web analytics

Addiction treatment medication at the outpatient clinic exceeds the national average

[ad_1]


Over the past year, UI Health Care’s Medication Addiction Treatment (MAT) Clinic has seen follow-up rates up to six times higher than national averages for walk-in patients.

Addiction treatment medication at the outpatient clinic exceeds the national average

Members of UI Health Care’s Medication Addiction Treatment (MAT) Clinic

This clinic has provided care in the past year to more than 130 patients seeking treatment to overcome a substance use disorder (SUD). More than 80% of patients sought treatment for opioid use disorder, but patients also sought treatment for alcohol use disorder and stimulant use disorder. Many patients would suffer severe withdrawal symptoms and be at high risk for negative outcomes if they did not have access to this service. Attempts to expedite regular clinic appointments can result in delays in life-saving SUD care, and this clinic delivers low-barrier services to patients more quickly. who otherwise could not receive care.

The clinic has involved a variety of disciplines from across UI Health Care since its inception. Team members include:

  • Medical students
  • Psychiatry residents
  • Pharmacy students
  • Pharmacy residents
  • Clinical pharmacist
  • Addiction Healthcare Provider
  • Assistant Toxicology Provider
  • Specialist in peer recovery
  • Addiction medicine case manager

Clinic administrators say that because of the world-class care provided by the clinic, follow-up rates are up to six times higher than national averages for patients first seen in emergency departments for SUD, approximately twice the follow-up appointment rates for SUD. for the other environments.

RELATED: Alison Lynch, MD, Director of Addiction and Recovery Collaborative at UI Healthcare, was recently interviewed by Kaiser Health News about how providers can participate in the development of new medications that can lessen the severity of their patients’ withdrawal symptoms.








[ad_2]
Source: Addiction treatment medication at the outpatient clinic exceeds the national average

Methadone Clinic NearbyMethadone Clinics NYCMethadone Clinics USA

Highly processed foods can be considered addictive like tobacco products

[ad_1]
Highly processed foods can be considered addictive like tobacco products

Can highly processed foods be addictive?

It’s a question researchers have debated for years, since unhealthy diets are often fueled by foods loaded with refined carbohydrates and added fats.

Study (PDF): Highly processed foods can be considered addictive substances according to established scientific criteria

To find a resolution, a new analysis from the University of Michigan and Virginia Tech took the criteria used in a 1988 US surgeon general’s report that found tobacco addictive and applied it to food.

By the criteria established for tobacco, the findings indicate that highly processed foods can be addictive, said lead author Ashley Gearhardt, associate professor of psychology at UM, and Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, assistant professor at the Institute for Biomedical Research Fralin at Virginia Tech.

Indeed, the addictive potential of foods such as potato chips, cookies, ice cream, and potato chips may be a key contributing factor to the high public health costs associated with a food environment dominated by cheap, accessible, and highly processed foods. very commercialized. the researchers said.

The research, published in the current issue of Addiction, provides evidence that highly processed foods meet the same criteria used to identify cigarettes as an addictive substance:

  • They trigger compulsive use where people are unable to quit or cut back (even in the face of life-threatening illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease)
  • They can change the way we feel and cause changes in the brain that are similar in magnitude to the nicotine in tobacco products.
  • They are very reinforcing
  • They trigger intense cravings and desires

Ashley GearhardtAshley Gearhardt

“It’s important to note that there is no biomarker in the brain that tells us whether something is addictive or not,” Gearhardt said. “Identifying that tobacco products were addictive really came down to these four criteria, (which) have withstood decades of scientific evaluation. Highly processed foods meet all of these criteria.”

DiFeliceantonio said the ability of highly processed foods to quickly deliver abnormally high doses of refined carbohydrates and fats appears to be key to their addictive potential.

Highly processed foods contain complex substances that cannot be simplified to a single chemical agent acting through a specific central mechanism. The same can be said for industrial tobacco products, which contain thousands of chemicals, including nicotine, Gearhardt said.

When the Surgeon General’s report was published more than 30 years ago, tobacco products were the leading cause of preventable death. But many people and tobacco manufacturers resisted accepting its addictive and harmful nature.

“This delayed the implementation of effective strategies to address this public health crisis, which cost millions of lives,” said Gearhardt, who directs the Food and Addiction Science and Treatment Laboratory at the UM

“When we realized that tobacco products were addictive, it made us realize that smoking wasn’t just an option for adults, people were getting hooked and couldn’t stop even when they really wanted to. It seems the same goes for highly processed foods and this is particularly worrying because children are an important target of advertising for these products.”

Poor diets dominated by highly processed foods now contribute to preventable deaths on a par with cigarettes. Similar to tobacco products, the food industry designs its highly processed foods to be intensely rewarding and difficult to resist, the researchers said.

“It’s time to stop thinking of highly processed foods as foods, but as highly refined substances that can be addictive,” DiFeliceantonio said.

[ad_2]
Source: Highly processed foods can be considered addictive like tobacco products

Methadone Clinic NearbyMethadone Clinics NYCMethadone Clinics USA