WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The risk of colon cancer for Hispanics in California varies widely depending on their place of origin, a new study shows.
University of Southern California researchers looked at data from more than 36,000 Hispanics in the state who had been diagnosed with colon cancer between 1995 and 2011. They were further identified by their place of origin: Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central or South America, or not specified.
People from Mexico have a lower risk of colon cancer than Hispanics from other areas, the researchers found. But people from Mexico, Central America or South America were more likely to be diagnosed with colon cancer before age 50 than other Hispanics, the study showed.
Cuban colon cancer patients had the highest death rate (63 percent), followed by Puerto Ricans (58 percent). Mexicans had the highest rate of rectal cancer (35 percent) compared to other Hispanic groups, the study said.
The authors of the study said they hope their findings will help lead to improved colon cancer care for Hispanics. The findings were published recently in the journal Cancer Causes & Control.
“Nowadays, most of the information we have on the molecular characteristics of colorectal cancer comes from the white population. There is little information specific to Latinos. Plus, they are typically clumped as a group,” said lead author Mariana Stern, a cancer epidemiologist and associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority ethnic group in the United States, the researchers noted.
“Hispanics are a very heterogeneous population, which is not really recognized in most cancer studies,” Stern said in a university news release.
“Their risk factors might be different; their clinical characteristics could be different. We have to zoom into these observations and understand these disparities because they may affect how patients are educated about the disease and how they are treated by doctors,” she explained.
The differences between Hispanic groups may be due to factors such as genetics and how much they have adopted American lifestyles, the researchers said.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about colon cancer.
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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Anyone who hasn’t had a flu shot this season should make a point to get vaccinated now, U.S. health officials advise.
Flu activity usually peaks in January or February, and flu can strike as late as May, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As long as the virus is circulating, it’s not too late to receive a flu shot and protect yourself and others against this seasonal misery.
So far, the flu season has been mild, but U.S. health officials expect activity to pick up in the next few weeks.
“Influenza seasons and severity are often unpredictable. Annual influenza vaccination is the best way to prevent influenza among people 6 months of age and older,” Marion Gruber, director of FDA’s Office of Vaccine Research and Review, said in an agency news release.
“However, taking such practical measures as washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes, and staying home when sick can also help to decrease the spread and minimize the effects of flu,” Gruber said.
Even healthy adults should be vaccinated every year, the agency said. Children and older people are typically at greatest risk for the flu and related complications, but flu viruses occasionally hit young and middle-aged adults hardest.
Last year, older Americans were hit particularly hard. Record numbers of seniors were hospitalized due to the flu, and by early March this age group accounted for the majority of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Antiviral drugs — such as Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), Relenza (zanamivir) and Rapivab (peramivir) — may help ease flu symptoms, but they are not a substitute for the seasonal flu vaccine, the agency said.
Virtually everyone older than 6 months of age is advised to get a flu shot. The exceptions are people with life-threatening allergies to flu vaccine or any ingredient in the vaccine. This might include gelatin, antibiotics, or other ingredients, according to the CDC.
And last year’s flu shot won’t help you now, experts cautioned. “Influenza viruses can change from year to year, due to different subtypes and strains that circulate each year,” said Gruber.
That’s why each year scientists produce a new flu vaccine that they predict will most closely match the viruses in circulation. Meanwhile, any protection provided by the previous year’s vaccine wanes over time.
Developing an effective vaccine is a year-round effort. Each February global public health experts collect and analyze data from around the world to identify the flu viruses likely to cause the most illnesses the following flu season. Based on this analysis and the recommendations of an FDA advisory committee, scientists select the virus strains for inclusion in the seasonal flu vaccines used in the United States.
“The closer the match between the circulating strains causing disease and the virus strains in the vaccine, the better the protection against influenza,” Gruber said.
The agency continuously monitors the safety of vaccines even after they are approved for use. This includes yearly surveillance for Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological condition associated with the 1976 flu vaccine.
In a typical season, flu complications — including pneumonia — send more than 200,000 Americans to the hospital. Death rates linked to flu vary annually, but have gone as high as 49,000 deaths in a year, the CDC says.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about the seasonal flu vaccine.
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During a live broadcast Monday morning, CNN anchor Poppy Harlow suddenly passed out on the air. While attempting to report on a new poll, Harlow started to slur her words before going totally silent. The show immediately cut to a commercial break, leaving viewers very concerned about the news anchor. After a barrage of worried tweets about her condition, Harlow reappeared on the air to voice that she was fine:
“For all of you on Twitter who are asking if I’m okay, thank you so much,” Harlow said. “I got a little hot, and I passed out for a moment. I am fine.”
The pregnant anchor also responded to the concerned messages on Twitter, ensuring everyone both she and the baby are safe.
While Harlow brushed off the incident coolly, there’s no denying fainting can be pretty frightening (especially when it happens on live TV!). Getting a little too hot isn’t the only reason you might faint. Here’s what’s really going on, plus 5 reasons you might pass out.
Your blood pressure drops
Syncope is the technical term for fainting. “What’s happening, is for whatever reason, the oxygen or sugar supply to the brain has dropped off to the point that it shuts down,” explains Melisa Lai Becker, MD, site chief of emergency medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance. “Similar to when you fall asleep, your basic functions are preserved, your heart keeps beating, you keep breathing, but you lose consciousness.”
Vasovagal syncope is one of the most common reasons for fainting, making up approximately 25-40% of cases. It occurs when the part of your nervous system that’s in charge of heart rate and blood pressure stops working due to some kind of trigger such as standing for long periods of time, overheating, seeing blood, having blood drawn, or even fear.
Any of these scenarios can cause a chain reaction that starts with a slowed heart rate. This leads the blood vessels in your legs to widen, allowing excess blood to collect in your legs, which lowers your blood pressure. As a result, there’s a sudden drop in blood flow to your brain, and that’s what causes you to pass out.
This kind of fainting is normally not a sign of something serious.
According to the Mayo Clinic, one fourth of all fainting episodes are related to abnormal heart rhythms, aka arrhythmias. This is especially true in cases of arrhythmia where the heart beats too fast (over 150 beats per minute), says Dr. Becker. When that happens, you may have plenty of blood in the body, but the heart does not allow enough of a relaxation period to send blood through the rest of the body and up to the brain.
Arrythmias aren’t always serious, but they can signal an underlying problem that needs treatment. This is why it’s important to see your doctor to get checked out if you have an episode of fainting.
You’re hungry
At some point, you’ve probably experienced that awful light-headedness that comes when you’ve gone too long without eating, and this comes from a lack of fuel for your brain.
A drop in blood sugar can cause fainting because your brain has lost a major energy source, in this case, glucose. For diabetics and individuals with hypoglycemia (extremely low blood sugar), this can cause a reaction as extreme as a coma. “However, the average person who isn’t diabetic can still get shaky and sweaty [and even faint] if they haven’t eaten enough,” says Dr. Becker.
We’ve all seen the stereotypical fainting scene in movies—you know, where a character is so shocked or emotional that he or she suddenly collapses. But can extreme emotion really cause fainting? Actually, yes.
“One common scenario is where someone may faint after hearing terrible or over-joyous news,” explains Dr. Becker. “For example, some people faint at the point when we pronounce a loved one dead. It occurs when something comes over someone, emotionally and psychologically, and it’s too much to process.” Fainting due to emotion, or psychogenic syncope, is even more common for individuals with anxiety, hysteria, panic, or major depressive disorders.
With that said, Dr. Becker points out: “Many physicians wouldn’t agree these scenarios are simply a result of overwhelming emotion, but rather a combination of factors.” These other reasons may include anything from low blood pressure to hyperventilation brought on by extreme stress or anxiety.
When you stand up, gravity causes blood to pool in your legs, which can decrease your blood pressure. “In this case, gravity is literally working against you, keeping the heart from pumpingblood fast enough up to your head,” says Dr. Becker. Normally, special cells in your body will sense the lower blood pressure and signal your brain to tell your heart to pump faster and your blood vessels to narrow; this process stabilizes your blood pressure so you don’t feel woozy or faint.
But sometimes dehydration or even eating a big meal can disrupt this process (the technical term for this interruption: orthostatic hypotension), so that your body doesn’t respond fast enough. This can cause you to faint if it’s severe enough. During these situations, it’s best to use gravity to your advantage rather than against you—put your head between your legs and allow the blood to flow back to your brain.
Feeling woozy or fainting after standing may also be a sign of a medical problem, so if it happens a lot or seems severe, see your doctor for a check-up, stat.
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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Chronic drinking combined with binge drinking quickly damages the liver, and is more destructive than previously thought, a new study with mice suggests.
“Heavy binge drinking by those who habitually consume alcohol is the most common cause of liver damage in chronic alcoholic liver disease,” lead author Shivendra Shukla, a professor of medical pharmacology and physiology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, said in a university news release.
“We know that this behavior causes large fatty deposits in the liver that ultimately impair the organ’s ability to function properly. However, we wanted to understand the mechanism that causes this damage and the extent of the harm,” Shukla said.
“Our research focused on different forms of alcohol abuse and the results of those behaviors,” he explained.
Shukla and his colleagues looked at how chronic alcohol use, repeat binge-drinking episodes, and a combination of both affected the livers of mice over four weeks. Those with both types of alcohol exposure had the highest amounts of liver damage, the investigators found.
Individually, either chronic alcohol use or repeat binge-drinking episodes caused moderate liver damage when compared to mice not exposed to alcohol (the “control” group). “This outcome came as no surprise,” Shukla said.
“However, in the mice exposed to both chronic use and repeat binge episodes, liver damage increased tremendously. Even more shocking was the extent of fatty deposits in the livers of those exposed to chronic plus binge alcohol. It was approximately 13 times higher than the control group,” he said.
While the study found an association between those drinking behaviors and accelerated liver damage, it did not prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship. Also, effects of animal studies are not always replicated in humans.
Liver damage is not the only health threat associated with chronic and binge drinking, Shukla noted in the news release.
“Drinking alcohol excessively can create an inflammatory response to the liver and other organ systems in the body,” he said. “If those organs work at a lower level of function, then a whole host of physiological processes can be affected. It is important for us to understand the extent of damage caused by alcohol abuse, which also can lead to other health issues such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some forms of cancer.”
More information
The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has more about alcohol and your health.
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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — New Year’s Day is the worst day of the year for alcohol-fueled car crashes, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
Every year drunk driving accidents claim nearly 10,000 lives in the United States, MADD reports. And holiday parties up the odds you’ll be sharing the road with impaired drivers.
If you’ll be celebrating the new year with friends, MADD offers these tips to ensure a safe start to 2016:
Choose a designated driver. Identify one person who will stay sober and drive people home.
Save the number of a local cab service in your cell phone before going out.
Consider hiring a shuttle or limousine service to transport a group to and from the festivities.
Make hotel reservations to avoid the need to drive home after a party.
Organize party activities; games can engage people so they drink less.
As guests respond to a party invitation, ask how they plan to get home safely.
Provide plenty of food so guests are not drinking on an empty stomach. Limit salty snacks, however, so people don’t drink more alcohol to quench their thirst.
Offer nonalcoholic beverages, or “mocktails,” especially for designated drivers.
Prepare alcoholic punches with a noncarbonated base like juice, to slow absorption into the blood stream.
If you’re hosting, be prepared to let guests who’ve had too much to drink sleep over or have the number of a taxi company ready.
More information
The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provides more on holiday drinking safety.
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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Stimulant medications, such as those used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), may raise the risk for psychotic side effects among young patients who have a parent with a history of serious mental illness, new research suggests.
The study included 141 children and young adults aged 6 to 21. Nearly two-thirds of those prescribed stimulant medications had a psychotic side effect. These side effects included hallucinations, delusions, hearing voices, and/or perceptual disturbances, the researchers said.
By comparison, psychotic effects affected just over one-quarter of those who had not taken a stimulant drug, the study showed.
“These meds can be extremely helpful, including in kids with a family history of mental illness,” said study lead author Dr. Rudolf Uher. He is an associate professor and Canada research chair in early intervention in the department of psychiatry at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“So this should in no way mean that we should stop using stimulants,” he added.
Uher stressed that doctors have long known that these medications can cause hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms. “[But] what is surprising is the quantity. No one suspected that these side effects could be so common,” he said.
“What it means is that docs need to ask kids about unusual experiences. They do not tell you unless you ask,” Uher explained. “And then, make decisions on risk-benefit balance.”
The study authors said the study’s design didn’t allow them to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, only to find an association between stimulant medications and psychotic symptoms.
The study findings were published online Dec. 30, and in the January print issue of Pediatrics.
ADHD affects between 5 percent and 10 percent of school-aged kids in the United States. Stimulants are considered a first-line treatment for the condition, the study authors said.
For the current investigation, all of the children, and their parents, were from Nova Scotia.
Parents and children underwent psychiatrist-led mental health screenings. Interviews and pharmacy records confirmed whether stimulant medications had been prescribed for the children.
All of the children had at least one parent with a history of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. Nearly one-quarter of the children were diagnosed with ADHD, according to the report.
About 17 percent of all the children — including half of those diagnosed with ADHD — were prescribed stimulant medications, such as Ritalin (methylphenidate), Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine), or Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine). These medications are known to limit the hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity associated with ADHD, the researchers said.
The children were also interviewed to assess any drug-related “funny feelings” that might represent a psychotic experience.
In the end, the frequency with which stimulants were associated with psychotic events was found to be much higher than indicated by previous research.
That finding prompted the investigators to suggest that the risk for psychotic side effects should no longer be considered rare among such children. They advised doctors to carefully monitor children and teens taking stimulant drugs.
Erin Schoenfelder, an assistant professor with the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, agreed that “it’s useful for practitioners to be aware of heightened risk for certain kids.”
But, she said, more research will be necessary, given that the new study didn’t distinguish between children with mild or severe mental illness. “Which means that we can’t rule out that those kids with severe mental illness were not inherently at higher risk for these side effects, because those with milder difficulties might have been less likely to be prescribed medication in the first place,” Schoenfelder said.
Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., said his own clinical experience suggests that the study findings make sense.
“It seems that stimulant-related psychotic symptoms associated with stimulant treatment are more common, more complex and more extensive among children of parents with mood disorders compared to children whose parents do not have active mental illness,” he said.
“Pediatricians who care for children who have one or more parents with mental illness should be vigilant for the development of psychotic symptoms in these children,” Adesman advised, “especially if stimulant medications are being prescribed.”
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Stimulant medications, such as those used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), may raise the risk for psychotic side effects among young patients who have a parent with a history of serious mental illness, new research suggests.
The study included 141 children and young adults aged 6 to 21. Nearly two-thirds of those prescribed stimulant medications had a psychotic side effect. These side effects included hallucinations, delusions, hearing voices, and/or perceptual disturbances, the researchers said.
By comparison, psychotic effects affected just over one-quarter of those who had not taken a stimulant drug, the study showed.
“These meds can be extremely helpful, including in kids with a family history of mental illness,” said study lead author Dr. Rudolf Uher. He is an associate professor and Canada research chair in early intervention in the department of psychiatry at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“So this should in no way mean that we should stop using stimulants,” he added.
Uher stressed that doctors have long known that these medications can cause hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms. “[But] what is surprising is the quantity. No one suspected that these side effects could be so common,” he said.
“What it means is that docs need to ask kids about unusual experiences. They do not tell you unless you ask,” Uher explained. “And then, make decisions on risk-benefit balance.”
The study authors said the study’s design didn’t allow them to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, only to find an association between stimulant medications and psychotic symptoms.
The study findings were published online Dec. 30, and in the January print issue of Pediatrics.
ADHD affects between 5 percent and 10 percent of school-aged kids in the United States. Stimulants are considered a first-line treatment for the condition, the study authors said.
For the current investigation, all of the children, and their parents, were from Nova Scotia.
Parents and children underwent psychiatrist-led mental health screenings. Interviews and pharmacy records confirmed whether stimulant medications had been prescribed for the children.
All of the children had at least one parent with a history of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. Nearly one-quarter of the children were diagnosed with ADHD, according to the report.
About 17 percent of all the children — including half of those diagnosed with ADHD — were prescribed stimulant medications, such as Ritalin (methylphenidate), Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine), or Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine). These medications are known to limit the hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity associated with ADHD, the researchers said.
The children were also interviewed to assess any drug-related “funny feelings” that might represent a psychotic experience.
In the end, the frequency with which stimulants were associated with psychotic events was found to be much higher than indicated by previous research.
That finding prompted the investigators to suggest that the risk for psychotic side effects should no longer be considered rare among such children. They advised doctors to carefully monitor children and teens taking stimulant drugs.
Erin Schoenfelder, an assistant professor with the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, agreed that “it’s useful for practitioners to be aware of heightened risk for certain kids.”
But, she said, more research will be necessary, given that the new study didn’t distinguish between children with mild or severe mental illness. “Which means that we can’t rule out that those kids with severe mental illness were not inherently at higher risk for these side effects, because those with milder difficulties might have been less likely to be prescribed medication in the first place,” Schoenfelder said.
Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., said his own clinical experience suggests that the study findings make sense.
“It seems that stimulant-related psychotic symptoms associated with stimulant treatment are more common, more complex and more extensive among children of parents with mood disorders compared to children whose parents do not have active mental illness,” he said.
“Pediatricians who care for children who have one or more parents with mental illness should be vigilant for the development of psychotic symptoms in these children,” Adesman advised, “especially if stimulant medications are being prescribed.”
Some can be, but the vast majority are not. Ovarian cysts are fluid-filled sacs in or on the ovaries, and they fall into two general categories. The most common type, called functional cysts, occur as a normal part of the menstrual cycle. Every month, your ovaries grow structures called follicles in preparation for releasing an egg. If a follicle doesn’t break open and release an egg, a cyst can form. Many women will get this type of cyst each month; they’re usually small and harmless, and they disappear on their own within two or three menstrual cycles.
You can also develop growths that are unrelated to ovulation. Generally referred to as neoplastic cysts, most are benign. However, in rare cases, one of them may be cancerous. A cyst on the ovary is more likely to indicate cancer if you’ve already gone through menopause. (In general, the risk of ovarian cancer increases as you age; meanwhile, roughly 8 percent of postmenopausal women develop cysts every year.)
Some symptoms of cysts can be nonspecific, but tell your doctor if you’ve experienced pressure or pain, or a feeling of fullness after eating only a small amount. Pelvic exams may help detect and monitor cysts, and ultrasounds and a CA-125 blood test can give better clues as to whether a cyst is cancerous. If a mass persists or continues to grow after more than six to eight weeks, has solid parts or walled sections (rather than being strictly fluid-filled) and its own blood flow, surgery may be the next step.
Health‘s medical editor, Roshini Rajapaksa, MD, is associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine and co-founder of Tula Skincare.
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TUESDAY, Dec. 29, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Three-quarters of U.S. high school students who use heroin first tried narcotic painkillers, a new survey reveals.
Survey results from nearly 68,000 high school seniors provide some clues to heroin’s recent deadly path from the inner city into affluent suburbs and rural communities.
“The more times a teen uses nonprescribed painkiller pills, the greater the risk he or she is at for becoming dependent on the drug,” said lead researcher Joseph Palamar, an assistant professor of population health at New York University.
“People who become dependent on painkiller pills often wind up resorting to heroin use because it’s cheaper and more available than these pills,” Palamar explained.
And white students appear more likely than blacks or Hispanics to travel this route, the research suggests.
More than 12 percent of the high school seniors reported using narcotic painkillers such as Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin. And 1.2 percent reported using heroin, the researchers said.
Recent and frequent nonmedical painkiller use increased the odds that kids had tried heroin: More than 77 percent of teens who reported using heroin had also used narcotic painkillers, also called opioids, Palamar said.
And almost one-quarter of kids who said they’d taken narcotic painkillers more than 40 times also reported heroin use.
Experts say there’s no quick solution.
“The popularity of heroin is increasing, and it’s a big problem,” said Dr. Scott Krakower, assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New Hyde Park, N.Y.
Drug education is paramount, and heroin needs to be controlled, Krakower said. “But that’s hard to do,” he added.
Palamar believes updating drug education programs will help. But kids need to get the message that these drugs put them at risk for addiction and overdose death, he said.
“The biggest problem is that many teens don’t trust drug education in schools or information provided by the government,” Palamar said.
Teens are commonly taught that marijuana is as dangerous as heroin, he said. When they realize that’s not true, they may develop a distrust of all other drug information, he said.
Also, narcotic painkillers present an especially complicated situation, he said.
“Most other drugs are illegal in all contexts, yet these drugs — the most dangerous drugs — are prescribed by doctors and are often sitting there in parents’ medicine cabinets,” Palamar said. “If teens don’t believe warnings about street drugs, then why would they be afraid to use government-approved, pharmaceutical-grade pills?”
Palamar’s recommendation: “We need to educate our educators, and then we need to start giving more honest and accurate information to our teens because what we’re doing now isn’t working.”
Drug education teachers are sometimes less informed than their students “who might have learned from experience or from friends who use,” he said.
The report appeared recently in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
The study data came from the 2009-2013 Monitoring the Future surveys. These annual questionnaires assess the behaviors, attitudes and values of students in 130 public and private U.S. high schools.
Here are other findings from the surveys:
Girls and teens living with two parents were less likely to use narcotic painkillers and heroin.
Whites were more likely than black and Hispanic students to use narcotic painkillers or heroin. But blacks and Hispanics were more likely to use heroin without first using painkillers recreationally. This suggests it is primarily white students transitioning from pill use to heroin, the researchers said.
“Teens will be teens, and many teens dabble in a variety of drugs, but narcotic painkillers are one class of drugs they really shouldn’t take recreationally,” Palamar said. “Dependence can sneak up on you pretty quickly.”
Krakower said tighter regulation of narcotic painkillers and drug reformulations that make it harder to get high have contributed to heroin use among people dependent on prescription painkillers.
Weight Watchers has debuted its first advertisement featuring Oprah Winfrey since she became a spokesperson for the company in October—and it might make you reach for tissues.
In the video, which was made for Weight Watchers UK, Oprah describes her emotional struggle with weight loss over the years. She delivers a hopeful message that seems to transcend weight loss, extending into a powerful sentiment about triumphing over failures and fighting to achieve a goal that anyone who has struggled with weight can relate to.
“So every time I tried and failed, and every time I tried again, and every time I tried again, has brought me to this most powerful moment to say: ‘If not now, when?'”
Oprah has been candid about her weight loss attempts over the years, and most recently revealed that she was 15-pounds down on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show in mid-October—owing her success to Weight Watchers.
Earlier this month, the company announced a new program designed to shift the focus from weight loss as the ultimate goal. “The way we think about it is that we used to have a very narrow focus on weight, and now weight is one of things we focus on but it’s not the only thing,” Gary Foster, Weight Watchers’ Chief Scientific Officer, explained. “The consumer sentiment is, ‘I still want to lose weight but I’m thinking about in a more holistic way.”
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