MAHA
HHS won’t release major alcohol study
Adobe
A key government study about alcohol and its health harms won’t be released publicly, STAT’s Isabella Cueto reports.
A draft of the report found even moderate drinking (one or two drinks per day, depending on a person’s gender) could increase the risk of injuries, liver disease, and cancer. The final report stuck to those findings, its authors say. Shelving the document will be “to the detriment of the people’s health,” according to a person who worked on the project.
The killed report suggests that alcohol use isn’t high on the MAHA priority list, despite robust evidence that heavy drinking is a major driver of disease and death in the U.S. An HHS spokesperson declined to answer questions about whether the final report would be released or used to develop the new round of dietary guidelines. Read more here.
tRANS
Another study showing trans identity persists
A new study confirmed what the trans community has long known: when people transition, they rarely detransition.
A JAMA study found that among 2,467 adults who legally changed their gender in Sweden, only 21 people sought to reverse the change. That’s less than 1%, according to my computer’s calculator. The study gathered this data from 7,293 people who received a gender dysphoria diagnosis between 2013 and 2023.
Some people have suggested that as gender dysphoria diagnoses increase, detransition rates would increase, too. This study throws cold water on this hypothesis, suggesting that detransitions are glancingly rare. Read the study here.
MISC
Another roundup, as a treat
Simply too much health news today! Here are a few more items you should know about:
- The FDA’s shift from advisory committees to “expert” panels won’t streamline anything. It’s merely a retreat from transparency, scientific rigor, and public accountability, writes a drug safety expert who has chaired or served on more than a dozen FDA advisory committees.
- Bad news: there’s another Ebola outbreak in Congo. An early report suggests 28 suspected cases and 15 deaths in the country’s southern Kasai province. It’s the country’s 16th outbreak of the highly contagious disease.
- The FDA pushed back their final ruling on the use of shock therapy for people with disabilities — again. The rule governing “electrical stimulation devices” was set to publish in October. It is now slated for May 2026.
- Buyer beware — the FDA found traces of H5N1 in certain cat foods, like RAWR Raw Cat Food Chicken Eats Good. H5N1, or bird flu, can cause illness and death in cats, dogs and other pets. As we’ve said in the past: pets should be included in disease surveillance.
