Snopes: Link Between Vegetarianism and Longevity Unproven (Health News Shorts)
Snopes Rates Link Between Vegetarianism and Longevity “Unproven.” The popular fact-checking, myth-busting website Snopes.com has responded to a popular social media meme claiming that vegans live 7.8 years longer than omnivores. The image, popularized on Facebook, cites Loma Linda University as its source and relies on data from an article published in JAMA on the first Adventist Health Study, conducted from 1976 and 1988. Snopes noted that the study found that Adventist vegetarian men and women have expected ages at death of 83.3 and 85.7 years, respectively. These are 9.5 and 6.1 years (the average of those two numbers is 7.8), respectively, greater than those of the 1985 California population in a univariate analysis. Citing research from several other studies that disputed the correlation between vegetarianism and longevity, Snopes concluded: “While an increasing number of studies are skeptical of a direct correlation between vegetarianism and longevity, the question remains controversial in epidemiological research. Therefore, we rank claims that vegetarians live longer than meat eaters as unproven.” For more, see “Do Vegetarians Live Longer Than Meat Eaters?” from Snopes.com.
Adventist Health Collects Thousands of Pairs of Socks for Portland’s Homeless. Terry Johnsson, Adventist Health’s executive director for mission, discovered that many homeless people in Portland, Oregon slept without socks and shoes, often in cold winter months. He learned from the Portland Rescue Mission that, “People will steal socks if they’re clean and dry. So many homeless people take their socks off at night and put them underneath them.” This prompted Johnsson, in partnership with Rescue Mission, to use a community concert hosted by Adventist Health as a sock collection drive. Over the past two years, over 6,000 pairs of socks have been donated. See “Adventist Health creates sock bonanza for the homeless” from Portland Business Journal.
Florida Hospital Exec Ken Bradley Will Retire Feb 1. Ken Bradley, senior executive officer of the Florida Hospital’s South/West market in Metro Orlando, will retire on February 1, according to a December announcement. The South/West region includes Florida Hospital Kissimmee, Florida Hospital Celebration Health, Florida Hospital Winter Garden and Florida Hospital Apopka. Doug Harcombe, senior executive officer of Florida Hospital’s North/East region, will fill Bradley’s role overseeing the South/West market, and a new leader for the North/East market will be announced. For more from Orlando Sentinel, see “Florida Hospital’s Ken Bradley Retiring.”
Adventist Health System Vying to Take Over Indian River Medical Center. Adventist Health System, based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, is one of four health systems in the running to take over the financially struggling Indian River Medical Center in Vero Beach, Florida. Indian River, a county-owned facility, provided 1,600 jobs that paid $140.5 million in wages and benefits in 2016, according to TCPalm.com. The facility has struggled in part because it offers less-expensive health services than nearby for-profit hospitals and free care to indigent patients, the Palm reported. In addition to Adventist Health System, Cleveland Clinic, Hospital Corp. of America, and Orlando Health are jockeying to take over the not-for-profit hospital. Final offers are due on January 19. For more, see “The Final Four: Which health system will be picked to take over Indian River Medical Center?” from TCPalm.com.
Loma Linda University Now Offers Doctor of Nursing Practice. The Loma Linda University School of Nursing recently launched a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree program to replace its successful nurse anesthesia master’s degree which has been in operation since 2011. The new DNP program is designed to educate bachelor’s prepared nurses in the advanced practice nurse anesthetist role. The program is designed to teach students foundational concepts and principles necessary for practice in a clinical practicum sequence. For more, see “Loma Linda University Launches Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree” from DailyNurse.com.
Jared Wright is a News Correspondent for Spectrummagazine.org.
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