News Flash: 4 Food Additives Banned

🍭 4 Food Additives Banned in California

A new law in California that bans 4 common food additives will go into effect at the beginning of 2027.

That may seem far off, but here’s what we can all take away from this right now:

1️⃣ The banned additives are Red Dye No. 3 (in candy canes and other candies), Brominated Vegetable Oil (a flavor stabilizer in sodas), Potassium Bromate (a leavening agent), and Propylparaben (a preservative).

2️⃣ The additives are banned because of research raising concerns about cancer, reproductive issues, and neurobehavioral problems—particularly in children.

3️⃣ These additives are already banned in the European Union and many other countries.

There was one other additive initially on the list: titanium dioxide. That one is banned in the E.U. because of concerns that it can damage DNA.

Where do you stand?

Are you concerned about food additives or no?

Reference

California Food Safety Act [link]

Prescription Medication Trends in the US

Prescription drug use in the US is at an all-time high ➡️

A new study out of Penn State shows that Americans can expect to take prescription drugs for about half their lives—a little more for women and a little less for men.

Does that bother you?

Some of the medications that are being prescribed more than ever include blood pressure medications, cholesterol-lowering medications, and antidepressants.

For example:

A girl born in the US in 1996 could expect to take antidepressants for 5.55 years of her life, but by 2019, that number jumped to 12.52 years.

This👆is just one of the many sobering statistics from the study.

I am not against medications, but there are often less invasive and more effective ways to support health, and many of the most commonly prescribed meds treat conditions that respond dramatically to lifestyle.

Prevention is truly the best medicine—starting with food, water, movement, and rest.

↗️ Share to your stories to spread the word!

Reference

Ho JY. Life Course Patterns of Prescription Drug Use in the United States. Demography. 2023;60(5):1549-1579. [link]

Mental Health through the Menstrual Cycle

450.

If you menstruate, that’s about how many periods you’ll have in a lifetime.

Yet even though half the world’s population is menstruating for half their lives…we have very little research on what the hormonal effects actually are…especially in relation to the brain and mental health.

That’s why this new study 👆 is so remarkable.

Neuroscientists tracked 30 women over the course of their menstrual cycles with MRI brain scans and hormone tests—and found brainwide structural changes that correlated with hormone fluctuations 🤯🤯🤯

For example:

🔹 Just before ovulation (when estrogen is high), brains showed changes that indicated faster information transfer.

🔹 The rise of FSH before ovulation was associated with thicker gray matter.

🔹 Progesterone after ovulation correlated with decreased cerebrospinal fluid volume.

What does all this mean?

It means the hormone changes throughout the menstrual cycle influence MORE than just the ovaries and uterus. The more we learn about these hormone-brain connections, the better we can make sense of the domino effect of female hormone balance.

Is your mind blown?

P.S. this study is not yet peer-reviewed but available preprint.

Reference


Rizor EJ, Babenko V, Dundon NM, et al. Menstrual cycle-driven hormone concentrations co-fluctuate with white and grey matter architecture changes across the whole brain bioRxiv 2023. [link & news article]

Stress Stoppers: Try These!

Stress Stoppers 👉👉

You know that moment when your heart races, your muscles tense, your mind checks out, and everything in your body just wants to escape wherever you are?

It’s our acute stress response, and we call it “fight or flight.”

When I notice this happening (the first step is awareness!), here are some things I do:

💡 Notice my thoughts or emotions.

☀️ Reframe negative thoughts to the positive.

👣 Put my feet to the earth to feel grounded.

🌬️ Take some deep breaths.

⛰️Change my location.

💃 Move my body (dance, shake, jump, walk).

None of this is easy.

It takes practice.

But learning to stop stress in its tracks is one of the best things you can do for your current health and your future self.

Which of these ideas do you like best?

Have You Heard of Left Nostril Breathing?

Have you heard of left nostril breathing?

🧘‍♀️ Yogic traditions teach that the left relates to moon energy: cooling, calming, and reflective. The right relates to sun energy: fiery, energizing, and awakening. So, the yogic practice of left nostril breathing is thought to have a calming effect on the body.

🧠 A more science-y way of explaining this is that left nostril breathing puts the body into a parasympathetic state (instead of the “fight or flight” mode of the sympathetic state). Studies have even shown that left nostril breathing changes brainwave activity on EEG. Pretty cool!

Left nostril breathing is simple:

👍 Just press your right thumb against your right nostril, and breathe slowly and deeply through the left nostril.

That’s it!

You can combine it with other breathing practices, like box breathing (inhaling for a count of 4, holding for 4, exhaling for 4, and holding for 4) or just breathe deeply.

Will you try it?


Reference

Niazi IK, Navid MS, Bartley J, et al. EEG signatures change during unilateral Yogi nasal breathing. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):520. [link]