Maria Godoy
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The researchers write that, quote, ultra processed foods harm every major organ system in the human body.
These foods have rapidly displaced fresh foods and traditional diets around the world, even as diet related diseases have been rising.
The authors say government policies like soda taxes, warning labels, and limiting the use of these foods in school meals are urgently needed.
The papers appear in the journal The Lancet.
Children usually get their first dose of the measles vaccine between the ages of 12 and 15 months.
But in March of this year, as a massive measles outbreak spread rapidly in Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that infants in the state get their first dose early, between 6 and 11 months of age.
Now, an analysis finds that in the months after that recommendation, early vaccinations among Texas children spiked by 20%.
By contrast, less than 1% of kids in the state got an early first dose in prior years.
In a related commentary, researchers say this rapid early uptake of the vaccine likely contributed to the slowing of measles transmission in Texas by May of this year.
About 1 in 10 babies born across the U.S.
last year was premature, and those rates were much higher in some U.S.
states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, and for certain racial and ethnic minorities, especially Black women and infants.
The March of Dimes report also found about 1 in 4 pregnant women didn't receive prenatal care in their first trimester, a decline from previous years.
Meanwhile, the prevalence of pre-existing chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes increased.
Both are known risk factors for preterm birth.
The March of Dimes says the findings should be a call to improve systemic inequities and access to care across the country.
About 1 in 10 babies born across the U.S.