Happy to be joined now by Doctor
Syed Hussain from Trinity Health
of New England, where we talk
about the latest health news in our state.
Doctor, good to see you again. Good to
see you too. It's good to
be in the main studio.
Yes, I you've gotten the upgrade
now to the to the good chairs.
Usually around this time we talk
about COVID. Wanna do it just one more time?
But really we're talking about
it less because we're seeing
less and less stringent measures.
New York City is now ending
its vaccine mandate for a lot
of the municipal employees.
What does that saying about at least
COVID levels in this general region?
Because of course,
the virus doesn't know state.
Pounds. So
in a nutshell, Tim, I'm not surprised
it tells it this has been a trend
and it tells us we're now moving
into the endemic phase where we
have to coexist with this virus.
So I want to take you back to where
we got vaccine approval by the FDA
and CDC way back in December 2020.
Just to remind viewers, at that time,
we had thousands of people across
this country dying alone here,
not to mention globally.
And then the virus was also
unchecked in terms of transmission.
So the vaccines have done what
they were supposed to do now
as we move into the endemic.
Phase, it's important that
folks get vaccinated every year,
just like how we deal with the flu.
But the mandates will likely go away
and that's a great reason to keep
things where they are right now
without another flare up coming.
Moving on, there's a new study out
of the United Kingdom that showed
that eating ultra processed foods
is associated with a greater risk of
developing cancers in dying from them,
especially ovarian cancer.
So let's talk a little bit more about that.
First of all, what do they mean
by ultra process? So these
are industrial ingredients, Tim.
Such as food additives that are added
on to either ice cream or hot dogs,
burgers, French fries,
canned goods to either increase their
longevity or improve their flavour,
and these have been now associated
with a higher risk of cancer.
This is a large study looking
at close to 200,000 people,
but it adds to a growing body of
evidence that ultra processed
foods tend to increase their
risk for all sorts of cancers.
Do we know what the mechanism is yet,
especially considering we've had?
A lot of studies that have
reached the same conclusion,
so additional research is needed.
Most of these studies are
observational studies,
so there's an association but not a
causation that can be proven right.
So more research is definitely needed,
but it does also give you an
idea of the wider picture.
Those per the study,
those that do take eat ultra processed
food also tend to have a lower,
a less healthier lifestyle,
right? Right.
There's confounding factors, right?
Right. In other words, you're saying
the more likely you are to eat.
Ultra processed foods,
the less healthy you are in general.
Definitely. That in turn could
be raising your cancer risk too.
Alright, one more thing I
wanted to get your opinion on.
The CDC released and recently
released new information saying
that Black and Hispanic dialysis
patients are at a greater risk of
dangerous bloodstream infections.
What's going on with
that? Yeah, so this tells you some
of the things that we've noticed
in during this pandemic that some
of our minority populations are
disadvantaged because there's
lack of access to primary care.
Ultimately this leads to.
Uncontrolled medical problems
such as hypertension and diabetes,
which are among the leading causes for
end stage renal disease in the US yeah.
And so it just goes on to show
you and Tim that there's a lot of
work healthcare leaders we need to
do in terms of removing some of
these disparities in healthcare.
And This is why you see a larger
proportion of minorities that are impacted.
Is it just a lack of access to
the healthcare or is it that and
also a lack of quality healthcare,
the quality of healthcare that they are?
Getting when they get it is substandard.
I would say it's mostly to do with access.
And and also, you know,
it's the the onus is on us as
healthcare leaders to be able to
provide education and do all sorts
of outreach for these communities
so that they have access to timely
care and they don't end up in
the hospital when it's too late.
Yeah, a lot of those disparities,
as you said they were
there before the pandemic.
They've only gotten worse since then.
So that is something that we collectively
need to do a lot of work on.
Doctor, good to see you again.
Thank you. My pleasure.
Doctor Syed Hussain joining
us here in the main studio
because he's here so much.
He really is just another part of
the broadcast team at this point.