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Dental and medical health insurance are converging. Right here’s what it

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Well being insurers are transferring in on the worthwhile turf dental insurers have claimed for many years; the variety of well being plans providing grownup dental advantages greater than doubled previously two years, in keeping with a brand new survey of dental- and health-insurance leaders we performed earlier this yr.

Because the convergence accelerates, extra customers can anticipate their well being plans to supply dental insurance coverage, albeit with a separate premium – a mannequin that would come to dominate the market within the subsequent few years.

With any basic shift in healthcare, nonetheless, comes a slew of pressing, complicated questions: Will some dental payers be left within the mud? How can they greatest adapt to those altering circumstances? What are the obstacles to convergence? And what is going to this shift imply for customers?

Convergence: a possibility or a menace?
Whereas the overwhelming majority of customers nonetheless depend on standalone dental insurance coverage, such insurers are quick discovering the bottom shifting beneath their ft: in keeping with a latest survey, by 2025, most foresee partnering with a well being insurer and almost half anticipate advantages to be bundled.

But whereas 28 p.c of dental-plan leaders see this as a possibility, almost half (49 p.c) understand it as each a possibility and a menace.

One want look no additional than the promise of value-based well being plans at this time to understand the potential upsides: partnering with the best well being plan – and getting access to its capital, scale, community and technological infrastructure – can present dental insurers with a extra holistic view of their sufferers and assist ship higher well being outcomes to extra sufferers at a decrease value.

But a few of these very belongings give well being plans the flexibility to upend susceptible dental payers. Executives we spoke to famous that well being insurers wield deeper pockets, have “extra premium to play with” – which means they’ll decrease costs extra flexibly than dental plans – and may provide one-stop-shop comfort that can be particularly interesting to youthful clients.

On the identical time, dental payers eyeing potential partnerships could also be cautious concerning the healthcare trade’s tendency towards deliberate – generally reluctant – change, as evidenced by the gradual adoption of pay-for-performance reimbursement fashions. And insurers have nonetheless not seen the blueprint for integrating the 2 merchandise and coordinating subsequent care between physicians and dentists.

Worse, well being plans will not be the one ones excited about competing in a market traditionally dominated by conventional standalone plans. Half of the executives surveyed consider that non-medical, ancillary insurers are additionally exerting vital stress on oral advantages.  Whereas a net-entrant into this area, many consider they might start grabbing membership and market share.

To thrive – and to search out the best partnerships – dental plans might want to get proactive and strategic: innovating in areas like various fee fashions, tele-dentistry and information sharing; tackling their know-how debt; optimizing processes by way of information administration methods and improved working metrics; and exploring their very own choices for diversification, be it by turning into third-party directors, buying or merging with different firms or providing ancillary merchandise (e.g. imaginative and prescient, listening to, life, pet) of their very own.

“It’s not just like the mouth isn’t linked to the physique”
Even supposing solely 37 p.c of US adults visited the dentist final yr, respondents to the survey say the largest issue driving dental-and-health plan convergence is the mixing of oral well being into total well being. This integration – mixed with value-based dentistry, partnerships with well being plans and the truth that having dental protection is the perfect determinant of whether or not a person will make common dental visits – ought to finally result in the next quantity of visits total.

On the medical facet, dental-health plan partnerships – particularly these with efficient know-how platforms – can drive higher well being outcomes, care coordination and larger simplicity for customers used to navigating a posh well being system.

The acquisition of a one-product, two-premium plan (i.e., dental advantages bundled with broader medical health insurance) also needs to converse to a millennial client base more and more in quest of comfort. As different insurance coverage markets converge, there could even be alternatives for enabling customers to bundle medical, dental, imaginative and prescient, and pet insurance coverage into single buying choices. Akin to the recognition of bundling house, life, and auto…some consider that this development could transfer in the direction of healthcare.

Although Covid-19 could sow uncertainty into the approaching convergence of dental and well being plans, now just isn’t the time for dental payers to take a seat idly by. With the momentum for bundling with well being plans rising and competitors from ancillary insurers heating up, solely those that take proactive steps to stake out a spot for themselves on this aggressive panorama will thrive as convergence accelerates. So, too, will their members.

Picture: Dmitrii_Guzhanin, Getty Photos

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In a 24/7 food culture, periodic fasting gains followers

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NEW YORK —
On low-carb diets, meat and cheese are OK.

On low-fat diets, fruit and oatmeal are fine.

With the latest diet trend, no foods at all are allowed for long stretches of time.

A diet that forbids eating for hours on end might seem doomed in a culture where food is constantly available, but apps and Facebook groups are popping up for people practicing “intermittent fasting.”

Bri Wyatt, a 32-year-old Tennessee resident, tried it this summer.

“At first I was like, there’s no way,” she said.

But after reading more about it, she thought it might not be that hard. She started by skipping breakfast and night-time snacks, and later moved on to a 60-day challenge of fasting every other day.

Melissa Breaux Bankston, a Crossfit instructor in New Orleans, Louisiana, also tried intermittent fasting as a way to curb her snacking. “I wanted to limit the amount of time that I was eating,” she said.

Studies on the potential health benefits of intermittent fasting are still limited, including for its effectiveness with weight loss. But heading into the new year, you may be wondering whether it could help you get in better shape.

WHEN, NOT WHAT

Like other diets, intermittent fasting helps you lose weight by setting boundaries around food. But instead of limiting what you eat, it restricts when you eat.

“It’s really another way of fooling your body into eating less calories,” said Krista Varady, who studies intermittent fasting at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Proponents say intermittent fasting helps with weight loss in other ways. For instance, they say it forces your body to start burning its own fat for fuel after depleting the energy it normally gets from food. But any effects would depend on the specific approach you take, and Varady said there isn’t strong evidence yet that intermittent fasting has any unique effects compared with other diets.

Regardless, people should consult their doctor before trying it. It’s not advised for children, people on certain medications and people with a history of eating disorders.

FASTING MENU

One of the more popular approaches to intermittent fasting is to limit eating to an 8-hour window and to fast during the day’s other 16 hours. This is called time-restricted feeding and isn’t as difficult as some other approaches, since the fasting period can include the time you’re asleep.

Many people tailor the eating window to be shorter or longer. Some eat just one meal a day, while others fast entire days a couple times a week. On fasting days, people may allow themselves around 600 calories if needed. But Dr. Jason Fung, who has written books on intermittent fasting, says skipping food altogether might actually be easier, since eating small amounts could stimulate appetite.

Whatever the method, people aren’t supposed to gorge when they stop fasting. Fung says it’s a myth that fasting leaves you famished.

Sumaya Kazi, who posts about her intermittent fasting online and offers coaching services on the diet, says it seems more difficult than it is partly because overeating has become the norm. “Intermittent fasting is more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge,” she says.

But people react differently to diets, and fasting may be a lot harder for some than for others, says Dr. Fatima Stanford, a Harvard Medical School obesity specialist.

“There’s no one size fits all,” she said.

FASTING ON TRIAL

Obesity experts have become interested in intermittent fasting, but studies on the diet are still emerging. For now, limited research suggests it may not be any better for weight loss than conventional calorie-cutting over the long term.

“Unfortunately, intermittent fasting gets a little hyped,” said Courtney Peterson, who studies the diet at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Still, some fasting approaches may be more effective than others. And Peterson notes the difficulty of designing studies that definitively capture a diet’s effects. That’s in part because so many other variables could be at play.

For instance, researchers are looking at whether any benefits of intermittent fasting might be tied to when the eating period falls and fluctuations in how well our bodies process food throughout the day.

Some health experts say intermittent fasting might be too difficult for many people. They point to a study of 100 people where those placed in the alternate-day fasting group lost around the same amount of weight as those on conventional calorie-restriction diets over time. But the fasting group had a dropout rate of 38%, compared with 29% for the conventional diet group.

But intermittent fasting may be easier than other diets for people who already skip meals when they’re too busy, said Varady of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

To make weight loss stick, she said people should pick diets that resemble how they already eat.

“Different diets do work for different people,” she said.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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A probiotic remedy for weight problems? | VUMC Reporter

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by Leigh MacMillan

Alterations within the intestine microbiota — the microorganisms residing within the gastrointestinal tract — have been implicated within the improvement of weight problems and different persistent illnesses.

Sean Davies, PhD, and colleagues beforehand reported a method for engineering intestine microbiota to provide helpful compounds that fight weight problems. They confirmed that administration of micro organism engineered to provide NAPEs, a household of bioactive lipids with identified anti-obesity properties, inhibited weight acquire and different hostile results of a high-fat eating regimen in mice. Of their earlier research, they pre-treated the mice with antibiotics and administered the engineered micro organism for eight weeks.

Now, they’ve discovered that much less onerous protocols — no antibiotics and solely two weeks of micro organism — nonetheless impart resistance to diet-induced weight problems and sustained NAPE biosynthesis. As well as, that they had success utilizing a human NAPE-producing enzyme.

The findings, reported in Utilized Microbiology and Biotechnology, help additional research of engineered micro organism that produce helpful compounds as a remedy technique for weight problems and different persistent illnesses.

This analysis was supported partly by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (grants AT007830, DK059637).

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A probiotic therapy for weight problems? | VUMC Reporter

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by Leigh MacMillan

Alterations within the intestine microbiota — the microorganisms residing within the gastrointestinal tract — have been implicated within the growth of weight problems and different continual ailments.

Sean Davies, PhD, and colleagues beforehand reported a method for engineering intestine microbiota to supply useful compounds that fight weight problems. They confirmed that administration of micro organism engineered to supply NAPEs, a household of bioactive lipids with identified anti-obesity properties, inhibited weight acquire and different hostile results of a high-fat food regimen in mice. Of their earlier research, they pre-treated the mice with antibiotics and administered the engineered micro organism for eight weeks.

Now, they’ve discovered that much less onerous protocols — no antibiotics and solely two weeks of micro organism — nonetheless impart resistance to diet-induced weight problems and sustained NAPE biosynthesis. As well as, that they had success utilizing a human NAPE-producing enzyme.

The findings, reported in Utilized Microbiology and Biotechnology, help additional research of engineered micro organism that produce useful compounds as a therapy technique for weight problems and different continual ailments.

This analysis was supported partly by the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (grants AT007830, DK059637).

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Canada’s Food Guide: The end of the milk doctrine?

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Sylvain Charlebois is a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University

The four food group categories that most Canadians know by heart seem to be on their way out. Health Canada has announced it will finally release its long-awaited new food guide in the spring of this year. But the new guide will likely challenge many of our preconceptions about food itself. Information leaked recently suggests that dairy products will no longer have their own category. In fact, milk and other dairy products will now be only one of more than 28 different food items that Health Canada intends to encourage Canadians to eat more of. In doing so, Health Canada will not only show audacity, but for the first time in decades, it will give the food guide a new purpose.

The first food guide in Canada came out in 1942, in the middle of the Second World War. At the time, food security was a much more significant issue than it is today. The food guide was more of a tool to showcase Canadian agriculture and stimulate the rural economy. And why not? Our farmers needed the support and food sovereignty at the time had a different meaning. The initial guide had six food groups, instead of four.

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However, not much else has changed since 1942. Other than merging fruits with vegetables and eggs with meat products, and notwithstanding the addition of some nice colours and a few illustrations, the food guide we have today is similar to the one from decades ago.

While Canada has idled in updating its food guide, other countries have made significant progress. The United States systematically revises its food pyramid every five years. The country went from a Basic 7 model in 1943 to a more adaptable version now called MyPlate. Basic 7 and MyPlate are inherently different, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just announced more changes coming in 2019. In Canada, our current food guide is already more than 12 years old. Revision cycles are longer, and changes over time have been modest at best. Along with several European countries, others such as Japan, Brazil and China have modernized their food policies. Most food guides around the world, unlike Canada’s, promote nutrients rather than specific food products.

But Canada apparently now intends to catch up with the rest of the world. Based on some information coming from Health Canada, the food guide will most likely depart from its humble initial purpose of sponsoring agriculture and will finally serve our quest for a better quality of life. Let’s face it, things have changed since 1942. Canadian agriculture is much more diverse, and much more trade focused. Food demand in Canada is more fragmented than ever, as a result of more immigration, and different lifestyles and values affecting food choices.

Changes to our food habits won’t come easily, though. A new approach will likely challenge entrenched conventions that have been protected and institutionalized for decades. If Health Canada does go ahead with the rumoured changes, proteins are certainly one area which will see significant shifts over time.

Dairy is represented by what most consider to be the most influential lobby group in Canadian agriculture, perhaps even in our entire economy. The group spends more than $80-million every year to encourage Canadians to drink milk and eat more dairy products. That’s almost $3 for every Canadian. The current food guide gives dairy a vital place in our diet at four servings a day. Supported by our supply management system for decades, dairy farmers have relied on long-standing, policy-driven support to make a living, from milk served in schools to seeing dairy products promoted at key events across the country. Everything made sense as the synchronicity between trade and domestic food policies was flawless.

But with three new trade deals, which have opened our market to more dairy products coming from abroad, a new food guide without a dairy category or a prescribed number of servings is the last thing the Canadian dairy sector wants. On the other hand, it is exactly what Canadians need – and more than ever. Nutritional security seems to be the new focus, and all Canadians deserve a food guide that can help them better understand how to lead healthier lives.

Obesity, especially among children, is at unacceptable levels in Canada. As well, food security remains a lingering issue influencing our nutritional choices, even in 2019. Welcome additions to the new guide encourage Canadians to value nutrition, to drink water, to consider where and how we eat and with whom. Just setting standards on portions and food products is fruitless.

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Regardless of what happens next, dairy farmers, while producing high-quality products for Canadians, will need to accept that their commodities are now part of a much larger portfolio of good, natural food ingredients. Milk and other dairy products will co-exist with several other commodity groups, which deserve as much attention, if not more.

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CarbLoaded: A Culture Dying to Eat (International Subtitles Version)



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