Just One Season Of Football Results In Worrisome Brain Changes, Research Finds
It's not yet clear if the young athletes' brains recover in the off-season.
Los Angeles Times:
For High School Football Players, Just A Season Of Play Brings Brain Changes
Without sustaining a single concussion, a North Carolina high school football team showed worrisome brain changes after a single season of play, a new study has shown. A detailed effort to capture the on-field experiences of 24 high school football players showed that, at the end of a single season of play, teammates whose heads sustained the most frequent contact with other moving bodies had the most pronounced changes in several measures of brain health. (Healy, 11/28)
In other public health news —
KPBS:
Kratom: Healing Herb Or Dangerous Drug?
A plant called kratom has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia to treat fatigue, pain and anxiety. But it has sparked controversy in the United States. The Drug Enforcement Agency says kratom is dangerous and wants to classify it as a Schedule 1 drug, making it illegal to manufacture, sell or possess with intent to sell. (Trabulsi, 11/29)