The United States of Medication

Plus: The real problem with sugar, and a melatonin warning

Below you’ll find some important, compelling, actionable health and wellness articles to ponder, as I hope you find here each week. First, a quick reminder that this free newsletter exists only through your support. And so…

If you have not already, I’d be grateful if you’d check out my book, Make Sleep Your Superpower. It’s available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle version (just $3.99). Here’s what one Amazon reviewer said: “I learned many things from this well-written and often humorous book. I am now sleeping better when following the sleep tactics offered by the author.” If you like it, your brief review on Amazon would go a long way toward helping others find the book, which ultimately supports this newsletter.

OK, the stuff you came for…

How Bad is Sugar?

A large review of existing research links added sugar to 45 adverse health outcomes, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, some types of cancer, and death. The Sugar Association CEO calls the findings "garbage." My take, which includes a healthy heaping of moderation: "Sugar may be likened to nutritional trash, but the research going into the new study is not exactly a heap of garbage." 

The researchers recommend limiting consumption of added sugars to six teaspoons daily, and constricting sugar-sweetened drinks to one a week — suggestions that are in line with guidelines set long ago by the World Health Organization.

The average American downs about 17 teaspoons of sugar a day. The health problems arise not just due to the sugar itself, but because of the highly processed foods that the sugar is in, which make up more than half the typical diet nowadays.

I wrote in-depth about the study, the overall problem, and simple steps anyone can take to improve their way of eating without giving up sugar entirely.

The United States of Medication

A new survey out this week illustrates the scope of the United State’s legal drug problem among the group that pops the most pills, revealing how many medications adults ages 50 to 80 take:

82% take at least one prescription medication weekly

26% use three or four prescription medications

28% are on five or more

The problem, which permeates all age groups but grows worse among older people, has been long in the making. Here’s the crux of it.

“Conventional pharmacologic medicine is generally focused on when and how to initiate medication therapy, with less focus on when and how to appropriately remove medications when the need no longer exists,” a group of four doctors, pharmacists and researchers concluded last year in a comprehensive analysis by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) published in the Journal of Family Practice. “It is increasingly well recognized that deprescribing is an essential part of prescribing.”

Experts call it overprescription—no other country comes close to the amount Americans spend on prescription drugs—and we need a big “depresciption” effort to get people off drugs they don’t need, or which no longer work, and which may be dangerous. 

If you or someone you know is taking a lot of meds, you can learn a lot more in my deep dive on the subject.

BRIEFLY

Short takes on new research with links to the studies

Most Melatonin Supplements are Mislabeled
Don’t be fooled. “In products that contained melatonin, the actual quantity of melatonin ranged from 74% to 347% of the labeled quantity,” a new study finds. Experts say we should be very cautious about using these products, even when they are labeled correctly, and kids should never take them without advice from a pediatrician. My news story gives the details.

Best and Worst Diets
A group of 10 researchers, doctors and nutrition experts ranked 10 popular diet schemes and eating patterns on heart health, for a report issued by the American Heart Association. No surprise, the AHA’s DASH program topped the list, followed closely by the Mediterranean way of eating, then vegetarian diets and then vegan. At the bottom: paleo and keto diets. Nothing new in the analysis other than a numerical ranking, but if you have any questions about how to eat or why certain diets are healthy and others don't work in the long term—or you just like to argue about this stuff—the report is here.

BIT OF WISDOM

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
— George Bernard Shaw

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Until next week, wishing you health and happiness.
—Rob

If you find this newsletter useful, please forward it to someone who might benefit. You can find more of my health and wellness writing on Medium, plus I post health news briefs on Mastodon. And if you want to live a long, healthy, happy life, check out my book, Make Sleep Your Superpower.