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Smoking, vaping or eating marijuana is linked to a significantly higher risk of heart attack and stroke, even if a person had no existing heart conditions and did not smoke or vape tobacco, a new study found. (LaMotte, 2/28)

The Food and Drug Administration could roll out a new logo as soon as this year for companies to stamp on the packaging of "healthy" foods they make, aimed at clearing up confusion on what products actually should count as good for you. The new symbol will follow a long-awaited update to the FDA's definition, due to be published this April, of what foods can claim to be healthy to eat under federal rules. It comes as the agency is also working on another major new rule: front-of-package nutrition facts. (Tin, 2/27)

Old accumulations of the toxic metal in the deep sea are circulating into shallower waters where the fish feed, new research found. (Tabuchi, 2/27)

Samantha Peterson sat in a reclining chair with a headset stretched across her face. Colorful lights danced over her eyes as she peered around the room. Through the glasses, a holographic garden bloomed. Meanwhile, a narrow tube protruded from her forearm into a blood bag dangling below. She was the latest donor to try mixed reality technology at a blood drive at the Field Museum on Tuesday. (Armanini, 2/27) 

A vitamin-sized diagnostic could be the future of esophageal cancer prevention. Cancer of the esophagus — the muscular tube that moves food from the mouth into the stomach — has just a 20% five-year survival rate. Yet there are no standard or routine screening tests for the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Lucid Diagnostics, a New York-based biotech company, is looking to change that with its newly developed test, which only requires taking a single, pill-sized diagnostic. (Rudy, 2/27)

Recent tracking rule changes led to a significant increase in reported Lyme disease cases in the U.S. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated definitions to better understand the tick-borne disease. In 2022, reported cases rose by 68.5% after the new definition went into effect. (Balzer, 2/28)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Say That Again: Using Hearing Aids Can Be Frustrating For Older Adults, But Necessary 

It was an every-other-day routine, full of frustration. Every time my husband called his father, who was 94 when he died in 2022, he’d wait for his dad to find his hearing aids and put them in before they started talking. Even then, my father-in-law could barely hear what my husband was saying. “What?” he’d ask over and over. (Graham, 2/28)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Listen To The Latest '�鶹Ů�� Health News Minute' 

This week on the �鶹Ů�� Health News Minute: Pain specialists say injections for kids don’t have to hurt so much, and states overwhelmed by the housing crisis are using Medicaid funds to curb homelessness. (2/27)