You can fight menstrual cramps with food, studies say

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About 85% of girls suffer painful bloating, cramps and abdominal pain during their monthly periods — and for some the problems can last for years.

“Since menstrual pain is a leading cause of school absenteeism for adolescent girls, it’s important to explore options that can minimize the pain,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health in Jacksonville, Florida, in a statement. She was not involved in the study.

But there are behavioral adjustments girls and young women can make to reduce pain, according to a new analysis of studies. “Diet modification could be a relatively simple solution that could provide substantial relief for them,” said Faubion, who is also the medical director for The North American Menopausal Society, of the research findings.

The abstract, presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of NAMS, explored the connection between diet and dysmenorrhea, the medical term for painful periods. The lead author, Serah Sannoh, told CNN she became interested in the topic due to her own menstrual pain, which has plagued her since adolescence.

“I found diets high in inflammatory foods such as animal meats, oil, sugars, salts, and coffee contribute to an increased risk of pain during a woman’s period,” said Sannoh, who conducted the research as an intern at Rutgers University’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. She is currently a medical student at Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

“A lot of the things that young people like to eat are are highly inflammatory … lunch meats, foods full of sugars and trans fats. But if you go on an anti-inflammatory diet — fruit, vegetables, olive oil, like the Mediterranean diet — you’ll get less cramping,” said NAMS board member Dr. Monica Christmas, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago, who was not involved in the study.

The scientific evidence has shown eating a healthy diet, getting good sleep and exercising are effective measures in curtailing the duration and severity of cramps, Christmas said. But she noted it’s important women see a health care provider: “Make sure that there’s not some other medical condition that might also be contributing to the symptoms.”

What causes the pain?

As your body prepares to menstruate, endometrial cells that built a lining in the uterus to welcome a fertilized egg begin to break down. As they do, those cells release large amounts of fatty acids called prostaglandins to make the uterine layer contract and expel the unused tissue. The body also releases prostaglandins naturally during labor to open the cervix for birth.

Anti-inflammatory foods, such as salmon, vegetables, fruit and olive oil, can help minimize menstrual camps, a new analysis of studies found. Adobe Stock

Prostaglandins act like hormones, causing blood vessels and smooth muscles to constrict, resulting in cramping and pain. Researchers have found prostaglandin levels are higher and uterine contractions are stronger and more frequent in women with menstrual pain than women who have little or no pain, according to American Association of Family Physicians.

Eating inflammatory foods only adds to the discomfort, studies have found. Highly processed and high-sugar foods and fatty, greasy foods are common culprits — a 2018 study found college students who ate more snacks had more pain during their periods.

Another 2018 study of Spanish college students found women who drank cola and ate meat were more likely to suffer pain during their cycle than women who ate more vegetables and fruits. In fact, a 2020 study found women who ate fewer than two servings of fruit a day were more likely to suffer pain during their menstrual cycle.

Part of the problem is an imbalance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, Sannoh found. Omega-3 fatty acids — found in foods such as salmon, tuna, sardines, oysters, walnuts, chia and flaxseeds — are anti-inflammatory. Studies have linked them to a reduction in risk for many chronic diseases triggered by inflammation.

Omega-6 fatty acids keep skin, hair and bones healthy and help regulate metabolism, in addition to their role in the reproductive system. But too many of these fatty acids can cause inflammation when the body ultimately breaks them down into arachidonic acid, which lowers the body’s pain threshold.

“From my research, I found out that people with diets high in omega-6 fatty acids, especifically those derived from animal-based products, have a higher presence of arachidonic acid in the body, which increases the amount of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins that help the uterus contract,” Sannoh said.

“When you have a diet that balances omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and you decrease the amount of inflammatory foods that you ingest, that will decrease the painful menstrual experience,” she added.

Two separate studies from 2011 and 2012 revealed women who took omega-3 fatty acid supplements reduced the intensity of menstrual discomfort enough to lower their use of ibuprofen for pain relief. And a 1996 study found a highly significant relationship between omega-3 fatty acids and milder menstrual symptoms in teens.

Other solutions

Changing your diet is not the only way to fight menstrual pain. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, reduce the production of prostaglandins, which is why they are a mainstay of treatment for cramps, Christmas said.

However, these pain medications also have side effects. According to a 2015 Cochrane Library review of evidence, NSAIDs are linked to bloating, diarrhea, dizziness, indigestion, headaches, heartburn, high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and on rare occasions, raised liver enzymes.

Certain oral birth control pills also lower the production of prostaglandins in the uterine lining, which then reduces both blood flow and cramping. Doses of less than 35 micrograms were “effective and should be the preparation of choice,” according to a 2009 Cochrane Library review.

But if you are not interested in using these methods — or want extra relief — give an anti-inflammatory diet a try. Sannoh put her research into practice by decreasing her intake of red meat and other inflammatory foods such as sugar and coffee, and told CNN that it did decrease her menstrual pain.

There’s an added benefit to adopting an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, Christmas said.

“These diets are also associated with less high blood pressure, less cardiovascular disease, less diabetes, less arthritic issues, decreased morbidity and mortality, especially after menopause,” Christmas said.

“So if you can get people who are young to eat better, exercise, and live a healthier lifestyle, they’re going fare better as they age.”

Ultraprocessed foods linked to cancer and early death, studies find ...

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Eating a lot of ultraprocessed foods significantly increases men’s risk of colorectal cancer and can lead to heart disease and early death in both men and women, according to two new, large-scale studies of people in the United States and Italy published Wednesday in British medical journal The BMJ.

Ultraprocessed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, ready-to-eat meals and pleasure foods such as hot dogs, sausages, french fries, sodas, store-bought cookies, cakes, candies, doughnuts, ice cream and many more.

“Literally hundreds of studies link ultra-processed foods to obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and overall mortality,” said Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and author of numerous books on food politics and marketing, including 2015’s “Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning).”

“These two studies continue the consistency: Ultraprocessed foods are unambiguously associated with an increased risk for chronic disease,” said Nestle, who was not involved in either study.

A link to cancer

The US-based study examined the diets of over 200,000 men and women for up to 28 years and found a link between ultraprocessed foods and colorectal cancer – the third most diagnosed cancer in the US – in men, but not women.

Processed and ultraprocessed meats, such as ham, bacon, salami, hotdogs, beef jerkey and corned beef, have long been associated with a higher risk of bowel cancer in both men and women, according to the World Health Organization, American Cancer Society and the American Institute for Cancer Research.

The new study, however, found that all types of ultraprocessed foods played a role to some degree.

“We found that men in the highest quintile of ultraprocessed food consumption, compared those in the lowest quintile, had a 29% higher risk of developing colorectal cancer,” said co-senior author Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer epidemiologist and chair of the division of nutrition epidemiology and data science at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston.

That association remained even after researchers took into account a person’s body mass index or dietary quality.

Why didn’t the new study find the same risk for colorectal cancer in women?

“Reasons for such a sex difference are still unknown, but may involve the different roles that obesity, sex hormones, and metabolic hormones play in men versus women,” Zhang said.

“Alternatively, women may have chosen ‘healthier’ ultraprocessed foods,” said Dr. Robin Mendelsohn, a gastroenterologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, who was not involved in the study.

The study did find that eating a “higher consumption of ultraprocessed dairy foods – such as yogurt – was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer in women,” Zhang said. “Some ultraprocessed foods are healthier, such as whole-grain foods that contain little or no added sugars, and yogurt and dairy foods.”

Women did have a higher risk for colorectal cancer if they consumed more ready-to-eat-or-heat dishes such as pizza, she said. However, men were more likely to have a higher risk of bowel cancer if they ate a lot of meat, poultry, or seafood-based ready-to-eat products and sugar-sweetened beverages, Zhang said.

“Americans consume a large percentage of their daily calories from ultraprocessed foods – 58% in adults and 67% in children,” she added. “We should consider substituting the ultraprocessed foods with unprocessed or minimally processed foods in our diet for cancer prevention and prevention of obesity and cardiovascular diseases.”

A link to early death

The second study followed more than 22,000 people for a dozen years in the Molise region of Italy. The study, which began in March 2005, was designed to assess risk factors for cancer as well as heart and brain disease.

Analysis published in The BMJ compared the role of nutrient-poor foods – such as foods high in sugar and saturated or trans-fats – versus ultraprocessed foods in the development of chronic disease and early death. Researchers found that both types of foods independently increased the risk of an early death, especially from cardiovascular diseases.

However, when researchers compared the two types of food to see which contributed the most, they discovered that ultra-processed foods were “paramount to define the risk of mortality,” said first author Marialaura Bonaccio, an epidemiologist at the department of epidemiology and prevention at the IRCCS Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed of Pozzilli, Italy.

In fact, over 80% of the foods classified by the guidelines followed in the study as nutritionally unhealthy were also ultraprocessed, said Bonaccio in a statement.

“This suggests that the increased risk of mortality is not due directly (or exclusively) to the poor nutritional quality of some products, but rather to the fact that these foods are mostly ultraprocessed,” Bonaccio added.

Not real foods

Why are ultraprocessed foods so bad for us? For one, they are “ready-to-eat-or-heat industrial formulations that are made with ingredients extracted from foods or synthesized in laboratories, with little or no whole foods,” Zhang told CNN.

These overly processed foods are often high in added sugars and salt, low in dietary fiber, and full of chemical additives, such as artificial colors, flavors or stabilizers.

“While some ultraprocessed foods may be considered healthier than others, in general, we would recommend staying away from ultra-processed foods completely and focus on healthy unprocessed foods – fruits, vegetables, legumes,” Mendelsohn said.

In 2019, the National Institute of Health (NIH) published the results of a controlled clinical trial comparing a processed and unprocessed diet. Researchers found those on the ultraprocessed diet ate at a faster rate – and ate an additional 500 calories more per day than people who were eating unprocessed foods.

“On average, participants gained 0.9 kilograms, or 2 pounds while they were on the ultraprocessed diet and lost an equivalent amount on the unprocessed diet,” the NIH noted.

“There is clearly something about ultraprocessed foods that makes people eat more of them without necessarily wanting to or realizing.” said Nestle.

“The effects of ultraprocessed foods are quite clear. The reasons for the effects are not yet known,” Nestle continued. “It would be nice to know why, but until we find out, it’s best to advise eating ultraprocessed foods in as small amounts as possible.”

Increased alcohol use linked with higher risk of cancer in new study ...

CNN —

People who increased the amount of alcohol they drank also had an increased risk of cancer, according to the results of a large study in Korea published on Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.

The study found that people who increased the amount they drank had a higher risk of all cancers, including alcohol-related cancers, than the group that made no changes to their drinking habits.

The risk also increased for non-drinkers who changed their habits and became mild, moderate or heavy drinkers.

“This is another great example of how changing behavior could significantly decrease cancer deaths,” Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society, told CNN in an email. “The most striking findings is the impact on cancer deaths with changes in alcohol consumption. Individuals should be strongly counseled that they can dramatically decrease their cancer risk if alcohol consumption is moderated.”

The study looked at data from more than 4.5 million participants. The study participants were from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, were 40 years old and up, had taken part in a national health screening in 2009 and 2011, and had available data on their drinking status.

“In this large cohort study that used repeated measures of alcohol consumption, we found that individuals who increased their alcohol consumption, regardless of their baseline drinking level, had an increased incidence of alcohol-related and all cancers compared with those who sustained their current level of drinking,” wrote the study authors from the Seoul National University Hospital. “Quitting was not associated with a lower incidence of alcohol related cancer, but if abstinence was maintained over time, the incidence of alcohol-related and all cancers tended to decrease.”

In those who increased their drinking from being non-drinkers, the researchers found a high incidence of stomach, liver, gallbladder and lung cancer, multiple myeloma and leukemia.

They also found that there was an association between decreased risk of alcohol-related and all cancers and reducing heavy drinking to moderate or mild levels of drinking.

Although the study has key strengths, such as the size of the cohort and the large number of cases, it also has some limitations, according to an accompanying editorial from experts at the National Cancer Institute.

First, the two assessments of alcohol use took place two years apart with a maximum follow-up of seven years and the authors did not have details about participants’ alcohol intake earlier in life, meaning they couldn’t examine long-term changes.

It also lacked information on other healthy behaviors that could have happened alongside reductions in alcohol intake, so the changes in risk may not be attributed solely to alcohol use.

There was also no discussion about alcohol-induced flushing and an inherited deficiency in an enzyme involved in breaking down alcohol, which are common in East Asian populations. The editorial authors said that further research in other racial and ethnic groups is needed.

Despite the limitations, the editorial authors said the research provides “important, new findings about the potential role of changes in alcohol consumption in cancer risk,” and suggest future studies follow its lead and examine the association in other populations and using longer intervals between assessments.

The American Cancer Society calls alcohol use “one of the most important preventable risk factors for cancer, along with tobacco use and excess body weight.”

The organization says that drinking accounts for around 6% of all cancers and 4% of all cancer deaths in the US.

According to ACS and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drinking alcohol can increase the risk of six types of cancer: mouth and throat, larynx, esophagus, colon and rectum, liver and breast in women.

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ACS also says that alcohol use probably increases the risk of stomach cancer and some others.

“For each of these cancers, the more alcohol you drink, the higher your cancer risk,” ACS say. “But for some types of cancer, most notably breast cancer, consuming even small amounts of alcohol can increase risk.”

“I think it’s very important that folks realize that heavy alcohol use can significantly increase the risk of cancer,” said Dahut. “Unfortunately, although this is not a new finding, this information would be very surprising to many. It is imperative that physicians inform patients of this risk and provide whatever tools are necessary to help patients modify this behavior.”

Vitamin D and fish oil supplements may help prevent autoimmune ...

CNN —

Taking daily vitamin D and fish oil supplements may help protect older adults from developing autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, thyroid diseases and polymyalgia rheumatica, an inflammatory disease that causes muscle pain and stiffness in the shoulders and hips, a new study found.

People age 50 and older taking 2,000 IU (International Units) of vitamin D3 for over five years had a 22% lower relative rate of confirmed autoimmune diagnoses, said study author Dr. Karen Costenbader, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in the division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity and the director of the lupus program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

That dosage is two to three times the recommended daily dose of vitamin D for adults, which is 600 IU for people up to 69 years old and 800 IU for those age 70 and up, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Once people had been taking vitamin D for at least two years, the prevention rate from autoimmune disorders rose to 39%, according to the study, published Wednesday in the journal BMJ.

Vitamin D and omega 3 fish oil capsules may protect against autoimmune disease, but more research is needed. Cozine/Adobe Stock

The study also found a possible link between taking 1,000 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acid (fish oil) and a reduction in autoimmune disorders, but the association was not statistically significant until possible cases of autoimmune disease – not just confirmed cases – were factored into the analysis.

However, the study did find that taking both vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid supplements, versus the placebo alone, decreased autoimmune disease by about 30%.

Vitamin D toxicity

People should not just run out and start popping vitamin D pills to boost their chances of avoiding autoimmune disease, Costenbader warned, as there are significant consequences to taking too much of the supplement.

Unlike water-soluble vitamins, which the body can easily eliminate, vitamin D is stored in the fat cells of the body and can build up to toxic levels, leading to bone pain and kidney damage.

Because the body makes vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunshine, and milk and other foods like cereals are often fortified with vitamin D, many experts say healthy, younger people are not likely to require vitamin D supplements, especially in amounts over the recommended level of 600 IU/day.

Levels do drop in older age, but “I would say everybody should talk to their doctor first before taking 2000 international units of vitamin D on top of whatever else you’re taking,” Costenbader said. “And there are certain health problems such as kidney stones and hyperparathyroidism (a rise in calcium levels), where you really shouldn’t be taking extra vitamin D.”

The body attacks itself

Costenbader’s study analyzed 25,871 men and women age 50 and older who were participating in VITAL, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled research study designed to see whether taking daily dietary supplements of vitamin D3 (2000 IU) or omega-3 fatty acids (1,000 mg of Omacor fish oil) would reduce the risk for developing cancer, heart disease and stroke in people with no prior history of these illnesses.

That trial showed no benefits from the extra supplementation in preventing either cardiovascular disease or cancer.

Because prior research has shown both vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids derived from seafood can have a positive effect on inflammation and immunity in autoimmune disorders, Costenbader decided to use the same trial to investigate whether the supplements might prevent such diseases.

Autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s natural defense system suddenly sees normal cells as invaders and begins destroying those cells by mistake. In rheumatoid arthritis, for example, the immune system attacks the lining of joints, creating inflammation, swelling and pain. With psoriasis, overactive T-cells – which are among the body’s best defenders – cause inflammation that creates raised, scaly patches on the skin.

In Type 1 diabetes, the body’s defenders destroy the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. There’s even some evidence to show that inflammation throughout the body might be part of the progression of Type 2 diabetes.

Autoimmune disorders can develop at any stage of life but do appear more among older adults, particularly women, Costenbader said.

More research needed

To date, no large randomized clinical trials (considered the gold standard of research) had investigated whether fish oil and vitamin D could actually prevent the development of autoimmune diseases.

“This is the first direct evidence in older adults that taking vitamin D or omega-3 fatty acids – or a combination – for five years reduces autoimmune disease incidence, with more pronounced effect after two years of supplementation,” Costenbader said.

At five years into the research, the study could not tease apart which of the 80 or more autoimmune diseases might benefit most from vitamin D and fish oil supplements, Costenbader said, but research is continuing. The study is now in its seventh year, she said. and more data should be released in the future.

Tanning nasal sprays are viral yet controversial. Is it actually safe?

Tanning nasal sprays are the latest self-tan method to achieve a bronzed look from home.

The fake tanning method involves the inhalation of melanotan, which causes skin darkening.

However, experts warn against using these "dangerous" sprays, which are not FDA-approved.

People have long used foams, drops and lotions to achieve a bronzy glow from home, especially during the winter months. But now, some are opting for tanning nasal sprays.

The viral beauty trend works how it sounds: You spray the product into your nose for an almost immediate, darker tan.

"Tanning nasal sprays contain a compound called melanotan, which mimics a natural hormone in our bodies known as melanocyte stimulation hormone. When inhaled, it tells our skin cells to increase pigment production to cause skin darkening," explains Dr. Joshua Zeichner, the Director of Cosmetic & Clinical Research in Dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

But is it safe? Experts warn that despite its popularity, particularly on TikTok, this fake tanning method can pose serious risks.

Watch:See Kate Hudson's hilarious, relatable spray-tan fail

How does it work?

Lily Talakoub, a board-certified dermatologist and founder of Derm to Door, says most tanning nasal sprays contain tyrosine and melanotan, which increase the production of melanin to darken skin pigmentation. But unlike most self tanners, nasal sprays are meant to be inhaled for quicker results.

"The inside of the nose is very absorbent. There's no skin layer over it, so anything that gets exposed to it gets absorbed into the bloodstream very fast," Talakoub explains.

Experts warn it's "very risky and incredibly dangerous" to use tanning nasal sprays because its their ingredient, melanotan, is not FDA approved, and there is limited research about its efficacy or risks.

"We just don't know the full effects on our bodies," Zeichner says. According to Australia's Department of Health, potential side effects include nausea, increased blood pressure, dizziness and vomiting.

"If someone wants to become tanner and they keep using it, that's a lot of chemicals being absorbed into the bloodstream. People could go and use this in an uncontrolled way and absorb too much, which can cause dangerous health consequences," Talakoub says.

Safer alternatives to tanning nasal sprays

Tanning beds and exposure to direct sunlight can increase one's risk of developing skin cancer, but experts say there are some safe ways to self tan.

"I tell my patients that the only way to get a tan safely is when it comes out of a bottle. Self tanning creams are safe and effective and approved by a dermatologist," Zeichner says.

Additionally, Talakoub advises people to be careful when using spray tan booths, because inhalation of the chemicals in large quantities can cause respiratory issues.

"I recommend covering your nose or using a nose plug when getting a spray tan," she says.

Fact check: Mountain Dew free of BVO, but it isn't a flame retardant

The claim: Mountain Dew for years included a dangerous chemical that's also used as flame retardant. That ingredient has recently been removed.

For years, claims have circulated on the internet that the lemon-lime soda Mountain Dew contains a dangerous additive called brominated vegetable oil that's also used as flame retardant.

One particular Facebook post from April 2017 by user Betsy Ball Clark has racked up more than 1.1 million shares over the past three years. The post continued to be widely read and circulated in May of this year.

"BVO is a toxic chemical that is banned in many countries because it competes with iodine for receptor sites in the body, which can lead to hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease and cancer," Clark's post states.

A main ingredient of BVO, bromine, is a "poisonous, corrosive chemical" that has been linked to major organ damage, birth defects and other medical issues, the post says.

Clark's post quotes an online article — whose link in the Facebook post no longer works — that says there is "flame retardant" in Mountain Dew.

BVO is a patented flame retardant for plastic and has been banned as a food additive in Europe and Japan. Soda binges have led to medical issues for some patients, the quote claims.

Clark updated her post this month, saying she had emailed PepsiCo Inc., which makes Mountain Dew, and received confirmation that the company has removed BVO as an ingredient for Mountain Dew.

Clark did not return a request for comment.

What is brominated vegetable oil?

Brominated vegetable oil has been used as a food additive since the 1930s to keep ingredients from separating in sodas and other beverages.

Robert McGorrin, professor of food science and technology at Oregon State University, said BVO works as an emulsifier, particularly in beverages that use citrus oils, to keep the citrus oils from floating to the top of the drink.

"Instead of them kind of coalescing and ringing at the top — forming a film at the top of the soda — they're uniformly dispersed throughout," he said.

But the additive is banned in some countries due to concerns about possible health risks when it's ingested in large amounts.

The product originally carried the "generally recognized as safe" designation from the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S., but that designation was removed in the 1970s. The FDA's position since 1977 is that BVO can be used safely "on an interim basis," provided it is used in amounts of under 15 parts per million.

McGorrin said most beverages that contain BVO use it in much smaller amounts, such as 8 parts per million.

In 2014, Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo announced that they would remove brominated vegetable oil from their soft drinks. The announcement came as public pressure to remove the additive mounted, partially due to a Change.org campaign begun in 2012 by Mississippi teenager Sarah Kavanagh. Her campaign started when she began asking PepsiCo to remove BVO from its Gatorade products.

Despite the 2014 announcement by both companies, reports from as recently as last year showed the ingredient remained in Mountain Dew.

But that ingredient has recently been removed. Nutrition facts posted on PepsiCo's product information website no longer include brominated vegetable oil as an ingredient. PepsiCo did not respond to a request for comment on when and why it removed the ingredient from the soft drink.

Is brominated vegetable oil really a flame retardant?

For years, BVO has drawn a comparison to brominated flame retardants, leading to claims like the one mentioned in the post that there is "flame retardant" in Mountain Dew.

But the reality is more nuanced, said Christopher Reddy, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who has studied brominated flame retardants and other brominated compounds.

BVO could be used — and has been patented as — a flame retardant, he said. But the fact that it's patented doesn't mean it's in common use, or related to the vast majority of other brominated flame retardants.

The common brominated flame retardants in use are different from the food additive, he said.

"To lump all brominated flame retardants as one single entity about how it may interact with humans and the environment is not accurate," he said.

McGorrin said the common brominated flame retardants in use have different chemical makeups than BVO. Equating the two would be like comparing Splenda, a sweetener, with bleach, since both contain the element chlorine.

"People (are) just hearing the word 'brominated' and thinking all the negative connotations the word bromine brings with it," he said.

Responding to articles comparing BVO to flame retardants, the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum — an industry group that represents companies that produce brominated flame retardants — issued a statement that said its member companies "have never marketed BVO as a flame retardant."

"Apart from the fact that both contain bromine, there is no direct connection between brominated vegetable oil and brominated flame retardants," the statement said.

Is brominated vegetable oil safe?

Brominated vegetable oil has been controversial for years, and questions have continued about the general safety of the additive.

American Beverage Association spokesperson Danielle Smotkin said in a statement that BVO is "safe, permitted by the FDA, and when used is listed as an ingredient."

But some scientists have recommended more study of the ingredient over the past decade. An article from Environmental Health News that was published in Scientific American in 2011 said there have been some some cases of patients who needed medical attention for bromine-related symptoms such as memory loss and nerve disorders after drinking large amounts of soda — more than 2 liters a day — that contained BVO.

Walter Vetter, a food chemist at Germany's University of Hohenheim who has studied brominated vegetable oil, told Environmental Health News that "the scientific data is scarce" surrounding BVO, and it merits further study.

Charles Vorhees, a toxicologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who studied BVO's effects more than 30 years ago, also told Environmental Health News that evaluations of chemicals has improved over the years, and he believes BVO should be reexamined.

The New York Times also reported in 2012 that some limited studies of BVO in humans and animals found bromine building up in tissues.

Reddy told USA TODAY that he believes there's still gray area in scientists' understanding of BVO.

"We know we drink it," he said. "But I don't think it's fully understood about where it goes once it passes your teeth, how long it stays in your body and whether it breaks down in your body — whether it creates significant harm to the body or even chronic harm."

He said the stories mentioned in articles like the Scientific American are often from acute use, significant amounts drunk at once. But drinking smaller amounts over time could be different.

"I haven't seen the data that really works on those types of differences," he said.

Katherine Zeratsky, a registered dietitian nutritionist at Mayo Clinic who has written about the use of brominated vegetable oil in beverages, agreed that she doesn't believe there's as much research on the buildup over time.

She said she believes it's unlikely that drinking soda in moderation, such as a can a day, would pose harmful effects. The worries come when a person drinks larger amounts.

"There's a concern that — with this additive, in particular, and many others — your body has to process it somehow," she said.

Zeratsky said she advises that people avoid drinking large amounts of beverages that contain BVO.

Our ruling: Partly false

The Facebook post's claim that brominated vegetable oil is no longer in Mountain Dew is true. The use of brominated vegetable oil has declined over the years as major companies have removed the additive from their drinks in favor of other emulsifiers.

But experts agree that a sweeping comparison of the additive to flame retardant lacks nuance. It has been patented as one but is not the same as the brominated flame retardants in popular use.

Experts also say it has also not been conclusively proven that drinking the amount of brominated vegetable oil found in soft drinks will lead to all of the negative health effects mentioned in the post. However, scientists agree more information is likely needed to broaden understanding of the ingredient's ability to build up in the human body over time, and that some people drinking large amounts of soda at once have experienced adverse effects.

That caution is reflected by the FDA's categorization of BVO as allowed in certain amounts on an "interim" basis, as well as the banning of the ingredient in some countries overseas.

For those reasons, we rate this post as PARTLY FALSE.

Our fact-check sources:

Ian Richardson covers the Iowa Statehouse for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at irichardson@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8254, or on Twitter at @DMRIanR.

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

Avocados reduce risk of heart attacks, study says | CNN

CNN —

Eating avocados reduced the risk of heart attacks in both men and women, including when eaten in place of butter, cheese or processed meats, a new study found.

Cardiovascular disease is a leading killer worldwide, taking nearly 18 million lives every year, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease takes a life every 36 seconds.

Eating at least two servings of avocado a week reduced the risk of having a heart attack by 21% when compared to avoiding or rarely eating avocados. However, there was not an equivalent benefit in reducing the risk for stroke, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

A serving of avocado, which is a fruit, was defined as “½ avocado or ½ cup of avocado, which roughly weighs 80 grams,” said study author Lorena Pacheco, a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

“Although no one food is the solution to routinely eating a healthy diet, this study is evidence that avocados have possible health benefits,” said Cheryl Anderson, chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, in a statement. Anderson was not involved in the study.

“We desperately need strategies to improve intake of AHA-recommended healthy diets — such as the Mediterranean diet — that are rich in vegetables and fruits,” said Anderson, who is also professor and dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.

Long-term study

The study followed more than 68,000 women and 41,000 men who were enrolled in two long-term government studies on risk factors for chronic disease: the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study. All participants were free of cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke at the start of the studies and completed dietary questionnaires every four years over a 30-year period.

Lower your risk of heart attacks by replacing butter, eggs, yogurt, cheese and processed meats with avocados, according to new research. Shutterstock

In addition to looking at the overall impact of eating avocados, researchers did statistical modeling and found consuming half a serving of avocado (¼ cup) a day instead of the same amount of eggs, yogurt, cheese, margarine, butter or processed meats (such as bacon) lowered the risk of heart attacks by 16% to 22%.

“The full benefit of routine avocado consumption observed here derives from swapping avocado into the diet, and less healthful foods out,” said Dr. David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine and nutrition, who was not involved in the study.

However, the study did not find a difference in risk reduction when a half-serving of avocado was replaced with an equivalent serving of nuts, olive and other plant oils. That makes sense, Katz said, because the health benefits are dependent on what food is replaced.

“If, for instance, the common swap were between avocado and walnuts or almonds, the health effects would likely be negligible since the foods have similar nutritional properties and expected health effects,” said Katz, the president and founder of the nonprofit True Health Initiative, a global coalition of experts dedicated to evidence-based lifestyle medicine.

But if the avocado replaced butter and margarine as a spread, or was eaten instead of processed meats or cheese on a sandwich, “the nutritional distinctions are sizable” and would be expected to change the health outcome, he added.

Although avocados are “particularly rich sources of monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and fiber,” they can also be pricey and therefore not readily available to all, Katz said. Similar substitutes could include walnuts, almonds, olives, olive oil and a variety of seeds such as pumpkin and flax, he said.

Other foods to include that have major health benefit at “much lower price points,” include beans, chickpeas and lentils, “and perhaps whole grains and related seeds like quinoa,” Katz said.

Preventing heart disease

Preventing heart disease means keeping your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol under control, getting plenty of good-quality sleep and regular exercise, managing stress, limiting alcohol and avoiding tobacco use, and eating a healthy diet lower in sugar, processed foods and saturated fats, according to the National Library of Medicine.

The American Heart Association says your body needs fat to boost energy, protect organs, produce hormones and help with nutrient absorption. However, fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are the heart-healthy choices. Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and sesame oil are sources of monounsaturated fats, along with avocados, peanut butter and many nuts and seeds.

Saturated fat and trans fats raise levels of LDL, known as “bad cholesterol,” the AHA said. Saturated fats, such as butter, are typically solid at room temperature and are found in full-fat dairy products, eggs, coconut and palm oils, and fatty cuts of beef, pork and skin-on poultry.

Artificially made trans fats, also called partially hydrogenated oils, raise bad LDL cholesterol and lower good HDL cholesterol, which can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. Those can often be found in “fried foods like doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pie crusts, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, stick margarines and other spreads,” according to the AHA.

Vitamin D supplements sent a UK man to the hospital for a week | CNN

CNN —

A British man’s overdose on vitamin D is a cautionary tale for people who are considering adding supplements to their lives, according to a paper published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

After a visit with a private nutritionist, the man began taking more than 20 over-the-counter supplements every day, including 50,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D three times a day. That’s a dose hundreds of times higher than standard nutritional recommendations.

Within a month, the man began suffering from nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea and repeated bouts of vomiting, along with cramping in the legs and ringing in the ears.

The man, whose name was not disclosed, heard about the supplements from a radio talk show and contacted the nutritionist on the show afterward, said Dr. Alamin Alkundi, a coauthor of the report and an endocrinologist at William Harvey hospital in East Kent in the UK, who treated the man.

“Registration by regulator is not compulsory for nutritionists in the UK and their title is not protected, so anybody can practice as a nutritionist,” Alkundi said in an email.

Unlike water-soluble vitamins, which the body can easily eliminate, vitamin D and its cousins A, E and K are stored in the liver and fat cells of the body until they are needed. Consuming well over the daily recommended dose can build up to toxic levels.

The man in the case study was taking a daily dose of 150,000 IU of vitamin D, which was “375 times the recommended amount,” Alkundi said. The UK National Health Service typically recommends 400 IU of vitamin D a day for children over age 1 and adults.

The man stopped taking the supplements when his symptoms began, but his condition didn’t improve. By the time he was referred to the hospital two months later, he had lost 28 pounds (12.7 kg) and his kidneys were in trouble. Tests showed he had overdosed on vitamin D, a condition called hypervitaminosis D.

Daily recommended levels

Vitamin D is fat-soluble, which means it is stored in the body. High levels can be toxic. SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The body needs vitamin D. The vitamin’s main job is to help the body absorb calcium from the intestines – in fact, the body cannot absorb calcium unless vitamin D is present. The vitamin also plays a role in immune health, brain cell activity and how muscles function.

In the United States, 15 micrograms, or 600 IU of vitamin D a day, is recommended for adults up to 69 years old, according to the National Institutes of Health. For adults age 70 and up, the dose rises to 20 micrograms or 800 IU each day. The recommended amount for infants, children and adolescents was recently doubled by the American Academy of Pediatrics to 10 micrograms or 400 IU per day.

A 2017 study found 3% of Americans took more than the tolerable upper limit of 4,000 IU daily for adults, thus putting themselves at risk for toxicity. About 18% took more than 1,000 IU daily.

Too much vitamin D in the blood leads to hypercalcaemia, which occurs when the calcium level in your blood is above normal. The man in the BMJ case study was diagnosed with hypercalcaemia, which can weaken your bones, create kidney stones, and interfere with how your heart and brain work.

The man was hospitalized for eight days and treated with drugs to lower the levels of calcium in his blood. A followup two months later found his blood calcium levels had dropped to almost normal. While the man’s vitamin D level had also significantly improved, it was still high, Alkundi said.

“A plan to periodically monitor both parameters in clinic was established to track the declining levels to normal levels. We have had contact with him and he reported (he feels) much better, but still not back to his normal self,” Alkundi said.

“He is very eager for his story to be known to alert others,” Alkundi added.

Signs of a vitamin D overdoes can include drowsiness, confusion, lethargy and depression, and in more severe cases it can lead to stupor and coma. The heart can be affected: Blood pressure can rise and the heart can begin to beat erratically. In severe cases, the kidneys can go into renal failure. Hearing and vision can be affected.

Where to get vitamin D

The body makes adequate vitamin D when the skin is exposed to sunshine. In fact, going outside in a bathing suit for 10 to 15 minutes during the summer “will generate 10,000 to 20,000 IU of vitamin D3 in adults with light skin pigmentation,” according to the AAP.

However, going into strong midday sunlight isn’t advised due to the risk of skin cancer, so dermatologists and the AAP say it’s best to use sunblock if you will be exposed for any prolonged length of time. Sunscreens can reduce the body’s ability to process vitamin D.

Vitamin D supplementation may not be needed for many children and teens, the AAP said, since many foods such as milk, eggs, cereals and orange juice are often fortified with vitamin D. Breastfed infants should be given 400 IU of supplemental vitamin D daily, starting in the first few days of life and continuing until the baby is weaned to milk or formula fortified with vitamin D, the AAP advised.

If vitamin D supplements are being considered, daily levels of vitamin D obtained from food should be factored into the decision, experts caution. In addition to fortified foods, eggs, cheese, shiitake mushrooms, salmon, swordfish, tuna, rainbow trout and beef liver contain vitamin D, as does cod liver oil.

Anyone concerned about their vitamin D levels should have them evaluated by a doctor, experts say.

“Patients are encouraged to seek the opinion of their general practitioners regarding any alternative therapy or over-the-counter medications they may be taking or desire to initiate,” Alkundi said.

EPA finds no safe level for toxic PFAS in thousands of water systems

The Environmental Protection Agency stunned scientists and local officials across the country on Wednesday by releasing new health advisories for toxic "forever chemicals" known to be in thousands of U.S. drinking water systems, impacting potentially millions of people.

The new advisories cut the safe level of chemical PFOA by more than 17,000 times what the agency had previously said was protective of public health, to now just four "parts per quadrillion." The safe level of a sister chemical, PFOS, was reduced by a factor of 3,500. The chemicals are part of a class of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals due to their extreme resistance to disintegration. They have been linked to different types of cancer, low birthweights, thyroid disease and other health ailments.

Dry shampoo recall: Independent lab finds 'troubling' levels of ...

CNN —

High levels of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, have been detected in more brands and batches of dry shampoo products, according to a new report from Valisure, an independent laboratory.

Just last month, certain aerosol dry shampoos – including some Dove, Nexxus, Suave, TIGI and TRESemmé products – were voluntarily recalled because of the potential presence of benzene.

Then on Monday, Valisure sent a citizen petition to the US Food and Drug Administration in which the lab described that among 148 batches from 34 different brands of dry shampoo products, 70% of samples tested showed “quantifiable” levels of benzene.

According to their report, 11 samples showed levels over 10 times more than 2 parts per million (ppm), the FDA limit for drugs.

“However, the dry shampoos tested are not drugs and contain no active pharmaceutical ingredient for therapeutic purpose; therefore, any significant detection of benzene could be deemed unacceptable. Furthermore, Valisure shows data from the analysis of benzene by directly sampling contaminated air after spraying dry shampoo products, which suggests potential for short- and long-term inhalation exposure to high levels of benzene. The presence of this known human carcinogen in dry shampoo products that are regularly used indoors and in large volumes makes this finding especially troubling,” David Light, Valisure’s chief executive officer, and Qian Wu, Valisure’s head of global analytics, wrote in the FDA Citizen Petition.

The petition urges the FDA to “expeditiously request recalls” on the affected batches of products containing benzene and better define limits for benzene contamination in other products.

The FDA normally takes 180 days to respond to a citizen petition.

In summary, three lots of dry shampoo products from one brand contained spray with more than 100 ppm of benzene, according to the petition, and some samples tested by Valisure showed more than 10 times the FDA drug limit. The petition also mentions that Valisure has detected benzene in other commonly used products as well, including certain hand sanitizers and sunscreens.

CNN contacted the brands listed in the petition and reached out to the FDA for comment but did not immediately hear back from all of them.

In a statement, Church & Dwight, the maker of Batiste hair products said: “Consumer safety is of the utmost importance. When propellants had been reported to be the source of benzene in competitors’ recalled products, we contacted our propellant suppliers and confirmed with those suppliers that the propellants used in our Batiste products do not contain benzene. We will evaluate the report at the center of the recent claims.”

Haircare brand Not Your Mother’s, listed in the petition, told CNN in a statement, “The safety of our consumers is our highest priority. We are concerned about a recently published report linked to the dry shampoo category, raising questions about levels of benzene detected in propellent used in aerosol products manufactured on or before Fall 2021. This report is inconsistent with the data provided by our suppliers and the rigorous ongoing testing to ensure the safety and integrity of our products. These tests show no traceable amounts of benzene. We are committed to continuous evaluation to ensure the utmost safety and quality of all our products.”

Valisure’s Light said in a new release, “The detection of high levels of benzene in dry shampoos should be cause for significant concern since these products are likely used indoors, where benzene may linger and be inhaled for prolonged periods of time.

“These and other issues identified by Valisure, including the detection of benzene in body spray, hand sanitizer, and sunscreen products, strongly underscore the importance of independent testing and its need to be better integrated into an increasingly complex and vulnerable global supply chain.”

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Last year, several deodorants and sunscreen products were recalled due to detections of benzene.

Benzene is formed from both natural and man-made processes. “Natural sources of benzene include volcanoes and forest fires. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The main way people are exposed is by breathing in air containing benzene,” according the American Cancer Society.


Celtic fans disrupt minute's applause for Queen Elizabeth II with anti ...

CNN —

Supporters of Glasgow-based football team Celtic FC chanted anti-royal sentiments during a planned minute’s applause for Queen Elizabeth II ahead of the team’s match against St. Mirren in Paisley, Scotland, on Sunday.

The minute’s applause had been organized after the home team, St. Mirren, chose to pay tribute to the late monarch, but Celtic fans unfurled a banner reading “If you hate the royal family clap your hands” and chanted the same words throughout the planned homage.

The Scottish FA said in a statement on Monday that “as a mark of respect and in keeping with the period of National Mourning, home clubs may wish to hold a period of silence and/or play the National Anthem just ahead of kick-off, and players may wish to wear black armbands.”

Sky, who was broadcasting the match, confirmed to CNN that it turned down the stadium microphones to limit the audibility of the chants during its broadcast of the minute’s applause.

After the applause ended, commentator Ian Crocker said, “Apologies if you were offended by anything you might have heard. Most people showed respect, some did not.”

It is the second time this week that groups of Celtic fans have expressed anti-royal feelings, with the club currently subject to an investigation by European football’s governing body UEFA after displaying a banner reading “F**k the crown” during Wednesday’s Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Celtic were defeated 2-0 by St. Mirren on Sunday. Craig Williamson/SNS Group/Getty Images

CNN has reached out to the Scottish Professional Football League and Celtic FC for comment but did not immediately get a response.

Though Celtic is based in Scotland, its traditions are intertwined with those of anti-monarchist Irish republicans since it was founded with the aim of alleviating poverty in Glasgow’s Irish Catholic immigrant population in the 1880s.

Its crosstown rival Rangers, meanwhile, is traditionally more aligned with Protestantism and royalist unionism, heightening the antagonism between the two sides.

The Scottish FA, the governing body for football in the country, said to CNN that it didn’t have “any jurisdiction over fan behaviour at league matches.”

Booing during the minute’s silence was also audible in other matches held in the Scottish Premiership this weekend.

Dundee United released a statement, acknowledging that “a small section of the crowd chose to not respect the minute’s silence” ahead of its match against Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday.

Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 2 February 2023 | The Week UK

F-35 helmets ‘too heavy for women’

Women cannot fly F-35 Lightning jets because the helmets provided are too heavy, said an RAF boss. Speaking to MPs, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said that the RAF had not approved a lighter helmet because of safety fears. He said a “lighter helmet that would allow lighter aircrew, so not just women but lighter aircrew, to fly the F-35” but “we would have challenges in clearing it in safety terms because it does not give the pilot the protection that the other helmet has”. The lack of women flying F-35s “comes amid a backlog in training all pilots, who in some cases have waited up to ten years to fly”, said The Times. Last year the RAF came under attack from some quarters over its efforts to meet diversity targets in recruitment.

Kate takes over from Prince Harry as the patron of English rugby | CNN

London CNN —

The Duchess of Cambridge has become the official patron of English rugby, a role previously held by her brother-in-law, Prince Harry.

From Wednesday, she becomes the figurehead for the Rugby Football League (RFL) and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) – patronages bestowed upon her by the Queen.

The honorary titles were returned by Harry after he stepped down as a working member of the royal family in early 2020. The move makes Kate the first royal to officially receive one of the Sussexes’ former patronages.

The duchess met with members of the men's and women's squads ahead of the Six Nations Championship, which begins on Saturday. Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Tweeting about the news, the Duchess of Cambridge said: “I am so thrilled to become Patron of the @TheRFL and @EnglandRugby

“Two fantastic organisations who are committed to harnessing the power that sport can have in bringing communities together and helping individuals flourish.

“I look forward to working with them across all levels of the games, and to cheering England on in what promises to be an exciting year for both sports! C”

Kensington Palace said the patronages were a good fit with Kate's love of sport. Kate Green/Getty Images

The announcement was accompanied by a short video clip that started with Kate, dressed in black and blue sportswear, throwing a rugby ball in the air, then appearing to pass it to a host of other players in a slickly edited montage. She is later seen spinning the ball on her index finger.

Established in 1895, the RFL is the national governing body for the game of rugby league in the UK, covering all forms of grassroots and the professional game, including women’s and wheelchair rugby.

The Rugby Football Union is the national governing body for grassroots and elite rugby union in England. With 1,900 member clubs – and founded in 1871 – it is one of the largest sports organizations in the country.

The roles were previously held by the duchess' brother-in-law, Prince Harry. Jeremy Selwyn/Getty Images

The main difference between the two branches of the sport is that rugby league – popular in the north of England – is played on a smaller pitch with 13 players, compared with rugby union’s 15.

As England prepares to play Wales at rugby union later this month, the new role puts Kate in direct opposition to her husband, Prince William, who is patron of the Welsh Rugby Union.

Hours after the announcement, she met a host of England players, coaches and referees in the flesh on the pitch at Twickenham Stadium in London for a training session.

The duchess met with members of the men’s and women’s squads and their coaching teams as they prepare for rugby union’s Six Nations Championship – which begins Saturday – while also hearing about the impact the pandemic has had on the sport.

She also joined the players for a skills session on the pitch, run by head England coach Eddie Jones.

A statement issued by Kensington Palace, the official residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, welcomed the patronages, which, it said, “closely align with Her Royal Highness’ longstanding passion for sport and the lifelong benefits it can provide, both within our communities and on an individual level.”

The future Queen is a keen sportswoman who, according to the Royal Family’s website, believes sport “has the power to engage, educate and inspire and change lives for the better.” She is royal patron of several other sport-related institutions, including the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and the Lawn Tennis Association.

Caitlin Moran: Australian rugby league player suspended for social ...

CNN —

An Indigenous Australian rugby league player has been suspended for a game following a social media post she reportedly made about the Queen’s death last week, in which she referred to the monarch as a “dumb dog.”

Caitlin Moran, who plays for the Newcastle Knights in the NRLW, made the derogatory remarks about the Queen in a now-deleted Instagram post, according to multiple Australian media reports.

On Tuesday, the NRL announced that it intends to ban Moran for one game and hand her a suspended fine equivalent to 25% of her contract.

The 25-year-old will also be required to attend education and training programs concerning her responsibilities as a player and her use of social media. The NRL said the fine will be suspended if she attends those programs, but if there is another violation of the code, she will be required to pay the fine immediately.

“Rugby league is an inclusive game and has a proud and strong relationship with many communities,” said a statement from the NRL.

“Regardless of any personal views, all players and officials must adhere to the professional standards expected of them and on this occasion, the public comments made by the player have caused damage to the game.”

Moran, who helped Australia’s Jillaroos win the Women’s Rugby League World Cup in 2017, has not posted any response to the NRL’s ban, nor responded to CNN’s request for comment.

She has until Tuesday to respond to the NRL’s notice.

The Knights said they support the one-game ban and suspended fine, confirming that Moran will not play in Sunday’s match against the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

However, the Rugby League Players’ Association called the punishment “far too severe” and “disproportionate,” while the Knights’ NRLW head coach Ronald Griffiths gave his support to Moran, who has Indigenous heritage.

“The relationship between Indigenous people and the monarchy is certainly a complicated one,” Griffiths told reporters on Sunday.

“At the end of the day, if Caitlin’s done something, it will be investigated by the Integrity Unit and we’ll work our way through the process.”

Video Ad Feedback The Aboriginal First XI: Australia's first international cricket team 02:56 - Source: CNN

For some Indigenous Australians, the British monarchy is a painful reminder of their suffering under colonial rule, dating back to when British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788. Thousands of Indigenous people were killed during Britain’s colonization of the country.

Earlier this year, Indigenous lawmaker Lidia Thorpe referred to the Queen as a colonizer while being sworn into Australia’s Parliament.

Thorpe offered her support to Moran this week, writing on Twitter: “I’m calling on the NRL to do their own racism awareness training. If anyone needs to be educated, it’s you. You’re responsible for creating a safe workplace for First Nations players. Solidarity with Cailtin Moran [sic]. Stand strong sister.”

Scottish independence referendum vote blocked by UK's Supreme ...

London CNN —

Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that Scotland’s government cannot unilaterally hold a second referendum on whether to secede from the United Kingdom, in a blow to independence campaigners that will be welcomed by Westminster’s pro-union establishment.

The court unanimously rejected an attempt by the Scottish National Party (SNP) to force a vote next October, as it did not have the approval of Britain’s parliament.

But the decision is unlikely to stem the heated debate over independence that has loomed over British politics for a decade.

Scotland last held a vote on the issue, with Westminster’s approval, in 2014, when voters rejected the prospect of independence by 55% to 45%.

The pro-independence SNP has nonetheless dominated politics north of the border in the intervening years, at the expense of the traditional, pro-union groups. Successive SNP leaders have pledged to give Scottish voters another chance to vote, particularly since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016.

The latest push by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon involved holding an advisory referendum late next year, similar to the 2016 poll that resulted in Brexit. But the country’s top court agreed that even a non-legally binding vote would require oversight from Westminster, given its practical implications.

“A lawfully held referendum would have important political consequences relation to the Union and the United Kingdom Parliament,” Lord Reed said as he read the court’s judgment.

“It would either strengthen or weaken the democratic legitimacy of the Union and of the United Kingdom Parliament’s sovereignty over Scotland, depending on which view prevailed, and would either support or undermine the democratic credentials of the independence movement,” he said.

Sturgeon said she accepted the ruling on Wednesday, but tried to frame the decision as another pillar in the argument for secession. “A law that doesn’t allow Scotland to choose our own future without Westminster consent exposes as myth any notion of the UK as a voluntary partnership & makes (a) case” for independence,” she wrote on Twitter.

She accused the British government of “outright democracy denial” in a speech to reporters later on Wednesday.

Sturgeon said her next step in her effort to achieve a vote will be to brand the next British general election – scheduled for January 2025 at the latest – as a proxy referendum in Scotland on which course to take.

But UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak heralded the court’s “clear and definitive ruling” as an opportunity to move on from the independence debate. “The people of Scotland want us to be working on fixing the major challenges that we collectively face, whether that’s the economy, supporting the NHS or indeed supporting Ukraine,” he said in Parliament.

Opinion polls suggest that Scots remain narrowly divided on whether to break from the UK, and that a clear consensus in either direction has yet to emerge.

England and Scotland have been joined in a political union since 1707, but many Scots have long bristled at what they consider a one-sided relationship dominated by England. Scottish voters have historically rejected the ruling Conservative Party at the ballot box and voted heavily – but in vain – against Brexit, intensifying arguments over the issue in the past decade.

Since 1999, Scotland has had a devolved government, meaning many, but not all, decisions are made at the SNP-led Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh.

Remembrance Day: For one dissenting voice, this is his most ...

CNN —

For footballer James McClean, Remembrance Sunday is arguably his most difficult day of the year.

Since he first refused to wear the poppy in 2012, McClean and his family have been subjected to abuse both in football stadiums across England and online.

The Republic of Ireland international, who was born in Northern Ireland, has been outspoken about what the poppy and Remembrance Sunday mean to his community and its relationship to the British military.

But what is the poppy and why has it become so controversial in football?

The poppy finds its origins in a poem written by John McCrae during World War I, “the war to end all wars.”

Despite the death and destruction of WWI, poppies were a common sight amid the cloying mud of the Western Front, according to the Imperial War Museum.

These days, the red and black image of a poppy is displayed on footballers’ shirts in England during early November as a mark of remembrance to the UK’s fallen soldiers.

The distinctive, small flower has become a symbol used to remember the soldiers and other servicemen and women of Great Britain who fell in WWI.

The poppy can be seen up and down the country on Remembrance Sunday. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Since the 1920s, the symbol has traditionally been worn around Remembrance Sunday – this year it falls on the November 13 – to honor those who gave their lives in service of the country and the freedoms gained from their sacrifice.

Sales of the poppies to the public go towards the Royal British Legion, a charity that supports members of the UK armed forces and veterans.

But as the years have gone by, the mourning and remembrance rituals evolved and now extend to all of those who have given their lives in service of the country.

For some in the UK and abroad, though, there is unease about honoring a military that carried out atrocities in their homelands across the globe – places such as Ireland and Northern Ireland – as funds that come from poppy sales go in part to support British veterans who served in Northern Ireland.

“Most Irish nationalists, most Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland regarded it as being not for them. It’s not part of their culture,” Ivan Gibbons, a lecturer in Modern Irish and British history, tells CNN Sport.

“[It is a] sort of a badge, an emblem or totem of British imperialism, British colonialism.”

‘The Troubles’

McClean is one such dissenting voice.

The 33-year-old footballer has carved out a solid – if unspectacular – career in English football, plying his trade for various clubs in the top three divisions.

He was born and raised in Derry, a small town in Northern Ireland bordering the Republic. Derry was at the heart of “the Troubles,” a 20th century sectarian conflict between predominantly Catholic Irish nationalists, mostly Protestant Ulster loyalists and British security services over who controlled Northern Ireland.

In the bloodiest year of the conflict, 1972, nearly 500 people died from fighting. One explanation for this was the formation of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, broadly referred to as the IRA, in 1969, which embraced “armed struggle” against British rule.

Another was the introduction of internment without trial – the vast majority of those imprisoned were Catholic – which politicized many into the nationalist cause.

"The Troubles" split communities in Northern Ireland who still feel the affects more than 20 years later. Michel Laurent/AP

“Bloody Sunday” – when British soldiers shot and killed 14 unarmed nationalist protesters in Derry in January 1972 – was a flashpoint in the conflict. Some 38 years after, a 2010 British government inquiry found that the shooting was unjustified, and then-Prime Minister David Cameron offered an apology to the victims in parliament.

Six of those who were killed on Bloody Sunday hailed from the Creggan Estate in Derry where McClean grew up.

McClean publicly remembers Bloody Sunday and has posted on his social media accounts in commemoration of those victims and the day “innocence died.”

McClean initially played for Northern Ireland, part of the UK, making seven appearances for their under-21 side, but he jumped at the chance to play for the Republic, a team in which he felt he belonged.

At the time, he questioned the Northern Irish football team’s decision to play “God Save the Queen” as its national anthem.

“I cannot understand why it is played. Fifty per cent of the people in Northern Ireland do not recognize it as their anthem and among that 50%, quality footballers will emerge,” he said in a 2011 interview with the Belfast Telegraph.

Poppy controversy

In November 2012, the Premier League instituted the wearing of the poppy on the weekend of Remembrance Sunday for all players. McClean refused.

Having already received abuse for his decision to play for Ireland – so much so that he closed his Twitter account – fans went further by sending him death threats.

Since then, McClean has regularly received abuse from fans in stadiums in England as well as online. That abuse has regularly turned to death threats towards him as well as his family. In 2020, he revealed in an interview with the BBC that he has often received bullets in the mail and even considered retiring because of the abuse.

His wife, Erin McClean, said on Twitter in 2021: “Why should we have to read messages like that daily for almost a decade?

“We’ve been spat at, shouted at, nights out have been ruined by people making remarks towards him.

“I even remember once someone threatened him saying they were taking a gun with them to a certain match and I can still remember watching that match in absolute fear on the TV.”

McClean isn’t the only footballer to have chosen not to wear the poppy and receive abuse for that decision.

In 2018, Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matic – who then played for Manchester United – decided against wearing the symbol because of the “reminder” of the bombs dropped by NATO on his hometown Vrelo in Serbia.

“I do not want to undermine the poppy as a symbol of pride within Britain or offend anyone,” Matic wrote. “However, we are all a product of our own upbringing and this is a personal choice for the reasons outlined.”

Earlier this year, a mural of James McClean was unveiled in Creggan Estate. Mickey Rooney/Alamy Stock Photo

Simon Akam, a military journalist and author, says that as fewer people are directly related to those the poppy remembers, it has become less of a personal symbol and more of a performative gesture.

“It’s both non-political and political … a kind of public notion of doing the right thing. But it’s ingrained within British society,” Akam told CNN Sport.

“In the 1920s, when [over] 800,000 casualties had been reported [as fatalities] by Britain in the First World War, everyone would have known people that had died. It [the poppy] would have had an immediate emotive response that would have been extraordinary,” adds Akam.

“In the conflicts that I wrote about in Iraq and Afghanistan, over 15 years Britain lost about 600 soldiers. The proportion of population who directly knew someone who’d been hurt or killed was [tiny].”

The abuse directed at McClean has often turned into anti-Catholic and anti-Irish abuse.

He recently posted a video taken from his match against former club Sunderland where thousands of fans chanted, “F**k the pope and the IRA.”

In his post, McClean also complained that football’s governing bodies have done very little to deal with the sectarian abuse he gets, but he doesn’t “expect anything to be done about this by the FA, EFL.”

When contacted by CNN Sport, a Football Association spokesperson said: “We strongly condemn all forms of discriminatory and offensive chanting. Any participants or fans who believe that they have been the subject of, or witness to, discrimination are encouraged to report it through the correct channels: The FA, the relevant club or via our partners at Kick It Out.

“The FA looks into any alleged discriminatory language or behaviour that is reported to us, and we work closely with the clubs and relevant authorities to ensure appropriate action is taken.”

McClean has 95 caps for Ireland and earlier this year, captained his nation for the first time. Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile/Getty Images

Likewise, an English Football League – the governing body for the second-tier of English football – spokesperson said: “The EFL condemns all forms of discriminatory and offensive chanting and will provide assistance wherever appropriate in respect of any investigations undertaken by the Club, FA and other authorities.

“The League has worked with other football bodies in the past and will continue to do so in the future to provide support for James.

“At the beginning of the season, the EFL issued guidance to Clubs to support their match day operations to tackle discriminatory behaviour and hate crime.”

While governing bodies in England have been very vocal about trying to tackle racism in football, McClean asked in 2021 if “being abused for being Irish and anti-Irish abuse [is] acceptable?

“Is it not popular enough to be seen to be acknowledged or spoke out about too?”

Gibbons concurs: “The football authorities don’t see abuse of an Irish footballer on a par with abuse of Black footballers … Their mindset just doesn’t comprehend it.”

‘Celtic Symphony’

Last month, a video emerged of the Irish women’s team singing the “Celtic Symphony,” a popular Irish nationalist song that contains the line: “Ooh ah up the ‘RA,” a nod to the IRA – though not the Provisional IRA according to the writer of the song – for which the team was heavily criticized by English media outlets.

Both head coach Vera Pauw and player Chloe Mustaki publicly apologized for singing the song.

One TV presenter asked Mustaki if “education is needed” among the squad as well as for an apology – comments that offended some in Ireland, who argue it is people in England who need to be educated on British Imperialism.

“It is not for the British to interpret a former colony’s history, culture, or future,” said writer Tony Evans, who comes from Liverpool, a city with a strong connection to Ireland, following the country’s Great Famine in the 19th century when it’s estimated that approximately one million died and nearly two million were forced to emigrate, with Liverpool absorbing a huge number of Irish emigrants.

“The Empire is just a memory. The imperial mindset lingers on,” added Evans.

Ireland's first ever qualification to the Women's World Cup was overshadowed by the response to their celebrations. Ryan Byrne/INPHO/Shutterstock

As expected, McClean – as the only player not wearing a poppy – was routinely booed during his Wigan’s side’s trip to Swansea last weekend.

This is despite McClean stating that, if the poppy was simply a reminder of those lost in the two World Wars, he would happily wear it. After all, over 50,000 Irish men died across the two conflicts.

Gibbons says that this is a common position in Ireland, saying that there has been a “dramatic change” in attitudes towards the poppy in Ireland and that more and more people are happy to use it to commemorate those lost in those two wars. Though Ireland was neutral in World War II, thousands of its citizens volunteered in the British Army.

As Gibbons points out: “People fought and died in World War I and particularly in World War II to ensure that people like McClean – who may have political views which we are uncomfortable with – has the right to express those things,” and that in abusing him for his views is indeed “the negation of the war fought against fascism.”

Australia is asking its people one question and it's not whether to ...

Brisbane, Australia CNN —

Within 24 hours of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the first cracks were forming in a carefully choreographed Australian response to the passing of its Head of State.

During a televised match between Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) teams in Melbourne on Friday, players stood to attention to hear an Acknowledgment of Country immediately followed by one minute of silence for the Queen.

However, the juxtaposition of a declaration that players stood on “unceded” Indigenous land followed by a tribute to the former monarch of the country that claimed it was uncomfortable for some.

By Saturday, all other minutes of silence for AFLW games had been canceled, and the director of one of the clubs, the Western Bulldogs, released a statement saying the tribute “unearths deep wounds for us.”

Fremantle Dockers players line up before an AFLW match with the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne, September 9, 2022. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

The incident demonstrates the lingering pain felt by Australia’s First Nations people since the occupation of their country by British settlers in 1788. In other Commonwealth Nations, the Queen’s death has prompted rumblings – some louder than others – of moves to abandon the British monarchy for a republic. But in Australia, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s pro-republic views, there’s no concerted push in that direction.

In interviews and press conferences since the Queen’s death, Albanese has repeatedly said now is not the time to time to be talking about a republic. And on Tuesday, the Australian Republican Movement seemed to agree, suspending its campaign on the issue until after the period of mourning “out of respect for the Queen.”

But for Albanese, the reluctance to push for a republic right now is not just a matter of respect for the late monarch. The Labor leader made a pre-election promise to hold a referendum to recognize Australia’s First Nations people in the constitution within his first three-year term, if he won office.

When asked about it on Monday, Albanese said: “I said at the time I couldn’t envisage a circumstance where we changed our Head of State to an Australian Head of State but still didn’t recognize First Nations people in our constitution and the fact that we live with the oldest continuous culture on Earth. So that’s our priorities this term.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends the Proclamation of King Charles III, on the forecourt of Parliament House on September 11, 2022 in Canberra, Australia. Mick Tsikas/Getty Images

A resounding ‘no’

Changing the constitution requires the majority of Australian people across the country, as well as the majority in most states to vote “yes” in a referendum, a notoriously difficult task. Since Federation in 1901, only eight of 44 proposals for constitutional change have been approved.

The last rejection came in 1999, when the country’s citizens were asked if they wanted to replace the Queen and Governor-General with a President.

Back then, campaigning focused on cutting ties with an archaic monarchy and moving forward as a bold new multicultural nation intent on forging its own path. Indigenous issues weren’t high on the agenda, though Australians were asked a second question, to approve a new preamble to the constitution that honored First Nations people for their “kinship with their lands.” That failed too, with Aboriginal elders of the day complaining they hadn’t been consulted on the wording.

An Aboriginal land rights protest in Spring Street, Melbourne, 1971. Fairfax Media/Getty Images

It wasn’t a surprise. Indigenous people had long complained their voices hadn’t been heard by successive governments, so much so that in 1999, Yawuru man Peter Yu, now Vice President First Nations at the Australian National University (ANU), took the advice of a local elder to take their message to the Queen.

“A very old senior leader said, ‘You better go and see that old girl overseas … because they call her name the wrong way over here,’” Yu recalled. The old man meant that the only time Aboriginal people heard the Queen’s name was when they were arrested, Yu told CNN. “They felt that, given the community’s respect for the Queen, her name was being sullied and her reputation being besmudged, and that therefore we needed to go and explain the situation,” he said.

So they did.

Yu and an delegation met Queen Elizabeth for around 30 minutes in Buckingham Palace, and received a much warmer welcome from the monarch than either government in the UK or Australia, he said.

Today, Yu says views within the Australia’s Indigenous community on the Queen are mixed – as they are in most communities.

“There are strong emotions,” he said. “And we are continuing to suffer the full force of the consequences of colonization. But do we hold her personally responsible for it? I don’t,” he said. “Who I hold responsible for it is the Australian government … governments who deliberately neglected their duty of care. That’s what I’m angry at.”

Queen Elizabeth II watches an Aboriginal cultural performance near Cairns, March 2002. Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

Voice to Parliament

By the end of his first term, Albanese has promised a referendum on the Voice to Parliament – a body enshrined in the constitution that for the first time would give Indigenous people a say in laws that affect them.

John Warhurst, Emeritus Professor of political science at ANU and former chair of the Australian Republic Movement, says a referendum on the Voice to Parliament is “undoubtedly the first priority” over a republic.

“You won’t get argument about that among republicans,” he added.

An image of Queen Elizabeth II looks down from the sails of Australia's Opera House, September 9, 2022. Robert Wallace/AFP/Getty Images

The Voice to Parliament is important for a number of reasons, said Warhurst. “It’s a line in the sand about Australia’s colonial past. It’s a line in the sand about race relations in Australia … and I think the message internationally would be a shocking one, too, if we fail to pass this referendum.”

However, not all Indigenous people back the concept.

Telona Pitt, a Ngarluma, Kariyarra, and Meriam woman of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island descent, is the admin of the “Vote no to constitutional change” Facebook group, which has 11,000 members.

She believes not enough Indigenous people were given a say in drafting the document that led to plans for a Voice to Parliament. And she says the government is already aware of Indigenous problems but hasn’t done enough to fix them – and that won’t change with a referendum on a Voice to Parliament.

“All it’s going to do is just disempower Aboriginal people and power up the Parliament against us,” she said.

Protesters take part in an "Invasion Day" rally in Sydney on January 26, 2022. Steven Saphore/AFP/Getty Images

Pitt says a referendum should be held among Indigenous people to see who supports the change before any questions are put to the wider public.

Warhurst says approving the Voice to Parliament would ease the passage of further constitutional change – but on the flip side, rejecting it could mean a longer road to a republic.

He said after the Voice to Parliament passes, Australia may be ready to consider life after the monarchy.

That may not happen for another five to 10 years, but campaigning on the issue would have to start early “from scratch” as Australia is not the same place it was in 1999, he said.

Potentially, convincing Australians that it is time for a republic may be easier by then, as the nostalgia of a lifetime under the reign of the Queen will have passed for older generations, who grew up with much closer ties to the British monarchy.

“Queen Elizabeth’s presence was influential for some in sticking with the status quo,” Warhurst said. “So I think now that we’ve moved on to a new King, part of the reluctance in the Australian community has gone.”

However Yu, from ANU, said the issue of Australia’s Indigenous people must be addressed before any talk of a republic.

“How can you have a republic without settling the matter with the First Peoples?” he asked. “For me, It’s a nonsense. It has no integrity. It has no sense of moral or soul.”

Queen Elizabeth's Olympic stunt double jailed for attack on girlfriend ...

London CNN —

A UK court has sentenced Queen Elizabeth II’s stunt double to 18 months in prison after he threw his girlfriend down a staircase and shattered her shoulder.

Gary Connery was convicted of grievous bodily harm without intent at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday, a spokesman for the court told CNN on Wednesday.

In addition to a prison sentence for the attack, which took place in October 2020, the judge also imposed a restraining order, the spokesman said.

Connery dressed as Queen Elizabeth II during the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images

“It is abundantly clear that you have shown absolutely no remorse for what happened and accept no fault on your behalf,” Judge Nigel Daly told 53-year-old Connery, according to the PA Media news agency.

At the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics, Connery stood in for the British monarch in a skit in which the Queen met James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, before they both appeared to get into a helicopter to fly to the Olympic stadium.

Viewers then saw what appeared to be the Queen and Bond, but were in fact Connery and a fellow stuntman, parachute into the stadium.

'Stop Boris': Banners protesting UK PM Boris Johnson flown over ...

CNN —

Banners protesting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson were flown over Premier League games on Saturday.

The banners were seen over Manchester United’s clash with West Ham United at Old Trafford as well as at Elland Road where Leeds United hosted Newcastle United.

The message towed behind the plane read: “Boot him out!” followed by the website of the group who organized the protest, Open Britain.

In a message posted on Twitter confirming it was behind the message, Open Britain said: “We’ve taken the campaign to #StopBoris to the skies.

“The country no longer wants him as PM – now’s the time to boot him out and the place to make it happen is stopboris.com.”

Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videos

A general view of the Premier League match between Manchester United and West Ham at Old Trafford. Zac Goodwin/PA Images/Getty Images

The website linked in the protest takes users to a petition calling for Johnson to be removed from power, which has almost 80,000 signatures at the time of writing.

It comes as the pressure continues to mount on Johnson over alleged summer garden parties and Christmas gatherings held in Downing Street when the rest of the country was under strict Covid-19 lockdowns. A report into the allegations, set to be released this week, could be the final straw for Johnson’s increasingly mutinous party.