Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

Consuming raw honey from a single floral source may improve blood sugar control and lower cholesterol levels when taken within the context of a healthy diet, according to a recent study published in Nutrition Reviews.  “These results are surprising because honey is about 80% sugar,” said Tauseef Khan, a senior researcher on the study and a research…

You can reduce the risk of an early death by nearly 20%, just by eating more foods from four healthy eating patterns, according to researchers who analyzed decades of data collected on more than 119,000 adults. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that people who ate the “highest-quality diets” had 20% lower risk of…

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced the fast-tracked approval of an Alzheimer’s drug that modestly slows the brain-robbing disease to those with mild impairment. The drug, Leqembi, is the first that’s been convincingly shown to slow the decline in memory and thinking that defines Alzheimer’s by targeting the disease’s underlying biology. The FDA…

India has detected the presence of all omicron sub-variants of COVID-19 in the community after testing more than 300 samples since late December, the health ministry said in a statement on Monday. “No mortality or rise in transmission were reported in the areas where these variants were detected,” the ministry said.

People could be at a higher risk for dementia if more than 20% of their daily caloric intake is ultra-processed foods, a new study found. The part of the brain involved in processing information and making decisions, or executive functioning, is particularly impacted by the risk of cognitive decline, according to the study published Monday in JAMA…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $1.2 billion on Sunday for efforts to eradicate polio worldwide.  Polio was paralyzing tens of thousands of children a year in dozens of countries around the world just a few decades ago, but the virus is now only endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Part of the success in eradicating the virus…

First there was Brexit.  Then there was “Drexit” — an exodus of doctors walking away the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. And now nurses and other staff in the NHS are heading for the doors, too. Staff are leaving the medical profession for better paying jobs, such as hospitality and retail, according to…

World Mental Health Day is Monday, Oct. 10, 2022 — an opportunity to take stock of our mental well-being especially in light of the mental health crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. “People all over the world have been impacted by our mental health crisis,” saidDr. Rebecca Brendel, president of the American Psychiatric Association. Based in Boston,…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging Americans to get their flu shot ahead of a season that is predicted to be especially active.  Levels of the flu had been historically low amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Australia recently saw a particularly nasty flu season, sparking fears worldwide.  CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Tuesday…