first opinion
New policies could worsen intersex health care
Adobe
Kimberly Zieselman was born intersex. You may not have heard of intersex traits — variations in someone's sex anatomy that don't align with binary categories of female or male — but they're as common as red hair, green eyes, and more common than identical twins. "We have always been here," Zieselman writes in a new First Opinion essay.
For decades, people with intersex traits have been subjected to medically unnecessary and often nonconsensual surgeries, so they might better fit inside the category of male or female. Zieselman writes that she's never been able to find competent intersex-affirming health care. And she fears that the Trump administration's policies around sex and gender will make health care even worse for people like her. Read more about her personal experience and how new policies might affect her.
chronic disease
ME/CFS research program at Columbia is shut down
At Columbia University, the Center for Solutions for ME/CFS is one of few places in the country fully devoted to studying the condition known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Now, the large research program has been forced to shut down because of the Trump administration's cuts to the university's funding, one of its top researchers told STAT's Isabella Cueto.
Columbia is allowing the center to keep paying salaries for workers who were supported by the slashed grants, but they can't purchase supplies to continue research or fill any newly vacant positions.Three projects at multiple institutions involving thousands of patients hang in the balance: a large genetics study, another one searching for infections that can lead to ME/CFS, and a third to analyze patients' self-reported symptoms in an app and compare them with biological markers.
It seems to be the second time that the administration's cuts at Columbia have struck programs focused on chronic disease, despite emphasis from Trump and other officials that it's a major priority. Read more from Isa on the latest.
nutrition
California makes moves on ultra-processed foods at school
California lawmakers are seeking to remove ultra-processed foods deemed "particularly harmful" to both physical and mental health from the state's school lunches by 2032. The bill proposes the first legal definition of ultra-processed foods in the country, while scientists have yet to come to a consensus on the definition. Broadly, it's understood to refer to foods that are industrially produced and contain additives like artificial flavors, emulsifiers, preservatives, and synthetic dyes.
The move is indicative of how states are stepping into a perceived vacuum left by the federal government, STAT's Sarah Todd reports. Read more on how much support the bill has, and what it would mean if it passed.
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