Experts have issued a warning about a common practice many will partake in every day that has been linked to deadly liver injuries in the US.

To put it simply, the liver plays a crucial role in the function of the human body and is responsible for assisting more than 500 activities, including filtering harmful substances from the blood.

Some livers metabolize toxins more slowly than others, meaning some drugs can overwhelm and cause harm to even the healthiest of livers out there.

But what about supplements? They’re something lots of us take everyday, thinking it’s good for our health and overall wellbeing.

Well, experts may say otherwise.

Liver damage can happen to the healthiest of people (Getty Stock Photo)

Medics are warning that herbal and dietary supplements could be causing liver damage, with a 2017 study finding 20 percent of liver toxicity cases nationwide are linked to herbal and dietary supplements.

Meanwhile, according to a 2022 study in the journal Liver Transplantation, from 1995 to 2020, supplement-related liver failure which put patients on the donor waiting list increased by eight times.

Robert Grafton was a regular taker of such supplements, but things changed when he reported dark urine and itching one weekend and recognised the symptoms of liver failure.

Grafton told NBC: “I stopped taking everything, thank goodness. If I hadn’t known, if I was not in the medical field, I might have thought, ‘Oh, I think I’m getting sick. I need to take some more of these supplements to help me feel better.’

“My liver enzymes were super elevated, my bilirubin was really high — all the signs of liver failure. I pretty much broke down, my wife as well. I was, at that point, thinking it was liver cancer, pancreatic cancer or something.”

After many sleepless nights, Grafton was told by doctors he had a ‘drug-induced liver injury’, which had been brought on by the supplements.

Dr. Dina Halegoua-De Marzio, who treated Grafton during his time of need, has since issued a warning about these supplements.

Experts have issued a waring about supplements (Getty Stock Photo)

“I think people assume these things are safe,” the health expert said. “The No. 1 reason we see people taking these are for good health or to supplement their health, and so I don’t think that they realize that there is a real risk here.”

It’s important to note the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not monitor supplement safety before they are put on store shelves, so it’s important you know the risks.

In a statement provided to NBC News, the FDA warned: “Dietary supplements may contain ingredients that can have strong effects in the body, even if the ingredients are natural or plant-derived.

“Adverse events are more likely to occur if consumers take supplements in high doses, take multiple supplements or take supplements instead of or in addition to medications.”

Scientists have issued a chilling warning about some US cities which are said to be ‘sinking’ as a result of global warming.

Climate change is a divisive topic, one that seems to create disagreements even at the top of government.

So, if the head honchos of the US are struggling to agree on the matter, then it doesn’t provide many answers surrounding climate change to the general public.

Experts in the field however are always a good source to listen to, with scientists now warning 34 million people in the US could be at risk.

A new study published in Nature Cities discussed this worrying trend, with the hope officials may take climate change more seriously.

“While often considered solely a coastal hazard due to the relative sea-level rise, subsidence also threatens inland urban areas, causing increased flood risks, structural damage and transportation disruptions,” the study states.

“We estimate that at least 20 percent of the urban area is sinking in all cities, mainly due to groundwater extraction, affecting ~34 million people. Additionally, more than 29,000 buildings are located in high and very high damage risk areas.”

Experts have issued a warning about New York (Getty Stock Photo)

It’s believed that cities such as New York, Dallas, and Seattle are all slowly falling into the Earth, as estimates illustrate that around 20 percent of urban land across the US is currently affected by alarming levels of subsidence.

After using satellite data to create high-resolution maps of land movement between the years of 2015 and 2021, experts came to some intriguing findings.

Houston showed the highest levels of ‘sinking’, while the likes of Las Vegas, New York and Washington DC all have high numbers.

Study author Leonard Ohenhen told Newsweek: “In drought-prone regions, reduced surface water availability may increase dependence on groundwater, accelerating aquifer depletion and land compaction.

Houston has showed the highest levels of ‘sinking’ (Getty Stock Photo)

“Additionally, in coastal cities, the combination of subsidence and rising seas leads to increased relative sea-level rise—meaning the land is sinking while the water is rising, compounding the hazard.

“This shortens the timeline for when cities reach critical thresholds for chronic flooding.”

The expert added: “When fluid is removed from the ground, particularly those composed of clay-rich or compressible sediments, the pore spaces collapse, leading to land compaction and surface subsidence.

“Houston, in particular, has experienced decades of aquifer drawdown. Subsidence is a silent but powerful force reshaping our cities.

“It’s a slow, often invisible process that undermines infrastructure, increases flood risk, and quietly erodes urban resilience.”

A link has been discovered between cancer and an environmental crisis that President Donald Trump has previously labeled an ‘expensive hoax’.

We are, of course, talking about global warming, which the 78-year-old having described as ‘nonexistent’ and ‘mythical’ during his first term in office, with him even withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement.

For those unaware, the Paris Agreement is an international treaty which sees countries pledge to tackle climate change, which UNILAD has previously explained.

On Trump’s first day back in the Oval Office for his second term in January, he signed an executive order titled ‘Putting America first in international environmental agreements’. The motion will see the US withdraw from the agreement, which will take effect later this year, on November 4.

But exactly how is climate change, which has been scientifically proven, linked to cancer?

President Donald Trump pictured in 2017 announcing his decision to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Researchers in Egypt analyzed the rates in which women in 17 Middle Eastern and North African countries have developed cervical, uterine, ovarian and breast cancers, comparing the figures to the rising temperatures.

Shockingly, they found that for every 1.8°F [1°C] that temperatures increased, up to 280 more cases were reported per 100,000 women.

Out of the four types of cancer, increases in ovarian cancer rose the sharpest – at 280 – while breast cancer increased the least – although it still recorded 173 more cases per 100,000 people.

“As temperatures rise, cancer mortality among women also rises – particularly for ovarian and breast cancers,” first author of the paper, Dr Wafa Abuelkheir Mataria of the American University in Cairo, told Frontiers.

“Although the increases per degree of temperature rise are modest, their cumulative public health impact is substantial.”

The study analyzing women in 17 Middle Eastern and North African countries detailed how breast, cervical, ovarian and uterine cancer was on the rise (Getty Stock Image)

Fatalities from the cancers almost double per each 1.8°F [1°C] temperature rise, from 171 deaths per 100,000 people, to 332.

The sharpest rise in mortalities was those with ovarian cancer – at 332 – with cervical cancer rising to 171 fatalities per 100,000 people.

Co-author Dr Sungsoo Chun, also of American University, theorised: “Temperature rise likely acts through multiple pathways. It increases exposure to known carcinogens, disrupts healthcare delivery, and may even influence biological processes at the cellular level.

“Together, these mechanisms could elevate cancer risk over time.”

As Chun mentioned, despite the observation, they have been unable to prove that climate change has caused the increase.

Flood debris covers Horseshoe Beach following the aftermath of torrential rain in New South Wales, Australia, last week – which was caused by climate change (Roni Bintang/Getty Images)

Instead, they believe that due to global warming, there has been an increase in carcinogens in the air due to wildfires and hurricanes – which occur more frequently due to climate change.

Due to these extreme weather events, the researchers believe that it could have a knock-on effect on women attending screenings and cancer treatment, which may cause an increase in deaths.

Chun added: “Women are physiologically more vulnerable to climate-related health risks, particularly during pregnancy.

“This is compounded by inequalities that limit access to healthcare. Marginalized women face a multiplied risk because they are more exposed to environmental hazards and less able to access early screening and treatment services.”

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.

A mom whose four-year-old daughter was left ‘floppy and unconscious’ after drinking a popular iced drink has joined experts in warning of the dangers of the beverage for young children.

Kim Moore, from the UK, was with her daughter, Marnie, at a children’s party when the little girl suddenly fell unconscious.

Terrified and unable to wake Marnie up, the 35-year-old mom-of-two rushed Marnie and her older sister, Orla, to hospital, where doctors discovered Marnie’s blood sugar levels were dangerously low.

As they looked into Marnie’s condition, doctors determined her low blood sugar levels had been caused by the drink she’d consumed just minutes before she fell unconscious – a simple, much-loved slushy.

Kim Moore was initially confused over her daughter’s sudden illness (Kennedy News and Media)

Moore explained: “We ended up buying two one-litre refillable cups and they were going off playing, eating, getting drinks and coming back but Marnie didn’t drink the full cup, probably only half.

“Then about 10 minutes later, she started getting really aggravated then she started falling asleep so I just thought she was over-tired. It was only five minutes later when I tried to wake her up that I realized she wasn’t waking up and was actually unconscious. She’d gone really pale.”

Marnie was unconscious for around 25 minutes while doctors worked to bring up her blood sugar levels, and she ended up staying in hospital for three days in total.

Marnie was in hospital for three days after drinking the slush drink (Kennedy News and Media)

Now, Moore believes her daughter suffered from glycerol toxicity; a condition characterized by symptoms like headaches, sickness, shock, and potentially loss of consciousness.

She said: “In hospital, she screamed out in agony saying her head hurt and threw up everywhere.

“Looking back, she had every single symptom of glycerol toxicity. We got transferred to another hospital and they had no idea what had caused it. We started looking into the slushy because that was the only thing differently she’d had that day.”

Moore is now a firm critic of slushies, describing them as ‘poison’ and expressing belief they shouldn’t ‘be allowed at all’.

“I personally wouldn’t allow my child to drink one at all. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take,” she said. “I don’t think they should be sold to kids 12 and under in all honesty. I wouldn’t wish what we went through on our worst enemy. It was awful.”

Moore’s warnings come as experts have warned that children under the age of eight shouldn’t be given slush-ice drinks containing the sweetener glycerol, following concerning findings in the cases of 21 kids who fell ill after drinking them.