Fortune Med

26% of all domestic trips Americans take are for business; and according to GBTA's Business Traveler Sentiment Index, half of business travelers make time to exercise on nearly every trip, with 23% saying they work out more on the road than they do at home. That's the interesting part. Less time, worse sleep, unfamiliar surroundings, and still more consistent with the workout than at home. Why do you think that is? Is it the new city pulling you outside?

Danni Duncan was diagnosed with stage 2 bowel cancer at 39. Her breakfast growing up was Coco Pops and Rice Bubbles with sugar on top, her lunches were ham sandwiches on Wonder White, her snacks were Shapes and Tiny Teddies. Standard childhood meals for many. Direct causality between ultra-processed food (UPF) to cancer hasn't been established(yet), but researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found an association between high UPF intake and abnormal bowel growths that can lead to cancer. Recently traveling through smaller towns in Arizona I noticed organic produce and clean, minimally processed options were either absent or priced well above the packaged alternatives. For a lot of families, UPFs aren't a preference, they're what's on the shelf and what fits the budget. That raises a harder question than "should we eat better." If quality food isn't affordable or available where people actually live, whose responsibility is it to fix that gap? Danni's story is one data point, but the access problem behind it is much bigger than any one diagnosis. https://lnkd.in/gRrsZh6J

We've written before about microplastics and what (little) we actually know about clearing them from the body. There's a simpler, earlier link in that chain worth talking about: what's touching your food before it ever gets to you. If you've shopped for produce in Arizona and then in California, you've probably noticed the bags feel different. That's not a supplier quirk, it's law. As of January 2025, California requires produce bags to be certified compostable, plant-based film instead of standard polyethylene. As of January 2026, California also banned plastic bags at checkout entirely, even the thicker "reusable" ones, leaving paper as the only option. Arizona took the opposite path. A 2016 state law blocks cities and counties from regulating plastic bags at all, so the thin, standard plastic you're used to is still what you'll find in the produce aisle here. Worth being honest about what this does and doesn't mean for you personally. Compostable doesn't automatically mean lower microplastic exposure at the food-contact level, it's still a plastic film, just one built to break down under industrial composting instead of sitting in a landfill or waterway for centuries. The bigger win is downstream: less plastic waste, less of it breaking down into the soil and water where it eventually becomes the microplastics we're all trying to avoid in the first place. Two states, two different bets on how to handle the same problem. Worth knowing next time your produce bag feels a little different depending on which side of the state line you're standing on. Sources: SB 1053 overview (Hunton Andrews Kurth): https://lnkd.in/gqYivipT California's compostable produce bag rule (NPR): https://lnkd.in/g6bTfA72 Arizona's plastic bag preemption law, HB 2131 (Ballotpedia): https://lnkd.in/gba34j6T

A children's vitamin and gummy brand called TruHeight just landed on the Nordstrom and JCPenney marketplaces, a few months after debuting at Target and rolling into 5,000 CVS stores. That's five major retail channels in under a year for a supplement company most people had never heard of. Worth noticing here isn't the brand itself, it's the pattern. Department stores that used to sell you jeans and shoes are now adding "family nutrition" as a category, right next to activewear and denim. This is a press release, so take the framing at face value: distribution deals, not clinical outcomes. Nothing here tells us whether the products themselves are better formulated than what's already on shelves at any pharmacy. But it does tell you where retailers think consumer attention is heading. Wellness is getting merchandised like apparel now, which means the real work for shoppers is reading labels, not store directories. reference: https://lnkd.in/gVzxbPV5

A daily serving of processed red meat, think a couple slices of bacon or a hot dog, was linked to a 13% higher risk of dementia in this study. That's not a huge number, but it's not nothing either, especially stacked on top of what we already know about processed meat and type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Here's the part I keep coming back to. Brain health doesn't exist in isolation from metabolic health. Insulin resistance, inflammation, vascular damage, these all show up in the brain eventually, not just the waistline. This is an association, not proof that pepperoni causes dementia. Diet studies are messy, and people who eat a lot of processed meat often differ in other ways too (activity levels, overall diet quality, income). Still, the mechanism isn't a stretch. If something is hard on your blood vessels and your blood sugar, it's probably not doing your brain any favors either. Worth asking what's actually driving the risk. The sodium, the nitrates, the processing itself, or just less room on the plate for foods that protect the brain. reference: https://lnkd.in/gUkuWp-a

Early detection can genuinely change outcomes. With H. pylori still underdiagnosed across the U.S., we have a real opportunity to help clinicians identify infection earlier, treat it effectively, and prevent avoidable cases of gastric cancer. Proud to be part of a team focused on delivering accurate, science-driven diagnostics that make this possible. Awareness only matters if it leads to action — better testing, clearer data, and stronger prevention strategies. Together, we can push for earlier detection and save lives. #hpylori #trimed #pytest

An important and timely finding. The lack of standardized H. pylori screening in the U.S. is leaving high-risk patients underserved — especially younger adults where rates of gastric cancer are rising. Early detection tools, like quantitative breath testing, can provide the actionable data needed to improve outcomes and reduce preventable cancers. Proud to be part of the work Tri-Med Global is doing to advance awareness and solutions in this area.

Tri-Med Recognizes Gastric Cancer Awareness Month November is Gastric Cancer Awareness Month—a critical time to highlight a disease that remains far too common and often diagnosed too late. Globally, gastric cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. Despite these numbers, early detection remains one of the most powerful tools we have to improve outcomes. One of the most preventable and treatable risk factors—Helicobacter pylori infection—is still widely underdiagnosed. At Tri-Med Global, we’re committed to supporting clinicians, health systems, and laboratories with accurate, accessible, and science-driven diagnostic solutions for H. pylori. Earlier identification and effective eradication of this infection can dramatically reduce the risk of developing gastric cancer later in life. This month, we stand with healthcare professionals, researchers, patient advocates, and families around the world in raising awareness and advancing early detection. Together, we can save lives by ensuring earlier testing, better follow-up, and stronger prevention strategies. #hpylori #trimed #pytest

Today we proudly thank the brave men and women who have served our country. Your courage, sacrifice, and dedication protect the freedoms we all cherish. Thank you for your service — today and every day.