The Washington Post (2/11, McGinley) reports the Food and Drug Administration announced that it plans to increase oversight of the dietary supplements industry due to increased risks to customers, including “unlisted drug ingredients, and false and misleading claims about health benefits.” The FDA “underscored the need for greater oversight by announcing it had sent 12 warning letters and five advisory letters earlier this month to companies the FDA said are selling dozens of products that contain unapproved drugs or make illegal claims for treating Alzheimer’s and other serious diseases.”

The New York Times (2/11, B6, Kaplan) reports FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb “suggested that Congress strengthen the F.D.A.’s authority over” the supplements “industry, which sells as many as 80,000 kinds of powders and pills with little federal scrutiny.” During an interview, Gottlieb said, “People haven’t wanted to touch this framework or address this space in, really, decades and I think it’s time we do it.” Gottlieb said he was especially concerned about supplements that claim to cure diseases, which may prevent or delay people from seeking medical treatment, saying, “We know there are effective therapies that can help patients with Alzheimer’s. But unproven supplements that claim to treat the disease but offer no benefits can prevent patients from seeking otherwise effective care.”

Related Links:

— “FDA launches tougher oversight of supplements, ” Laurie McGinley, The Washington Post, February 11, 2019

Reuters (2/11, Rapaport) reports, “Roughly in six U.S. kids have at least one mental [illness], and only about half of them receive treatment from a mental health professional,” researchers found.

HealthDay (2/11, Gordon) reports investigators arrived at this conclusion after examining survey data “from a nationally representative group of more than 50,000 children under 18 years of age.” The findingswere published online Feb. 11 in a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “One in six U.S. kids have mental health disorders, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, February 11, 2019

Reuters (2/8, Banerjee) reports a new study suggests that “youth suicides happen more often in U.S. states with high rates of household gun ownership.” Specifically, data show that “in the 10 states with the highest youth suicide rates, 53 percent of households owned guns.” In contrast, results show that “in the 10 states with the lowest youth suicide rates, only 20 percent of households owned guns.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “More youth suicides seen in states with high gun ownership rates, “Ankur Banerjee, Reuters, February 8, 2019

Medscape (2/8, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reported that a study suggests that people “with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are at high risk for premature death from suicide as well as other causes.” Researchers followed nearly “300 patients with BPD and 72 comparison patients who had other personality disorders (PDs).” Over the 24-year “follow-up period, almost 6% of BPD patients died by suicide, vs only 1.4% of comparison patients; 14% of BPD patients died by causes other than suicide, compared to only 5.5% of comparison participants.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (2/7, Jacobs) reports that on Thursday, Instagram announced “it would no longer allow graphic images of self-harm, such as cutting, on its platform,” a change which seems to come “in response to public attention to how the social network might have influenced a 14-year-old’s suicide.” Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, issued a statement explaining the change, noting “a distinction between graphic images about self-harm and nongraphic images, such as photos of healed scars,” which will still be allowed but will be “more difficult to find.”

Related Links:

— “Instagram Bans Graphic Images of Self-Harm After Teenager’s Suicide, “Julia Jacobs, The New York Times, February 7, 2019