•346 of 100,000 people who consume high level of sweeteners developed heart disease
•COVID-19 sent alcohol-related deaths soaring, but higher taxes could save lives
•Breast implants associated with additional cancers, scientists warn
Recent studies have demonstrated how regular consumption of alcohol, artificial sweeteners and breast implants raise premature deaths.
The studies found 346 of 100,000 people who consume high level of sweeteners developed heart disease; COVID-19 pandemic sent alcohol-related deaths soaring, but higher taxes could save lives; and that breast implants may be linked to additional cancers.
A new study in France suggests a higher risk of heart disease is connected to artificial sweeteners. And experts suggested viewing these results cautiously, as well, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
AFP reported: “Aiming to assess the heart disease risk of sweeteners, researchers at the French INSERM institute analysed data of more than 100,000 adults in France who self-reported their diet, lifestyle and medical history between 2009-2021, as part of the NutriNet-Sante study.”
The research was published in the journal BMJ. It shows that 346 of 100,000 people who consume a high level of the sweeteners developed heart disease. Among non-users, the figure was 314 per 100,000.
INSERM’s Mathilde Touvier, who coordinated the study, said: “These results, in line with the latest WHO report published this year, do not support the use of sweeteners as a safe alternative to sugar.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported “no clear consensus on whether non-sugar sweeteners are effective for long-term weight loss or maintenance, or if they are linked to other long-term health effects.”
This year, a study using Nutri-Net data found a connection between sweeteners and cancer.
About the new study, the BMJ wrote, “The findings indicate that these food additives, consumed daily by millions of people and present in thousands of foods and beverages, should not be considered a healthy and safe alternative to sugar, in line with the current position of several health agencies.”
Meanwhile, alcohol taxes have been stagnant for years. But after the pandemic sent alcohol-related deaths soaring, activists in Oregon, United States (U.S.) said higher taxes could save lives.
Oregon is a drinker’s paradise. The state boasts more craft distilleries than Kentucky and is second only to California in the number of wineries. Some call Portland “beervana” for its bevy of breweries.
But Oregon also has among the highest prevalence of problem drinking in the country. Last year, 2,153 residents died of causes attributed to alcohol, according to the Oregon Health Authority — more than twice the number of people killed by methamphetamines, heroin and fentanyl combined.
Americans drank more during the pandemic, but national data on the change have only recently become available. Alcohol tax revenues collected by American Treasury Department rose by eight percent in the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2021, compared with the previous year, and remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
Deaths caused by drinking also rose during the pandemic, spiking 25 per cent in 2020 over the previous year. But the deaths — which have topped 140,000 nationwide — have been rising for decades in every state. Few places have seen a greater uptick than Oregon, where the rate of alcohol-induced deaths grew 2.5 times from 1999 to 2020, after adjusting for the state’s changing age distribution.
Various studies in recent years have suggested that even moderate drinking poses a health risk, including to the heart. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that men consume no more than two drinks a day and women no more than one.
One way that governments can influence the price of alcohol is by taxing its producers or sellers, who pass the cost on to consumers. This is comparable to taxes on tobacco, which scores of studies show to be a powerful tool for reducing smoking. A large body of evidence shows that higher alcohol taxes are associated with less excessive drinking and lower rates of disease and injury deaths. After Illinois and Maryland raised alcohol taxes, the states reported reductions in binge drinking and car crashes involving intoxication.
Efforts to raise alcohol taxes are rare. Since 2020, public health advocates in Hawaii have promoted a bill to increase rates there, but the measure did not gain traction this year. In New Mexico, where an attempt to raise alcohol taxes in 2017 failed, the issue has resurfaced.
Meanwhile, American federal health officials said on rare occasions, new cancers have been found in women with both textured and smooth implants, filled with saline or silicone.
While the cancers may be rare, they have been found in people with implants of all types, including those with both textured and smooth surfaces, and filled with both saline and silicone.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday warned women who have breast implants or are considering getting them that certain cancers may develop in scar tissue forming around the implants.
The malignancies seem to be rare, but they have been linked to implants of all types, including those with textured and smooth surfaces, and those filled with saline or silicone.
Scientists had already linked an unusual cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma primarily to textured implants, whose rough exteriors presumably cause more inflammation than those of smooth implants. Lymphoma is a cancer of the immune system.
The FDA confirmed that link over a decade ago, but textured implants, made by Allergan, were on the market until 2019. The agency’s new warning called attention to another cancer, called squamous cell carcinoma, and also to other types of lymphoma that may be related to the implants.
There are few documented cases. The FDA said it was aware of fewer than 20 cases of carcinoma, and fewer than 30 cases of unexpected lymphomas, in the capsule around the breast implant. (The capsule is the scar tissue that builds up around the implant.)
Given the history of implants and their widespread use, however, federal health officials felt concern was warranted. In some cases, women were diagnosed after years of having breast implants. Among the symptoms were swelling, pain, lumps and changes in the skin.
Although lymphomas and other cancers in the area around the implant may be rare, “health care providers and people who have or are considering breast implants should be aware that cases have been reported to the FDA and in the literature,” the FDA said.
An agency spokeswoman, Audra Harrison, said that the new cancers were an “emerging safety signal that we’re seeing with implants that we will be communicating about, separate from A.L.C.L.,” the previously documented cancer.
Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a rare type of blood cancer. It is more common in young people, mostly boys.
But cases of lymphomas other than ALCL in women with breast implants have been reported in scientific literature for about a decade, said Dr. Mark Clemens, a professor of plastic surgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
They are extremely rare, he added, and the new warning should not be cause for widespread alarm. The realization that ALCL was linked to breast implants had already “enabled us to be more cognizant that other things could be happening in that area,” Dr. Clemens said.
“If ALCL is uncommon, these are very rare,” he added. It has long been known that scar tissue, like that resulting from breast implant surgery, can yield squamous cell carcinoma, Dr. Clemens added.
“A wound that tries to heal, and tries to heal for a long time, can develop into these things,” he said. But the precise nature of the relationship between the implant and the cancer, and whether the implant is causing the cancer, is not yet clear, he said.
In a typical year, some 400,000 women get breast implants in the United States, 300,000 for cosmetic reasons and 100,000 for reconstruction after mastectomies performed to treat or prevent breast cancer.
Numbers dropped substantially during the first year of the pandemic, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Last year, the FDA placed so-called black-box labels on breast implants, warning that they had been linked to a host of chronic medical conditions, including autoimmune disease, joint pain, mental confusion, muscle aches and chronic fatigue, as well as to lymphoma.
Among those at highest risk for developing later illnesses are breast cancer patients who have had or plan to undergo chemotherapy or radiation treatments — and who represent a large percentage of the women who are encouraged to have breast reconstruction with implants.
Smokers and women who have lupus or diabetes are also at greater risk for the complications, the FDA has said.
One-third of women who have breast implants will experience breast pain, sensitivity or loss of sensitivity in the breast, or asymmetry. Half will experience a painful tightening of scar tissue around the implant, and one-third will have implants that rupture or leak, the FDA has said.
Nearly 60 percent will need another operation to resolve problems with implants.
On Thursday, the FDA said it was not recommending that women remove breast implants because of the new warning. But the agency is advising women to monitor their implants, and to see a surgeon or a health care provider if they notice any abnormal changes.
Textured implants made by Allergan were recalled after nearly 600 cases of cancer were linked to the implants and 33 deaths were attributed to the company’s devices.
