical Society Meeting studied 10 brands of gum. After only 8 minutes of chewing, 600 microplastic particles were released into the saliva. And no, it didn’t matter whether the gum was natural or synthetic.

It’s easy to say, OK, just stop chewing gum. While I hate the way it looks, I also appreciate that many people chew gum to manage stress, or to counteract dry mouth syndrome that is common with the use of many medications, medical conditions, and also… menopause.

If you are post menopause and constantly chewing gum because your mouth is as dry as your vagina, please take my survey on menopause and dry mouth syndrome!

I will randomly pick 10 people who respond to my survey in the next 24 hours and gift a 1-year substack subscription- but you will need to give your e-mail at the end to be eligible.

Beyond losing the gum habit, there are other ways to reduce exposure.

Stop microwaving your food in plastic, store your food in glass containers, and just say no to breaded shrimp (evidently sky-high in microplastics). Also, instead of paper take-away cups lined with plastic, bring your own cup for that next Starbucks run.

GLP-1 Drugs May Reduce Risk of Dementia By Half

It is common knowledge that GLP1 inhibitors help with weight loss. Newer studies also show improvements in addictive habits such as gambling, drinking, drug use, smoking, and my favorite- compulsive shopping. But, new on the list of benefits is a potential decrease in dementia.

A recently published meta-analysis looked at rates of dementia in 23 different randomized trials of over 100,000 people taking GLP1 inhibitors.

In these studies, dementia was being tracked as a possible complication of taking a GLP1 inhibitor. The dementia data was reassuring since there was no increase in dementia in folks taking a GLP-1 inhibitor. But, an unexpected finding was that there was a significant decrease in dementia.

Overall, in trials of GLP-1 drugs, there was a 45% lower odds of dementia among those randomized to receive the GLP-1 drugs vs those who took a placebo. This effect is biologically plausible since GLP1 inhibitors bind to receptors in the brain.

Here is the question: Is the decrease in dementia a downstream benefit of reducing heart disease and obesity (which are both associated with dementia), or is this an independent effect of the GLP1 inhibitor? The only way to know for sure is by doing a placebo-controlled prospective study of people who use a GLP-1 drug who do not have obesity or diabetes.

Don’t hold your breath for that to happen, but at least we can say with certainty that the GLP1 inhibitors don’t increase dementia and that losing weight and decreasing diabetes are good for the brain.

Add Bacterial Vaginosis to the list of Sexually Transmitted Infections

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), not yeast, is the most common cause of abnormal vaginal discharge. One in three women, at some point in their lives, experience the funky fishy-smelling, irritating discharge that is symptomatic of BV. The majority of women, despite treatment and perfect hygiene, will get a recurrence of BV again and again.

BV is not an infection by a specific bacteria, but rather a consequence of a change in the vaginal microbiome. Good bacteria (lactobacilli) are overtaken by “bad” bacteria, typically Gardnerella. An alteration of vaginal pH encourages the proliferation of Gardnerella.

And FYI, using a pH-controlled vulvar wash won’t prevent BV any more than washing your face will prevent bad breath.

Aside from the irritation and odor which are typical of BV, there is also an increased risk of pelvic inflammatory disease and pre-term labor.

For years, it has been recognized that BV is associated with sexual activity, particularly with a new partner. However, BV was not considered to be a sexually transmitted infection (STI) since there was not a single identification of an organism that was passed from one person to the next. But new research has changed that thinking,

In this just-published study, 164 women with bacterial vaginosis in a monogamous relationship were treated with standard antibiotics. Half the male partners received both topical and oral antibiotics. The remaining partners received no treatment.

If the male partner was not treated, the recurrence rate in the woman was 63%.

If the male partner was treated, the recurrence rate only 35%.

BV can be sexually transmitted, just like in other STIs. Clearly, it should now be standard of care that treatment protocols should automatically include a prescription for the male partner.

And while not studied, it also makes sense to treat female partners since rates of BV are more than twice as high in gay and bisexual women compared to heterosexual couples.

Falling Sperm Counts May Be Diet Related

A lot of people assume that if a couple is having trouble getting pregnant, the woman is the problem. That’s not true. 1 in 6 couples have fertility issues, and 50% of the time, there is a male factor, such as a low sperm count, poor quality sperm, or poor swimmers. And things are getting a lot worse.

Sperm concentration has halved over the past 50 years.

While many factors impact sperm number and quality, such as hormonal imbalances, genetics, medications, and sitting in a hot tub too long, less appreciated is that what a man eats also influences sperm quality and count. This is not new information. Multiple studies have confirmed that a Mediterranean diet is associated with better sperm quality and an increase in fertility.

What is new is the concept that switching to a Mediterranean diet along with anti-oxidant supplements may improve both sperm count and sperm quality. And if you are wondering if a change in diet will improve egg quality, the answer is no. Women are born with all their eggs, so diet and other environmental factors will not influence egg quality. Sperm, on the other hand, continues to be produced throughout a man’s life.

So, two takeaways on this one. If you are having trouble getting pregnant, the FIRST step is to get a semen analysis before a woman goes through invasive and expensive testing and procedures. And if the sperm is less than donor quality, it may be time to switch from cheeseburgers and Cheetos to fish and arugula.

(I wish I could give credit on this, but I have no idea where I got it. And I thought I would throw it in to see how many people read to the end. So throw me a “like” and let me know if I should routinely post my WGN news bites. )