St. Patrick’s Day holiday menus often include the traditional corned beef and cabbage meal. Despite the calories and fat content, some nutritional experts say there may be certain health benefits to this savory dish.

“With any special meal and holiday such as St. Patrick’s Day, we should not deny ourselves these delicious meals,” Karina Chiddo, a registered dietician and pediatric nutritionist with Cohen Children’s Medical Center at Northwell Health on Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital. 

“We should be mindful that special meals can be a part of a healthy lifestyle when eaten in moderation,” she said.

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The cornerstone of the traditional meal — which is a nod to Irish heritage — is corned beef, which is a cut of meat cured with salt, much like brisket. 

It is typically served with cabbage on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.

“Cabbage has some great benefits as an affordable vegetable,” Chiddo pointed out. 

“It is a good source of vitamin C, manganese and folic acid, and is great for phytonutrients and antioxidants.”

Those antioxidants can help to reduce the inflammation that is linked to heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases, she added.

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Red cabbage can also raise levels of heart-protective antioxidants and has other benefits, according to Chiddo.

“Cabbage can be beneficial for our gut, especially when it’s fermented as kimchi or sauerkraut,” she said.

Corned beef can be a great source of protein, zinc and B vitamins — although it’s important to watch your portions, Chiddo advised.  

A festive St. Patrick’s Day dinner of lean corned beef with cabbage, carrots, and baby Yukon Gold potatoes, garnished with a shamrock made of baby spinach leaves. The serving size for corned beef is about 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards, a nutritionist said. (iStock)

“Be mindful that the serving size is about 3 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards,” she said.

“Like any animal protein, it can be high in saturated fats.”

Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic Center for Human Nutrition, commented on this Irish tradition as well. 

She said cabbage is high in vitamin C, vitamin K, polyphenols and sulfur compounds, while corned beef is a source of vitamin B12, iron, selenium and protein.

How to make corned beef and cabbage healthier

The traditional corned beef and cabbage served on St. Patrick’s Day can be high in saturated fat and sodium, Zumpano noted, but there are ways to reduce those levels and make the meal healthier.

“If you’re preparing the meal, choose a lean cut of beef and trim all fat, limit the amount of sodium added, and include additional vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips,” she told Fox News Digital.

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Cabbage may contain high amounts of sodium as well as saturated fat from butter or meat drippings because of the way it is prepared in a traditional St. Patrick’s Day feast, Zumpano warned, adding the suggestion to limit portion sizes.

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In general, health experts recommend limiting consumption of red meat and processed meat due to its association with a higher risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to a report on the American Heart Association website.

“If you are preparing the meal, choose a lean cut of beef and trim all fat, limit the amount of sodium added, and include additional vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips,” a nutritionist advised. (iStock)

“The major nutritional drawback of corned beef and cabbage is the amount of salt in contains,” Laura Feldman, a registered dietitian nutritionist and an assistant professor of nutrition at Long Island University in Brookville, New York, told Fox News Digital.

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“A person who is affected by salt would be advised to keep portions small. However, if you follow a generally healthy diet, the impact of one holiday meal should be minimal.”

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A man suffering from severe migraines, obesity and complicated type-2 diabetes was found to have parasitic tapeworm larvae in his brain, which was the result of eating partially cooked bacon, according to a report published by the American Journal of Case Reports last week.

The 52-year-old man had a medical history of chronic migraines, type-2 diabetes mellitus which was complicated by peripheral neuropathy, hyperlipidemia and obesity.

The study noted that the man told doctors his migraines occurred almost weekly and were not responsive to medication. He also said he did not travel to high-risk areas, lived at home with his wife and cat, and preferred lightly cooked, non-crispy bacon, which he admitted having eaten most of his life.

The man underwent numerous tests, including a CT scan, which uncovered multiple cysts in his brain. But there was no evidence of hydrocephalus, or buildup of fluid.

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Doctors also conducted an MRI which demonstrated the same findings as the CT, but also noted there was concern about neurocysticercosis.

“Cysticercosis is a condition caused by infection with the larval form of Taenia Solium, a pork tapeworm that uses pigs as an intermediate host,” the study read. “Humans become infected when they ingest water or food contaminated with tapeworm cysts.”

The man underwent more tests to find out more on a correlation between the migraines and Cysticercosis, involving blood and urine cultures and HIV antibodies, though all came back nonreactive.

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But when the Cysticercosis lgG Cysts antibody came back with a positive result, doctors were able to confirm the suspicion of neurocysticercosis.

Researchers said the man’s “preference for soft bacon” could have led to him developing an intestinal tapeworm. 

They then put him under a regime of medications, and after 14 days, he was determined to be successfully treated.

Researchers said the man’s “lifelong preference for soft bacon” could have led to him developing an intestinal tapeworm and not cysticercosis.

“Taeniasis occurs when consuming undercooked pork and the larval cysts embedded within, while cysticercosis is contracted when humans ingest eggs found in the feces of other humans with taeniasis,” researchers wrote. 

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“It can only be speculated, but given our patient’s predilection for undercooked pork and benign exposure history, we favor that his cysticercosis was transmitted via autoinfection after improper handwashing after he had contracted taeniasis himself from his eating habits.”

A man who consumed partially cooked bacon was found to have tapeworm larvae in his brain, causing him to suffer from severe migraines. (Steve Doocy)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that if a person consumes undercooked and infected pork, then gets tapeworm infection in the intestines, that person will pass the eggs in their feces.

Cysticercosis typically occurs in low-income countries, the CDC noted, though people who have never traveled outside the U.S. could still contract it.

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“A person infected with a tapeworm who does not wash his or her hands might accidentally contaminate food with tapeworm eggs while preparing it for others,” the CDC said.

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After entering the body, the eggs hatch and the larvae sometimes attach to the brain.

Symptoms of cysticercosis include headache, epilepsy, dizziness and stroke.

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The number of maternal deaths previously reported by the CDC may be inaccurately rising, a study recently revealed.

Flawed or imperfect record-keeping could be the culprit for what seems to be a spiking rate of maternal deaths across the U.S.

Maternal death is defined as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes,” according to the World Health Organization.

Common causes of maternal mortality include excessive bleeding, infection, heart disease, suicide and drug overdose.

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A study in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that one checkbox on death certificates may have been misused. Deaths recorded that included at least one mention of pregnancy were analyzed. Data was collected from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) from the time periods of 1999 to 2002 and 2018 to 2021 and was examined by researchers.

Specifically, researchers looked into the death certificates of women who were pregnant at or around the time of their deaths. The compared findings between these years were conclusive to “stable” deaths “at just over 10 per 100,000 live births,” according to Axios.

However, the report from the CDC recorded that there was an uptick in maternal mortality rates per live births from 2018 to 2020. In 2018, the CDC presented 17.4 deaths per 100,000 live births, 20.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2019 and 23.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2020.

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The requirements for using the checkbox changed in 2018, constraining only deaths in women ages 15 to 44 to be included. Though the deceased shown in the report still include accidental deaths, like car accidents, versus being limited to what is categorized by the WHO as maternal deaths.

And though maternal deaths may not be spiking as previously recorded by the CDC, they are a very serious public health concern across the U.S.

In 2023, Black mothers died at the nation’s highest rate, according to a study done by the Journal of the American Medical Association. In Arkansas, in 2021, a state report showed that Black women are twice as likely to experience maternal mortality than white women.

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The NCHS this week concluded that the cause of death in non-Hispanic Black women was more due to ectopic pregnancy, cardiovascular conditions and kidney and other diseases, according to Axios.

An increase in maternal death among non-Hispanic White women increased, though the report showed that fatal cardiomyopathy and other causes of death were disproportionately more common among non-Hispanic Black women.

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Olivia Munn claims that her breast cancer risk-assessment score helped save her life.

The actress, 43, shared on social media this week that the score helped detect her breast cancer just months after she had a negative mammogram and tested negative on several genetic tests. 

The high-risk score prompted Munn’s physician to send her for further evaluations — including an MRI and ultrasound that detected cancer in both breasts, according to her Instagram post on Wednesday.

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“She discovered my lifetime risk was at 37%,” Munn wrote. 

“Because of that score, I was sent to get an MRI, which led to an ultrasound, which then led to a biopsy. The biopsy showed I had Luminal B cancer in both breasts. Luminal B is an aggressive, fast-moving cancer.”

What is the breast cancer risk assessment score?

While there are several risk assessment tools available to patients and physicians, the breast cancer risk assessment tool (BCRAT), also known as the Gail Model, is one of the most common.

The test, which takes about five minutes to complete, helps predict a female’s risk of developing an invasive breast cancer within the next five years and up to 90 years of age, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

BCRAT calculates the woman’s “absolute breast cancer risk,” which the organization defines on its website as the “chance or probability of developing invasive breast cancer in a defined age interval.”

The risk calculator tool looks at several factors, including age, race, medical history and reproductive history.

It also looks at the presence of a family history of breast cancer among first-degree relatives, such as mothers, sisters and daughters.

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The information is then calculated. 

A five-year risk score of 1.67% or more is considered high-risk, and a health care provider may recommend certain medications to decrease the chances of developing cancer, according to Cleveland Clinic’s website.

Dr. Nicole Saphier, M.D., board-certified breast imaging radiologist and associate professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, recommends individual risk assessments to her referring clinicians and patients.

“Olivia Munn’s doctor may have saved her life by doing so,” Saphier said in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

Dr. Nicole Saphier, M.D., board-certified breast imaging radiologist and associate professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said she recommends individual risk assessments to her referring clinicians and patients. (Fox News)

“While a standard mammogram is sufficient for nearly half of all women, many others will benefit from adding an ultrasound or MRI based on breast density and various other factors that may make someone higher risk.”

Less than 5% of all women diagnosed with breast cancer will have cancer in the contralateral (opposite) breast, Saphier pointed out.

“Olivia Munn was one of those rare cases.”

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Dr. Ruth Oratz, a breast medical oncologist at NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York City, told Fox News Digital that if a patient uses the risk assessment herself and finds that she is at increased risk of breast cancer, she should discuss this with her physician.

“The doctor can then do a more detailed evaluation as to her breast cancer risk,” Oratz said. 

“For example, if there is a family history of breast cancer, then the patient may be referred for genetic testing. This information may give a more specific evaluation of the patient’s risk of breast, or even other types, of cancer.” 

Less than 5% of all women diagnosed with breast cancer will have cancer in the contralateral (opposite) breast — which means Olivia Munn’s case was rare, a doctor noted. (Instagram: Olivia Munn)

Another breast cancer specialist told Fox News Digital that the risk of cancer could vary widely among women.

The average woman’s risk is approximately 10% to 12% at the lowest end of the spectrum, according to Dr. Elisa Port, chair of breast surgery for The Mount Sinai Health System and director of the Dubin Breast Center in New York City.

“By contrast, the highest identifiable risk is associated with BRCA mutation carriers,” she told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

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“For them, the risk of getting breast cancer can be as high as 60% to 80%.”

She added, “Women who are not genetic mutation carriers might still be at increased risk of getting breast cancer based on a variety of other factors.”

Munn tested negative for the BRCA mutation gene, according to her Instagram post.

“While a standard mammogram is sufficient for nearly half of all women, many others will benefit from adding an ultrasound or MRI based on breast density and various other factors that may make someone higher risk,” a doctor told Fox News Digital. (iStock)

“The largest drivers of increased risk include having a family history of breast cancer on either a mother or father’s side, having previous breast biopsies, and importantly, if any of those biopsies showed findings of atypical cells,” Port said. 

Other factors that are of lower added risk include age at onset of menstruation, the number of children a woman has had, and her age at first childbearing. 

Potential limitations

There are some limitations to the BCRAT.

The tool is not accurate when it comes to estimating the risk in women who tested positive for the breast cancer-producing mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2, those with a history of invasive or in situ breast cancer (in the milk ducts), and certain subgroups, according to the NCI.

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“If a woman knows she has a BRCA or other genetic mutation, then the breast cancer risk assessment is not really accurate,” Oratz said in her statement to Fox News Digital.

“She should then discuss her cancer risk with her team of health care providers.”

Although this tool may accurately estimate a woman’s chances of breast cancer, it does not determine whether she will actually develop the disease, the NCI stated.

One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. (iStock)

BCRAT also underestimates risk in Black women who had previous biopsies and Hispanic women born outside the United States, the organization noted. 

Risk estimates for American Indian/Alaska Native women are partly based on data for White women due to limited data for this demographic and may be inaccurate. 

Further studies are needed, according to the Institute.

For women with a genetic mutation, the risk of getting breast cancer can be as high as 60% to 80%.

While all risk assessment tools have limitations, they can still play a role in cancer prevention, breast cancer specialists told Fox News Digital.

“These models can help identify women at increased risk, allowing for more personalized and tailored screening,” Port said.

It is important for women to discuss risk assessment scores with a health care provider to determine next steps, Oratz added. 

A five-year risk score of 1.67% or more is considered high-risk, and a health care provider may recommend certain medications to decrease the chances of developing cancer, according to Cleveland Clinic’s website. (iStock)

“If someone is at significantly increased risk of developing breast cancer, then she should review with her doctor consideration of recommendations for increased screening and surveillance,” she said. 

For women with genetic mutations that are very high risk, they should see a breast cancer specialist to discuss other options, she recommended.

Controllable factors 

Depending on individual risk levels, there are steps a woman can take to help lower the possibility of developing breast cancer, health experts told Fox News Digital.

Eating a healthy diet and staying active can help reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer, experts agreed. (iStock)

“It is important to have a healthy body weight and not be overweight,” Oratz said.

It is also important to eat a healthy diet that limits sugar, fat and alcohol. 

“Alcohol is a significant risk factor for breast cancer,” Oratz noted. “We recommend that women do not drink alcohol every day and have not more than one or two drinks on the days that they do drink.”

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“Remaining physically fit with exercise and some weight training to maintain muscle mass and strength also contributes to general overall health,” the expert added. 

In some cases, medications may help lower the risk of breast cancer, but individuals should discuss this with their health care provider, according to Oratz.

In some cases, medications may help lower the risk of breast cancer, but each individual should discuss this with a health care provider, an expert said. (iStock)

When it comes to assessing the risk of developing breast cancer, risk assessment scores can help health care providers come up with a plan for monitoring, diagnosis and early treatment, according to Cleveland Clinic’s website.

Cancer risk is not one size fits all, Saphier pointed out. 

“Even though one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, there are many different types of breast cancer and they can occur at just about any age,” she said.

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“After a breast cancer diagnosis, the risk of it returning never goes to zero, but early diagnosis and intervention give the option for less invasive treatments and the best chance of survival,” she said.

“In Olivia Munn’s case, she has taken every action possible to see her son grow up.”

Munn’s son Malcolm was born in November 2021. 

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