White House releases new dietary guidelines encouraging Americans to limit highly processed foods
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office of the White House on December 15, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration announced new federal dietary guidelines on Wednesday, encouraging Americans to limit highly processed foods and to reduce refined carbohydrates.
The guidelines also recommend eating whole foods like fruits and vegetables, incorporating healthy fats, prioritizing protein-rich meals and consuming full-fat dairy with no added sugars.
The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are updated every five years, come as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made nutrition policy a cornerstone of his Make America Healthy Again agenda.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Colorectal cancer was once viewed as being mostly diagnosed among middle-age and older adults, but that’s changing.
Research shows more adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, with incidence increasing over the last three decades.
Deaths are on the rise too, with a recent study finding colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men — and second in women, under age 50.
“It’s definitely incredibly concerning that these rates continue to rise and that we really don’t know why this is happening,” Dr. Andrea Cercek, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, told ABC News.
Oncologists told ABC News that it’s important to get the word out about how colorectal cancer is affecting younger adults in an effort to try and reverse the trends.
Colorectal cancer rising among younger adults According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), incidence of colorectal cancer in adults between ages 20 and 39 has been rising about 2% every year since the mid-1990s.
What’s more, about one in five people currently being diagnosed with colorectal cancer are under age 55, ACS states.
“Two-thirds of the young patients present already as stage three and four, which is a sad fact,” Dr. Y. Nancy You, a professor of surgery in the department of colon & rectal surgery and medical director of the young-onset colorectal cancer program at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told ABC News.
Research shows it’s not only colorectal cancer cases that are on the rise among younger adults but deaths as well.
A study published earlier this month from ACS in the medical journal JAMA found that as of 2023, colorectal cancer has surpassed all other cancers as the leading cause of cancer deaths among Americans under age 50.
Since 2005, deaths from colon and rectal cancers in those under age 50 have risen by 1.1% every year, the study found.
“Whenever we see rates increasing for cancers in younger individuals, it does lead to concern as to why this is happening and also how these individuals may know that they could start screening at younger ages,” Dr. Veda Giri, a professor of internal medicine (medical oncology) and director of the early onset cancer program at at Yale School of Medicine, told ABC News.
“So, the concern comes up not only about why, but what can we do now based on our available ways of screening, detecting and treating cancers that we can now implement in this space of early onset colorectal cancer,” she added.
Why are cases, deaths related to colorectal cancer rising? Oncologists told ABC News they’re not sure why there’s an increase in colorectal cancer among younger adults, but research is ongoing.
Giri said some the rise could be tied to a higher consumption of ultra-processed foods and processed meats along with a lower intake of fiber or other food substances.
She said a great deal of research is being focused on the gut microbiome and whether disruptions from external exposures, such as diet or environment, may play a role.
“There’s been some work going on trying to characterize obesity patterns and rise in colorectal cancer,” Giri said. “Obesity might be a proxy for things like sedentary lifestyle, eating of these ultra-processed foods, and we certainly see a spectrum of patients where some with early onset colorectal cancer may have obesity, but they’re also individuals that are not obese.”
Risk factors including smoking and heavy alcohol use and have been linked with a higher likelihood of developing colorectal cancer.
A family history of colorectal cancer or colon polyps can also raise the risk of colorectal cancer as can genetic conditions such as Lynch syndrome.
Additionally, inflammatory bowel diseases, including chronic ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, can lead to long-term colon inflammation and raise the risk of colorectal cancer.
Experts believe that whatever is behind the rise, it’s likely to be caused by multiple factors rather than one factor.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a single smoking gun,” You said. “I think cancer is a complex disease. It’s heterogeneous. What makes a cell turn cancerous is probably a lot of factors.”
How to reverse the trend In 2021, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force lowered the recommended age at which people at average risk should start screening from age 50 to age 45.
For those with a family history of colon cancer, doctors say people should start screening at either age 40 or 10 years before the age a family member was diagnosed, whichever comes first.
“If we can identify individuals at risk, then we could screen those individuals earlier,” Cercek said. “The problem is that we’ve lowered already screening age to 45, which captured a lot of the population, but the steepest rise is actually the 20 to 30 year olds.”
Doctors said they hope highlighting the risk younger Americans face will raise awareness and help them pay attention to any symptoms they develop.
The most common symptoms of colorectal cancer include persistent changes in bowel habits, unfinished bowel habits, rectal bleeding or blood in stool, abdominal pain or discomfort, unexplained weight loss and fatigue.
“We definitely don’t want to create like a reign of terror where any little thing will trigger a cancer worry or cancer workup,” You said. “But at the same time, I think there’s room to improve in terms of whenever somebody does present with symptoms to get them to a cancer workup faster than what is happening today.”
Abortion rights protesters chant slogans during a gathering to protest the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health case on June 24, 2022 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. (Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two bills having to do with abortion are making their way through the Wyoming legislature.
The first bill, HB0126, dubbed the Human Heartbeat Act, prohibits abortion if cardiac activity is detected in the fetus, which is around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant.
If cardiac activity is detected, an abortion can only be performed in the case of a medical emergency, meaning if the life of the mother is in danger or if continuing the pregnancy would cause serious or irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, according to the bill, which does not include exceptions for women impregnated as a result of rape or incest.
Any person who intentionally or knowingly violates the act will be charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, according to the bill.
“What this bill attempts to do is to provide a line in the sand,” Republican Speaker of the House Rep. Chip Neiman said at a Wyoming House Labor, Health & Social Services Committee meeting on Monday. “This gives the unborn child the right to be protected and the privilege of being carried to term after a fetal heartbeat is detected.”
The bill also asserts that “substantial medical evidence” shows that a fetus can experience pain by 15 weeks of gestation.
“The science conclusively establishes that a human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after at least 24–25 weeks,” according to the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG).
The other bill, HB 117 or “Stop harm-empower women with informed notices,” requires medical professionals to give pregnant women written notices before performing an abortion.
The notice would include a description of the proposed abortion method, if there are medical risks associated with the method, alternatives such as adoption and parenting, and the medical risks associated with carrying the fetus to term
Patients who feel they’ve been coerced into receiving an abortion would be allowed to sue any providers for not less than $25,000.
The bill also includes text about the abortion drug mifepristone, including putting in the written notice that mifepristone alone is not always effective in ending a pregnancy. The written notice must also include that pregnant women should consult a health care provider if, after taking mifepristone, they regret their decision “to determine if there are options available to assist her in continuing her pregnancy.”
ACOG states that medication abortion “reversal” is not supported by science and that so-called reversal procedures are “unproven and unethical.”
Earlier this week, the Wyoming House Labor, Health & Social Services Committee recommended that both bills be passed. The bills will now go to the Wyoming State House for debate, amendment and voting.
Currently, abortion is allowed in Wyoming until fetal viability, which occurs at around 25 weeks of gestation, according to ACOG, defined as a fetus’ chances of surviving outside of the womb.
Only physicians are allowed to provide abortions in Wyoming, and they are required to submit a report to the Wyoming Department of Health within 20 days of any abortion procedure, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual and reproductive health.
In 2023, Wyoming passed two abortion bans. However, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in January that the bans were unconstitutional, violating a “health care freedom” amendment to the state constitution that was passed in 2012 that states in part that “each competent adult shall have the right to make his or her own health care decisions,” and that “the parent, guardian or legal representative of any other natural person shall have the right to make health care decisions for that person.”
During his State of the State address earlier this month, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon suggested that voters should decide on the issue.
“There’s another arduous task that I bring before you, which is the issue of abortion,” he said. “Protecting life is the most serious responsibility entrusted to government. The question of abortion deserves careful deliberation and I urge this legislature to take up this issue earnestly and put forward a genuine solution to the voters of Wyoming that provides a clear, irrefutable, durable, and morally sound resolution to this fraught issue.”
A woman and child walk by a damaged building, struck days earlier, during the U.S.Israeli military campaign on March 4, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As the U.S.-Israeli military escalation with Iran continues, children may be experiencing devastating consequences of being caught in a conflict zone. Dozens of children and adolescents have been killed, many of whom were attending school at the time, according to the Iranian education ministry.
Doctors and humanitarian aid workers told ABC News that millions of children in the region are at risk of physical and mental health repercussions.
They add that it’s important children have as much structure as possible to keep a sense of stability in their lives.
“Every war is a war on children,” Ahmad Alhendawi, regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe at Save the Children, told ABC News. “They are not the reason why the war started, but they are the ones who pay the highest prices. Their childhood simply gets disrupted.”
Mental health effects
Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of the humanitarian organization MedGlobal, told ABC News that the mental and emotional toll on children in conflict zones is a “huge problem.”
“Children are some of the most vulnerable sectors of the community because they need to feel that they are supported, they need it to feel that there is safety and shelter and supporting communities and they need normalcy,” he said.
Sahloul said that when children are caught in conflict zones, a sense of stability and routine is essential.
This includes going to school consistently, having playgrounds available so they can play, regular family meals and a place to sleep at night.
When any of these are disrupted, it can affect children’s mental health, causing anxiety, hyperactivity, withdrawal or feelings of sadness, according to Sahloul.
He added, “The trauma that [children] incur from violence and from what they see on TV, and of course the direct witnessing of bombs and missiles and its impact on their communities and neighbors and families, all of this will cause a lot of mental health trauma that manifests itself based on the age of the child.”
Studies of past conflicts have shown the effects of living in war-torn areas.
At least 10% of those who experience traumatic events in armed conflict will have serious mental health problems and another 10% “will develop behavior that will hinder their ability to function effectively,” according to the World Health Organization in a review of research findings.
Mental health impacts can be exacerbated when locales that are supposed to be safe spaces come under attack, Sahloul said.
Over the weekend, Shajare Tayyiba Elementary School, an all-girls elementary school in Minab located in southern Iran was hit by airstrikes, according to Iranian officials.
Iran has blamed the U.S. and Israel for the strike on the school, but Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have denied any connection. Top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have insisted the U.S. does not target civilian infrastructure.
“That adds, of course, to the trauma,” Sahloul said. “These are areas that should be considered safe and when people die in school or in a hospital or in the market, I think that adds to the trauma.”
Physical effects on children
There are physical risks for children that come with living in conflict zones, such as breathing in smoke and ash from fires and blasts that can affect the nose and lungs.
Children may also be seriously injured during air strikes, resulting in disability such as the loss of limb, sight or cognitive capacity.
“The physical impact on children is much more significant because there are fears for their development,” Alhendawi said.
Sahloul added that because children’s bodies are often smaller, shorter and thinner than those of adults, they are more likely to be hurt by projectiles such as bullets or shrapnel.
In children, severe bleeding can lead to shock, he said. Children are also more prone to amputation because of the smaller size of their limbs and they’re more prone to burns because their skin is thinner than adults’ skin.
Sahloul said that mental health trauma in children can have effects on their physical health. Research has shown a significant association between physical health problems and clinical mental health symptoms.
“So [mental health symptoms] can lead to depressed immunity to fight infection,” he said. “It can lead to malnutrition. It can lead to stunted growth.”
Health experts noted adults may also experience similar physical and mental health effects in conflict zones and may benefit from similar interventions.
How to help
Experts told ABC News it’s important to make sure that children are provided structure as much as possible while living in war zones to help with their development and well-being. Additionally, when possible, they said it important to create child-friendly spaces that allow children to learn, play and receive psychosocial support.
Alhendawi said Save the Children is not currently operating in Iran but is stationed in nine surrounding countries and is prepared to provide full shelter and basic services for a population that may be displaced.
