Trump officials ‘secretly' changed US health data in ‘gender ideology' crackdown, researchers allege
Scientists around the world rely on health data from US government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But since President Donald Trump took office in January, these agencies have been altering data labels, mostly without disclosure, according to the investigation published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal.
The authors argue that the 'hidden' changes could cast doubt on the integrity of American science.
The database edits 'might be politically motivated and [are] not transparent,' Dr Aaron Kesselheim, a professor at Harvard Medical School, and Janet Freilich, a law professor at Boston University, said in the paper.
Related
Will Trump's funding cuts help Europe lure top research talent from the US?
Their analysis included 232 US health datasets that were edited from late January to late March, covering veterans' health care use, global tobacco consumption, stroke deaths, nutrition, exercise, and obesity. It did not include datasets that are updated on a regular basis.
About half of these datasets were 'substantially altered' during the two-month period, but only 15 acknowledged that changes had been made, the study found.
The parts of the datasets meant for these disclosures remained empty as of early May, the researchers said.
In most of the edited datasets – 106 of them – the word 'gender' was swapped out for 'sex'.
Related
US demands that EU companies comply with anti-diversity order
US agencies have not confirmed or explained the changes, but Freilich and Kesselheim suspect they were made to comply with a Trump order to remove 'messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology'.
The executive order, issued on Trump's first day in office, said it aimed to restore 'biological truth' to US agencies, and set a national policy 'to recognise two sexes, male and female,' they said.
It was part of a flurry of activity to clamp down on LGBTQ protections. Some data was initially removed from federal websites, but was largely restored due to a court order.
Related
Trump administration's funding freeze for foreign medical research to hit European scientists
The Lancet analysis indicates that not all changes were reversed. It is not clear if the actual numbers were altered, or only the labels about gender or sex.
But Freilich and Kesselheim said the distinction is important because some people will respond to surveys differently based on each term. That can undermine the quality of the data and lead researchers to draw inaccurate conclusions, they said.
They described the undisclosed changes as a 'crisis' that could make US data 'untrustworthy and unusable'.
They called on governments elsewhere in the world to invest in other data sources.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
35 minutes ago
- CNN
Every breath you take affects how you move. Here's how to fix both
Dana Santas, known as the 'Mobility Maker,' is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports, and is the author of the book 'Practical Solutions for Back Pain Relief.' If you've been dealing with persistent tension, poor posture or nagging pain, it's worth checking in on your breathing. How you breathe not only reflects your movement quality — it also holds the power to change it for the better. Most people understand breathing's role as a life-sustaining function with stress-relieving properties. (Think — deep inhale, deep exhale.) But the way you breathe can also reveal how efficiently and effectively you move — and improving your breathing can help your body break out of a bad cycle of tension, imbalance and strain. When breathing becomes shallow and rapid, it doesn't just affect oxygen exchange — it disrupts the foundation of how your body functions. That's why much of my work in professional sports focuses on teaching the fundamentals of breathing biomechanics. I've seen firsthand how poor breathing patterns lead to mobility limitations, posture problems, chronic pain and increased risk of injury. In today's high-stress, screen-focused world, these same dysfunctional breathing patterns are common across all walks of life. But you can address faulty breathing by developing a better awareness of your patterns and practicing proper technique for a few minutes every day. Here's how to unlock your superpower. Breathing is one of the body's most fundamental movement patterns — occurring on average more than 23,000 times a day — and the diaphragm's contractions play a key role. Under stress, however, your body naturally shifts into the nervous system's sympathetic or fight-or-flight mode, driving faster, shallower breaths from the upper chest. Over time, especially with chronic stress, this becomes the default breathing pattern. Your breathing becomes more vertical — up in your chest and neck — rather than expanding your lungs and rib cage horizontally. This upper-chest pattern bypasses your diaphragm, forcing muscles in your neck and shoulders to take over the work of pulling in each breath. When your diaphragm isn't functioning properly, it can't fulfill its secondary role as a postural stabilizer because true core engagement requires this large muscle to work in harmony with your deep abdominal and pelvic floor muscles. Because the diaphragm attaches to both your rib cage and your spine, poor engagement creates core instability and shifts your rib cage position. As your rib cage moves out of alignment, your spine and head follow, and because your shoulder blades glide over your rib cage, your shoulder position and function are also affected. Forward head posture develops as your neck extends and your rib cage lifts and flares. Moreover, rib mobility decreases, which restricts mid-back rotation and extension — essential for healthy movement patterns. Overall, mobility suffers and injury risk increases as your body reacts to increasing core instability by creating protective tension and muscular compensations — often straining the lower back. This creates a vicious cycle: Your breath affects your posture, your posture affects your breath, and both affect how you feel and move. People frequently try to address these problems with stretching or strength work alone, but without changing your breathing mechanics, you will remain stuck in dysfunctional patterns. One of the simplest ways to evaluate your breathing is by lying on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Place your hands on your lower ribs on either side of the area where your rib cage splits below your sternum. Spend a few moments taking some deep breaths, noticing where the movement happens. If you experience tightening or movement in your neck, upper chest or shoulders, or your ribs barely move, those are signs you may be breathing shallowly and not using your diaphragm effectively. Rather than focusing on so-called 'belly breathing' — a term often used to encourage relaxation but biomechanically misleading — focus on rib mobility and diaphragm function. The slight expansion of your abdomen is the result of increased intra-abdominal pressure, not air filling your belly. Overemphasizing belly movement can inhibit proper rib cage expansion and diaphragm mechanics over time. Try taking a few more breaths, directing your breath into the lung space under your lower ribs. With each inhale, feel for lateral expansion of your ribs under your hands. With each exhale, feel your rib cage move down and your lower ribs move in, promoting a natural core engagement to support the movement. If you identified potential issues with your breathing pattern, the next step is learning to retrain it. While many people focus on taking deeper inhales to improve breathing, the real key to breaking dysfunctional patterns lies in how you exhale. It's the exhale that plays a pivotal role in regulating your nervous system, restoring diaphragm function and improving your tolerance for stress — both physical and emotional. When you exhale fully and slowly, you stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system, the branch responsible for calming your body and promoting recovery. A long, complete exhale also helps reset your diaphragm position, allowing it to contract more effectively on the next breath. Although oxygen tends to get most of the attention, this process is closely tied to carbon dioxide tolerance. CO₂ is what triggers the urge to breathe. But when you chronically overbreathe — taking in more oxygen than your body can use — you reduce CO₂ levels too quickly. This can make your chemoreceptors, the specialized sensors in your brain stem and arteries that monitor CO₂ levels in your blood, overly sensitive, causing feelings of breathlessness even when oxygen levels are adequate. Training yourself to tolerate slightly elevated carbon dioxide levels through long, slow exhales can improve your respiratory efficiency and build stress resilience. Sit comfortably with your hands on your lower ribs to monitor and guide movement. Inhale through your nose for a count of four. Exhale slowly through your nose or mouth (whatever feels best for you) for a count of eight. Pause briefly for a count of two at the end of the exhale. Repeat this pattern for 10 to 12 breaths, keeping your face, jaw, neck and shoulders relaxed. Practice this daily, gradually increasing to a 5:10 or 6:12 ratio as you build tolerance. This breathwork helps restore diaphragm function and rib mobility while retraining your nervous system to stay calm under pressure. The awareness and proficiency you develop through a regular breathwork practice becomes even more powerful when applied to physical activity. Integrating improved breathing mechanics into your daily life will make your movement feel more fluid, connected and efficient. Here are ways to apply better breathing during workouts: • Warm up with conscious breathing to create postural alignment, activate your core and increase focus. • Exhale on exertion: In strength training, exhale during the effort phase to engage your core and stabilize your spine. • Guide mobility with breath: During rotational or flexibility drills, use inhales to create space and exhales to deepen movement. • Breathe nasally during light to moderate cardio to improve oxygen utilization and maintain better breathing patterns. • Elongate exhalations to recover: Post-workout, practice the 2:1 exhale-to-inhale ratio to downregulate your nervous system. Remember, your breath isn't just a background function. By restoring proper breathing, you support better posture, deeper core strength, smoother movement and a more resilient nervous system. So the next time your neck feels tight or your shoulders ache, don't immediately try to stretch it out. Check your breath first. It may be telling you exactly what you need to know. Sign up for CNN's Fitness, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide will help you ease into a healthy routine, backed by experts.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I went on my first diet age 10. Now I'm on Mounjaro and won't look back
I was just 10 years old when I went on my first diet. I remember so vividly being little and first becoming aware of my body, that it was different from everyone else's, or that I was built differently to my friends. My mum and I would even have contests to see who could lose the most weight. Ever since then I struggled endlessly with my weight – until I came to the decision stay on the weight-loss drug Mounjaro for the rest of my life. The truth is, I've tried everything – Weight Watchers, SlimFast, the Atkins Diet. I even tried cutting out refined foods and dairy, and drinking solely shakes. I hired a personal chef, and a personal trainer too. Nothing stuck. Then I went on Mounjaro and lost 2st in three months, and 6st within a year. Now that I've reached 10st, my focus is on maintaining it. That is why I am still on the medication and will probably be on it forever. I have to keep the obesity at bay, and Mounjaro treats my disease and keeps me healthy. I know a lot of people will have their opinions of me and my choices – I've heard it all. I'm ok with what they say because amongst all the hate, maybe I've reached someone who might be afraid of trying it, and this story changes their life. My husband Erik and I live with our three children, two daughters aged eight and five, and one son aged 11, in New Jersey. I was a teacher for 10 years but after I had my first child in 2014, I switched jobs to be able to work from home because it was difficult to pay for daycare. After my second child, my husband became a full-time doctor and made enough money so that I was able to become a stay-at-home mum. For the next eight years, I continued as normal while eating huge food portions. Eventually, it got out of control. I couldn't breathe doing cardio, I couldn't even play with my children. I'm an avid equestrian and I wasn't able to ride or do my lessons any more. We'd just trot around – I felt so bad that I was letting my horse down. I can't even tell you how many weddings I turned down because I wasn't happy with my weight, or how many social events I missed because I didn't feel pretty enough. I felt I was the only person in the world struggling. My mum and my grandmother both suffer from obesity as well. Growing up, my mum would say, 'Oh, we don't eat that food', or 'That's bad food, we need to eat good food.' Her words contributed to an unhealthy narrative around food. I always felt bad about eating a cookie or a slice of cake. It wasn't healthy to be having these conversations about my body at such a young age. During my 20s and 30s, I thought that my health was infallible and that nothing could happen to me. Then in 2022, when I was 16st and just about to turn 40, I got my blood tests back and I discovered I was pre-diabetic and obese. It was such a shock to me: I'd always know I was a bit bigger, but I didn't realise my health was reflecting that. I was at the end of my tether – something had to change. I read an article in The New York Post about someone else's experience on this medication first came out it was still new in treating weight loss. Before Mounjaro, weight-loss drugs had a very bad reputation – they had terrible side effects so you couldn't be on them for too long. I sat my husband down and told him I'd looked into this new drug and I wanted to explore it. He said he wanted me to do some research into it to make sure it wasn't just a fad, but after a few days he came back to me and said that it was a legitimate medication. We then went about finding a doctor. At the time, only endocrinologists were prescribing the medication because of their work with diabetic patients, and because I was pre-diabetic, I was able to qualify, so we travelled to New York City. My endocrinologist prescribed me the starting dose, 2.5mg. She prepared me well for the side effects. She said I'd feel nauseous for the first couple of months, I might feel tired, and I wouldn't feel hungry. I'd describe the side effects to be similar to the first trimester of pregnancy. I know a lot of women on the medication suffer from constipation or diarrhoea but fortunately, I didn't have that. The doctor recommended I work with a nutritionist during the first months. I realised that although I was not hungry, I still had to fuel my body with good food. The nutritionist told me that not eating balanced meals while on the medication could lead to hair loss, skin issues and a vitamin D deficiency. She told me to take a fibre supplement, drink plenty of water and drink protein shakes or smoothies daily. Three years later, a protein shake is still my go-to life hack – it's like a cheat sheet to ensure you are getting the nutrients in. When I first started using Mounjaro, I was very quiet about it. My husband was the only person that knew about it for three months. I was nervous about the judgement – what if people told me that I took the easy way out? I lost 30lb (2st) in three months, and slowly friends would start to tell me that I looked good, and I decided to be honest about how I'd done it. My relationship with food also changed: I had so much emotional baggage and lifelong disappointment that I had to learn to erase. I had to learn that there was no such thing as 'bad food', it was just food. If I wanted to have some chocolate cake, I could have a few bites and have the strength to walk away. On previous diets, if I ate a slice of chocolate cake, I'd spiral and binge-eat the entire cake. After a few months on 2.5mg, I went up to 5mg for three months. After that I stopped losing weight, so I increased it to 7.5mg. Every time I plateaued and went longer than three weeks without weight loss, I would increase the dose. Once I went up to 12.5mg I reached my target of losing 95lb, which is just over 6st. The medication has offered me so many other health benefits – the inflammation in my knees and ankles has gone down. Before I lost weight, I was having a lot of trouble on my horse and I went to physical therapy to try and address it, but nothing worked. Once I lost the weight, I suddenly didn't have any pain at all. My anxiety and depression have also drastically improved. When I weighed 16st, I was unable to leave my house and when I did, it was only to go into town to run errands. If anyone asked me to go for lunch or dinner, the answer was no. If I was invited to a party for the evening, I wouldn't go. After losing 6st, the travel fear went away – me and my husband went on a flight to Paris, and took weekend trips to New York City. When I started noticing results, I decided to make a TikTok account because at the time, none of my friends were on there, so I could post without them seeing. Eleven months into using Mounjaro, I'd slimmed down to a US size 6 (roughly a UK size 10). I fit into clothes that I couldn't fit into before; going in and being able to fit into medium and small-sized clothes was so exciting. I was able to go out to parties and I became very social. I gained a newfound confidence which many people start to lose in their 40s but for me, it continues to grow. I've started dabbling in interior design and am even considering opening up my own business. I just know I wouldn't have had the confidence to do that three years ago. Ironically, I feel like my mum was a bit jealous of my successful weight loss. She realised how hard she had to work and how much she had to restrict herself to stay in shape, whereas I was able to be healthier and thinner without all that hard work. At dinner, I was able to order pasta and a glass of wine, and she had to sit there with her plain chicken. I had a lot more enjoyment in my life and I think she was envious of how many people said I looked good. After I had lost around 75lb, Erik took me to a shop so I could buy new boots and breeches. It was so exciting to be able to buy equestrian clothes that I wasn't able to fit into before. I love the European equestrian brands like Redpost and Holland Cooper, and now I could shop there – these are the experiences that I hold so dear. I suffer from chronic depression, and although Mounjaro has helped me manage some of my symptoms, I know I'll be on antidepressants for the rest of my life. I truly believe it's the same with obesity, and so my clinician and I worked to bring me down to a dose that keeps me balanced, so I'm not losing or gaining weight. We initially trialled going from 12.5mg down to 7.5mg, but I started to gain weight again so I went back up to 10mg and have stayed there for almost two years. I've had such a good experience with the medication that my husband started to take it too. He isn't obese, but once he hit 40, he became more conscious of his dad bod and wanted to feel good about himself. He hasn't lost as much as I did, probably around 30 to 40lb, and I think that is down to the fact he's not clinically obese. We are still figuring things out and discovering new science with this medication – we are the first generation. Now I look at my eight-year-old daughter, who is a fuller-sized, beautiful girl, and know that's ok. We have healthy conversations about listening to our bellies and eating when we are hungry. I don't want her on Mounjaro, but if she needed to be on it when she's older, I'd understand. Some parts of maintaining her figure are out of her control, and now there's medication to help with that. That's why I look at Mounjaro as the medication that broke my generational curse. My only issue is with how cost-prohibitive the medication is. In the US, most of the insurance companies don't cover weight-loss drugs, even though obesity is a disease. They believe that everyone can just lose weight with diet and exercise, when that is not the case. I pay $1200 (£880) a month for my medication – that's most people's rent, a lot can't afford it. (In the UK, you can get Mounjaro on an NHS prescription for £9.90, or from a private clinic for around £180 a month.) I'm so happy that there's finally an answer to obesity. At 41, the unhealthy food narratives that have always been a battle, I've finally been able to put to an end. As told to Nicole Collins Breakfast: Coffee, three eggs, two pieces of toast Snack: Handfuls of cereal, children's snacks Lunch: A foot-long Subway sandwich with crisps, a cookie and a soda More snacking Dinner: Large portion of chicken and pasta Dessert: Coco puffs Alcohol: Two glasses of wine at night Exercise: Horse riding – even though it was very difficult Breakfast: High-fibre cereal like raisin bran Snack: Protein shake Lunch: Soup and Vietnamese spring roll Dinner: Light dinner like a mince salad with taco shells Dessert: No dessert Alcohol: Mounjaro changed my relationship with alcohol, so I don't drink any more unless I'm out in a social setting, and I often feel nauseous when I do Exercise: Horse riding, I'm now able to ride properly every day By Dr Kaywaan Khan, a GP and weight-loss and wellbeing specialist at Hannah London, and Dr Leah Totton, a medical and cosmetic doctor at Dr Leah Clinics and Skincare Yes, you can use Mounjaro in the long term, says Dr Khan. Some people 'will take the medication forever because they not only have obesity as a chronic disease, but they [have conditions such as] heart disease or diabetes so taking this medication is part of their core health treatment and preventative health care,' Dr Khan adds. 'A woman who is already overweight might already be having irregular periods, so Mounjaro might actually help those women to regulate their periods,' says Dr Khan. 'It can potentially stop periods if you have too little fat. Alternatively you might have enough fat but if you lose weight too quickly, it can put the body into shock because of a very little calorie intake.' 'Slow weight loss is advised. I would recommend reducing the speed in which you lose weight and increasing your protein intake during the weight loss process,' says Dr Totton. 'I would also suggest doing resistance training to work on the lean muscle mass. You can also take collagen peptides and vitamin C to support skin health, or consider treatments such as radio frequency or microneedling to stimulate collagen elastin and tighten the skin.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I Tested the MomCozy Wearable Breast Pump and Now Use It More Than My Spectra
No matter how much research you do, it's impossible to prepare for the arrival of a new baby, especially when it comes to how you will end up feeding them. In the case of Mary, mom to a now four-month-old baby boy, she was thrown a curve ball when her newborn wound up with jaundice (he was fine!) in that she had to turn to a formula/breast milk combo right out of the gate. The good news: He took to a bottle quickly. The even better news: She had to reach for her wearable pump, the MomCozy Mobile Flo, earlier than expected to keep her supply up and keep bottles at the ready. Between her standard electric breast pump (the Spectra!) and the MomCozy, Mary can attest: She reaches for her wearable breast pump the most. To test this product, as described, Mary started pumping from the minute her newborn arrived. She tested it while walking the dog and while running errands; she packed it for longer road trips (with a cooler by her side to keep milk chilled) and even carried it as her first choice pump for a wedding weekend. There's no better testament to how well it works. With her baby now approaching four months, the MomCozy Mobile Flo breast pump has been Mary's failsafe—and really helped her establish her supply, not to mention her breastfeeding routine. MomCozy For breastfeeding moms toying with the idea of testing a wearable pump, consider this an endorsement of your choice: The freedom to not have to lug around a regular breast pump just to empty her boobs and feed her kid has been a gamechanger, but more importantly it's time-saving. ('It's the ability to do two things at once and be hands-free—I can wash the dishes and not ever have to worry about spillage,' Mary shares.) But that's not all: To start, the MomCozy Mobile Flo pairs with its own app to give mom full control over her pumping style. Per Mary, you can choose from preset pumping patterns, but also turn your own cadence into a preset (and still adjust as you go). The app also goes beyond that—there's a pause feature, which Mary can attest is incredibly helpful in virtual meetings just in case you find yourself mid-pumping session and want to stop the whirring sound of an electric pump. It also milk volume tracking, which allows you to keep track of your total ounces easily, another helpful feature for moms who are hanging onto every drop. (Ahem, all of us.) Mary also shouted out the intuitive set-up, even for a first-time mom. The MomCozy offers a snug—and comfortable—fit and a range of flanges that come included (24mm, plus 17mm, 19mm and 21mm inserts) so that you can really zero in on that perfect fit. A single charge should also get you through about four or five pumping sessions, sometimes more, which is helpful for anyone on-the-go. The app also makes it a breeze to track your pumping schedule, pinging you with notifications so you don't forget. And cleaning is easy, too. (Mary relies mostly on the Baby Brezza Bottle Washer to clean all her pump parts, but during that wedding weekend, she used pump sterilization bags to great success.) Most amazing of all, Mary says she yielded an identical supply with the wearable as when she pumped using her Spectra, an impressive result. In the case of the MomCozy Mobile Flo breast pump, Mary was clear: The ability to leave the house and be expressing milk for your infant at the same time is quite a feeling. That said, the MomCozy's discretion level is seasonal, she says. 'It was much easier in the wintertime when I could throw a bulkier coat over my clothes vs. summertime when I'm wearing much lighter layers,' she describes. (To be clear, this doesn't make MomCozy's breast pump less portable, it's more about visibility—if you have a sweater on over the pump, you're less likely to catch a glimpse than if you're using it while wearing a tank top, FYI.) For Mary, the best use of it really has been on the road—to multi-task like that while commuting is kind of amazing. Some of the parts can be a bit flimsy—like the tabs on the milk collector, which break off after repeated use. In Mary's experience, if they did snap, it was close to the expected life span for replacement (they're meant to be replaced every three months), but something that was a bit of a nuisance. One additional frustration: It's hard to tell exactly how much milk you're collecting while pumping, so you have to maneuver the pumps a bit to peek and make sure it is, in fact, working. 'With my Spectra, I can see my progress at a glance, but for the wearable pump, I tend to base it off of timing and feel.' It's quiet, it's efficient, it's portable, but above all, the MomCozy Mobile Flo delivered the same output as Mary's regular pump—the point. $270 at momcozy Attention, Moms-to-Be: You Can Now Get a *Wearable* Breast Pump for Free Through Insurance
