https://medicalxpress.com/preventive-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Preventive medicine "Turn off that TV, it'll rot your brain!" has been a household refrain for decades. While "rot" might be too strong a term, researchers are finding that the overall sentiment could have some merit. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-heavy-tv-smaller-brain.html Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news703687543 Federal housing assistance may help reduce young children's exposure to lead, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Epidemiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-federal-housing-young-children-exposure.html Sun, 19 Jul 2026 05:40:02 EDT news703656238 Two nationally recognized scientists with decades of experience advising U.S. vaccine policy argue that it is a mistake to exclude well-designed observational studies when determining how well vaccines work year to year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-trial-veteran-vaccine-clinical-trials.html Sun, 19 Jul 2026 04:57:10 EDT news703655809 Women who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods face worse heart health and experience faster declines as they approach menopause, according to a long-term study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-women-heart-health-decades.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 04:30:02 EDT news703566898 New research presented at this year's International Congress on Obesity (ICO2026), hosted by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) in Mexico City, Mexico (July 15–17), reveals that few of the world's 21 largest food retailers are taking significant voluntary action to create healthier food environments for children and families. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-aussie-supermarkets-healthier-diet.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 21:40:02 EDT news703500918 Pregnancy puts higher oxygen demand on the body, so expectant mothers breathe significantly more air over the course of a day. When air quality is bad, they're also breathing in more harmful pollutants. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-air-pollution-mixtures-pose-hidden.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:20:02 EDT news703497102 Parts of the U.S. are experiencing smoke from Canadian wildfires drifting down and rising summer temperatures, creating a potentially deadly situation, according to the American Heart Association, a relentless force changing the future of health for everyone everywhere. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-message-wildfire-summer-heart-health.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 08:00:06 EDT news703484702 Body Mass Index (BMI) has long been used in public health and clinical settings as a simple tool to classify an individual's physical status based on their height and weight. Originally developed in the 1830s by Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet, BMI was designed to describe the characteristics of the average man rather than to assess an individual's health, and it did not account for age, sex, ethnicity or body composition. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-body-index-aims-bmi-babies.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 07:50:02 EDT news703491612 As the Trump administration's January deadline looms for states to enforce new Medicaid work requirements, some state lawmakers are turning the tables by pushing to publicly name the largest companies that have employees enrolled in the government program covering low-income and disabled people. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-funding-losses-states-big-businesses.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 22:20:01 EDT news703407581 When a dog smells of cigarette smoke, veterinarians immediately understand that the animal is breathing in secondhand smoke. Known as a "smoker's poodle," the pet "presumably sits on somebody's lap as they smoke, and we think, 'Oh, this is bad for the animal,'" says Elizabeth Rozanski, D.V.M., DACVIM (SAIM), DACVECC, a professor of small animal clinical sciences at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-chat-veterinarian-smokers-habit.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:20:04 EDT news703424762 Smaller doses of COVID-19 booster vaccines can provide long-lasting immunity, helping reduce costs and improve access to vaccination, according to new research. The findings could also inform vaccine dosing and options during future pandemics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-covid-booster-strategies-immunity.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:40:02 EDT news703419001 New research published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine and presented at this year's International Congress on Obesity (ICO 2026), hosted by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) in Mexico City, Mexico (July 15–17), suggests that 23%-38% of all cardiovascular deaths and 23%-37% of all cases of cardiovascular disease (coronary heart disease and stroke) are attributable to ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-heart-deaths-disease-due-ultraprocessed.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:20:11 EDT news703407563 Heat-related deaths in the U.S. have surged more than 50% since 2000 as the climate warms and temperatures rise to record-breaking levels. This July alone, more than half of Americans were exposed to extreme temperatures as a heat dome descended across the country and the United Nations warned that a Super El Niño, which raises water temperatures in the Pacific, will also intensify temperatures. Yet, most Americans underestimate the dangers of extreme heat. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-qa-americans-underestimating-dangers-extreme.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:20:07 EDT news703418143 New research presented at the International Congress on Obesity (ICO2026), hosted by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) in Mexico City, Mexico, (15–17 July) asks what is driving the obesity pandemic. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-obesity-pandemic.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 08:40:04 EDT news703401962 Research published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research analyzed repeated cross-sectional survey data from 9,996 participants ages 16 and older who reported currently smoking. It found that while most smokers (76.9%) reported purchasing tobacco only from legal sources, 23.1% reported purchasing tobacco from illicit sources at least once in the previous six months during 2025, up from 12.2% in 2023. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-smokers-buying-tobacco-illicit-sources.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:05 EDT news703325786 "I think you always believe it's never going to happen to me." That is how one parent described learning that their newborn baby had been identified as being at possible risk of a rare genetic condition through routine newborn screening. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-newborn-screening-communication.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 19:40:03 EDT news703345943 Black African and Black Caribbean women in the UK want clearer and more accessible information about breast cancer screening, according to a study from the University of Surrey. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-black-women-accessing-breast-cancer.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 19:00:03 EDT news703346118 A new study found that students and staff involved with collegiate recovery programs had very different definitions and perceptions of harm reduction and its role in these programs, suggesting opportunities to reframe this public health approach in collegiate settings to build common ground and meet students' varying substance use needs and recovery goals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-reduction-misunderstood-college-campuses.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:40:04 EDT news703338722 A new study reveals that hair can influence the effectiveness of personal decontamination procedures at biocontainment facilities. It suggests that a minimum standardized shower time may be necessary for the effective removal of non-enveloped viruses and emphasizes the importance of considering hair type and style when designing evidence-based shower-out protocols for biosafety and biosecurity policies. The study is reported in Microbiology Spectrum. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-biocontainment-facility-shower-protocols-size.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:00:01 EDT news703338624 New data on breastfeeding initiation across the U.S. reveal broad geographic patterns as well as local factors that can inform targeted public health interventions. The study by Tony Grubesic from the University of California Riverside and colleagues was published in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-geographic-local-drivers-breastfeeding.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:38 EDT news703325729 Sri Lanka is intensifying a military-backed drive to contain the spread of mosquito-borne dengue fever, a senior official said Wednesday, as the death toll climbed to 49 since the start of the year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-sri-lanka-anti-dengue-deaths.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:00:04 EDT news703331414 A coalition of public health organizations, pediatricians and parents has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration's new enforcement policy that allows e-cigarette and nicotine pouch products to be marketed and sold without the scientific review and marketing authorization required by federal law. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-health-groups-sue-fda-policy.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:20:12 EDT news703326018 Up to 45 percent of dementia risk could be prevented or delayed, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, citing modifiable risk factors such as tobacco use and air pollution. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-dementia-delayed.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:20:01 EDT news703331498 People who switch to cigarettes with dramatically reduced nicotine levels are unlikely to smoke more cigarettes or inhale more smoke to compensate for the lower nicotine content, according to a new study led by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and published in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-smokers-nicotine-cigarettes.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 11:00:11 EDT news703325673 A new systematic review and meta-analysis presented at the International Congress on Obesity (ICO2026), hosted by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) in Mexico City, Mexico, July 15–17, is the first study to show that behavioral weight loss interventions reduce the risk of obesity-related cancers in people living with overweight and obesity by 15%. The study was conducted by Dr. Matthew Harris and Professor Andrew Renehan of the Manchester Cancer Research Center at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-behavior-aid-weight-loss-linked.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 10:40:04 EDT news703325965 New research being presented at the International Congress on Obesity (ICO2026), hosted by the World Obesity Federation (WOF) in Mexico City, Mexico (July 15–17), reveals how Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (featuring 32 of the world's top football clubs) was amplified across social media to promote unhealthy products to millions beyond the live matches, including children and young people. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-coca-cola-sportswashing-world-cup.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 10:00:02 EDT news703325935 Colorectal or bowel cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers, affecting approximately 1 in 20 Australians. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-youre-young-bowel-cancer.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 09:30:15 EDT news703326243 There's growing evidence linking brain health with exercise. A new study from Victoria University (VU) strengthens the case for exercise as a critical part of protecting the brain from age-related decline like dementia and Alzheimer's disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brains-healthy-age.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 09:30:02 EDT news703326005 Each year, approximately 700,000 children worldwide die from diseases that vaccines could have prevented, nearly all of them in low- and middle-income countries. New research from University of Notre Dame economist Santosh Kumar Gautam finds that India's national childhood immunization program helped address this persistent global health challenge, producing substantial reductions in child deaths. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-india-immunization-child-mortality-highlights.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news703318954 Liver disease may affect close to half of adults in Mexico, yet the country tracks it far less closely than the diabetes and obesity to which it is linked, according to a new paper by Jeffrey Lazarus, professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH), and colleagues, released to coincide with the International Congress on Obesity taking place in Mexico City this week. The authors argue that Mexico should fold liver health into its existing programs for diabetes, obesity and other noncommunicable diseases rather than treating it as a separate problem. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mexico-liver-health-chronic-disease.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 07:14:43 EDT news703318453