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13-year-old Broadway star Laurel Griggs reportedly dies from asthma — here's why attacks can be fatal

Laurel Griggs, a 13-year-old actress, died last week from what her grandfather called a “massive asthma attack.” Now many are wondering: How could this happen to a young girl?

On Tuesday evening, according to the New York Times, a girl was hospitalized at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York after having difficulty breathing and, despite CPR attempts, she died at the hospital.

Laurel’s father Andy Griggs told the Page Six that his daughter — a talented Broadway actress who starred alongside Scarlett Johansson in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at age 6 and made appearances on Saturday Night Live — was born with asthma, for which she took medication, and that three years ago she experienced a serious attack, making her parents vigilant about their daughter’s health.

According to the Mayo Clinic, asthma occurs when the airways constrict and swell and extra mucus in the lungs build up, causing breathing problems, a tightening of the chest, coughing and wheezing. The American Lung Association states that more than 26 million Americans have asthma, and that includes 6.1 million children.

Attacks are especially common in three scenarios, reports the Mayo Clinic: When people exercise in cold and dry climates, are exposed to dust or chemical fumes or are exposed to allergens such as pollen, mold, and pet dander (shedded skin from furry or feathered animals).

Symptoms can be mild or severe and are treated with a variety of different m**hods. Hand-held devices called rescue inhalers deliver a medication called albuterol that open lung passages and hand-held nebulizers turn medication into mist.

Heavy w**d use linked to higher risk of stroke in young people, says new study

Young people who use ma*****na may have a higher risk of stroke, according to a new study published in the journal Stroke.

In the study, researchers looked at 43,000 adults ages 18 to 44 who had used ma*****na within the last 30 days — finding “significantly higher odds of stroke” in young cannabis users as compared with nonusers. The risk was even higher in frequent users: Those who reported using w**d more than 10 days a month were 2.5 times more likely to have a stroke than nonusers.

Additional forms of smoking, including va**ng, only appear to make things worse: Young people who both used ma*****na frequently and used e-ci******es or smoked ci******es were three times more likely to suffer a stroke compared to nonusers.

The research also found that people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder — a form of dependence on ma*****na — were more likely to be hospitalized for heart rhythm problems known as arrhythmias.

Tarang Parekh, the lead author of the study and a health policy researcher at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., tells Yahoo Lifestyle that there are several possible theories as to why cannabis use may up stroke risk. One is a condition called reversible cerebral vasoconstriction — a sudden constriction of the vessels that supply blood to the brain — that may be triggered by cannabis use, leading to stroke, says Parkekh.

Another possible cause is an increase in the potential clotting effect of cannabis. Parekh explains that THC (the chemical behind ma*****na’s psychological effects) can lead to “platelet aggregation, which is a significant risk factor for stroke and is relatively more important in younger stroke patients.” In addition, Parekh notes that cannabis has been linked to oxidative stress, which plays a role in stroke.

Parekh says it’s possible that other habits, such as using ci******es and drinking alcohol while also using cannabis, could “potentially contribute to stroke risk.” However, he tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “in our study, frequent ma*****na use had an independent association with stroke as we controlled for cigarette, e-cigarette and alcohol use in addition to comorbid risk factors.”

With daily ma*****na use on the rise in young adults, the risk of stroke is a growing concern. “Marijuana may not be as harmful as other illegal substances like co***ne or m**h, but its frequent consumption with other substances critically increases the risk of stroke at a younger age,” explains Parekh.

He recommends that young cannabis users — particularly those who also use ci******es or e-ci******es and have other stroke risk factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity, should be aware that using ma*****na may raise the risk of stroke at a young age. "Physicians should ask patients if they use cannabis,” Parekh told EurekAlert, “and counsel them about its potential stroke risk as part of regular doctor visits."

Genetics may be the reason why you hate vegetables, study shows

Can’t stand the taste of vegetables? Your genes may be to blame.

Preliminary new research presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions shows that a specific gene makes certain foods — especially, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts — taste extremely bitter to some people.

The gene in question is called TAS2R38. Everyone inherits two copies of this taste gene, but which variant of the gene you get makes all of the difference. According to the AHA: “People who inherit two copies of the variant called AVI aren’t sensitive to bitter tastes from certain chemicals. Those with one copy of AVI and another called PAV perceive bitter tastes of these chemicals; however, individuals with two copies of PAV, often called ‘super-tasters,’ find the same foods exceptionally bitter.”

In the study, researchers analyzed questionnaires from 175 men and women about how often they ate certain foods and found that those with the PAV form of the gene — who are more sensitive to bitter tasting foods — were more than two and a half times as likely to eat the least amount of vegetables.

For super-tasters, the bitterness they taste in vegetables goes beyond being mildly annoying. “A super-taster is a person who experiences a bitter taste with a much greater intensity than others,” Tina Sindher, MD, an allergist and immunologist with Stanford Health Care, tells Yahoo Lifestyle, noting that super-tasters have many more visible taste papillae (bumps on the tongue’s surface) with more taste receptor cells compared to others.

Or as the lead author of the study, Jennifer L. Smith, PhD, RN, put it to the AHA: “We’re talking a ruin-your-day level of bitter when they tasted the test compound.”

Super-tasters have the hardest time eating brassica vegetables — broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, turnips, collards, kale, bok choy — along with spinach, coffee, and tart citrus flavors. “Studies show that bitter tasters eat fewer soy products and drink less green tea, and rated these foods to be more bitter than non-tasters,” says Sindher.

That bitterness is getting in the way of super-tasters eating their vegetables, which may mean losing out on some health benefits. An overall healthy diet that’s rich in vegetables and fruits may reduce the risk of heart disease, including heart attack and stroke, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Vegetables are also a good source of dietary fiber, which helps reduce blood cholesterol levels and may lower risk of heart disease.

And in case you were wondering, just because you hate cilantro doesn’t mean you’re a super-taster. Disgust with that particular herb, which some find smells like soap, is a combination of two genetic variants (one of which is tied to sensing odors), according to Nature. Cilantro’s aroma is created by several substances, which include fragments of fat molecules called aldehydes — the same (or similar) aldehydes you’ll find in soap and lotions, according to a New York Times report.

“Super-tasters are individuals who are sensitive to specific bitter compounds, none of which are found in cilantro,” explains Sindher. “In fact, an aversion to cilantro occurs due to genetic variants associated with sensing smells and sensitivity to the aldehyde chemicals that give cilantro its distinctive flavor.”

But for true super-tasters, how can they make sure to eat their vegetables? Unfortunately, there’s no obvious way to disguise the bitter taste, explains Sindher. “However, some strategies may be to sprinkle some sweetness to help mask bitter flavors,” she says. “Spices can help enhance flavor. Adding a little fat can also decrease bitterness.”

People aged 110 and older have ‘unique’ immune cells that may help them live longer, says study

People who live to be 110 years old and beyond — known as supercentenarians — have a secret weapon in their immune system, and it may be one of the reasons why they’re able to live such long, healthy lives.

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Japanese researchers collected blood samples from seven supercentenarians and five control participants (ranging from their 50s to their 80s), isolated and analyzed their immune cells and then compared the two groups.

The researchers found that while supercentenarians have fewer B cells — white blood cells that secrete antibodies to fight pathogens — than the control group, they have significantly higher numbers of a rare type of T cell in their blood.

To give some background, there are two types of T cells: helper cells and killer cells (also known as “cytotoxic” cells, which means they can kill other cells, such as when fighting off virus-infected cells or tumor cells).

“Killer T cells, or cytotoxic T cells, usually have a marker on them called CD8 that allows them to peek into cells and see if there’s an infected cell,” Jonathan Schneck, MD, PhD, a professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “Immune cells function in a very orchestrated fashion. CD8 cells don’t function by themselves; they need help from other cells, and one of them that provides a lot of help is the CD4 helper T cell.”

In the case of the supercentenarians, however, the researchers found that most of their immune cells came from a subset of T cells called CD4 CTLs — a helper cell that can actually attack and kill other cells. “It is a relatively unique set of T cells,” Schneck says.

VJ Periyakoil, MD, director of the Stanford Successful Aging Program, explains to Yahoo Lifestyle that these are “very specialized immune cells that help our body in fighting virus infections and cancer. These cells secrete two compounds called granzyme B and perforin, which kill intruder cells upon direct contact.”

A 2017 study noted that these special T cells “play important roles in antiviral and antitumor immunity, as well as in inflammation.”

The study authors were surprised by the results. “This characteristic is very unique to supercentenarians,” they wrote, “because generally CD4 T cells have helper, but not cytotoxic, functions under physiological conditions.”

They added that these unique cells “may represent an essential adaptation to achieve exceptional longevity by sustaining immune responses to infections and diseases.”

“Maybe that’s helping in terms of getting past many of the challenges we have in terms of old age, as people become elderly and frail,” Schneck tells Yahoo Lifestyle, referring to the special cells. “Those cells may be helping them clear what could be nascent cancer cells, or they could help protect them from infection — all of the things that the very elderly are particularly susceptible to.”

Periyakoil says a robust immune system is necessary for a lengthy, healthy life, but parts of the immune system can weaken with age. “As we get older for most of us, the immune system becomes less efficient, putting us at risk for cancers and infections,” she says. “If your immune system continues to be very efficient in killing bugs and cancer cells, you are likely to lead a long and healthy life.”

In a statement to Live Science, study co-authors Kosuke Hashimoto, Nobuyoshi Hirose and Piero Carninci wrote: "The key will be to understand what is [the cells'] natural target, which may help to reveal what is needed for a healthy, long life.”

Supercentenarians are a rare club. According to the Gerontology Research Group, there are 31 validated supercentenarians living around the world (30 are women, one is male).

What you need to know about intermittent fasting — and who should avoid it

The popular weight-loss trend of intermittent fasting isn’t going anywhere and has only continued to gain steam, with celebrities like Kourtney Kardashian, Hugh Jackman and Chris Pratt extolling its virtues. The latest stars to jump on the fasting bandwagon are Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotb, who decided to try intermittent fasting together (and publicly weighed themselves on camera on “Today with Hoda and Jenna”).

So what, exactly, is intermittent fasting? “Intermittent fasting is a weight loss or weight control strategy where you’re cycling between periods of eating and fasting,” Sarah Adler, PhD, a psychologist with the Stanford Eating Disorder and Weight Control Clinic, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

There are different intermittent fasting m**hods
There are several ways to do intermittent fasting, but it typically involves choosing a specific window of time in which you can consume food or caloric drinks. “It can be as simple as skipping breakfast and eating at noon or finishing your last meal earlier,” says Adler.

One popular m**hod is 16:8, where people fast for 16 hours and only eat during an 8-hour window, such as noon to 8 p.m. While fasting for 16 hours does sound like a lot, keep in mind that includes (hopefully) 8 hours of sleep. There’s also the 5:2 m**hod — which Jimmy Kimmel follows — where people eat restricted calories (such as 500-600 calories per day) for two nonconsecutive days and then eat normally for the other five days.

What are the benefits of intermittent fasting?
For many who are able to stick with it, intermittent fasting is the “magic bullet” for weight loss. “I’ve seen a lot of people who have struggled with weight loss and have done intermittent fasting, and it seems to be the magic bullet for them,” Liz Weinandy, a registered dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “It’s because people are not eating as much.”

They’re also eliminating late-night eating, which can include less-than-healthy options like chips and ice cream. “Once they stop eating after dinner, that alone helps a lot of people start to lose weight,” says Weinandy. “For a lot of people, they’re not eating those extra 300 or 400 calories.”

Intermittent fasting can also have a diuretic effect — when the body gets rid of excess water — which leads to some fluid weight loss as well, according to Weinandy.

However, it’s worth noting that some researchers say there’s not enough scientific evidence on the long-term weight loss effects of intermittent fasting. “The research based on the efficacy of intermittent fasting is fairly limited in humans, so most is anecdotal,” says Adler. In addition, a 2018 German study — described as the largest investigation on intermittent fasting to date — involving 150 overweight and obese people on either intermittent fasting or conventional calorie-restricting diets, who were examined over the course of a year, found that intermittent fasting wasn’t any more effective at weight loss than calorie restriction.

That said, intermittent fast has other health benefits. “Insulin levels go down,” says Weinandy, “because if you’re not taking in any food, especially carbohydrates, our blood sugar isn’t going up.”

Adler explains that when you eat carbs, for example, the body breaks it down and converts it into sugar (glucose). But if you eat more than your body can use for energy, the sugar gets stored in fat cells. "Insulin brings sugar into fat cells and keeps it there," says Adler. "Between meals, our insulin levels go down and our fat cells release the stored sugar to use as energy. Intermittent fasting allows for insulin levels to drop so that [stored sugar] gets burned off."

There are other positive metabolic effects, including an increase in human growth hormone. “It’s important for muscle maintenance, especially as we get older,” says Weinandy. Intermittent fasting also appears to help “on a cellular level to repair DNA,” says Weinandy, by triggering autophagy — the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells to then generate new, healthy ones.

However, not all types of intermittent fasting are created equal. “Research around intermittent fasting that shows health benefits are really limited to a very specific kind of intermittent fasting — basically, the 16:8 m**hod,” points out Adler. “The health benefits have not been shown to be associated with other forms of intermittent fasting, like the 5:2 m**hod.”

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