Sadness, fear, worry, or other emotions can affect us during or after tough situations, like dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of a family member or friend, or experiences related to racism. Dealing with these challenges can weigh heavily on your mental health, and recent data suggest this is the case for many who have sought professional help with their mental health since the pandemic started.

Increases in mental health-related ED visits

Recent research suggests that some racial and ethnic minority groups have been more affected by mental health challenges related to the pandemic. According to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry, these groups had significant increases in emergency department (ED) visits for new and existing mental disorders during and after a COVID-19 case surge.

• Asian adults had increases in the number of visits for most of the mental disorders that the study looked at, including a 21% increase in ED visits with depression during a COVID-19 surge.
• American Indian and Alaska Native adults had increases in the number of ED visits for multiple mental disorders after a COVID-19 surge, including a 42% increase in trauma and stressor-related visits.
• There was a 24% increase in ED visits for bipolar disorder among Hispanic adults and a 14% increase in trauma and stressor disorder-related visits among Black adults after a surge.

Mental Health Impact of Stress

It’s natural to feel stress, anxiety, grief, and worry during challenging times. Feeling strong emotions or being stressed can have negative effects on your health. Stress can cause the following:

• Feelings of fear, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, or frustration.
• Changes in appetite, energy, desires, or interests.
• Problems concentrating or making decisions.
• Nightmares or problems sleeping.
• Physical reactions, such as headaches, body pains, stomach problems, or skin rashes.
• Worsening of chronic diseases and mental health conditions.
• Overeating or not eating enough.
• Increased use of alcohol, illegal drugs (like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine), and misuse of prescription drugs (like opioids).

Healthy Ways to Cope with Stress

Learning to cope with stress in a healthy way will help you, the people you care about, and those around you become more resilient. You can help yourself, others, and your community manage stress in the following ways.

• Take breaks from news stories, including those on social media. It’s good to be informed, but constant discouraging information can be upsetting. Consider limiting news to just a couple of times a day and disconnecting from your phone, TV, and computer screens for a while.

Take care of your body:

• Get vaccinated and stay up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines.
• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and dairy products. Eating well also means limiting saturated fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars.
• Going to bed at the same time each night and getting up at the same time each morning, including on the weekends, can help you sleep better (adults need 7 or more hours per night).
• Move more and sit less. Every little bit of physical activity helps. You can start small and build up to 150 minutes a week that can be broken down to smaller amounts such as 20 to 30 minutes a day.
• Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate.
• Limit alcohol intake. Choose not to drink, or drink in moderation (one drink a day for women, two for men) on days that alcohol is consumed.
• Avoid using prescription drugs in ways other than prescribed, taking someone else’s prescription, or using illegal drugs. Treatment is available and recovery starts with asking for help.
• Avoid smoking and the use of other tobacco products. People can and do quit smoking for good.
• Continue with regular health appointments, testing, and screening, especially those for cancer.

More than 37 million Americans have diabetes (about 1 in 10), and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes most often develops in people over age 45, but more and more children, teens, and young adults are also developing it.

Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that acts like a key to let blood sugar into the cells in your body for use as energy. If you have type 2 diabetes, cells don’t respond normally to insulin; this is called insulin resistance. Your pancreas makes more insulin to try to get cells to respond. Eventually your pancreas can’t keep up, and your blood sugar rises, setting the stage for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. High blood sugar is damaging to the body and can cause other serious health problems, such as heart disease,  vision loss, and kidney disease.

Symptoms and Risk Factors

Type 2 diabetes symptoms often develop over several years and can go on for a long time without being noticed (sometimes there aren’t any noticeable symptoms at all). Because symptoms can be hard to spot, it’s important to know the risk factors and to see your doctor to get your blood sugar tested if you have any of them.

Testing for Type 2 Diabetes

A simple blood test will let you know if you have diabetes. If you’ve gotten your blood sugar tested at a health fair or pharmacy, follow up at a clinic or doctor’s office to make sure the results are accurate.

Managing Diabetes

Unlike many health conditions, diabetes is managed mostly by you, with support from your health care team (including your primary care doctor, foot doctor, dentist, eye doctor, registered dietitian nutritionist, diabetes educator, and pharmacist), family, and other important people in your life. Managing diabetes can be challenging, but everything you do to improve your health is worth it!

You may be able to manage your diabetes with healthy eating and being active, or your doctor may prescribe insulin, other injectable medications, or oral diabetes medicines to help manage your blood sugar and avoid complications. You’ll still need to eat healthy and be active if you take insulin or other medicines. It’s also important to keep your blood pressure and cholesterol close to the targets your doctor sets for you and get necessary screening tests.

You’ll need to check your blood sugar regularly. Ask your doctor how often you should check it and what your target blood sugar levels should be. Keeping your blood sugar levels as close to target as possible will help you prevent or delay diabetes-related complications.

Stress is a part of life, but it can make managing diabetes harder, including managing your blood sugar levels and dealing with daily diabetes care. Regular physical activity, getting enough sleep, and relaxation exercises can help. Talk to your doctor and diabetes educator about these and other ways you can manage stress.

Make regular appointments with your health care team to be sure you’re on track with your treatment plan and to get help with new ideas and strategies if needed.

Whether you were just diagnosed with diabetes or have had it for some time, meeting with a diabetes educator is a great way to get support and guidance, including how to:

• Develop a healthy eating and activity plan
• Test your blood sugar and keep a record of the results
• Recognize the signs of high or low blood sugar and what to do about it
• If needed, give yourself insulin by syringe, pen, or pump
• Monitor your feet, skin, and eyes to catch problems early
• Buy diabetes supplies and store them properly
• Manage stress and deal with daily diabetes care

Ask your doctor about diabetes self-management education and support services and to recommend a diabetes educator, or search the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists’ (ADCES) nationwide directory for a list of programs in your community.

Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Teens

Childhood obesity rates are rising, and so are the rates of type 2 diabetes in youth. More than 75% of children with type 2 diabetes have a close relative who has it, too. But it’s not always because family members are related; it can also be because they share certain habits that can increase their risk. Parents can help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes by developing a plan for the whole family:

• Drinking more water and fewer sugary drinks
• Eating more fruits and vegetables
• Making favorite foods healthier
• Making physical activity more fun

Healthy changes become habits more easily when everyone makes them together. Find out how to take charge family style with these healthy tips.

Get Support

Tap into online diabetes communities for encouragement, insights, and support. The American Diabetes Association’s Community page and ADCES’s Peer Support Resources are great ways to connect with others who share your experience.

A plant based diet is one that focuses on only or mostly foods from plant sources. This way of eating may have benefits for both a person’s health and the planet.

In this article, we look at what a plant based diet is, the health benefits, and what nutritional considerations a person should make before switching.

What is a plant based diet?

Many people interpret a plant based diet as avoiding all animal products.

A plant based diet is a diet that involves consuming mostly or only on foods that come from plants. People understand and use the term plant based diet in different ways.

Some people interpret it as a vegan diet, which involves avoiding all animal products.

For others, a plant based diet means that plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes, are the main focus of their diet, but they may, occasionally, consume meat, fish, or dairy products.

A plant based diet also focuses on healthful whole foods, rather than processed foods.

Health benefits

Following a plant based diet offers many possible health benefits, including:

Better weight management

Research suggests that people who eat primarily plant based diets tend to have a lower body mass index (BMI) and lower rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease than those who eat meat.

Plant based diets are high in fiber, complex carbohydrates, and water content from fruit and vegetables. This may help to keep people feeling fuller for longer and increase energy use when resting.

A 2018 study found that a plant based diet was effective for treating obesity. In the study, researchers assigned 75 people who were overweight or had obesity to either a vegan diet or a continuation of their regular diet, which contained meat.

After 4 months, only the vegan group showed a significant weight loss of 6.5 kilograms (14.33 pounds). The plant based vegan group also lost more fat mass and saw improvements in insulin sensitivity, whereas those who consumed a regular diet with meat did not.

A 2009 study on more than 60,000 people also found that vegans had the lowest average BMI, followed by lacto-ovo vegetarians (those that eat dairy and eggs) and pescatarians (people who eat fish but no other meat). The group with the higher average BMI were nonvegetarians.

Lower risk of heart disease and other conditions

A 2019 study from the Journal of the American Heart Association found that middle aged adults who ate diets high in healthful plant foods and low in animal products had a lower risk of heart disease.

According to the American Heart Association , eating less meat can also reduce the risk of:

• stroke
• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• certain cancers
• type 2 diabetes
• obesity

Diabetes prevention and treatment

Plant based diets may help people prevent or manage diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity and reducing insulin resistance.

Of the 60,000 people studied in 2009, only 2.9% of people on a vegan diet had type 2 diabetes, compared to 7.6% of those eating a nonvegetarian diet.

People eating vegetarian diets that included dairy and eggs also had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes than meat eaters.

Researchers have also looked at whether following a plant based diet can help treat diabetes. The authors of a 2018 review indicate that vegetarian and vegan diets could help people with diabetes reduce their medication needs, lose weight, and improve other metabolic markers.

The authors suggested that doctors might consider recommending plant based diets to people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. While veganism showed the most benefits, the researchers stated that all plant based diets would lead to improvements.

People wanting to try a plant based diet should try one that they think they can follow long term.

Foods to eat

People should focus on eating the following food groups when transitioning to a plant based diet:

Fruits

A plant based diet includes all fruits, such as:

• berries
• citrus fruits
• bananas
• apples
• grapes
• melons
• avocado

Vegetables

A healthful plant based diet contains plenty of vegetables. Including a variety of colorful vegetables provides a wide range of vitamins and minerals.

Examples include:

• broccoli
• kale
• beetroot
• cauliflower
• asparagus
• carrots
• tomatoes
• peppers
• zucchini

Root vegetables are a good source of carbohydrates and vitamins. They include:

• sweet potato
• potatoes
• butternut squash
• beets

Legumes

Legumes are an excellent source of fiber and plant based protein. People can include a wide variety in their diet, including:

• chickpeas
• lentils
• peas
• kidney beans
• black beans

Seeds

Seeds are a great snack or an easy way to add extra nutrients into a salad or on top of a soup.

Sesame seeds contain calcium and sunflower seeds are a good source of vitamin E. Other seeds include:

• pumpkin
• chia
• hemp
• flax

Nuts

Nuts are a good source of plant based protein and vitamins, such as selenium and vitamin E.

• brazil
• almonds
• cashews
• pecans
• macadamia
• pistachios

Healthful fats

It is vital to consume polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Plant based sources include:

• avocados
• walnuts
• chia seeds
• hemp seeds
• flaxseed
• olive oil
• canola oil

Whole grains

Whole grains are an excellent source of fiber and help maintain stable blood sugar. They also contain essential minerals, such as magnesium, copper, and selenium.

Examples of whole grains include:

• brown rice
• oats
• spelt
• buckwheat
• quinoa
• wholegrain bread
• rye
• barley

Plant based milk

If people want to reduce their dairy intake, there is a wide range of plant based milk available in grocery stores and online. These include:

• almond
• soy
• coconut
• rice
• oat
• hemp

Just make sure to choose unsweetened plant milk options.

Foods to avoid

Just reducing or eliminating animal products does not automatically mean a plant based diet is healthful. It is also vital to reduce or avoid unhealthful foods, such as:

• processed foods
• sugary foods, such as cakes, biscuits, and pastries
• refined white carbohydrates
• processed vegan and vegetarian alternatives that may contain a lot of salt or sugar
• excess salt
• fatty, greasy, or deep fried foods

Recipes to get started

The following recipes can help a person get started with a plant based diet:

Breakfast

• apple cinnamon baked oatmeal
• almond, wild blueberry, and flax smoothie
• tofu scramble

Lunch

• Tuscan bean salad
• butternut squash soup
• rosemary balsamic roasted vegetablesTrusted Source

Dinner

• quinoa salad
• cauliflower pizzaTrusted Source
• chili non carne

Dessert

• apples with almond apricot sauceTrusted Source
• dark chocolate covered figs
• peanut butter cup energy bites

Snacks

• peanut butter banana protein barsTrusted Source
• basic hummus
• salt and cinnamon kale chips

Considerations

Before starting a plant based diet, people should ensure they take steps to get enough of the following nutrients:

Vitamin B-12

Vitamin B-12 is an essential nutrient for blood and cell health. B-12 deficiency can lead to anemia and nerve damage. B-12 is present in many animal products but not in many plant based foods.

People who eat a vegan or even a vegetarian diet could consider taking a B-12 supplement or consume products fortified with B-12. Foods include some cereals, plant based milk, and nutritional yeast.

Iron

People following a plant based diet may have to ensure they get enough iron in their diet, as it has lower bioavailability in plants than meat.

Plant based foods that are a good source of iron include:

• kidney beans
• black beans
• soybeans
• spinach
• raisins
• cashews
• oatmeal
• cabbage
• tomato juice
• dark leafy greens

Make sure to combine citrus and other vitamin C sources with plant based sources of iron to increase absorption.

Protein

Some people may have concerns about getting enough protein from a plant based diet. However, there is a wide variety of plant based sources of protein, including:

• lentils
• chickpeas
• quinoa
• beans, such as kidney, pinto, or black beans
• tofu
• mushrooms
• nuts
• seeds

Consuming proteins from a variety of food sources can help provide all the necessary amino acids for good health. For example, people could add a handful of seeds or a spoonful of hummus to tofu or beans.

Omega-3 fatty acids

A person following a plant based diet may wish to consider taking an omega-3 supplement.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential as they help reduce inflammation, memory loss, and other chronic conditions, such as heart disease. The two primary omega-3 fatty acids are EPA and DHA.

Fish, seafood, and animal products, such as eggs are among the primary sources EPA and DHA.

While several plant based foods, such as walnuts, hempseed, and flaxseed, contain omega-3 ALA, research shows that the body is slow and inefficient at converting ALA to EPA and DHA. Some people are also genetically at risk for poor absorption of ALA.

Vegetarians exhibit lower levels of DHA and EPA in blood and tissue, which may increase inflammation, memory difficulties, brain fog, and other effects. People following a plant based diet might want to consider taking an omega-3 supplement.

Some dietitians advise vegetarians to reduce the amount of pro-inflammatory linoleic acid they consume. Soybean, corn, sunflower, and safflower oils contain linoleic acid.

Summary

Eating a diet higher in plant foods and lower in animal products can have many health benefits, including weight loss or maintenance and a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes.

If people want to make the switch to a plant based diet, they can start by gradually reducing their meat and dairy intake.

Eating an entirely plant based meal once a week, or swapping out one animal product for a plant based one, can be an excellent place to start.

People may also wish to speak to a doctor or dietitian before making significant changes in their diet.

Sharing is caring, but not when it comes to serious health conditions like diabetes or heart disease. These health conditions, like many others, can run in families. But there’s a lot you can do to help protect yourself and your family. Learn tips on how to be a heart-health role model for your family.

Heart disease is one of the most common complications of diabetes. And the longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to develop heart disease. Recent studies show that people are developing type 2 diabetes at a much younger age, which means they will be affected by diabetes over a longer time and are at risk of developing diabetes complications like heart disease sooner.

If you have diabetes, you know how important healthy habits are to helping you manage the condition and prevent or delay complications like heart disease. And it’s not practical to have a different lifestyle than the rest of your family. So, what’s the key to being a heart-healthy role model? Getting your family involved! By showing your family how you’re taking steps to a healthy lifestyle, you’ll be a role model they can follow. Here are a few tips on how to be a heart-health role model for your family.

Share Your Family Health History

Like diabetes, heart disease can run in families. Having a family member with diabetes or heart disease increases your risk and the risk for others in your family. Talking about your family’s health history doesn’t only have to be a serious sit-down conversation. You can use family gatherings, mealtimes, or even coffee chats as a time to talk about your health history. You’ll want to:

• Ask questions. Asking your relatives about which health conditions they have had and when they were diagnosed can help you find out about your risk.
• Record and update information. Write down the information you collect and remember to update it as you learn more.
• Share with other family members. Sharing your family’s health history will benefit all members of your family, and it’s especially important to share this information with your younger relatives so that they can take steps now to prevent or delay heart disease.

Gathering family health history is just the first step. The next step is to act on it. Share the information at medical appointments so your doctor can decide which screening tests you need and when you’ll need them. Identifying and treating diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions early can often mean better health in the long run. By starting the conversation and sharing your family’s health history, everyone can take steps to lower their risk.

Get Moving With Your Family

Of course you can’t change your genes, but there are lifestyle changes you and your family can make to lower the risk of heart disease. Being active with your family is a great way to lead by example. If the kids in your family see you enjoying physical activity, they’ll be more likely to give it a try.

Ask the people in your family what they like to do to be active, and build your family physical activities around those. Here are a few fun ways to get started.

• Go for a walk. You don’t have to do intense workouts to reap the benefits of physical activity. Walking is a great way to get exercise and spend time with your family.
• Try hula hooping. Did you know hula hooping is excellent exercise? It’s a lot of fun and it’s great for the whole family, even grandma and grandpa.
• Go for a bike ride. If you have knee or hip problems, bike riding is a great non-impact exercise. Kids love riding bikes too! Don’t forget to wear a helmet.
• Dance. Turn family time into dance time. Dancing is a great way to burn calories and get your heart pumping. Whether it’s just two to tango or a family group for your dance troupe, you’ll be dancing your way toward a healthier you.

Share Family Meals

Work, school, and other life responsibilities can make it hard to come together for mealtimes, but there are real benefits to sharing meals with loved ones. Sharing family meals is not only a great opportunity to pass on healthy eating habits, it’s also been shown to decrease family stress and help kids do better in school. Teaching the younger ones in your family the importance of eating together may encourage them to pass this value on to their kids later. Here are some tips for planning family meals:

• Keep it simple. Mealtime doesn’t have to be an elaborate event. Keep recipes simple and enjoyable for the whole family.
• Get the family involved. Let kids help with planning meals, creating shopping lists, cooking, setting the table, and cleaning up.
• Make mealtime screen-free. Make it a rule that phones and devices should be off or on mute and out of reach. This allows everyone to actively listen and be involved in the conversation.

At the Heart of It All

Being a heart-healthy role model involves knowing your risk, making healthy lifestyle choices, and taking steps to reduce the chance of getting heart disease. Managing diabetes is challenging even without having to manage a diabetes complication like heart disease. The good news is that you can do a lot to stay healthy and protect your heart—and the hearts of those you love.

• Magnesium deficiency has links to a wide range of diseases.
• Researchers have now shown in mice how magnesium improves the ability of the immune system to eliminate infected and cancerous cells.
• Their analysis of data from clinical studies also suggests that low serum levels of the substance are associated with worse outcomes in cancer treatment.
• They plan to investigate the possible benefits of magnesium supplementation during cancer therapy in future clinical trials.

Experts define magnesium as an “essential macromineral,” meaning people need to consume it in relatively large amounts to remain healthy.

Rich dietary sources of the mineral include almonds, cashews, peanuts, and spinach. Walnuts also contain a particularly high amount of magnesium, with 100 grams containing 63% of the recommended daily allowance.

Adequate dietary intake of magnesium has associations with healthy bones, lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and better cardiovascular health.

The mineral also plays a key role in muscle contraction, nerve transmission, regulating blood pressure, and immunity.

Previous research has found that cancer spreads faster in mice on a low-magnesium diet. In addition, the animals have weaker immune defenses against influenza viruses.

However, there has been little research into exactly how magnesium supports healthy immune systems.

Scientists in Switzerland have now discovered that a type of immune cell, called a cytotoxic or “killer” T cell, can only eliminate cancerous or infected cells in the presence of magnesium.

Their study appears in Cell.

Docking site

The authors found that magnesium activates a protein called LFA-1 on the surface of cytotoxic T cells, which they use to lock on to their target cells.

“In the inactive state, this docking site is in a bent conformation and thus cannot efficiently bind to infected or abnormal cells,” explains senior author Dr. Christoph Hess, Ph.D., from the University of Basel in Switzerland and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

“If magnesium is present in sufficient quantities in the vicinity of the T cells, it binds to LFA-1 and ensures that it remains in an extended — and therefore active — position,” he adds.

When the researchers analyzed data from past clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies, they found that low serum levels of magnesium were associated with more rapid disease progression and shorter survival.

“In light of our experimental data and the retrospective analyses we performed on two clinical trials, magnesium deficiency is very likely to be responsible for at least a proportion of the insufficient efficacy seen in cancer patients receiving immune therapy,” Dr. Hess told Medical News Today.

Magnesium and enzyme reactions

“The results don’t surprise me,” said Taylor C. Wallace, Ph.D., of the new study.

Dr. Wallace is senior fellow at the Center for Magnesium Education & Research in Hawaii, and adjunct professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

“Magnesium is involved with over 600 enzymatic reactions in the body, many of which are involved with immune system function,” he told MNT.

However, he questioned whether serum magnesium concentration, which scientists often use to measure an individual’s status with regard to the mineral, is a reliable marker.

He pointed out that in serum, most magnesium is bound to the protein albumin and, therefore, not as freely available for the body as another form known as blood ionized magnesium.

“How extracellular magnesium affects immunity is an exciting and promising area of science,” he told MNT.

“However, the research community needs to be concurrently assessing whole blood ionized magnesium (not common in research) to fully understand how diet [or] supplements can influence status,” he added.

Boosting magnesium in tumors

Dr. Hess and his colleagues are now looking at ways to boost the concentration of magnesium in the tumors of patients.

He said that they aim to test whether they can use tiny parcels of fat — either lipid nanoparticles or liposomes — filled with magnesium and coated with antibodies to improve the efficacy of immune therapy.

“In our paper, we show that this is a successful strategy in mice,” he added.

They will also test whether giving magnesium supplements — either in pills or injections — to individuals with cancer can improve outcomes with two immune therapies: CAR T cell and PD1/PDL1 therapies.

“We have clinical trials in an advanced planning stage,” he said.

Their newly published study analyzed data on serum magnesium levels from previous clinical trials, so it was only able to establish an association rather than a causal link between magnesium and treatment outcomes.

It is also unknown whether regular magnesium intake, either through diet or supplements, can reduce the risk of developing cancer in healthy people.