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Why cancer is hitting the Midwest harder than anywhere else in America

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Why cancer is hitting the Midwest harder than anywhere else in America

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While the rest of the country’s cancer rates are falling, those in Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and Kansas — known as the Corn Belt — are rising at an alarming rate, data shows.

The spike in America’s corn-producing states caught the attention of the University of Iowa’s Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, which gathered a panel to investigate the trend. 

One of the experts, Dr. Marian Neuhouser, a professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, served on the panel as an expert in nutrition and obesity.

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“The panel came about after they noticed that the trends for cancer incidence were increasing at a faster rate in Iowa than in other states,” Neuhouser told Fox News Digital.

A data analysis by The Washington Post based on federal health datasets found that the number of people diagnosed with cancer in the six Corn Belt states has outpaced the national average since the mid-2010s. 

While the rest of the country’s cancer rates are falling, those in the Corn Belt states — Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana and Kansas — are rising at an alarming rate. (iStock)

In 1999, cancer rates in the Midwest were on par with the national average. Now, among residents aged 15 to 49, those rates are about 5% higher, a pattern that began diverging in the 2000s and has steadily widened.

The Post based its findings on data from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which track cancer incidence nationwide.

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The analysis compared rates from 1999 through 2022 using multi-year averages for Iowa and excluding 2020 due to pandemic disruptions.

Experts probe causes

Neuhouser noted that some of the increases involve cancers that are preventable or detectable through screening.

Researchers are examining both environmental and lifestyle factors that could be driving the increase.

A panel of experts convened in Iowa after more numbers came out about the alarming spike in cancer rates. (iStock)

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Outdoor UV exposure and high rates of binge drinking could be contributors, according to the Iowa Cancer Registry, part of the National Institutes of Health’s surveillance network.

Iowa’s Environmental Health Sciences Research Center has described the state as a “hot spot for environmental exposures to carcinogenic agents.” 

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The soil and groundwater in the region reportedly contain some of the nation’s highest levels of natural radon and nitrate, largely because of fertilizer use in farming. Both substances have been linked to high risks of lung and gastrointestinal cancers.

Meanwhile, the widespread application of pesticides and herbicides, including glyphosate, continues to generate debate among scientists and regulators.

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Where fields once symbolized abundance, they now raise questions about how the chemicals used to maintain them could affect people’s health. (iStock)

Risk of chemical exposure

Dr. Anne McTiernan, professor of epidemiology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, has analyzed decades of research on glyphosate and cancer risk.

“Glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide, has been used in the U.S. for decades and is reported to be the most widely used pesticide globally,” she told Fox News Digital.

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The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as “a 2A carcinogen (“probably carcinogenic to humans”), which is the second-highest grade of carcinogen, according to McTiernan.

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Her review of studies through 2025 found that people with long-term, high exposure to glyphosate, such as those working on farms, had a roughly 40% higher risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma compared to those who were never exposed.

Researchers warn that the causes of cancer spikes in the Corn Belt may lie in decades of invisible exposure. (iStock)

This level of increased risk, combined with lab evidence that glyphosate can damage DNA and cause cellular stress, is considered strong enough to support a causal link, according to the expert.

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Role of obesity and alcohol 

Lifestyle factors are also compounding risk. Per CDC data, about 21% of Iowa adults report heavy drinking or binge drinking, compared to roughly 17% nationally.

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services reports that about 35% of adults in the state are classified as obese, placing it among 19 states with obesity prevalence at or above that level. Nationwide, the CDC reports an adult obesity rate of roughly 40%.

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Neuhouser noted that 13 separate cancers are linked to obesity. 

“Everyone would like to be able to narrow down cancer risk … to one exposure, but cancer is so complex that it’s usually several factors working together,” she said.

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LeAnn Rimes’ emotional reaction to jaw release therapy sparks widespread buzz

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LeAnn Rimes’ emotional reaction to jaw release therapy sparks widespread buzz

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Singer LeAnn Rimes has gone viral for her reaction while receiving jaw release therapy.

In a session with Garry Lineham, co-founder of Human Garage in California — a resource for self-healing practices — Rimes received an intra-oral massage, releasing the tension in her jaw. She seemed to instantly feel relief, sobbing on the table.

Jaw release therapy, which involves the massaging or stretching of muscles in the face, is popular for relieving TMJ pain, headaches and jaw clicking, according to experts.

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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Lineham shared that stress has an immense impact on human health, especially on muscle tension and pain.

“We hold emotions in our body,” he said. “Emotions cause a sympathetic response or a stress response in the body.”

“When you release the jaw, instantaneously you come out of that fight or flight mode,” Lineham said. (iStock)

“Stress is one thing that impacts every disease, whether it’s emotional or physical, whether it is genetic,” he went on. “Stress is the thing that makes genetics pop. If you take away stress, those genetic markers no longer express themselves.”

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Clenching the jaw can create stress, which happens naturally with physical and emotional exertion, according to Lineham.

“If you clench your jaw and hold it there for three to five minutes … you’ll actually fire adrenaline and norepinephrine (hormones and neurotransmitters),” he said.

This sends a message to the body that you’re bracing for an “attack,” releasing hormones like stress, Lineham added.

“When you release the jaw, then instantaneously you come out of fight or flight mode.”

How jaw release works

Jaw release therapy targets the fascia, or the connective tissue that supports the body’s muscles, organs and joints. Stretching the fascia also allows the muscle to stretch, providing relief, Lineham said.

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“When you release the jaw, then instantaneously you come out of that fight or flight mode,” he said. “And if you’ve been there for a long time, like most people have, it instantaneously shocks the nervous system in a good way.”

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Dr. Justin Richer, oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Riverside Oral Surgery in New Jersey, shared the benefits and risks of jaw release treatment with Fox News Digital.

Jaw release therapy can help with facial pain and muscle tightness. (iStock)

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Certain muscles in the body, such as the shoulder or back, can tense up and “overreact to problems that are going on within them,” said the doctor, who did not treat Rimes.

“Jaw release is almost like a massage or similar technique, to put pressure on the muscles and let the tension that’s built up just kind of relax away,” he said. “It’s not something that a lot of people do.”

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The procedure is most beneficial for those with symptoms of TMJ, facial and muscle pain, and tightness, according to Richer.

Some physical therapists and massage therapists offer this treatment, but Richer recommends seeking help from an oral-facial pain specialist or surgeon who “really understands the anatomy of the jaw joint.”

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Dr. Richer recommends seeing an oral surgeon or specialist before seeking the procedure. (iStock)

“If it’s done properly, there’s very minimal risk,” he said. “What we get concerned about is undue manipulation of the joint, so either cracking or distorting or trying to forcefully move the joint . . . that can actually cause undue harm from an orthopedic perspective.”

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Despite the benefits, Richer stressed that this kind of therapy may be a temporary fix, as it could be treating only the symptoms of an underlying problem.

“Get a diagnosis first before you go ahead and start manipulating things,” he advised.

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Study reveals one simple eating habit that may help boost weight loss

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Study reveals one simple eating habit that may help boost weight loss

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Losing weight might be as simple as sticking to the meals you know, a new study found.

People who ate the same meals more often lost more weight during a 12-week weight-loss program, according to a new study published in Health Psychology.

“Maintaining a healthy diet in today’s food environment requires constant effort and self-control,” lead author Charlotte Hagerman of the Oregon Research Institute said in a statement. 

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“Creating routines around eating may reduce that burden and make healthy choices feel more automatic.”

Experts say maintaining muscle after 50 may require more protein than the minimum federal guideline. (iStock)

Hagerman and fellow researchers from Drexel University and the Oregon Research Institute analyzed food logs from 112 adults who were overweight or obese who tracked their meals in an app and weighed themselves daily, according to the study.

The researchers measured “routinized” eating in two main ways —how much participants’ daily calorie intake fluctuated and how often they repeated the same meals and snacks over time, according to the paper.

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Those whose diets included more repeated foods lost an average of 5.9% of their body weight compared to 4.3% for those whose eating patterns were more varied, according to a press release from the American Psychological Association.

A man shows how much weight he has lost by holding out the waist of his jeans, symbolizing his successful diet. (iStock)

People who kept their daily calorie intake more consistent also lost more weight, according to the researchers.

Liza Baker, a Vermont-based nutrition expert and founder of Simply: Health Coaching, said the findings line up with what she has seen firsthand in more than a decade of working with clients.

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“Removing the mental load of ‘What’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner?’ can make the wellness journey much more sustainable,” Baker told Fox News Digital.

A breakfast of oatmeal porridge with summer berries. (iStock)

She said repeat meals can reduce decision fatigue and make it easier for people to stick to healthier habits, especially when they are packing lunches, cooking at home and following a simple routine.

Baker said people do not necessarily have to repeat every meal to see benefits.

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“One can start by eating one meal that is repetitive, usually breakfast or lunch,” she said. “As results start to show, it’s then more conducive to increasing to two to three repetitive meals a day.”

At the same time, experts cautioned that the findings do not prove cause and effect. The study was observational, meaning it found an association between routine eating and greater weight loss but could not show that repetition alone caused the better results, according to the researchers.

Consistency — not variety — may be key when it comes to weight loss, researchers found. (iStock)

Baker also warned that repeat meal plans can backfire if they are not nutritionally balanced or if they trigger perfectionism.

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“Unless someone is well-versed in nutrition, setting up a repeat meal plan can quickly become a nutritional nightmare that leads to becoming deficient in one or more nutrients,” she said.

The study authors similarly noted that too little variety could come with trade-offs. Future research is needed to determine whether a more repetitive diet should be actively recommended as a weight-loss strategy, they said.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the study’s authors for comment.

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Prayer for Weight Loss Works: How Faith Can Help You Shed Weight Faster

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Prayer for Weight Loss Works: How Faith Can Help You Shed Weight Faster


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How Prayer for Weight Loss Can Help You Shed Pounds Faster




















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