Nestle recalls its Drumstick ice cream because of a listeria contamination

Nestle has recently issued a nationwide recall of its Drumstick ice cream. The recall notice was ordered after a factory in California, where the ice cream is made, has tested positive for listeria contamination.

The factory located in Bakersfield, California was recently subjected to routine health testing. The test results discovered certain equipment from a production line was infected with listeria. In response, Nestle issued a voluntary recall of the affected products. These include the 24 count Vanilla Pack, Drumstick Club 16 count Variety Pack. Both types of products were made between August 31 and September 17.

Nestle discovered the contamination of Drumstick ice cream on its own, through internal testing. However, the products were accidently shipped to national stores due to an error in the receipt logging of the tests.

Besides the recall notice, Nestle urged consumers to avoid the ice cream and return it to the store. They also recommended contacting Nestle Consumer Services for more information. Nestle made the distinction between this case of listeria contamination and its Blue Bell recall in 2015 when three people died in Kansas. In other four states, 10 people were infected and then hospitalized.

In this current case, only the equipment was discovered to be infected not the ice cream itself. There was only one product line in a single facility affected so the infestation wouldn’t be large scale. The recall is only a precautionary measure. There aren’t any reports claiming the ice cream is infected or that people have fallen ill after consuming it.

According to the Food and Drug Administration:

Listeria causes serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. The infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Fortunately, listeria does not have any severe effects on healthy individuals. If infected, they are likely to suffer from short-term high fever, stiffness, headaches, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. In the US, almost 1,600 people suffer severe illnesses after being infected with listeria each year. Approximately 16% of these cases will result in death.

If you have purchased any of the previously mentioned types of Nestle Drumstick ice cream, we recommend consulting this FDA page. It includes information about the production codes and dates included in the recall.

Do you regularly eat Nestle’s Drumstick ice cream?

Image source: FDA

New research shows links between fungi and Crohn’s Disease

Nearly 700,000 Americans suffer from Crohn’s disease which is an inflammation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The researchers from the Case Western Reserve University of Medicine have discovered some information that could indicate the cause of the disease. Experts believe that the new data could someday lead to finding a cure for the illness or new treatment.

Crohn’s disease was first discovered in 1932 by Dr. Burrill B. Crohn, along with his colleagues and is part of a group of illnesses known as Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

Crohn’s usually affects the beginning of the colon and the end of the small bowel called the ileum. However, it is known to attack any part of the (GI) tract. Although Crohn’s is very similar to ulcerative colitis, experts advise that it is not the same thing. The diseases have comparable symptoms, but they affect different areas of the gastrointestinal tract. The ulcerative colitis affects the inner lining of the colon while Crohn’s involves the whole thickness of the bowel wall. Symptoms of the inflammation of the GI tract include rectal bleeding, persistent diarrhea, abdominal pain, cramps, and constipation (it could also cause bowel obstruction).

Because the reasons for the disease are still unknown, scientists believe that it is due to more factors, including malfunctioning immune system and genetics. Moreover, other research shows that certain bacteria could be related to the illness.

The most recent study proves that fungi could also have a role in the disease. The lead author of the survey, Mahmoud A. Ghannoum, Ph.D., professor of the Center for Medical Mycology said that while other studies only analyzed bacteria, they have examined both bacteria and fungi. He also noted that they decided to do so because both the organisms live in our body and interact with each other.

The research involved 28 Crohn’s-free subjects from nine families, 20 individuals with Crohn’s and 21 Crohn’s-free subjects from four different families. Volunteers were from Belgium and northern France.

The findings showed that people with Crohn’s disease had substantial fungal-bacterial interactions. These patients had E. coli , Serratia marcescens bacteria and Candida tropicalis fungus. All the organisms were significantly higher in Crohn’s sufferers associated with their healthy siblings.

With these new findings, Mahmoud and his team hope to continue research and move forward in finding a new treatment for Crohn’s disease.

Image source: vimeo

Early exposure to antibiotics could increase the risk of hay fever or eczema later in life.

Researchers from the Utrecht University in the Netherlands believe that early exposure to antibiotics could increase the risk of hay fever or eczema later in life.

Fariba Ahmadizar, the lead author of the study along with her colleagues, examined multiple investigations from 1996 to 2015. These included hundred of thousands of individuals. The findings proved that early exposure to anti-infection agents could cause severe allergies in the later years.

The risk of eczema was studied with a total of 22 investigations that involved nearly 394,517 patients, while the risk of hay fever was analyzed using another 22 studies that comprised approximately  256,609 subjects.

The conclusions of the research were that when antibiotics are taken within the first two years of life, the risk of eczema is increased by 15 to 41 percent. On the other hand, early exposure to antibiotics was related to a 15 to 56 percent enhanced chance of hay fever at some point in life. Hay fever is one of the most widespread chronic illnesses that strikes more than 30 percent of the individuals.

It usually causes nasal problems and chronic sinus. Although elderly adults are also affected by the disease, children are the age group most affected by the illness. Hay fever produces irritation and inflammation of the nasal tunnels due to seasonal allergens. Similar to other allergies, the disease’s symptoms include a runny nose, sneezing, nasal congestion, post-nasal drip, and itching of the nose. It is caused by an allergic response to airborne plant pollens. Luckily they can be present for only two parts of a year, such as Fall or Spring.

Patients who underwent one course of antibiotics had fewer risks than those who experienced two courses of anti-infection agents.

Adam Finn, a professor of pediatrics at Bristol University mentioned that although the medicine can ease pain from infections as well as save lives, their long-term administration could have a downside. He also stated that both doctors who prescribe the pills and patients who ask for them must pay more attention to the long-term effects that the drug can have.

People must understand that antibiotics should not be taken unless it is necessary. Moreover, when overusing the medicine, individuals increase antibiotic resistance.

Image source: Wikipedia

Many individuals use the Internet or mobile devices to help them learn how to be healthy

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), many individuals who use their mobile devices or the internet for help learning how to be healthy have fortunately lost weight, started drinking less or quit smoking. These devices have been proved to support people in improving diet or enhancing physical activity.

The mobile-based program, as well as the Internet-based program, is demonstrated to help people eat better and become more physically active while reaching a moderate weight loss, said Ashkan Afshin from the University of Washington in the US.

Experts reviewed 224 studies carried on healthy adults during 1990 and 2013. The investigations analyzed the influence of using mobile phones, the Internet, stand-alone computer software tools or personal sensors to stimulate behavioral changes, such as increasing physical activity,  improving diet, losing weight and reducing or stopping alcohol or tobacco use.

The research proved that members in the internet interventions changed their diets, reduced smoking and alcohol consumption, while lost body weight.

Participants who used their smartphone apps and receiving messages lost body weight and improved their physical activity.

Self-monitoring and programs that needed goal-setting tended to be more efficient.

If the programs added interactions with healthcare providers, they were even more efficient.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum who is the director of women’s heart health for Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City stated that the smartphone apps make it simpler for individuals to hold themselves accountable and follow their improvement. While previously people relied on pen and paper to monitor their progress and tended to be better able to pursue the program, now it is easier to use the smartphone app to do the same.

Ashkan Afshin mentioned that doctors could utilize such programs to assist people in reducing the risk of chronic illness or other cardiovascular condition, and improving their lifestyle behaviors.

The available studies are limited because most investigations last less than six months, supplying little knowledge on how sustainable and powerful the behavioral modifications will be over the long term.

In extension, most of the studies were carried in high-income nations with volunteers who were more highly motivated and educated than the general citizens.

Image source: freestockphotos

Metformin could help overweight children and teens with autism lose weight.

A new study suggests that the diabetes drug, metformin, could help overweight children and teens with autism lose weight.

The number of children with autism has almost doubled since 2000, and while they must take medications to manage their symptoms, those medicines frequently cause substantial weight gain.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental dysfunction marked by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication and limited and repetitive behavior. Parents usually discover the symptoms in the first two years of their child’s life. These signs often develop gradually, though some kids with autism reach their developmental milestones at a normal pace and then regress.

Early speech or behavioral interventions can aid children with autism gain self-care, social, and communication skills.

The study included 60 people with autism, aged 6 to 17. Due to the side effects of using antipsychotic medications for irritability and agitation, the subjects were overweight. It’s been ten years since the FDA first began approving drugs to help treat irritability in children with autism. For 16 weeks, the participants were given either metformin or an inactive placebo.

The findings proved that those who were given metformin had increased reductions in body mass index (BMI) in comparison to those who took the placebo.

The lead investigator and a retired professor of psychology at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Michael Aman said that the most important thing is that metformin didn’t cause behavioral changes, such as enhanced irritability. Metformin’s benefits have been around for decades, and the drug is proved to be safe. The study produced mild or no side effects in children.

Of the 28 participants in the metformin group who started the treatment, 11 percent marked declines of 8 to 9 percent in BMI. According to the results, no other members saw declines of more than 5 percent in BMI during the 16-week treatment. No meaningful differences were recorded in metabolic variables.

Overall, metformin was well tolerated, although participants faced gastrointestinal adverse events throughout a higher percentage of treatment days.

The results of the study have significant implications for kids to whom the advantages of atypical antipsychotics for treating irritability and agitation symptoms are hard to balance with the substantial weight gain that frequently follows their use.

Image source: Pixabay

The treatment of multiple myeloma has developed leading to an enhanced survival rate

We have recently seen that the treatment of multiple myeloma has developed and led to an enhanced survival majorly among young and white patients. However, the survival rate observed in patients of other ethnicities was lower.

Multiple myeloma, also known as plasma cell myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell normally responsible for producing antibodies. The patient originally has no symptoms but is later faced with bone pain, bleeding, frequent infections, and anemia.

Multiple myeloma could be diagnosed based on blood or urine tests finding abnormal antibodies, by bone marrow biopsy exposing cancerous plasma cells or based on medical imaging detecting bone lesions. This disease is known to have the ability to affect many organs making the symptoms vary greatly.

The treatment is focused on therapies that lower the clonal plasma cell population and consequently decrease the signs and symptoms of the disease.

Data was collected from more than 10,000 US patients, less than 65 years of age with multiple myeloma. Researchers discovered that income, marital status, and insurance status contributed to a patients’ chances of survival and that that race/ethnicity was not the most significant factor affiliated with patients’ chance of dying early.

The four-year approximated overall survival was 71.1 percent, 63.2 percent, 53.4 percent, and 46.5 percent respectively for patients with 0, 1, 2, or 3 adverse socio-demographic factors. This means that a person that lived in a low-income country and was not married had 25 percent fewer chances of surviving four years after diagnosis than a subject of the same age who had private insurance, was married and lived in a medium to high-income country.

Because of the expensive and complex treatment for myeloma, it is believed that people who are not married and have low income have a more fragile support network with which to face the challenges. It could influence their access to new therapies and the adequate management of recurrent disease.

However, the study revealed that in one group this isn’t true; in subjects with the highest predicted survival — those who are insured, married, and live in higher income areas — black patients were more likely to die than white patients.

Image source: Wikipedia