Trending News Today: Impact of Removing Sugar from Diets

As soon as this week, the United States Justice Department could challenge 2 major health insurance mergers, reported The New York Times. Critics argue that the merger between Anthem and Cigna, and Aetna and Humana, would have a large impact on the health insurance landscape. Furthermore, the mergers threaten to continue consolidating the market for private Medicare plans.

Despite concerns, the largest and most comprehensive study to date concluded that in vitro fertilization (IVF) does not increase the risk of developing breast cancer. According to The New York Times, IVF temporarily requires increasing levels of sex hormones to 5 or 10 times the normal, 2 of which, estrogen and progesterone, can affect the course of certain forms of breast cancer. In addition to the study finding no increased risk among women who receive IVF, researchers also found there was no greater risk among women who have had various types of less intensive treatments to improve their fertility. “The main takeaway is there’s no evidence of an increased subsequent risk of breast cancer, at least in the first couple decades,” Saundra S. Buys, oncologist at Huntsman Cancer Institute, told The Times.

In a study published in Atherosclerosis, researchers found that obese children who remove sugar from their diets saw improvements in markers of heart disease. In the study, researchers evaluated 37 obese children between the ages of 9- and 18-years-old at a high risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. These improvements in the participants were seen after just 9 days, reported The New York Times.