Connect with us

Health

Ozempic-Fueled Slimming Is Blowing Up The Wedding Dress Industry

Published

on

ozempic

Price discrepancies and dysfunction are not new in the $73 billion wedding business. However, the rise of weight-loss medicines in the 2020s has created an additional challenge for the seamstresses and designers in charge of the Big Day’s centerpiece garment: the bridal gown.

The Hollywood weight-loss secret has been revealed, and it’s more accessible than ever. GLP-1 medicines, known by the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, have become widely available, thanks in part to compounding pharmacies that sell cheaper, non-FDA-approved versions. (The Food and Drug Administration has warned customers about the risks of unlicensed GLP-1 medications, and a recent JAMA Network article discovered that high demand has resulted in a proliferation of illegal internet pharmacies selling the drugs without prescriptions.)

ozempic

Ozempic-Fueled Slimming Is Blowing Up The Wedding Dress Industry

And, as my colleague Tami Luhby wrote this week, demand for these treatments is expected to rise even further as employers increasingly explore covering them for weight loss rather than just diabetes.

For better or worse, many brides are taking the medicines ahead of their wedding, drawn in by the promise of quick weight loss. That complicates the already difficult task of purchasing and changing their gowns.

“The first issue is the bridal industry’s dysfunction right now, where it takes five to nine months to order a dress,” Susan Ruddie Spring, a designer and proprietor of bridal styling business The Wedding Dresser, told me recently.

Like many businesses, bridal fashion saw a slowdown during the pandemic, followed by a surge in demand as couples postponed their weddings.

Dress orders that used to take three months are now taking much longer, Spring explained, in part because supplies from China are being redirected away from disturbances along the Suez Canal, a critical highway that contributes for up to 15% of global trade.

That’s only one aspect of the time issue.

The right match.
According to the wedding planning website The Knot, the best time to buy a wedding dress is eight to ten months before the event, while other planners prefer buying a full year ahead of time to account for shipping delays.

However, a lot can happen to a body over a 10-month period, especially when GLP-1 medications are involved.

One study discovered that patients who are obese or overweight lost up to 15% of their body weight while using tripeptide, commonly known as Mounjaro, over the course of a year. Those using semaglutide lost approximately 8%.

“I have recently had a couple of brides who lost about 50 pounds with Ozempic,” Springs told me. “Usually, the dress was ordered somewhere in the middle of those 50 pounds.”

It’s difficult to overestimate how much a substantial weight loss can affect the fit of a wedding dress. The clothes are frequently structurally elaborate, adorned with layers of pricey beading, tulle, and lace, and, of course, burdened with unfathomable amounts of emotion and societal expectations.

That worry is obvious on numerous Reddit wedding and weight loss threads, where brides seek advice on how to buy a dress — possibly the most costly item they’ll ever buy — while they have no idea what their bodies will look like a few months later.

The financial risk is real. While most gowns may be taken in several inches, there are limitations, and brides who lose a significant amount of weight may need to purchase a totally new dress. The typical bridal gown cost $2,000 in 2023, according to the Knot. That’s before modifications, which might add hundreds or even thousands to the cost. (Dress and all, the Knot discovered that the typical American wedding costs $35,000.)

The biggest loser.
The Ozempic effect is also causing stress for seamstresses.

Each buyer and dress is unique, but Spring estimates that a typical gown requires 20-40 hours of labor. That’s three one-hour fits with the customer, plus anywhere from six to twelve hours of work in the interim.

However, fast shrinking brides generate more work, which does not always result in more money. Most tailoring companies charge brides a flat rate for a specified number of fittings and adjustments at the beginning of the process, and seamstresses insist they will not penalize brides who lose weight.

Ozempic-Fueled Slimming Is Blowing Up The Wedding Dress Industry

“Brides will always lose weight because of the stress of preparing for the wedding,” said Myrna Lundberg, senior tailor shop manager at Alterations Specialists in New York. However, with her 40 years of expertise in the market, she claims that the projected 5-to-10-pound reduction for most brides has increased with the development of Ozempic.

“It’s really affecting our business, because, it’s more fittings, more time, more work — we lose money,” she told me.

Say yes to stress.
The continual supply of brides in need of significant changes is just one of the unforeseen consequences of the Ozempic Era. But it’s one that’s disproportionately harsh on women, both for the bride dealing with decades of disordered weight standards and for those who work to make conventional wedding dress aspirations a reality.

Spring informs me that tension travels in both directions.

“It’s unrealistic for brides to expect to look like models when walking down the aisle. “And we do more work for the same money.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the majority of seamstresses in the United States are women, with a median pay of $37,000. They are also disproportionately immigrant women, who are frequently underpaid. According to fashion insiders who spoke with CNN the Knot, many undocumented women get below-average salaries under the table.

Lundberg argues that, in addition to the physical strain of modifying the gown, there is also emotional labor involved.

The GLP-1 medicines may be novel, but the worry that brides experience about their bodies and weddings is not.

“Weight loss has always been a primary priority. So we just have to be extremely careful how we deal with them,” Lundberg explained. “It’s not like you are their seamstress — it’s like you’re also their psychologist.”

SOURCE | CNN

Health

Canada Records its First Case on Monkeypox

Published

on

Monkeypox Canada, mpox
The individual sought medical care for mpox (monkeypox) symptoms.

Canada’s Department of Public Health confirmed on Friday that the country’s first mpox (monkeypox) incidence occurred in Manitoba.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, this travel-related case is tied to a continuing mpox outbreak in central and eastern Africa.

“The individual sought medical care in Canada for mpox symptoms shortly after their return and is currently isolating,” the agency stated.

The Public Health Agency of Canada works closely with Manitoba’s public health authorities. The National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) informed the province on November 22 that the sample tested positive for mpox (monkeypox),” the agency stated.

The World Health Organization stated earlier in the day that the mpox outbreak remains a public health emergency.

In August, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following the spread of a new version of the virus, known as Mpox clade Ib, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring nations.

MPox is a viral illness that spreads by close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled sores. It is typically moderate, but it can be fatal.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said that while the danger to Canada’s general population is low, it constantly monitors the situation. It further stated that a public health investigation, including contact tracing, is underway.

Related News:

FDA Approves Expanded Use of ACAM2000 for Monkeypox Prevention

FDA Approves Expanded Use of ACAM2000 for Monkeypox Prevention

Continue Reading

Health

A Canadian Teenager’s Bird Flu Virus Has Mutations

Published

on

Bird Flu
HealthDay

(VOR News) – Health experts have warned that the Bird Flu virus identified in Vancouver has undergone alterations that may increase its transmissibility to humans, a circumstance that Canadian officials believe could occur.

“No additional cases have been identified” after monitoring many potential contacts among the adolescent’s friends, family, and healthcare providers; however, there is no indication that the single Canadian teen is the only one infected with this specific mutant H5N1. Brenda Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer,

Bird Flu Links

Dr. Jesse Bloom of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle told CNN that this is “undoubtedly one of the initial instances where we have observed evidence of such adaptive mutations in H5”.

Bloom observed that the teen’s symptoms began one week before hospitalization, giving the Bird Flu extra time to strengthen its capacity to infiltrate the desired cells.

Significantly, the calf is in critical but stable condition, having contracted a different strain of the virus than the one that affects dairy calves in the United States. An H5N1 strain is circulating throughout Pacific Northwest wild bird populations.

Because there was no documented link with wild birds, Canadian officials are still unsure how the adolescent contracted the illness.

The three discovered alterations in the Canadian example are determined to be at specific regions on the genome, which would improve binding to human cells.

“Numerous influenza virologists, myself included, have observed it due of certain sequences exhibiting indications of mutations that concern us,” he said.

Following a toddler in Alameda County who was exhibiting minor upper respiratory symptoms, California determined the child may have Bird Flu. According to a news release from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the young person is recovering at home following treatment.

Although the patient has had no recorded interaction with an affected animal, the CDPH reports that health officials are investigating possible exposure to wild birds. In addition, they reported, “the positive test indicated a low-level detection of the virus, suggesting the child was unlikely to be infectious to others.”

Four days later, the youngster’s next bird flu test returned negative; further research found that the child tested positive for respiratory infections, which could be causing their Bird Flu and cold symptoms. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will collect test specimens for the next investigation.

California officials emphasized that, despite the reported occurrence, the public health risk remained extremely low.

“We aim to reassure parents, caregivers, and families that, according to our information and data, we do not believe the child was infectious, and no human-to-human transmission of bird flu has been recorded in any country for over 15 years,” stated Dr. Tomás Aragón, head of the CDPH. “It is normal for people to show concern.”

According to the CDC, 53 Americans had confirmed instances of avian flu, with all but one being exposed to contaminated poultry or dairy cows.

In the California example, all of the child’s relatives tested negative, and there is no evidence that the virus moved from person to person.

Dairy cows

The virus first appeared in a pig last month. Seven states have already verified cases of avian influenza, with Oregon reporting the first human case last week. Most incidents have occurred among farmworkers.

California has the state’s largest confirmed human avian influenza infection count, with 27 cases reported (excluding the infant from Alameda County). According to CDC records, there are 11 cases in Washington and 10 in Colorado.

Recent developments have heightened public health experts’ concerns about the prospect of the avian flu virus spreading from person to person.

Since March, the disease has spread to approximately 600 dairy farms in 15 states nationwide. Bird flu has been frequent among domestic and wild birds in the United States for several years.

Dr. James Lawler, co-director of the University of Nebraska’s Global Center for Health Security, recently told the New York Times that “we should be very concerned at this juncture.” “We ought to allocate considerable resources to ascertain the situation, but at this time there is no need for alarm.”

SEE ALSO:

Pancreatic Cancer Among Young People Is No Longer Alarming.

Natural Remedies for Men’s ED Health Problems

Continue Reading

Health

Pancreatic Cancer Among Young People Is No Longer Alarming.

Published

on

Pancreatic Cancer

(VOR News) – Experts have voiced apprehension regarding the increasing incidence of pancreatic cancer among youth; nevertheless, a recent study reveals that this surge in diagnoses has not been paralleled by a commensurate increase in mortality rates attributed to the disease.

What is the reason? Researchers assert that contemporary, more sensitive imaging scans may identify early, non-fatal occurrences of pancreatic cancer in individuals under 40 that were previously undiscovered.

Researchers have noted growing concerns from several registries regarding the rising prevalence of pancreatic cancer among young individuals, especially women, in the United States and worldwide. “While some ascribe this trend to rising obesity rates, others have identified no discernible cause.”

Analyzing the data

The statistics on pancreatic cancer conflate endocrine malignancies and adenocarcinomas, which are two entirely different tumor forms occurring in the same organ.

The first form generally requires years to develop and increase, whereas the second type is characteristically aggressive and spreads rapidly.

The rising prevalence of pancreatic cancer among younger Americans is mostly attributed to an enhanced diagnosis of smaller, early-stage endocrine tumors rather than an escalation in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cases, the researchers noted.

The declining mortality rate of pancreatic cancer, juxtaposed with the rising incidence of new cases, implies that the recent surge in early-onset pancreatic cancer indicates the identification of previously undiagnosed disease rather than an actual rise in cancer prevalence.

Researchers, under the leadership of Dr. Vishal Patel, a surgical resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, acknowledged the increasing incidence of pancreatic cancer among young individuals. Their research, published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, contains the following information:

Pancreatic cancer operations

Restricting the increase of tumors in their first stages is a significant point to consider. This data indicates a phenomenon termed overdiagnosis, characterized by a rise in mortality that does not correspond with the increase in case numbers.

More dangerous adenocarcinomas are occasionally identified at an earlier stage during abdomen scans conducted for unrelated reasons. Conversely, the study’s authors assert that the prevalence of adenocarcinomas among young individuals has remained constant across all stages of the disease.

Meanwhile, the researchers indicated that CT scans and MRIs, which are increasingly sensitive and utilized for a broader range of applications than before, can identify less malignant endocrine tumors in the pancreas.

Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a senior researcher at the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, stated to the New York Times, which published the findings, “The more you are imaged, the more these issues will arise.”

Upon discovery of any issue, both individuals and medical professionals may feel compelled to act.

Dr. Folasade May, a gastroenterologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, stated in an interview with the Times, “Occasionally, we observe anomalies on imaging that necessitate further investigation.” “Ultimately, they may necessitate significant surgical intervention.”

Patients needing surgery

As indicated by the doubling of pancreatic cancer surgical interventions among patients aged 25-34, there has been a substantial increase in surgical interventions for pancreatic cancer among young patients as well.

Dr. Adewole Adamson, a specialist in overdiagnosis at the University of Texas at Austin and a co-author of the paper, stated, “Many patients express a desire for removal.” “Upon receiving a cancer diagnosis, one feels compelled to take action.”

Patients and clinicians should be aware of the following considerations in the future.

The research team states, “Pancreatic cancer may now be subject to overdiagnosis, referring to the identification of disease that is unlikely to result in symptoms or mortality.” “Overdiagnosis is particularly alarming in the context of pancreatic cancer, given that pancreatic surgery carries significant risks of morbidity and mortality.”

SEE ALSO:

Nearly 20% Of Recent Dengue Illnesses Are Associated With Climate Change.

Canadian High School Students Stressing Over Economic Concerns

Continue Reading

Trending