ICYMI news for women - Sept 7

No TL;DR. Just the facts, ma'am. 100+ new articles in the last week alone that matter to women. Click your picks, ignore the bricks. We watch the news so you don't have to.

Sunday Snippets is a round-up of headlines about women’s health and lives from the past week that we haven’t covered in our regular posts. Snippets is a perk for our terrific paid subscribers, released two days later for all subscribers. It takes time — 10+ hours every week — to search for relevant news, add context and deeper dive links and get these news stories to you without ads or promotions. If you find this valuable, give us a shout-out with a❤️ or a share, or consider buying us a much needed espresso (or a snippet of wine?) or—definitely better yet—a paid subscription to support our work: we do it for you.

In the news this week for women: So much interesting news this week—much more so than usual! An entire section on the insanity at the CDC, and another section on the “if and how” of vaccination this fall—including how states are actively getting around Kennedy. Treating anxiety (one-and-done) with LSD? Tips on using AI for therapy (really). The escalating war against contraception (and its temporary bedfellows); courts weigh in on Planned Parenthood; states with restrictive abortion laws have higher infant mortality. Microplastics and fertility, and a dozen articles on pregnancy alone (as menopause vanishes from headlines for a moment …?) Is there a sex recession? And if it’s hit your life, how to deal with it. Surprising signs of heart attacks and on aging. Weighted vests and exercise, how to go cold turkey off UPFs (and surprise results), 6 artificial sweeteners linked to cognitive decline, tips on eczema, and how to be the kind of man women are interested in (from a man). Tips from a day as an 80-year-old; does our brain design how we age? The billionaires funding longevity. Tip: skip space travel to age well. Epstein (ugh). Can a smart phone harm someone’s mental health permanently by age 13? Why everyone’s bra straps are showing, and (unrelated) rabies outbreak. Femtech news and much, much more.

• Tip: If you hit a paywall here or anywhere, copy the URL of the article into archive.ph.¹

• See our “Why it matters” notes for context from our 30+ years in healthcare.

• Articles marked with an asterisk (*) are from professional journals.

• Disclaimer: Listing these headlines does not indicate a recommendation. With so many news items each week, we don’t take the time to review each. Use common sense and dig deeper into any issue that interests you. More on sources and bias.²

Our bodies

• In the news

  • If you use AI for therapy, here are 5 things experts recommend. (really)

  • Ms Magazine: Texas loves its bounty hunters and hates its women.

  • Can one-and-done dose of LSD keep anxiety at bay?

  • * New medical guidance for management of recurrent UTIs in women.

  • New research: Infant mortality rises in states with restrictive abortion laws.

  • Federal court blocks Trump administration from defunding Planned Parenthood.

  • Calls to close deadly equity gaps in endometrial cancer.

  • 5 surprising warnings signs of a heart attack, according to cardiologists.

  • I’m a dermatologist. Here’s the latest science on eczema.

  • Where is cannabis legal? A guide to all 50 states.

  • Study links microplastics to Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in mice.

  • Here’s what can happen if you clean your ears with a cotton swab.

• Trending

  • Federal report on danger of drinking withdrawn, report favored by industry that drinking is healthy substituted. (Yes. Really)

  • Beta-blockers may be harmful for women with some heart conditions.

    • Related: The pill that women are taking for everything from speeches to first dates.

  • New measles case in unvaccinated individual in Utah.

  • The new faces of cancer: Young, outspoken, and online.³

  • AI: The doctors are real, but the sales pitches are frauds.

  • Why are more older people dying after falls?

  • The sex recession: The share of Americans having regular sex keeps dropping.⁴

    • Related: Tips on ending the drought.

  • The right is waging a quiet war on contraception. Here’s why it will intensify.⁵

    • Related: Want to get young women off contraception? Go straight to TikTok and start a conspiracy.

• Nutrition and exercise

  • Do weighted vests help get you in shape faster?

  • Skipping breakfast, eating dinner late linked to surprising bone health risk.

  • My family went off UPFs for a month. The results surprised us.

  • This protein source may help lower your risk of heart disease.

  • Bitter memories: 6 artificial sweeteners linked cognitive decline.

    • Related: The latest science on sugar substitutes.

  • Keto diet may affect aging speed differently in women, men.

• GLP-1 news: see our separate update on ‘the tea on GLPs.’

Note we arbitrarily group some articles in generational/lifestyle categories for easier reading, but some overlap generations. Also check femtech, below, for more news that can apply to your generation and interests.

- Pregnancy, birth and parenting

• Upcoming HHS report to link autism with acetaminophen (Tylenol) use in pregnancy, folate deficiency, but FDA Commissioner Makary says the report hasn’t been finalized. Why this may or may not mean anything.⁶

  • Related: What the science says about acetaminophen, pregnant mothers and autism.

  • Related: Debate flares over an unproven link between Tylenol and autism.

• UPFs may harm male fertility, metabolic health.

• The pregnancy risk no one knows about. (gift article)

• Ultra-athletes are redefining what’s possible in pregnancy, postpartum.

• * Despite safety and repeat cesarean impact on future pregnancies, limited VBAC labor reported in most counties.

• * High genetic risk tied to gestational diabetes and family history.

• * Modifiable birth defect risk factors found in 2 of 3 US women.⁷

• Pregnancy and autoimmune diseases: Planning greatly improves outcomes.

• * Survey on severe morning sickness shows treatment patterns.

- The untethered-to-my-uterus years

• Study finds turning point when body starts aging rapidly.

• Our views of aging can shape how long we live.

• What being an 80-year-old teaches about preparing for aging.

• Want to age well? Skip space travel.

• More Americans are aging alone. Who will take care of us?

News impacting our health and lives, and those we love and guide

- SPECIAL SECTION: Vaccine chaos (Also see section on Kennedy’s HHS, below)

• Can anyone get a COVID vaccine? No.

• RFK Jr., the CDC and confusing vaccine recommendations. What to know.

• Concerned about federal vaccine policy chaos, states are crafting their own. Related:

  • California, Oregon and Washington form new health alliance to uphold scientific integrity in public health.

  • West coast states to issue their own vaccine schedule, not CDC’s.

  • Delaware joins new northeastern states regional public health coalition.

  • Massachusetts orders insurers to cover state-backed vaccines regardless of CDC support.

  • New NY law allows pharmacists to prescribe, administer COVID vaccine.

• From Pfizer: The updated COVID vaccine and availability.

• Can you get the updated COVID vaccine in your state?

• For some, Medicare isn’t covering the updated COVID vaccine yet.

  • AARP: 7 questions and answers about the updated COVID vaccine.

• Fall vaccine guide.

  • Related: Everything you need to know about flu shots this fall.

• FDA questions common practice of getting covid, flu vaccines together.⁸

• Florida surgeon general attempts to get rid of all childhood vaccinations.

  • Related: Steve Forbes: What Florida is doing to vaccine mandates is sick.

  • Related: Trump expresses reservations: “We have to be very careful.”

- Kennedy’s HHS

• See our updates from the last week of chaos — CDC: Have we reached FAFO? — with many more links to news reports.

• False and misleading statements Kennedy made this week to Senate Finance Committee.

  • Watch three key moments from the hearing.

• Ahead of hearing, GOP senators saw poll saying Trump supporters favor vaccines.

  • Related: Trump previously called mRNA vaccines a ‘medical miracle.’ Kennedy shut down $500M in funding and said he agrees “mRNA vaccines cause serious harm, including death.”

• Ahead of the meeting, Trump posted that the CDC is being “torn apart” on vaccine. He demanded data “NOW” (It’s readily available).

  • Trump administration’s endless search for vaccine data is calculated gaslighting.

• GOP discontent with Kennedy is growing and GOP senators signal to Trump that Kennedy is on thin ice.

• RFK Jr’s family members say he is a “threat” to Americans’ health, call for his resignation.

• 1000+ HHS employees demand RFK Jr. resign as leader for 'endangering the nation's health.'

• WSJ: Trump said RFK Jr. could ‘go wild.’ Kennedy’s testing the limits.

• BBC: Why the world is watching Kennedy’s fight with US health agency.

• Why the CDC’s ability to protect public health is compromised.

• How RFK Jr.’s misguided science on mRNA vaccines is shaping policy − a vaccine expert examines the false claims.

• Also in the news

  • Stop looking for the perfect woman and become the kind of man women actually want to marry (by a man).

  • The billionaires funding the quest for longevity.

  • Healthcare costs for workers begin to climb.

    • Related: 96,000 Coloradans just lost their health insurance. What to do if you insurer quits.

  • The Annunciation school shooting wasn’t even two weeks ago, and the nation barely muttered “thoughts and prayers” before moving right on—the second time we’ve turned our back on Minnesota in three months. The kids and families haven’t. A 12 year old fights with a bullet in her brain, school kids walked out this week statewide, and the principal called for change in a letter to JD Vance.

    • Related: The US has by far the highest child and teen firearm mortality rate among similarly large and wealthy OECD nations. While we have the same rates of mental illness, we kill far, far more people than peer nations.

    • Related: Gun control ended school shootings in the UK. What’s America’s excuse?

  • Epstein⁹

    • If you didn’t watch the victims’ news conference, click here.

    • On Epstein files, women lead the GOP resistance to Trump (and you’ve never seen stranger bedfellows.)

    • Where things stand with the files as the victims push for file release.

    • Epstein victims say they’re making their own list (which will engender a hail of lawsuits preventing it from seeing the light of day, keeping the victims in court for life.)

• Trending

  • Smartphones before age 13 could harm mental health for life.

  • Lab says workplace drugs down—but fentanyl increasing.

  • New student loan ‘payment reversals’ make it harder for borrowers to repay debt.

  • Why are everyone’s bra straps showing these days?

  • CDC warns of rabies outbreaks across the US.

Deeper dives | policy

• Council on Foreign Relations: Why stakes are high in the US vaccine debate.

• JAMA [professional journal] Network launches JAMA+Women’s Health.¹⁰

• The Economist: Climate change has a disproportionately greater impact on the health of women compared with men.

• WHO updates list of essential medicines to include key cancer, diabetes treatments.

Femtech and women’s health innovation

We’re way past time for innovation in women’s health, and Femtech is hoping to fill the gap. Don’t miss this free post with tips on investing in women’s health and see more about why investors are excited, but also why femtech can be the new Wild West. And see more about why we have a special section on femtech.¹¹

• Women’s health: Innovations and therapeutics.

• After struggling to find doctors who properly treated her own menopause symptoms, Joanna Strober created Midi Health.

• New blood test could detect ovarian cancer early.

• Astellas attacks menopause stigma with new workplace inclusivity program.

1. Archive.ph is a web archiving service that captures and preserves snapshots of web pages. If it’s a lesser-known site or if the article is very popular, it could take a few minutes to load, but it generally works very well—including, BTW, forwarding posts to Canada or other countries wisely concerned about some of our US media.

2. Sources: We check both public and professional news sites, with click-throughs for sources. We tend to go straight to the original info more than the interpretation of popular magazines and blogs, as we’ve found the latter do not always correctly interpret medical science information. Medical editors are becoming rare. We give you the news directly, including the primary studies when available, and leave you to your interpretation.

Bias: We’ve been in women’s and children’s health for over three decades as providers, international consultants, and health system execs. If you’re in healthcare, with few exceptions, women’s and children’s services are not where you make money; those services are more often loss leaders. From policy to research to reimbursement for providers, women and children are second rate citizens, absolutely related to the historical perception of monetary value. So, you probably won’t be surprised to understand we do not lean politically right on women’s health. We are center left but fair: we do not misrepresent data, and we do scan information from neutral and both center-left and center-right sites. If you’re wondering about media bias, check it on AllSides. We do.

3. There are some pretty amazing Substacks on this. With almost 2,000 others, I follow and support — as much as I can — Becks, not yet 50, who is dying from metastatic breast cancer. It’s impossible to explain how much is gained from what she’s willing to share. It’s one thing to know about cancer; it’s a completely different thing to experience it daily through someone else’s life and great heart.

4. Note the study is from the openly conservative Institute for Family Studies. They are a leading force on the crisis of not enough births. Watch for potential bias.

5. We’ve written about this several times in prior posts. Contraception was always going to be on the hot plate after abortion, in part because both oral contraceptives and IUDs may have at least a partial impact on implantation (thus qualifying in some minds as abortive). However, what’s accelerating it now is economic concerns about the very low birth rate, creating another potent religious-political match. Part and parcel of this: Lawsuits and Republican (WH and Congress) moves against Planned Parenthood and the ACA’s requirement that employers provide contraception. Expect more. As always, poor women — the ones who use Planned Parenthood, for example — are most at risk. Ask yourself, “If we’ve already kicked out 1.2 million low-wage working immigrants, exactly which Americans will replace them in a 4.2% unemployment rate economy?”

6. With Kennedy and research, it’s impossible to know right now what is his opinion versus what’s born out by actual research. Remember, he’s only been in office for a few months; real research takes much longer. Older research on Tylenol and autism indicated a possible link., but a 2024 study found no link, and a new Harvard study says it “may increase risk.” So what do you do? Exercise caution. Check with your doctor, and don’t take anything you don’t absolutely need. And study the research and report for yourself. Kennedy is not a doctor or a scientist, and he’s shown he’s willing to lie and mislead about what research shows when he doesn’t like it. (See section above on Kennedy’s HHS, specifically what he said to the Senate Finance Committee this week.)

7. In real life, modifications aren’t as easy as they appear in a study.

8. While I personally always split my vaccines—primarily to boost overall immunity—I am wary of just about any pronouncement coming from Kennedy’s FDA.

9. I know. I’m as exhausted by it as you are. But if there is any case that exemplifies how totally screwed up we are as a nation right now, this is it. And it could easily have been — or may yet be — our daughters and granddaughters.

10. Ummm … better late than never?

11. We have a special section on femtech for three reasons: While not all femtech is created equal, outside investors—now finally often led now by women—are stepping up in a major way to fill the huge hole that traditional medical research is still neglecting and will worsen under Trump and Kennedy’s NIH that classifies women’s health research as DEI. Second, many of us have never invested specifically in women’s health but are in a position now to do so—if not us, then who? Finally, it’s a good eye-opener to those of us who have been dulled to the possibility of better after decades of often insensitive and boringly predictable care. Femtech views that neglect as opportunity.