UF Health Podcasts

Tobacco companies introduced cigarette filters in the 1950s because of growing public concerns about smoking’s risks. Consumers were told the filters removed toxins and harmful gases, among numerous bogus health claims.

The nadir of this outrageous public relations effort might have been filters containing asbestos.

Filters were good marketing, not good science. All these years later, the claims are gone, but the filters remain.

Now, researchers in health care policy and evidence-based health care at Oxford University and the University of Massachusetts argue that a ban would make cigarettes “more honest.” While tobacco companies no longer assert that filters offer a health benefit, the perception that filters reduce risk is still strong among consumers.

Smoking is dangerous. Period. Some scientists say they might even exacerbate the danger. The filters, they say, make it easier to deeply inhale smoke into the lungs, raising lung cancer risk.

Beyond health concerns, they argue that cigarette filters pose a danger to the environment. Cigarettes are the most littered item on Earth, with an estimated 4-and-a-half million discarded annually.

Filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a plastic that breaks down and contributes to the microplastic crisis facing humanity. Those tiny plastics end up in human organs, including the brain.

While tobacco companies are now offering biodegradable filters, the researchers say this offers only the illusion of environmental responsibility.

So, if someone tells you filters make cigarettes safer, they’re blowing smoke.

You’re overdue for a grocery store visit, and eyeing the carton of milk whose expiration date was two days ago. The dry cereal in front of you looks tempting. It could be fine. It could be gastrointestinal disaster. What is the window of safety?

The answer can be murky.

Date labels can range from “use by” and “sell by” to “packaged on.” It’s important to remember that food companies determine the date on their products, and each uses its own method for naming a date. Ultimately, different foods have different requirements.

When it comes to milk, for example, each state has its own set of policies regarding the sell-by date in consideration of pasteurization.

Some experts view sell-by dates as a product of a “chaotic” system, maintaining that most of the time, eating a food shortly after the expiration date poses little health risk. Frozen foods, for instance, can stay safe to eat for up to a year … even if they are thawed and refrozen. Unopened condiments, oils and canned goods can last up to several years.

Of course, there are less forgiving foods such as meat, seafood, unpasteurized cheese, milk and baby food. Caution regarding foods prepared in-store is never a bad idea, and exercising thoughtfulness around the lifespan of deli meat or poultry can only do you good.

Food safety inspections also point out that our household fridges aren’t as cold as those in grocery stores. This has an impact on how long products last. So, chicken should be consumed within one to two days. Raw red meat, like beef, should be used by Day 4 or 5.

In short: Food safety has no expiration date. If you’re worried about a food item, listen to your gut…before it tells you otherwise.

Veterinary oncology is a specialized field in veterinary medicine centered on the diagnosis, treatment and management of cancer in animals. UF CVM clinical assistant professor and radiation oncology expert Dr. Jishnu Gutti joins Animal Airwaves live to discuss the basics of radiation oncology, what to expect from an oncology referral and the role advanced diagnostics play in cancer detection. It’s natural for pet parents to experience anxiety surrounding a cancer diagnosis, so Dr. Gutti will touch on how veterinarians best help clients make informed decisions considering both treatment options and quality of life considerations for their fur babies.

Having COVID-19 might leave women with a lot more than brain fog, a sense of fatigue or a lost sense of smell.

A new study from a team of researchers spanning Europe has found that women who recovered from COVID-19 had stiffer arteries six months later, adding what amounted to 5 to 10 years of vascular aging, depending on the severity of their illness.

The study tracked more than 2,300 men and women in 18 countries, making it the first large-scale international effort to see how COVID-19 might affect the cardiovascular system after recovery.

As we age, our arteries become stiffer. The stiffer they get, the more quickly blood pulses through. Healthy arteries are more pliant, like stretchy tubes that can absorb the pressure of each heartbeat.

And as arteries stiffen through aging or disease, the heart must work harder, raising the risk of cardiovascular problems.

In early 2020, the highly contagious COVID-19 virus began spreading around the globe, taking the lives of more than 7 million people and sending more than 3.6 million to hospitals.

The researchers noted that the worse a patient’s COVID-19 was, the bigger the hit their arteries took. Those who spent time in hospital intensive care units, for instance, had harder arteries than those who weathered the virus at home.

Now, about that possible gender gap in how the virus leaves its mark: The researchers found that men who had contracted COVID also tended to have stiffer arteries than those who didn’t. But the numbers weren’t as stark.

One hopeful finding for those who received a COVID-19 vaccination: Women who had a vaccine before becoming infected had healthier arteries.

Do you roll out of bed eager to kick off your day with a nice breakfast? Or do you tend to wait until later in the morning and grab something whenever the mood strikes? A recent study suggests that when you eat breakfast may be just as important as if you eat it at all.

Researchers in the U.K. tracked nearly 3,000 adults over two decades and analyzed meal timing, health records and survival outcomes. Participants logged their eating habits, giving scientists a look into how daily rhythms shift with age. The research revealed that, over time, many people began eating breakfast and dinner later in the day, within a shorter overall window of food consumption each day.

The team also observed that those who consistently ate breakfast later in the morning were more likely to deal with physical and psychological health problems, including fatigue, depression, anxiety, oral health issues and multimorbidity — meaning they lived with two or more chronic conditions. Participants who were classified as early eaters maintained a 10-year survival rate of 89.5% while the late eaters saw an 86.7% survival rate for the same timeframe. Additionally, each hour participants delayed breakfast was linked to an 8 to 11% higher risk of death.

Genetic testing showed that participants with an evening chronotype — so-called night owls — were more likely to eat later. But this didn’t fully account for the health risks tied to delayed breakfast.

So, while brunch may be fun on weekends, your body may prefer something earlier. When it comes to breakfast, the early bird might not just catch the worm, but a few extra years of life, too.

Most of us at the doctor’s office do as asked, helpfully extending an arm as a health care worker wraps it in a blood pressure cuff, uncrossing our legs as it begins to python-squeeze our bicep.

What most of us don’t know is that the reading will likely be off. Or why.

But now, Cambridge University researchers say they have solved the long-running mystery. Millions of Americans who should be diagnosed with high blood pressure slip through because the arm cuffs in medical offices often give readings nearly six points too low.

What sounds like a tiny gap has big consequences. It means that nearly one in three people with systolic [sis-tahl-ick] hypertension may go undiagnosed, leaving them at risk of heart attacks and stroke.

A blood pressure reading measures the force in your arteries as your heart pumps. It’s recorded as two numbers. The first is your systolic [siss-tahl-ick] pressure. The second is your diastolic [die-uh-stahl-ick] pressure.

A systolic reading of 140 or more usually indicates Stage 2 hypertension, and that can mean blood pressure-lowering medication.

The researchers say when a traditional cuff inflates around your arm, it briefly shuts the main artery, causing blood pressure in the vessels farther down your arm to plummet. The more that “downstream” pressure drops, the more the cuff underestimates your actual blood pressure.

High blood pressure is the world’s leading cause of premature death, but it rarely causes symptoms until things get serious. Delayed treatment can be bad news.

The good news is that simple fixes may work, like raising your arm briefly before the test begins. Someday, design changes to the cuffs may correct the issue altogether.

Americans are on a perpetual quest to find a cure for insomnia that doesn’t involve a pharmaceutical solution.

Now, researchers are pointing to an unlikely sleep aid: yoga.

The mind-body practice of yoga is thought to have originated in India some 2,000 years ago and is a key part of Buddhist and Hindu tradition. Today, it’s a common, secular means of exercise and stress reduction.

Chinese scientists recently analyzed results from 22 studies involving more than 1,300 people and found that yoga, the Chinese martial art tai chi [pronounced tie chee], walking and jogging were the most beneficial activities to improve sleep duration.

Yoga, however, stands apart.

Researchers say yoga adds 110 minutes of sleep per night compared with lifestyle advice or stretching. Jogging and walking were good at reducing grogginess during the day for those who perhaps didn’t get enough sleep the night before.

Estimates on the number of Americans experiencing insomnia vary widely, with one estimate as high as 22%. Doctors have long advised exercise as the best alternative to sleep medications that can create dependency problems.

The study also showed that yoga participants fell asleep about half an hour faster and didn’t wake up as frequently during the night.

Tai chi, a slow-movement activity that focuses on breathing and mindfulness, added about 52 minutes of sleep.

Lost sleep can diminish work performance and affect relationships. It also carries staggering implications for good health, increasing risk for depression, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

So, next time you’re feeling like you can’t follow asleep, you might want to try a yoga mat instead of the melatonin.

Imagine you and a friend are in a restaurant. Your meal arrives quickly, but hers is held up … somewhere. She insists you dig in while it’s hot, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it.

If the situation were reversed, of course, you would implore her to go ahead.

Scientists now believe they know the reason behind this quirk in human behavior.  Researchers from London and The Netherlands contend the “wait or eat” phenomenon stems from a psychological blind spot: We feel our own guilt and discomfort most acutely. In others, however, we downplay those same emotions.

In a survey of people from 91 countries, they found that 91% reported that waiting for others to receive their food before eating is customary.

The researchers conducted six experiments involving nearly 2,000 participants, trying to test and change this dining double standard. In some, they asked participants to specifically consider their dining companion’s feelings, forcing them to look at the other person’s perspective. It did not eliminate the gap.

In other cases, participants were told that their dining companion explicitly wanted them to eat. However, the self-policing continued.

The researchers said the difference isn’t so much about feeling permission to eat, but how we process our psychological experiences versus those of others.

On a practical note, the findings suggest that dinner hosts and restaurants might underestimate the discomfort people have when food arrives at staggered times.

Perhaps it’s time for us to find a way to exorcise this somewhat-silly custom. When it comes right down to it, we all need to eat.

As Florida fall slowly settles in and chilly weather arrives for winter in the U.S., manatees will begin their migration pattern south along the eastern coastline and further inland in Florida to spend the winter months in warm-water refuges like natural springs or artificially warm power plant discharges. On this archived episode of Animal Airwaves Live, Dr. Iske Larkin, who studies manatee reproduction, physiology and behavior, will discuss how manatees know to move to warmer waters with the fall season, and what movement patterns tell us about these gentle giants on the go. She’ll also discuss indications a manatee might not be following typical migration patterns and how to report a manatee that may need rescued.

When it comes to walking, the popular wisdom has cemented 10,000 steps per day as the ideal number for staying healthy. Now, a new study suggests it might be perfectly fine to take a few steps back from that number. All the way down to 7,000, to be exact.

Researchers examined data from 57 studies of 35 cohorts, all geared toward a better understanding of how walking benefits us. Participants primarily originated from the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. They were tracked over years through wearable devices, like pedometers. The demographics included healthy adults as well as older adults who suffered from chronic health conditions.

The results? Across the board, walking more was consistently linked to a lower risk of dying from any cause. But you don’t have to be a step superstar to tap into the benefits.

Health improvements became visible at just 4,000 steps per day, with those benefits continuing to increase up to 7,000 steps. Although moving up to 10,000 to 12,000 steps was beneficial for individuals with certain conditions, 7,000 steps was the sweet spot for most — a realistic and attainable target for most everyday walkers.

Those who met the 7,000 steps-per-day goal saw a number of health benefits, including a 47% lower overall risk of mortality, a 47% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, a 37% lower risk of cancer mortality and a 38% lower risk of dementia.

If thinking of 10,000 steps makes you want to step back into bed, remember that just 7,000 of them can provide much of the same bang for your buck. And if you’re just getting started on your health journey, beginning with a goal of 4,000 is still a step in the right direction.