👋 Welcome to Healthy, Again. I'm Max, and this publication is all about taking your health back: real food, straight talk, and time-tested wisdom, for you and your family.
01 Birth control gets a 25-year checkup
A 25-year Danish study of nearly every woman in the country found that hormonal birth control slightly raised the odds of a rare, usually harmless brain tumor. The injectable Depo-Provera led the way; the pill and IUDs barely moved, and the risk faded within about five years of stopping (earlier work found the same). The odds are small, but "perfectly safe" was never the whole story. Worth knowing.
02 A vaccine takes a shot at pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers we know, which makes this worth celebrating. Researchers at Johns Hopkins built a vaccine to catch it before it starts and gave it to 20 high-risk patients. Ninety percent mounted a strong immune response that lasted up to two years, precancer cysts cleared in a quarter of them, and no one developed cancer during the trial. It is small and early. But in a disease that rarely offers good news, that is a real reason to hope.
03 Measles climbs, and RFK keeps it a choice
Measles is having its worst year since 1991, with 2,295 cases logged so far, just past all of last year. In recent testimony, RFK Jr. said his department has "advised every child to get the MMR," and even granted the shot is "safe and effective" (a phrase that still earns an eye roll 🙄). But he held the line where it counts: vaccination is "a personal choice," and his word to parents was "do your own research." He cosigned the vaccine and stood up for your freedom to skip it.
✿ QUICK HITS — ON OUR RADAR
The FDA is pulling two old petroleum-based food dyes, Orange B and Citrus Red No. 2 (FDA).
Florida subpoenaed General Mills over potassium bromate, a bread additive already banned in the EU, Canada, and China (FL AG).
The feds are withholding over $1 billion in Medicaid from California and Minnesota for a fraud review, but say benefits will not change (STAT).
✿ ONE GOOD THING
To end on a good one: two paddleboarders on Austin's Lady Bird Lake scooped a drowning raccoon onto their board and carried it safely to shore. It hit dry land and bolted, no thank-you needed.