Tomorrow’s Health: Poverty’s a killer, poor food choices & masking policies

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - There are more changes to masking at health facilities, and there’s a link between poverty and death.

Poverty’s a killer

Poverty is silently killing hundreds of thousands of Americans.

That’s according to a study in JAMA that associated poverty with an estimated 183,000 deaths in 2019.

Researchers say people in poverty have less access to resources and that only heart disease, cancer, and smoking kill more Americans

They hope their findings will lead to better policies to address this issue.

Poor food choices

New research from Tufts University links poor food choices to 14 million cases of type 2 diabetes.

Scientists analyzed data from the past 30 years and found poor carbohydrate quality is a leading driver of new cases.

That includes the lack of eating whole grains, consuming too much refined rice and wheat, and eating too much processed meat.

Masking policies

Infectious disease experts say it’s time to end universal masking in healthcare settings.

Physicians say the updates, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, reflect advancements in prevention and management.

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