All week long, Fox News Digital keeps you up-to-date on the latest wellness news — clinical trials, medical research, new medications, cutting-edge health technologies, success stories and more.

In case you missed them, here are a few of the biggest health stories from the past week.

As always, you can see a full list of recent health pieces at http://www.foxnews/health. 

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1. New liver drug gets green light from FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the French drugmaker Ipsen’s medication Iqirvo (elafibranor). Doctors and patients discuss how this new option could transform the landscape of liver treatment. Click here to get the story.

2. Major Alzheimer’s study reveals protective gene

In an Alzheimer’s breakthrough, researchers identified a genetic marker that delayed cognitive decline in a high-risk family. Among 27 family members with the gene, disease progression was slowed by an average of five years. Click here to get the story.

Among more than 1,000 high-risk family members, 27 of them who have one copy of a rare gene variant — the APOE3 gene, known as Christchurch — reported delayed onset of symptoms. (iStock)

3. These 6 culprits can drain men’s energy and vitality, experts say

For Men’s Health Month, several doctors shared with Fox News Digital some common reasons for energy and vitality to decline — along with tips for getting back up to speed. Click here to get the story.

For Men’s Health Month, several doctors shared with Fox News Digital some common reasons for the decline — and tips for getting back up to speed. (iStock)

4. Promising news for Parkinson’s patients

A new blood test that uses artificial intelligence could detect Parkinson’s disease up to 7 years before symptoms. An AI health care expert discusses its potential impact. Click here to get the story.

A new blood test could reveal Parkinson’s diagnoses up to seven years before symptoms emerge, according to recent research. (iStock)

5. Expert shares swimming safety tips for summer

Each year, some 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths occur in the U.S., with the highest rates among children between 1 and 4 years of age. From choosing the right bathing suit color to installing pool alarms, these eight tips can help prevent tragic accidents. Click here to get the story.

Each year, some 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths occur in the U.S., with the highest rates among children between 1 and 4 years of age. (iStock)

6. Study reveals bad news for night owls

A recent study by Stanford University, published in the journal Psychiatry Research, found that going to bed after a certain time could lead to mental health issues. Researchers and sleep experts share the negative effects of staying up past that hour. Click here to get the story.

Not getting enough sleep has been proven to compromise mental health, according to a sleep expert. (iStock)

7. Service dogs bring ‘significant’ benefits to veterans

The first study of its kind, funded by the National Institutes of Health, looked into exactly how pairing service dogs with PTSD-diagnosed veterans improves symptoms. A veteran also shares his personal story. Click here to get the story.

Marine Corps veteran Bill Lins, a sergeant from 2004 to 2016, is pictured here with his dog, Link. Lins suffered from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury after he left the service. (K9s for Warriors)

8. Kids with obesity need ‘behavioral counseling,’ task force says

The US Preventive Services Task Force says that kids and teens with a high BMI (95% or greater) should receive at least 26 hours of “comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions.” Dr. Brett Osborn weighs in on the recommendation. Click here to get the story.

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This week’s health stories included new liver drugs, sleep warnings, a new blood test for Parkinson’s, men’s energy boosters and much more. (iStock)

A recently-published study suggests that a body “roundness” index may be a better measure of health than body mass index (BMI).

The article, called “Body Roundness Index and All-Cause Mortality Among US Adults,” was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) this month. It promotes the use of the body roundness index (BRI), which was created in 2013.

BMI, which has been the standard for measuring obesity since the 1980s, is calculated by dividing a person’s weight by the square of their height in feet. It was first developed by Belgian mathematician Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet in the 19th century.

On the BMI scale, any number lower than 18.5 is considered underweight. A BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight, and a BMI score exceeding 30 is considered obese.

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Although BMI is the standard way to measure obesity, it does come with its downsides. For example, because muscle adds on pounds, a healthy, muscular person who weighs a certain amount could be deemed overweight or obese using BMI.

BRI, on the other hand, is calculated using height and weight circumference, instead of just height and weight. BRI scores are also determined by using a more complicated mathematical equation.

“Besides weight and height, BRI additionally considers waist circumference, and hence it can more comprehensively reflect visceral fat distribution,” the study explains.

According to the study, BRI was found to be a more effective way of measuring mortality in a group of patients.

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BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight by the square of their height in feet.  (iStock)

“BRI was found to be superior over other anthropometric indicators in estimating the risk for various clinical end points, including cardiometabolic disease, kidney disease, and cancer,” the study claimed.

Researchers also said that their findings suggested that BRI “may be promising as a newer anthropometric measure associated with all-cause mortality.”

“Our findings provide compelling evidence for the application of BRI as a noninvasive and easy to obtain screening tool for estimation of mortality risk and identification of high-risk individuals, a novel concept that could be incorporated into public health practice pending consistent validation in other independent studies,” the article concluded.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has taken aim at BMI in the past. Last year, an AMA report called the use of BMI “imperfect” and “problematic,” and claimed that it has been used for “racist exclusion.”

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BRI utilizes height and weight circumference, instead of just height and weight. (iStock)

“BMI cutoffs are based on the imagined ideal Caucasian and [do] not consider a person’s gender or ethnicity,” a report presented at the 2023 AMA Annual Meeting read.

Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel criticized the allegations, calling the criticisms “politics, not medicine.”

“I didn’t believe the AMA was going to get involved in cancel culture, but now they’re canceling the body mass index, which is the thing I look at to at least start me off in the direction of obesity,” Siegel said.

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The recent study claims that BRI was a more effective way of assessing a people’s health. (iStock)

“It’s not racist — it’s called good medicine.”

Fox News Digital’s Melissa Rudy contributed to this report. 

Life expectancy is expected to rise worldwide by 2050, according to findings recently published by The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

The institute cites many factors for its findings, including “declining deaths from cardiovascular diseases, respiratory infections and tuberculosis, and maternal and neonatal death.”

While the study has outlier countries with much greater gains in lifespan – Singapore tops the list with an estimated life expectancy of 88 – the region of southern Europe, despite poor GDP, has also made strides.

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The institute’s findings conclude that the relatively poorer southern European countries of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal will gain higher life expectancy by 2050. The world’s oldest living woman at 117, Maria Branyas Morera, is Spanish.

Despite these relatively poorer countries scoring low on GDP in comparison to their high life expectancy, they all possess common characteristics. Normally, more wealth correlates with better health worldwide.

Unlike their fellow top 20 lifespan countries in the study, like Switzerland or Denmark, health might not mean wealth for these southern European nations. 

A 2017 study reveals that Spaniards take 5,936 steps per day on average. For reference, the average American makes only 4,774 in the same study. The cultural heritage of daily movement like walking in nations like Italy and Spain may contribute to their projected high life expectancies.

People sit outdoors at a cafe in Barcelona, Spain. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Additionally, Spanish cities are built more densely populated than their counterparts. Regular social interaction could contribute to higher life expectancy. A 2023 Gallup poll among Spaniards found that just over three quarters, or 76%, reported feeling “fairly” or “very” socially supported.

Intergenerational family living is also more common among Spaniards than Americans, with the same poll reporting that 83% of Spaniards had seen “friends or family who live with you or near you” in the same week of polling.

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The institute projects France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain having life expectancies in 2050 somewhere between 84 and 86 years.

On social media, castor oil has become a popular trend for various uses, from hair growth to weight loss.

There have been millions of posts about the vegetable oil on TikTok, with many creators sharing how they’ve used it to improve their health.

In more controversial cases, creators have applied castor oil directly to their belly buttons — and have even taken to drinking it as a detox and weight-loss method, since the FDA has approved castor oil as a natural laxative.

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While some people on the internet have reported positive results, experts are warning that castor oil consumption could be dangerous for overall health.

Registered dietitian Ilana Muhlstein told Fox News Digital she has “never heard of castor oil being used for anything other than its traditional applications.” 

The Los Angeles-based expert assumed that a primary use is for short-term, mild weight loss, since castor oil acts as a laxative.

“Laxatives can dehydrate you and cause dependency,” she said. “There are much safer alternatives.” 

She added, “If you’re having trouble in the bathroom, try increasing your water intake, adding more fiber to your diet and getting more exercise. Speak with your doctor or dietitian if you have any questions.”

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Katrina Mattingly, M.D., chief medical officer at Option Medical Weight Loss in Chicago, said castor oil is a “tried-and-true, old-school laxative.”

She told Fox News Digital in an email, “The first thing that comes to mind is diarrhea.”

Castor oil is a “tried-and-true old school laxative” with a “distinct taste,” one doctor told Fox News Digital. But doctors warn about its use for weight loss.  (iStock)

“I remember my 97-year-old grandmother giving it to us as kids, along with prune juice, when our GI systems needed help moving things along,” Mattingly said.

Castor oil “hastens our bodies’ elimination of solid waste products and also rids the body of essential water,” the expert noted.

While this can trigger weight loss, Mattingly said that “along with all the solid waste and essential water going down the toilet are essential vitamins and minerals, such as potassium and chloride” — which can lead to deficiencies.

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While castor oil can be helpful in relieving occasional constipation, overusing it as a laxative can lead to the bowels becoming dependent on laxatives, Mattingly warned, “making it difficult to go naturally on your own.”

The obesity doctor emphasized that she would not recommend castor oil for weight loss in any capacity.

One doctor only recommends drinking castor oil in small amounts for occasional constipation.  (iStock)

“Although castor oil has been in use for centuries for a variety of reasons, from body detoxification to vision problems to labor induction, there’s no safety data to recommend routine use for any of these conditions, except constipation,” she said.

Current scientific studies and research do not support its use solely for the purpose of weight loss, the doctor noted.

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Mattingly said she would recommend ingesting castor oil in “small amounts” only for occasional bouts of constipation if it has worked in the past.

“Just remember to hydrate to replace the fluid loss, and if you have long-term or chronic constipation, that warrants a trip to your physician.”

‘Massive detox’ or health hazard?

Women’s health expert Dr. Mindy Pelz advocated for the use of castor oil packs to regulate organ function and move toxins through the body.

The California-based doctor claimed that castor oil can absorb through the skin and move into the organs “very easily.”

Castor oil application can spark a “massive detox,” one doctor said. (iStock)

“When it goes into our system, it creates dilation,” Pelz said to Fox News Digital. “It’s so simple, and so inexpensive … You could just rub it over your liver and gallbladder. You need castor oil to stay on there for two hours for it to … start to dilate these organs.”

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Pelz recommended applying castor oil at night, up to three times a week, for a “massive detox that opens the whole system up.”

The FDA has approved castor oil as a natural laxative. (iStock)

Mattingly, however, countered that castor oil “does not show promise in having inflammatory, antimicrobial properties or antioxidant properties.”

And while viral social media claims are often based on personal experiences, Mattingly noted that certain applications may not have the same effect on everyone.

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“When it comes to medical weight loss, leave that to the experts to ensure you are undergoing a safe and effective plan that won’t leave you miserable or taking that dreaded trip to the ER,” she advised.

Other castor oil applications

There are a few traditional applications for castor oil, including applying it to the scalp or eyelashes to promote hair growth, as well as using it on the belly button for better sleep, Muhlstein said.

“Some people say it helps ease muscle tension and promotes deeper sleep,” she said. “Just be cautious,” she added, “because I’ve heard that using too much of it can make you feel lethargic.”

“Perhaps future studies will give us another resounding medicinal use for [castor oil] other than constipation,” one doctor said. (iStock)

Another potential use for castor oil is as a topical treatment for skin irritations or scars, Muhlstein added.

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“People have reported positive results,” she said. “So, if you’ve got any annoying skin issues, it might be worth giving it a try, but always consult with a dermatologist for bigger issues.”

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Mattingly recommended rubbing castor oil on your stomach or skin as a moisturizer only — but not for weight loss.

“Also, castor oil can have an unforgettable smell,” she warned. “So be prepared for this, particularly if using it on the face or hair.”