Elevated lead levels found in cinnamon products, report finds
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(NEW YORK) — Elevated levels of lead have been found in 12 of 36 ground cinnamon products and spice blends, according to a Consumer Reports article published Thursday.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not set lead-level thresholds for spices, but three of the products exceeded a proposed cutoff set by the American Spice Trade Association, and 12 exceeded a more stringent cutoff level set by New York State.
The level of lead identified in these products is not likely to pose an immediate health risk. There are trace levels of lead and other heavy metals in many of the foods we eat.
The problem, experts say, can come from repeat exposure or exposure to higher levels, especially for children or pregnant women.
Because of these health concerns, the FDA is actively monitoring ground cinnamon supplies and has recently alerted the public about certain products.
Last year, a major recall of apple cinnamon pouches with high lead levels led to health problems in at least 90 confirmed cases. This year, the FDA has released multiple health alerts for ground cinnamon products with elevated lead levels.
In July, several New York distributors recalled ground cinnamon products that were potentially contaminated with increased levels of lead.
The cinnamon tested in the Consumer Reports investigation included store-bought cinnamon and other cinnamon-containing spice mixtures. Again, three of these products had levels exceeding a proposed cutoff set by the American Spice Trace Association. When contacted by Consumer Reports, two of the three companies (Paras and EGN) said they would withdraw those products from the market.
Cinnamon may have a higher lead level risk because cinnamon trees grow for years before their bark is harvested, giving them more time to absorb lead in the soil.
In small amounts, lead exposure may not lead to any symptoms, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that significant or chronic lead exposure can cause various health issues including hypertension, kidney dysfunction, or cognitive issues in adults, and central nervous system damage like seizures and developmental defects such as learning disorders or other long-term health problems in children.
Doctors say there is no known safe level of lead for children.
(NEW YORK) — Health officials are warning Americans about a rare insect-borne virus that has infected several travelers.
As of Aug. 16, there have been 21 cases of Oropouche virus disease, sometimes called “sloth fever,” detected among U.S. travelers returning from Cuba, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC said it wants clinicians and public health offices to be aware of the virus and to test for suspected cases, and for travelers to protect themselves from insect bites.
Here’s what you need to know about the virus:
What is ‘sloth fever’?
Oropouche virus is an arthropod-borne virus, meaning a type of virus spread to people by the bite of infected arthropods, a group of insects.
The virus is mainly spread to humans by infected culicoides prariensis, a species of biting midges, although it can be transmitted by certain mosquito species, according to the CDC.
It is sometimes called “sloth fever” because scientists investigating the virus first found it in a three-toed sloth and the virus naturally live in sloths, non-human primates and birds.
“I think that really stems from the role of sloths as hosts in that natural transmission cycle,” Dr. Chantal Vogels, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News. “But there’s other animals involved as well.”
Oropouche virus is endemic to the Amazon basin — including Bolivia, Colombia and Peru — and was first discovered in a human in 1955 in a febrile forest worker in a village in Trinidad and Tobago.
“The concern is that now it is spreading to Cuba and possibly elsewhere in the Caribbean, with imported cases in the U.S.,” Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told ABC News. “There is a possibility that it could gain a foothold in the southern U.S. especially in Gulf Coast states.”
What are the symptoms?
The incubation period of Oropouche virus disease is three to 10 days and matches symptoms of similar diseases including dengue, Zika and chikungunya.
Common symptoms include fever, headache, chills, muscle aches and joint pain, typically lasting about two to seven days and then disappearing.
Patients may experience other symptoms including nausea, vomiting, rash, sensitivity to light, dizziness and pain behind the eyes.
“This virus is an interesting one in that about a week later, 50% or more of people will have a recurrence of the symptoms,” Dr. Michael Angarone, an infectious diseases specialist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, told ABC News. “So, the symptoms will recur and, again, be present for around five days to seven days and then go away. So, I think that’s a very interesting aspect of this virus.”
How is it treated?
To be diagnosed with Oropouche virus disease, a health care provider will have to order laboratory tests.
There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat Oropouche virus disease. Treatment mainly involves treating the symptoms including getting rest, preventing dehydration, and taking over-the-counter pain medicine, such as acetaminophen, according to the CDC.
The CDC advises against taking aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs until dengue can be ruled out to lower the risk of bleeding.
How do I prevent the virus?
The best prevention method is to prevent bites from midges or mosquitoes. The CDC recommends using insect repellent, having tight-fitting screens on windows and doors, wearing long-sleeve shirts and pants and using a fan when outdoors.
Currently there is no evidence of local transmission in the U.S; the only cases have been travel-related.
“Here in the U.S., I think travelers should be alert,” Vogels said. “If they travel to areas where there is ongoing transmission, they should be aware of potential symptoms upon return.”
There have also been recent reports of possible vertical transmission, which is when a pregnant person passes the infection to their baby in utero. The infection may result in adverse pregnancy outcomes, including fetal deaths and congenital malformations.
“This has been demonstrated in South America, but also in, I think, a few of the cases that are being looked at now from Cuba,” Angarone said. “There have been descriptions of fetal demise, so [miscarriage] or premature labor and congenital abnormalities, they have not been confirmed to be caused by the virus or the infection, and that’s what’s being looked into.”
The experts recommend that travelers — especially those who are older or immunocompromised — exercise further precautions when traveling to prevent infection.
Those who are pregnant and are considering travel to countries with an Oropouche virus Level 2 Travel Health Notice, reconsider nonessential travel, the CDC says.
(SILVER SPRING, Md.) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved the first new drug to treat people with schizophrenia in more than 30 years.
Cobenfy, manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb, combines two drugs, xanomeline and trospium chloride, and is taken as a twice-daily pill. In clinical trials, this combination helped manage symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking, which are common in schizophrenia.
“Schizophrenia is a leading cause of disability worldwide. It is a severe, chronic mental illness that is often damaging to a person’s quality of life,” Tiffany Farchione, M.D., director of the Division of Psychiatry, Office of Neuroscience in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the approval announcement.
“This drug takes the first new approach to schizophrenia treatment in decades,” Farchione continued. “This approval offers a new alternative to the antipsychotic medications people with schizophrenia have previously been prescribed.”
Cobenfy offers new hope for people with schizophrenia, providing an innovative treatment option that could change how this condition is managed, according to Jelena Kunovac, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in the Department of Psychiatry.
“We are overdue for a medication that targets schizophrenia with a different mechanism of action,” Kunovac told ABC News.
The first drugs for schizophrenia, including chlorpromazine and haloperidol – also known by the brand names Thorazine and Haldol, respectively – were introduced in the 1950s and revolutionized treatment of the disease. However, there have been very few new medications since then, with most subsequent FDA approvals being for variations of these older drugs.
Most schizophrenia medications, broadly known as antipsychotics, work by changing dopamine levels, a brain chemical that affects mood, motivation, and thinking, Kunovac explained. Cobenfy takes a different approach by adjusting acetylcholine, another brain chemical that aids memory, learning and attention, she said.
By focusing on acetylcholine instead of dopamine, Cobenfy may reduce schizophrenia symptoms while avoiding common side effects like weight gain, drowsiness and movement disorders, clinical trials suggest. These side effects often become so severe and unpleasant that, in some studies mirroring real-world challenges, many patients stopped treatment within 18 months of starting it.
In clinical trials, only 6% of patients stopped taking Cobenfy due to side effects, noted Dr. Samit Hirawat, chief medical officer at Bristol Myers Squibb. “That’s a significant improvement over the 20-30% seen with older antipsychotic drugs,” he added.
The most common side effects of Cobenfy are nausea, indigestion, constipation, vomiting, hypertension, abdominal pain, diarrhea, increased heart rate, dizziness and gastroesophageal reflux disease, according to the FDA announcement.
“It may prove advantageous to those who don’t tolerate what has been available,” Dr. Leslie Citrome, a clinical professor of psychiatry and expert in psychopharmacology at New York Medical College, told ABC News regarding Cobenfy. “This will provide a new approach that may work out quite nicely.”
Citrome emphasized that patients who have trouble tolerating the side effects of traditional schizophrenia medications may benefit most from Cobenfy, and that a different mechanism of action holds hope for those who have not responded adequately to existing treatments.
Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder that affects about 24 million people worldwide, or roughly one in 300 people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It often leads to significant challenges in daily functioning, work, and relationships, impacting both patients and their families.
The disorder typically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood and can lead to lifelong disability if not properly managed, according to the WHO, further highlighting the need for effective treatment options.
Following approval, doctors could start prescribing Cobenfy by the end of October, according to Adam Lenkowsky, executive vice president and chief commercialization officer at Bristol Myers Squibb.
Experts hope that the drug’s unique mechanism and reduced side effects will help set a new standard of care for schizophrenia patients. Studies for additional therapeutic uses, including the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and bipolar disorder, are also underway.
Jake Goodman, MD, MBA is a psychiatry resident physician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(BATTLE CREEK, Mich.) Hundreds of people gathered outside the WK Kellogg headquarters in Michigan on Tuesday calling for the company to hold up its promise to remove artificial dyes from its breakfast cereals sold in the U.S.
Nearly 10 years ago, Kellogg’s, the maker of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks, committed to removing such additives from its products by 2018.
While Kellogg’s has done so in other countries including Canada, which now makes Froot Loops with natural fruit juice concentrates, the cereals sold in the U.S. still contain both food dyes and a chemical preservative.
Food activist Vani Hari, also known as the Food Babe on social media, spoke to the crowd of demonstrators at the cereal giant’s offices in Battle Creek on Tuesday.
“I’m here for the moms, all the moms, who struggle to feed their children healthy food without added chemicals,” she said.
In response to the protests, Kellogg’s insisted its products are safe for consumption, saying its ingredients meet the federal standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The agency has said that most children experience no adverse effects from color additives, but critics argue the FDA standards were developed without any assessment for possible neurological effects.
The protests come in the wake of a new California law known as the California School Food Safety Act that bans six potentially harmful dyes in foods served in California public schools. The ban includes all of the dyes in Froot Loops, plus Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3.
The bill was passed by state legislators in August and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September.
Studies suggest that consumption of said dyes and colorants banned under the new California School Food Safety Act may be linked to hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children, as the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment outlined in a 2021 report.
While there are still thousands of chemicals allowed for use in our country’s commercial food system, many of those that have been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration have not been reevaluated for decades. Red 40, for example, was last evaluated for health risks in 1971.
Reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics align with this push to reassess the safety of artificial food coloring.
California previously made history in October 2023, when Newsom signed AB 418 into law, a first-of-its-kind bill that bans four harmful chemicals from candy, cereals, salad dressings and other processed foods in the state starting in 2027.
That law will end the use of brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and Red Dye No. 3 in food products sold throughout the state.
