Homepage Round-Up: Children Should Drink Whole Milk; Insecticide Exposure Liked to Mortality; and More

Kicking off 2020, here are the top stories covered by DocWire News this week in the Homepage section. In this week’s edition of the round-up: children who drink whole milk are less likely to become obese; insecticide exposure linked to all-cause mortality; and there exists a link between car assembly closures and opioid-related deaths.

Children who consume whole milk have a 40% lower chance of obesity, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers wrote that “In our review, children following the current recommendation of switching to reduced-fat milk at age two were not leaner than those consuming whole milk.”

Insecticide exposure is associated with an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality, according to the findings of a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. In this nationally representative cohort study, researchers assessed 2,116 adults (51.6% women) aged 20 years and older (mean age, 42) who participated in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which took place from 1999 to 2002. During a follow-up period of approximately 14.4 years the researchers observed 246 deaths occurred, including 41 associated with cardiovascular disease and 52 associated with cancer.

There exists a link between an increase in opioid overdose deaths and car assembly plant closures, according to the findings a new study published today in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. “Fading economic opportunity has been hypothesized to be an important factor associated with the US opioid overdose crisis,” the research authors wrote in their abstract. “Automotive assembly plant closures are culturally significant events that substantially erode local economic opportunities.”