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• TV personality Clea Shearer is sharing her journey with breast cancer.
• Shearer talks about how her latest project intersects with her breast cancer experience.
• Advances in breast cancer treatment give new hope for continued progress.

Shortly after her 40^th Birthday in February 2022, star of Netflix’s “Get Organized with The Home Edit,” Clea Shearer, found a lump in her breast.

“It all the sudden just hit me that at 40, you’re due for a mammogram, so why wouldn’t this lump potentially be cancerous? What else is it?” she told Healthline.

She called her OB-GYN right away but was told she would have to wait months to get an appointment despite telling them she found a lump and wanted to schedule a mammogram.

“I was like…isn’t a special alarm supposed to go off when someone says they found something? So I called my primary care doctor,” said Shearer.

Her doctor connected her with an oncologist and breast surgeon who scheduled a mammogram and ultrasound, which resulted in an emergency triple biopsy. Two days later, she was diagnosed with stage 2 invasive mammary carcinoma breast cancer, an aggressive form of breast cancer.

“I have early stage, hormone-positive HER2 negative breast cancer with a high risk of reoccurrence,” said Shearer.

She took the right steps for self-advocating, said Margaret Gatti-Mays, MD, co-director of the Division of Medical Oncology at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

“I always advise my patients that if they develop any new breast symptoms like a new mass, new pain, new skin changes, new dimpling, or new one-sided breast fullness, they should seek medical attention,” she told Healthline. “I feel strongly that women know their bodies. If something isn’t right, speak up. Advocate for yourself.”

Shearer is one of the 1 in 8 women born in the United States who will develop breast cancer at some time during their lives.

Journey to treatment and recovery

Despite the early stage of her cancer, the kind of cancer Shearer has required aggressive treatment.

“Not all stage 2 cancers are the same. Some of them are more aggressive than others, so we put more weight on the type of breast cancer than the staging,” Paul Baron, MD, chief of breast surgery at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital, told Healthline. “For example, a triple negative cancer in stage 1 may be more aggressive than a stage 2 breast cancer of a different kind.”

Shearer underwent a double mastectomy, surgery for necrosis, and several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy, all by November 2022. In June 2024, she had her ovaries removed.

Her doctor also recommended she go on the medication Verzenio in hopes of preventing recurrence. She teamed up with the maker of the medication, Eli Lilly and Company, to help empower others living with breast cancer.

“It’s so important to me not to just beat cancer once but to keep it at bay,” said Shearer. “Anything I can do to keep it from recurring, I absolutely do, so when I was presented with the opportunity to take Verzenio, I leaped at the chance because I honestly consider myself lucky to even have the opportunity to take it.”

However, Baron noted that treatment for breast cancer is unique to each person.

“Whether it would be the biology of the cancer or where the cancer is in the breast is different or the age of the patient (if it’s a premenopausal patient or postmenopausal patient). You need a team to work together to get the best results,” he said.

Advances in breast cancer care bring hope

Advances in breast cancer diagnostics and treatment are on the rise, said Baron. Contrast-enhanced mammography can detect small cancers in the breast, while less aggressive surgery has become the focus once cancer is detected.

“Rather than mastectomy, we are doing more lumpectomy. We take out lymph nodes less and less, so less and less surgeries on the breast and lymph nodes means less issues with cosmesis and lymphedema,” said Baron.

Additionally, he said chemotherapy is more targeted, allowing people to have a higher response rate. In most cases, radiation is now three weeks rather than five or six. In some cases, Baron said people can receive partial breast radiation that requires only five days of treatment.

“So we’re getting the same survival results if not better survival results with less treatment,” he said.

Managing side effects of treatments has also come a long way, said Gatti-Mays.

“As patients live longer with breast cancer, our focus as a field has shifted to not only kill the cancer but also to minimize side effects,” she said.

Advances in breast reconstruction surgery after lumpectomy and mastectomy have also improved.

Because lumpectomies often require radiation afterward, which can cause tightness in the skin, hardening of the tissue, and contour abnormalities in the breast, Dhivya Srinivasa, MD, double board-certified breast reconstructive microsurgeon and founder of The Institute for Advanced Breast Reconstruction, said a recent practice is to combine a lumpectomy with a breast lift or a breast reduction.

“This allows the plastic surgeon to rearrange the tissue for a better cosmetic outcome, even in the setting of radiation,” she told Healthline. “With smaller-breasted women who otherwise would not need a lift or a reduction, the tissue around the lumpectomy can be rearranged to ‘fill the hole,’ essentially bolstering the area to best resist radiation contracture.”

Implants have greatly improved too, she added, as they are made of cohesive silicone gel, so even if the capsule breaks, the silicone does not spill out.

“We have also changed techniques to go above the muscle, or ‘pre pectoral.’ This best mimics the natural breast, which sits on top of the muscle in normal anatomy,” said Srinivasa.

She believes one of the greatest advances in breast reconstruction is microsurgical breast reconstruction. This involves taking tissue from other parts of the body and transplanting it to the chest to create a breast.

“The breast reconstruction is all-natural, feels like a breast, and will last the lifetime of the patient,” Srinivasa said.

How Shearer found new meaning after returning to work

Aside from treatment, Shearer also focuses on self-care, including exercise and writing down her thoughts and feelings. Last year, she began writing a memoir about her journey with cancer.

“It’s been ongoing. I think that it’s really allowed me to…express how I feel and my own lived experience,” said Shearer. “I’m always hesitant to tell people what to do or give specific advice, but through the lens of my own experience, I hope that connects with people and helps them.”

Shearer is co-hosting a reboot of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” that will air on ABC-TV next year. During filming, she had the opportunity to work with families facing difficult medical conditions, an experience she said was life-affirming.

“Whenever we encounter a family with a medical diagnosis that I can relate to, it pierces my soul, but it’s such an incredible thing to be able to put your arm around someone and know that you understand what they are going through and they know you understand,” she said. “I think that’s been a real gift.”

While it can be a difficult reminder of her journey at times, she said it is the most rewarding experience she has had.

“Beautiful things are hard,” she said. “It’s not hard in a way that weighs me down, it’s hard in a way that gives me meaning.”

• Digital platform aims to help grandparents and grandkids stay connected.
• Staying connected can benefit both grandparents and grandkids.
• The creator of the platform uses it with his kids and parents.

When Eben Pingree learned that his mom and father-in-law were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease around the same time, he immediately thought of his three young children.

“One of the reactions my wife and I had was just this spike in urgency around making sure our kids felt as deep of a connection with them as much as possible in this pretty rapidly shrinking window,” he told Healthline.

Pingree began searching for technology that could help his kids and their grandparents build a connection.

“We were pretty underwhelmed with the options out there, so I decided to try to build something myself,” said Pingree.

He created the digital platform Kinsome. Kids use an app to engage in the platform, while grandparents get notifications via email or text that allow them to interact with their grandkids.

A robot named Kinzey engages kids in conversation, helping unearth interesting updates for grandparents. Based on each specific update, Kinzey also suggests questions to ask grandparents about their lives. The robot also facilitates asynchronous games and activities that the different generations can engage in with minimal parental supervision.

“At the highest level, the goal is to bring the two generations together and help them find shared interests but also give them more touch points and context for what’s going on in each other’s lives,” said Pingree.

Kinsome is user-friendly for grandparents and grandchildren

Because the platform is geared toward grandchildren between the ages of six and eleven, Pingree prioritized making the app fun to keep kids’ attention by using gamification and making the app conversational so kids want to send quick updates to their grandparents.

Since the app focuses on younger kids, the average grandparent is typically in their 60s and 70s, which means most of them have used a smartphone for several years.

“But with that said, we have really focused on making the grandparent experience as simplified as possible,” said Pingree.

For instance, when a kid creates an update, the grandparent is sent a text or email with what is called a Magic Link. When the grandparent clicks on the link, it opens a web experience with the kid’s update.

“So with one click, no app download, and no password, they’re able to be hearing their grandkid’s voice and then with another click recording their response and taking part in any activity the kid started in the app,” Pingree said.

How Kinsome can help ease loneliness

While developing the platform, Pingree’s team talked to hundreds of grandparents about their lives. They gathered insight into whether they were lonely, what they missed from their younger years, and what they wished they could add to their lives.

“We were shocked by how frequently they brought up wanting to play a bigger role in their grandkids’ lives,” he said. “They were often talking about how when they had grown up, their own grandparents had been integral in their childhood, and they didn’t necessarily feel like they were doing the same for their own grandkids.”

Learning about the 2023 Surgeon General’s Advisory on Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation also resonated with him.

The report’s findings — that lacking social connection increases the risk of premature death by more than 60% and that Americans communicated almost 40% less with family members outside of their immediate household since 2003 — gave Pingree the push he needed to go forward with Kinsome.

“A lot of times people just assume a grandkid and grandparent, because they’re in the same family, automatically have this bond, but they need to build up the foundation for a relationship, and that’s really hard to do if you’re getting on a Facetime call once a week or once a month. So, we’re trying to fill in that gap,” he said.

Some factors that contribute to loneliness include separation from friends or family, lack of social support, and feeling a lack of purpose.

Pingree hopes Kinsome helps build connections between the generations because it offers opportunities to regularly communicate with each other. He also hopes it gives grandparents a sense of purpose because “they’re feeling like they are playing a role in the next generation of their family,” he said.

Preeti Malani, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, said that loneliness should be considered a health condition that requires prevention and treatment. Doctors should ask patients about it in the same manner they ask about diet and exercise. ​

“Increasingly, we are recognizing the importance of social connection to health and well-being — not just for older adults but for younger people also,” she told Healthline.

Malani said regular visits from grandkids, whether in person, by phone, or via a screen, can improve connections for older adults while benefiting grandkids, too.

“​This time between grandparents and their grandchildren can look different depending on geography, age of the kids, and the overall health of the grandparents, but it is a very special way for everyone to feel loved and more connected,” she said.

Practicing what he created

So far, Pingree’s creation has been successful for his children and his in-laws.

“My two older kids use it pretty much every day, and particularly my in-laws use it and are responding every time they get an update,” he said.

It’s a different experience for his parents. He lives in an apartment below them, and his younger brother and three kids live in an apartment above them.

“We have an intergenerational living setup, so that’s served as an inspiration for what we’re trying to recreate in the digital world because my kids do have all these little interactions just by virtue of not being able to avoid my parents, but when you live across the country or world it’s hard to foster those little moments,” he said.

“I’ve become a huge believer in how healthy these strong intergenerational bonds can be, and we wanted to bring that to other families,” he added.

• Researchers have used real-world data to identify key factors for long-term weight loss for patients taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.
• The study identified the type of medication, dosage, treatment indication, and medication persistence as four of the most important factors.
• GLP-1 drugs are powerful agents for weight loss, but cost and access are still barriers for many Americans.

Millions of Americans have taken Ozempic or similar GLP-1 drugs to lose weight, but sustaining that weight loss long-term has proved difficult for many of them.

However, new research suggests there are four factors that could be key to improving these outcomes.

Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic looked at electronic health records of nearly 3,400 patients prescribed one of two different GLP-1 drugs — semaglutide ( sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy) and liraglutide (sold under the brand names Saxenda and Victoza) — to see how various factors like dosage, indication, and biological sex affected weight loss at one year. 

Their findings were published this month in Jama Network Open.

Researchers looked at how these factors affected weight loss in two ways: total percentage change in body weight and whether an individual lost 10% or more of their body weight. The 10% mark is clinically significant, as hitting that benchmark is known to improve other comorbidities like high blood pressure and chronic disease risk.

They identified four factors that appear to be the most significant for long-term weight loss, some of them obvious and others more complex:

• The type of medication (active ingredient) – Did the patient use semaglutide or liraglutide?
• The dosage – Was the patient using a high or low-maintenance dose?
• Treatment indication – Was the medicine prescribed for type 2 diabetes or obesity?
• Medication persistence – Did the patient have any gaps in access to their medication?

“Our findings provide timely data on longer-term weight outcomes in patients receiving treatment with injectable semaglutide or liraglutide for obesity or type 2 diabetes, as well as identify key characteristics that could inform the probability of achieving sustained weight loss of a magnitude large enough to provide clinically significant health benefits,” Hamlet Gasoyan, PhD, lead author of the study and a researcher with Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Value-Based Care Research, told Healthline.

How the four key factors impacted sustained weight loss

Gasoyan and his team used the Cleveland Clinic electronic health records for 3,389 patients who were prescribed either semaglutide or liraglutide from July 2015 through June 2022. In order to be included, patients had to have a BMI of at least 30, indicating the person had obesity.

More than half the patients were female (54%) and had an average age of 50. The cohort was predominantly white (68%) but included significant Black (20%) and Hispanic (7%) populations.

At the one-year mark, four factors appeared to have the largest influence on sustained weight loss. Here’s how they affected whether or not patients would achieve 10% or greater weight loss:

• Active agent: Patients who took semaglutide were more than twice as likely compared to those taking liraglutide.
• Indication: Those prescribed their medication for obesity were also more than twice as likely than those with type 2 diabetes.
• Dosage: Patients taking a higher maintenance dose of their medication were 1.5 times more likely than those taking a lower dose.
• Persistence: patients with persistent coverage (access to their medication) were more than three times as likely as those who had the least access. 

Patient sex was also an important factor. Females in the study were 1.5 times as likely to hit the 10% benchmark as males.

Two of the factors may seem obvious: active agent and dosage. Basically, the kind of medication prescribed and dosage affected the weight loss outcome.

Semaglutide resulted in more than double the average weight loss of liraglutide (5.1% versus 2.2%). However, that’s nothing new: prior studies have shown that semaglutide is simply more effective for weight loss than liraglutide.

Evidence has also pointed to higher maintenance doses of semaglutide being more effective for weight loss than lower doses.

Indication is complicated. The evidence is clear that patients prescribed a GLP-1 for obesity tend to lose more weight than those with type 2 diabetes, but why that’s the case isn’t so obvious.

Caroline Apovian MD, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Healthline that these findings are essentially confirmatory of prior research.

It’s the fourth factor — persistence — that has grabbed the attention of Apovian and other obesity experts.

Persistence is the biggest key

“What this study adds is really diving into that persistence question. Nowadays, the conversation tends to focus on the idea that these are really great medications, but are patients actually taking them?” Beverly Tchang, MD, an endocrinologist, Spokesperson for the Obesity Society, and Assistant Professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, told Healthline.

“This creates a very clear relationship between that persistence and the degree of weight loss,” she said.

As effective as GLP-1 drugs are, access has proven to be a major roadblock for many Americans. With the soaring popularity of these drugs, patients across the United States have faced shortages, with manufacturers unable to keep up with demand.

Cost and insurance coverage have also been problematic for many patients. The monthly cost for GLP-1 drugs can easily reach $1,000 or more before any insurance coverage or rebates are applied. 

If patients can’t afford their medication or can’t access it, they won’t take it. It’s as simple as that. 

This latest research helps to illustrate that dilemma.

Gasoyan and his team found that at the one-year mark, only 40% of patients had persistent medication coverage, which they defined as a cumulative lapse in coverage of less than 90 days.

But those that did have persistent coverage demonstrated significantly more weight loss (5.5%) compared to those with the least (1.8%) — less than 90 days of coverage for the year.

The data “reinforces that persistence is key to achieving meaningful weight outcomes with these medications,” said Gasoyan.

“If we avoid therapeutic interruptions with these medications, whether that be due to shortages or insurance coverage, then we will have better persistence with these medications and more weight loss,” added Tchang.

The bottom line

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are powerful weight-loss tools. However, long-term weight loss outcomes can be affected by a variety of factors.

In a new study, researchers identified four of the most important factors for long-term weight loss in patients taking a GLP-1 drug. These include the kind of medication, the dosage, the indication, and medication persistence (how long the patient continuously took the medication).

Medication persistence is essential to long-term weight loss, however access and cost related to GLP-1 drugs continue to be roadblocks for many Americans.

• Bovine colostrum supplements, also known as “liquid gold,” are growing in popularity, in part due to promotion from wellness influencers on social media platforms like TikTok.
• Bovine colostrum is the first milk produced by cows in the days after giving birth.
• Proponents of bovine colostrum claim the supplement can provide several health benefits, including improved gut health, athletic performance, and recovery.
• Experts say quality research to support these claims is limited and recommend proceeding with caution and managed expectations, especially if you have specific conditions.

Wellness influencers, celebrities, and social media content creators are touting the benefits of bovine colostrum supplements.

Nicknamed “liquid gold,” these supplements are made from the first milk a cow produces after giving birth.

“It’s filled with antibodies, proteins, carbohydrates, and fats that help newborn calves strengthen their immune system, grow, and stay healthy,” explains Maddie Pasquariello, MS, RDN.

Humans also produce colostrum after giving birth, with the first thick breast milk also containing nutrients and antibodies that nourish and protect newborns from infections.

Yet bovine colostrum and human colostrum are not the same.

“To put it simply, human colostrum has evolved to benefit a human infant, and bovine colostrum to benefit a bovine animal,” Pasquariello says. “Bovine colostrum contains IgG…as the dominant immunoglobulin, while in human colostrum, IgA is the most prevalent. Bovine colostrum is overall higher in immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, and total protein content.”

Nevertheless, bovine colostrum supplements are growing in popularity. The substance is claimed to provide several health benefits, including strengthening immunity, improving gut health, boosting athletic performance, and aiding recovery.

However, unlike the benefits of human colostrum for human newborns, the data and evolutionary evidence supporting bovine colostrum for human adults are mixed, limited, or non-existent, according to dietitians and researchers.

Here’s what we know about the evidence supporting the most commonly touted health benefits of bovine colostrum.

Strengthen immunity

Bovine colostrum contains immuno-active compounds, explains Lacy Puttuck, MS, RDN, a registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching. Puttuck says these include:

• Enzymes
• Cytokines 
• Immunoglobulins

Puttuck points to a narrative review from 2024 that included data on newborns through adults aged 69, suggesting that bovine colostrum supplementation might increase the ability to fight respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. 

Much older research from 2006 on 35 male distance runners suggested participants who were supplemented with bovine colostrum had more immune biomarkers and reported fewer upper respiratory symptoms.

However, the study was small, involved one population and sex, and relied on self-reported symptom data.

Additionally, improved biomarkers (collected using saliva samples) don’t necessarily mean fewer days of illness.

“Bovine colostrum is rich in immune-boosting elements like IgG, but its effect on human immunity needs more research to confirm whether it boosts immunity in adults,” says Chris Mohr, Ph.D., RD, a fitness and nutrition advisor at Fortune Recommends Health.

Pasquariello agrees.

“This is different from saying that maternal colostrum from a human enhances immune response in a human infant, which is true, but as a supplement, there’s no real evidence here,” Pasquariello says.

Pasquariello adds that the oft-cited research doesn’t randomize the population or account for other potential factors for immune health, making it hard to apply them to a general population.

Athletic recovery and performance

Puttuck explains that the theory behind this one stems from the fact that bovine colostrum contains insulin-like growth factors (IgF-1 and IgF-2) that might improve muscle recovery, performance, and growth. 

However, more studies are needed to support this claim, too, says Sheri Gaw, RDN, CDCES, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for Dietitian Insights. 

Gaw points to a 2018 six-week study of soccer players that indicated that 3.5-gram daily doses of bovine colostrum reduced muscle soreness and boosted performance.

More recently, a 2021 narrative review indicated that some studies suggested that bovine colostrum might help with body composition and recovery. However, the research was limited, and study designs didn’t account for other variables.

Gut health

Improved gut health is considered a benefit of nursing a human newborn in the first days of life. However, bovine colostrum is also being touted as a gut-health booster. 

A 2021 review indicated that research on bovine colostrum’s effectiveness in treating and preventing gastrointestinal diseases was “building.”

However, a 2022 systematic review suggested that bovine colostrum might help counteract gut permeability in high-performance athletes but that more, better-designed research was needed to assess safety and effectiveness.

Mohr and Pasquariello say there simply isn’t enough evidence at this time to support the claims of improved gut health.

Health risks associated with bovine colostrum supplements

Mohr cautions that it’s possible to experience negative side effects from bovine colostrum supplements. Among the most common are:

• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Bloating

Mohr recommends that people with lactose intolerance or milk allergies steer clear and people with heart and autoimmune disorders or who are on medications speak with a healthcare professional before they begin taking any supplement.

Gaw agrees.

“Always discuss your interest in taking a new supplement with your doctor, pharmacist, or dietitian first, as it may interfere with other supplements or medications or just might not be needed,” Gaw says.

“Getting to know a supplement before taking it is important because if you understand what you’re using, you can balance its benefits against any potential risks,” Pasquariello adds. “This prevents unnecessary spending and protects against possible negative reactions or conflicts with other medications or existing health conditions.”

Takeaway

Bovine colostrum supplements, also known as “liquid gold,” are growing in popularity, in part due to promotion from wellness influencers on social media platforms like TikTok.

Bovine colostrum is the first milk produced by cows in the days after giving birth.

Proponents of bovine colostrum claim the supplement can provide several health benefits, including improved gut health, athletic performance, and recovery.

Experts say quality research to support these claims is limited and recommend proceeding with caution and managed expectations, especially if you have specific conditions.

In this blog post, we will explore the methods used by our teams which help us to monitor the spread of mpox and determine the counter measures needed if we see cases of clade I mpox in the UK.

• Apple has announced a new sleep apnea detection feature on its Apple Watch 10.
• The detection algorithm is based on advanced machine learning.
• Data from the app can be given to your doctor to help start a conversation.
• Doctors say its availability will make it easier for sleep apnea to be detected early.
• It can also help people break through their resistance to seeing a doctor for a diagnosis.

On September 9, 2024, Apple held a “Glowtime” event to announce the latest iterations of its popular Apple Watch, AirPods, and iPhone.

The broadcast, hosted by Apple CEO Tim Cook, was meant to highlight the many ways these devices can accentuate the average person’s health and wellness goals.

While outlets like CNET declared the Apple Watch 10’s big screen the most “dramatic” feature unveiled at the event, it’s the device’s new sleep apnea detection feature that has healthcare providers buzzing.

The newest Apple Watch will have technology on board that will make it possible to notify the wearer if they appear to be having symptoms of the condition.

What is sleep apnea

Sleep apnea affects 39 million adults in the United States alone.

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, sleep apnea occurs when a person’s breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, either due to a blocked airway or the brain’s failure to send the signal to breathe.

Symptoms can include:

• Loud snoring
• Gasping for air
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Problems concentrating
• Dry mouth
• Headaches
• Decreased sex drive
• Waking at night to go to the bathroom

Diagnosis and treatment, most often with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, is essential because sleep apnea can increase people’s risk for several health problems, including cancer, high blood pressure, kidney disease, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

How sleep apnea detection on the Apple Watch will work

According to Apple, the Apple Watch 10 will provide a new metric called “Breathing Disturbances.”

According to the company, the algorithm that provides this metric was developed using advanced machine learning and trained using an “extensive data set of clinical-grade sleep apnea tests.”

Additionally, a clinical study was conducted to validate the algorithm and determine whether it could detect sleep apnea in people who had already been diagnosed with the disorder.

This metric will be obtained by using the watch’s accelerometer to monitor any small wrist movements that occur due to interruptions in sleep.

Every 30 days, the watch will analyze this data and notify the wearer if there are any signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea that need to be reported to their physician.

In a similar way, the metric can also give people information about their overall sleep quality.

The Health app will contain data that can be viewed at any point so people can get an idea of whether they have had disturbed breathing the night before or over a one-month, six-month, or one-year period.

Additionally, Apple Watch users will be able to export all of the collected data as a PDF file that can be taken to a healthcare professional for evaluation.

Apple states that it expects to receive marketing authorization from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and other health agencies worldwide soon.

The watch will be available in over 150 countries and regions this month, including the United States, Japan, and the European Union.

What doctors think about Apple’s sleep apnea detection

Dr. Michael O. McKinney, a primary physician at Healthy Outlook in Jacksonville, Florida, says sleep apnea often goes unrecognized. Therefore, he feels that this new feature can “go a long way” in helping people get their sleep apnea diagnosed and treated.

McKinney additionally pointed out that the sleep apnea detection feature can provide several benefits, including early detection, improved diagnosis, and ongoing monitoring.

“The combination of sleep apnea detection with a consumer-level product like the Apple Watch means there is a greater improvement in the availability of health-tracking solutions to the masses,” he added, noting that it can help raise people’s awareness about sleep disorders and contribute to better prevention.

McKinney cautioned, however, that while a sleep apnea detection feature can provide preliminary information, it cannot replace a visit to a medical professional.

“The collected data of the watch will require information that will have to be fed to healthcare providers to check the diagnoses and adjust the treatment regimes adequately,” he explained.

Dr. Daniel Glazer, who is a clinical psychologist and the co-founder of several health technology platforms, including UK Therapy Rooms, added that from a psychological point of view, it can help give people the nudge they need to get treated.

“There’s often unfortunate psychological denial intertwined with sleep apnea’s impacts,” he explained.

However, untreated sleep apnea can have impacts on your cognitive functioning, emotional regulation, and cardiovascular health.

“Yet getting people to actually broach the subject and pursue testing is arduous, as snoring rarely feels like a crisis in the moment,” said Glazer.

Glazer went on to add that devices like the Apple Watch can be “an icebreaking catalyst” in encouraging people to seek out the treatment they need.

“No, the Apple Watch readings won’t magically prescribe a CPAP machine ready to go,” he said. “But by empowering insights into our nighttime patterns, it becomes that trusted data point compelling us to finally knock on the doctor’s door.”

Takeaway

On September 9, 2024, Apple announced several new health and wellness features for its Apple Watch, AirPods, and iPhone.

Chief among these was its new sleep apnea detection feature, which has been clinically validated as being able to detect signs of this sleep disorder.

Doctors say that while this feature cannot replace a visit to a doctor, it can help improve sleep apnea’s early detection and treatment.

It may also help people break through any psychological resistance they have about seeing a doctor for an evaluation.

• An alarming new report reveals racial disparities in unnecessary C-section rates in New Jersey hospitals.
• The data show that Black women are 25% more likely to undergo a C-section than white women.
• The researchers suggest that implicit racial bias among providers may play a role in this rate and that there may be a “financial incentive” in some hospitals to fill operating rooms.
• Many factors may be responsible, experts say, and more research is needed to determine whether this disproportionate rate carries over to other states.

As racism within the healthcare system persists, a large new study reveals startling disparities in unscheduled C-sections among Black women.

A National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) report of nearly 1 million births at 68 hospitals in New Jersey found that Black women are 25% more likely to undergo unnecessary C-sections compared to white women. 

While more research is needed to determine whether these disparities are found in other states, the data point to the potential for implicit racial bias occurring in hospital delivery rooms at a provider’s discretion. 

“The findings from the new study are alarming — it is concerning that these disparities exist and are so stark,” said Mark Simon, MD, chief medical officer at Ob Hospitalist Group (OBHG).

“The CDC has released data that clearly highlights national differences in C-section rates across each state, with New Jersey ranking on the high end. But this problem is not unique to New Jersey — disparities in maternal mortality, particularly along racial and socioeconomic lines, are also well-documented,” Simon told Healthline. Simon wasn’t affiliated with the research.

Why do Black women have higher rates of C-sections?

Cesarean delivery (C-section) rates have been increasing in the United States in recent years.

Many C-sections are scheduled in advance, leaving experts concerned about whether these are medically necessary.

Planned and unplanned C-sections account for roughly 1 in 3 births in the U.S., well above the 10–15% target rate recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As the new research suggests, these figures include a disproportionate number of Black women. The causes for this disparity, however, is less clear.

NBER researchers suggest that more unscheduled C-sections may be occurring in Black women due to doctors who are “exercising their discretion and are more likely to conduct unnecessary C-sections on Black mothers.” 

They cite in their report previous research showing that Black women are more likely to feel “pressure from a clinician to take medication to start or speed up labor and to have a C-section.”

“I do think this points to implicit bias,” Simon said. “It’s crucial that healthcare workers receive training on implicit bias to help recognize and reduce disparities in patient care. Additionally, we know a diverse clinical workforce leads to improved outcomes for Black patients. When health systems prioritize equitable outcomes for maternal patients, everyone benefits,” Simon said.  

What are the risks of C-sections?

Cesarean deliveries, whether planned or unplanned, carry risks for both the birthing person and their baby. In emergency situations, however, C-sections can be lifesaving.

C-section deliveries can raise the risk of bleeding, blood clots, infection, and injury to other organs, Simon noted. “Additionally, they pose increased risks for future pregnancies, including conditions like abnormal placentation,” he added.

As NBER researchers note, Black women tend to have worse health outcomes overall than white women. However, experts point out there are underlying factors to consider that may affect the health outcomes of Black women following C-sections.

“If Black women undergo more cesarean deliveries, their exposure to associated risk increases,” Simon said. “These risks are compounded by the fact that Black women already experience higher rates of pregnancy complications and are more likely to have underlying chronic health conditions.”

Kecia Gaither, MD, MPH, double board certified OB-GYN and maternal fetal medicine specialist and director of Perinatal Services/Maternal Fetal Medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln in the Bronx, agreed that comorbidities often influence C-section outcomes. Gaither wasn’t involved in the new report.

“Is there a high concentration of obesity,  hypertension,  diabetes, substance abuse, [or] HIV?” Gaither questioned.  “[It’s a] difficult question to answer.” 

Multifactorial issues, such as racism, bias, poor attention to the clinical status of postoperative Black women, or the quality of the health facility, could all impact health outcomes following a C-section delivery, Gaither said.

The long-term risks of C-section delivery are not fully understood, but research has shown that short-term effects of Cesarean delivery may include:

• altered immune development
• increased risk of allergy, atopy, and asthma
• reduced intestinal gut microbiome diversity

“Cesarean sections are not benign procedures — the risk of hemorrhage, damage to the internal organs, [and] infection run high for the mother,” Gaither said. 

“Babies born via cesarean may have breathing issues. Babies swim in amniotic fluid, this fluid fills the lungs. With a vaginal birth, this fluid is ‘squeezed out’ as the baby transits the birth canal. With an operative delivery, this lung fluid isn’t expressed, and it takes a while for that process to occur. As such, the baby breathes rapidly in an attempt to clear this fluid from its lungs,” she explained.

Is there a financial incentive to perform C-sections?

NBER researchers suggest there may be a financial incentive for healthcare providers to perform C-sections, thus pushing more Black women into the OR for the procedure.

“I don’t believe labor and delivery units prioritize keeping their operating rooms constantly occupied,” Simon said. “In my experience, labor and delivery staff do everything in their power to keep at least one OR open in case there is an emergency.” 

Gaither was also cautious to ascribe to this theory. “I think there are many factors to consider when looking at the picture,” she said.

“Is there a high preponderance of early prenatal care [and] pre-conceptual counseling, or are patients showing up late in gestation, effectively ‘crashing and burning’ with some disease process that might have had a better outcome if caught in earlier stages?” Gaither pointed out.

“Is there a high utilization of reproductive technologies contributing to the population served? Reproductive technologies contribute to multiples (twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc.). These higher-order pregnancies increase the Cesarean section rate,” she noted.

When looking at C-section rates within hospitals, Gaither said the following factors should be considered:

• Does the population being served have insurance?
• Is the population serviced in a rural or urban setting?
• What is the mindset of the physicians servicing the population? Are they likely to perform an operative delivery so they can make a social engagement in time?
• What is the financial status of the hospital/hospitals involved?
• What impact does the environment play in the health of the populace?
• What role do bias and racism play?

Takeaway

A concerning new report shows that unnecessary C-sections are 25% more common in Black women compared to white women.

The researchers suggest that implicit racial bias could play a role, and there may be a “financial incentive” to fill operating rooms.

Experts say the reasons for this alarming disparity are multifactorial. More research is needed to determine whether the high number of C-section rates persist in other states.

• Lemme, the supplement brand founded by Kourtney Kardashian Barker, is releasing an “all-natural” weight loss supplement called Lemme GLP-1 Daily.
• In spite of the name, the product is not a GLP-1 receptor agonist like Ozempic or Wegovy.
• The product contains natural ingredients such as Eriomin lemon fruit extract, Supresa saffron extract and Morosil red orange fruit extract.

Lemme, the supplement brand founded by Kourtney Kardashian Barker, announced that it is releasing a supplement called Lemme GLP-1 Daily aimed at providing consumers with an “all-natural” way to manage their weight.

In spite of its name, however, the product does not contain a synthetic GLP-1 hormone and is not a GLP-1 receptor agonist like Ozempic or Wegovy.

Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs mimic the actions of the hormone GLP-1 by activating its receptor, which leads to weight loss and lower blood sugar, among other benefits.

Lemme GLP-1 Daily instead contains natural ingredients such as Eriomin lemon fruit extract, Supresa saffron extract and Morosil red orange fruit extract. 

The product is meant to “boost the body’s GLP-1 levels, reduce hunger, promote insulin sensitivity and support healthy weight management,” according to a company press release.

The daily capsules will be available for purchase on the brand’s website beginning September 16 and will be sold via a subscription model at $72 for a month’s supply or $90 as a one-time purchase.

But how effective is the product for weight loss? Here’s what to know about the potential benefits of the natural ingredients in Lemme GLP-1 Daily.

Lemon fruit extract

Small clinical trials of Eriomin lemon fruit extract found that this compound didn’t help people lose weight, but it may offer other benefits.

A small study of people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes who took Eriomin for 12 weeks showed that there was no effect on body weight, body mass index (BMI), lean mass, fat mass or waist-to-hip ratio.

However, those who took Eriomin saw on average a 5% decrease in their blood glucose and a 17% increase in the hormone GLP-1, compared to those who took a non-acting placebo.

Another small 12-week study of people with prediabetes also found that Eriomin had no impact on weight. But there was a 22% increase in blood levels of GLP-1, and an increase in beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Bacteria in the gut can influence your weight by affecting how food is digested, how fat is stored, and whether you feel full or hungry. 

Eating a wide variety of high fiber foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds — and limiting intake of added sugars and highly processed foods — can also support healthy gut bacteria.

Saffron extract

An 8-week study of 60 women with overweight found that those who took a saffron extract had decreased snacking, compared to those who took a placebo.

GLP-1 drugs work, in part, by reducing appetite and feelings of hunger, which can help people manage their weight.

However, studies of saffron extract have not shown a large effect on weight when the compound is used alone.

A meta-analysis of 25 earlier studies looking at the benefits of saffron extract found that people with obesity who took this compound saw decreases in their waist-to-hip ratio.

There were also decreases in weight, BMI, waist circumference, and hip circumference. However, these changes were not statistically significant, which means saffron extract may not offer any additional benefits compared to a placebo.

Two other studies, including a review paper of previous studies and a small clinical trial in people with type 2 diabetes, also found that saffron extract didn’t help people lose weight.

Other studies have examined the benefits of saffron extract for people with diabetes, such as improving blood glucose control and cholesterol levels. Some of these studies were done alongside other supplements like cinnamon and ginger or in conjunction with aerobic or resistance exercise.

Red orange fruit extract

The clearest weight loss benefits are seen with Morosil red orange fruit extract.

A six-month study found that people who were living with overweight lost an average of 4.2% of their body weight while taking Morosil, compared to 2.2% in people who took a placebo. The Morosil group also saw larger decreases in hip and waist circumference, fat mass, and fat distribution.

In contrast, one study found that people who took semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — lost 15.8% of their body weight over 68 weeks.

Are supplements useful for weight loss?

Mir Ali, MD, a bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif., has concerns about how supplements used for weight loss are sometimes promoted. 

“GLP-1 medications stimulate hormones in the body and have the same effect as those hormones. So when people claim supplements do the same thing, I think that’s a bit deceptive,” he told Healthline.

And while “for some people, a natural, herbal supplement can be effective, there’s no convincing evidence that the supplement is going to have a significant effect on weight loss.”

Libu Varughese, MBBS, an endocrinology physician and medical advisor of Aeroflow Diabetes, told Healthline that he would like to see more scientific evidence before recommending the use of natural GLP-1 supplements.

However, if you do choose to use a dietary supplement, do so with caution, he said, and watch for any negative side effects.

The Food and Drug Administration has information for consumers on safely using dietary supplements.

Amy Lee, MD, head of nutrition for Nucific, suggests that people who want to lose weight naturally, think of supplements as just one component of a weight management program.

People also need to make “behavioral changes that result in decreased caloric intake and increased energy expenditure through movement and exercise,” she told Healthline.

Ali said certain diets have been shown in clinical trials to support weight loss, including ones that involve eating fewer carbohydrates, such as the keto diet and paleo diet.

“These diets are based on minimizing carbohydrate intake to direct the body toward burning fat,” Ali said. “That’s natural. There are no medications involved. No supplements. It’s just eating the right things to promote the burning of fat.”

These kinds of diets are even helpful for people who have had bariatric surgery or are taking a GLP-1 medication, he said, “because if you’re not eating the right things, you won’t see as much results.”

Takeaway

Lemme, the supplement brand founded by Kourtney Kardashian Barker, is releasing a supplement called Lemme GLP-1 Daily to provide consumers with an “all-natural” way to manage their weight.

In spite of its name, the product does not contain a synthetic GLP-1 hormone, and it is not a GLP-1 receptor agonist like Ozempic or Wegovy.

GLP-1 drugs mimic the actions of the GLP-1 hormone to lower blood glucose and promote weight loss.

Lemme GLP-1 Daily contains natural ingredients such as Eriomin lemon fruit extract, Supresa saffron extract and Morosil red orange fruit extract. Clinical studies show that these compounds may promote modest weight loss, decrease hunger and appetite, or boost the body’s GLP-1 levels.

• A new review of more than 300 prior studies has identified the best tools to quit smoking.
• The research looked at a variety of medications and techniques, including nicotine replacement, medication, and therapy.
• Health experts say quitting smoking is one of the most important things you can do to improve your health.

There has never been a better time to quit smoking tobacco.

More products exist today to help people snuff out cigarettes for good, but with so many options available, identifying which are the most effective isn’t always easy.

However, a comprehensive new review published this month in Society for the Study of Addiction has revealed the top three most effective means to quit.

The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group (CTAG) conducted this research, which included more than 300 prior studies on tobacco cessation products and 157,179 participants.

“Using the strictest and most rigorous methods, the CTAG reviews represent the gold standard in medical evidence, which is why CTAG’s work is consistently used to inform guidelines and policies around the world,” Jonathan Livingstone-Banks, PhD,  a Lecturer and Senior researcher in evidence-based healthcare at the University of Oxford, and first author of the review, told Healthline.

What are the top three most effective ways to quit smoking?

Out of all the current options available, researchers identified three interventions that “emerged as the most effective treatments. They are:

• Varenicline (Chantix) – An oral prescription medication used alongside education and counseling to stop smoking.
• Cytisine – A plant-derived smoking cessation aid that has been used for decades in many European countries. Cytisine is not currently available in the USA, nor is it FDA-approved.
• E-cigarettes (with nicotine) – Evidence around e-cigarettes for smoking cessation remains somewhat controversial. The FDA has never approved an e-cigarette for this purpose. Nonetheless, the present review did find that e-cigarettes were effective at helping people quit.

Varenicline and cytisine both belong to a class of drugs known as nicotine receptor partial agonists. 

“By interacting with the part of the brain that nicotine normally affects, they help to reduce the withdrawal symptoms people experience when they stop smoking, like cravings and unpleasant mood changes,” said Livingstone-Banks.

They also make smoking less pleasurable, disincentivizing smokers from using cigarettes.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), which includes products like nicotine gum, patches, lozenges, and pouches, is also effective. Researchers found that NRT was even more effective when a long-lasting product, like a patch, was paired with a fast-acting product, like gum.

The oral antidepressant bupropion is also approved for smoking cessation. The Cochrane review found that this medication was helpful to quit smoking, but the evidence was not as robust as that for varenicline and cytisine.

Behavioral support, which includes things like therapy and counseling, was also effective. As was incentivizing tobacco smokers with a financial reward.

Are E-cigarettes more helpful or harmful?

E-cigarettes have boomed in popularity over the past decade.

However, numerous questions remain about their safety, their role in smoking cessation, and their appeal to teens and adolescents. The FDA has not approved any e-cigarette device for smoking cessation. Despite this, anecdotal reports and some research have indicated that nicotine-containing e-cigarettes may help people quit.

Nevertheless, research on e-cigarettes is controversial, and other studies have found the opposite to be true.

Parents and policymakers have also sounded the alarm about the appeal of e-cigarettes, particularly flavored products, to children and teens.

The dilemma has led many to ask whether the devices do more harm than good. 

But, without delving into the broad social and public health implications of e-cigarette usage, the evidence for e-cigarettes as tobacco-cessation devices is substantial, according to the review.

“Our research has found that there is very strong evidence that e-cigarettes are an effective way to help people quit smoking tobacco… While e-cigarettes are unlikely to be completely safe, we can be confident that they are far safer than smoking tobacco,” said Livingstone-Banks.

Hilary Tindle, MD, PhD, the Founding Director of ViTAL, the Vanderbilt Center for Tobacco, Addiction, and Lifestyle at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told Healthline, “The long-term safety of e-cigs is unknown.  Furthermore, e-cigs are aggressively marketed to entice young people to begin using nicotine-containing products, so beyond helping adults quit smoking, there are major public health considerations.”

Tindle wasn’t affiliated with the research.

The health benefits of quitting smoking

According to the American Lung Association, these are only a few of the positive health benefits you can experience when you stop smoking, and how quickly they can occur:

• Twenty minutes: heart rate and blood pressure drop.
• One day: your risk of heart attack is reduced.
• Three months: your lung function begins to improve.
• One year: your risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a person who smokes.
• Five years: your risk of mouth and throat cancer is half that of a person who smokes.
• Ten years: your risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a person who smokes.

To start quitting, Tindle recommends making a concrete plan:

“Set a target quit date, preferably within 2 weeks, and support your quit attempt with medication and counseling.  This combination of support — rather than relying on one or neither — is key and leads to higher success rates,” she said.

Many people in the United States can access free counseling and medication through the hotline 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) and websites, including Smoke Free or the Mayo Clinic and Truth Initiative collaboration, BecomeAnEx. 

“If someone does not succeed on the first quit attempt, keep trying. In the US, more than 50% of all people who ever smoked have now quit,” said Tindle.

The bottom line

There are many products and medications available to help you quit smoking, but it may be difficult to figure out which are the most effective.

A new review, which included more than 300 prior studies, has identified the three most effective tools to quit smoking.

The most effective smoking cessation tools include the medication varenicline (Chantix), the plant-derived cytisine (not available in the US), and nicotine-containing e-cigarettes.

Quitting smoking is one of the most important things you can do for your health.

• James Earl Jones, known for roles in Field of Dreams, The Lion King, and Star Wars, died at the age of 93.
• Jones was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in his mid-60s, a condition he continued to manage in his later years.
• Although known for his deep, commanding voice, Jones overcame a severe stutter, which he had through much of his early life.

James Earl Jones — known for his roles in The Lion King and Field of Dreams, and as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise — has died. He was 93. A cause of death was not immediately released.

Jones, who developed type 2 diabetes later in life, overcame a severe stutter in childhood to become an award-winning actor known for his deep, commanding voice.

Jones was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes in his 60s

In a 2016 interview on the Rachael Ray Show, Jones revealed that he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the mid-1990s while attending a diet and exercise center.

At the time, he was in his 60s, an age at which many older adults are frequently diagnosed with this condition.

“Diabetes and other age-related diseases like obesity and abnormal cholesterol are more prevalent as we get older,” said Noa Tal, MD, an endocrinologist of the Pituitary Disorders Center at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, Calif.

Jones told Ray in the interview that his condition was discovered by accident.

“I fell asleep on a bench in the middle of the gymnasium one day,” Jones explained. “And a doctor who was there said, ‘That’s not normal,’ and he encouraged me to go get checked out.”

A laboratory test revealed that Jones had type 2 diabetes.

This kind of delayed diagnosis is not uncommon.

“Unfortunately, [type 2 diabetes] does go under the radar sometimes,” said Tal.

In 2021, 38.1 million American adults had diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than one-fifth of these people had undiagnosed diabetes.

The rate of diagnosed diabetes is highest among American Indian or Alaska Native adults, followed by Black adults, Hispanic adults, and Asian adults, CDC data shows. White adults have the lowest rate of diabetes.

Regular screening, such as during routine doctor’s appointments, can catch diabetes early.

She recommends that everyone ask their primary care physician to screen them for diabetes at age 40 or age 35 if they have other health conditions such as high blood pressure.

“Depending on a person’s ethnicity or any [other health conditions] a patient has, screening can be either yearly or every three years,” Tal said.

How Jones learned to manage living with type 2 diabetes

Jones told Healthline’s Diabetes Mine in a 2016 interview that, after his diagnosis, there were “tough changes, like not having my favorite strawberry shortcake.” 

Depending on the severity of the diabetes, some people may be able to control their blood glucose level with changes in lifestyle, said Tal, such as healthy diet and regular physical exercise.

Others may need an oral or injectable medication like metformin, Ozempic or insulin, she said.

Jones had a doctor who suggested he try Invokana. This medication works by eliminating excess glucose through the urine.

“I’ve found that [Invokana] was very helpful in balancing my blood sugar,” he told Diabetes Mine.

Diabetes can sometimes be a lot for patients to manage. In addition to the treatment burden and needing to take care of yourself, there is also an increased risk of complications due to diabetes, especially when it is uncontrolled.

These complications may include heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, nerve damage and foot ulcers.

“When diabetes is not well controlled, it can impact the entire patient,” said Tal. “It affects basically any system in the body.”

How a strong support system can help a person manage type 2 diabetes

One thing that Jones learned by managing his diabetes is that “it comes down to being in tune with your body, and I’m sure the body tells us things long before we’re aware of what’s happening,” he told Diabetes Mine. “Since then, it’s become my job to be more aware of what my body is telling me.”

He also said his wife and son helped him stay “in line” with his healthy eating. “[My son] would count the cookies in the kitchen, and he could smell it on my breath if I snuck some,” he told Diabetes Mine. “They’ve both helped keep me in line.”

“I realized when I was diagnosed with diabetes, my whole family became diabetics,” he explained. “Not that they suffer the same things that I do, but they understand, and we have to work as a family in living with diabetes. They became my support group, as well as my doctors.”

Tal said a strong support system can help people with diabetes successfully manage their condition.

“If I have patients with diabetes who have some issues with memory or if their treatment regimen is complex, I always ask if there is any family support or other social support,” she said.

How Jones overcame a severe stutter

Although Jones is well-known for his voice work, he revealed in a 1986 interview that a severe stutter largely kept him from talking throughout much of his early life.

“I was mute from first grade through freshman year in high school,” he said, “Mute because I just gave up on talking.”

Jones explained to Charlie Rose in 1993 that he learned to speak clearly through reading his own poetry and the poetry of others, even before he had become an actor.

It was his high school English teacher, Donald Crouch, who helped Jones find a way to express himself verbally.

“Donald said, ‘Jim, this poem is so good I don’t believe you wrote it.’ Accused me of plagiarism. ‘And the only way you can prove it is to get up in front of the class and recite it from memory,’” Jones recalled in the interview. When he stood up and recited the poem word for word, they were both shocked, he said.

Jones went on to work in the film industry and on stage for many years.

In spite of that, his stutter “is always there,” he told Rose. “It’s there right now.”

“Stutterers often seem like they are ponderous and deep thinkers,” he went on to explain. “We’re not. We’re simply looking for the word we can say without tripping on it.”

Throughout his career, he continued to struggle with alliteration, and would go through scripts and ask screenwriters to take out any, such as multiple words in a row beginning with vowels, he told Rose.

In the 1986 interview, when asked if he minds talking about his stutter, Jones said he doesn’t. 

“It’s just another example of, you find yourself with a weak muscle and you exercise it. And sometimes that becomes your strong muscle,” he said. 

Takeaway

James Earl Jones, known for his roles in The Lion King, Field of Dreams, and as the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars, died at the age of 93. No cause of death was immediately given.

The actor revealed in a 2016 interview that he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the mid-1990s, after he fell asleep in the middle of the day at a diet and exercise center. His family and doctors helped him manage this condition throughout his later years.

As a child and teenager, Jones had a stutter severe enough to keep him from speaking from first grade through freshman year of high school. He credited a high school English teacher for helping him overcome his stutter by encouraging him to read his own poetry out loud.