The Scan by 2 Minute Medicine®: Jamie Foxx Back in Action, Paracetamol for Pain, FDA Against Addictive Vape Flavours, and Coffee and Tea, Beyond Caffeine:

The Scan by 2 Minute Medicine® is a pop-culture medical newsletter and exclusive benefit for 2 Minute Medicine Plus subscribers.

We begin with a discussion about Jamie Foxx’s hemorrhagic stroke that led to his 2023 hospitalization. Then we take a closer look at how paracetamol might have a more serious side-effect profile than previously believed. After that, we examine the battle between the FDA and vaping in the Supreme Court. Finally, we discuss the coffee and tea’s protective effects against head and neck cancer.

Jamie Foxx Back in Action:

The Story: On December 10, 2024, Jamie Foxx returned to stand-up comedy with Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was and shared the details behind his 2023 health scare. The American actor and comedian revealed his hospitalization between April 2023 and May 2023 was due to a “brain bleed that led to a stroke”.

So, what is a stroke?

A stroke is a medical emergency that occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted (ischemic stroke) or when there is sudden bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke). The latter contributes to 10-20% of strokes and can be further classified into intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), where the bleed occurs within the brain tissue itself, and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), where the bleed occurs in the subarachnoid space, an area between layers of tissue separating the skull and brain. In both cases, the extra blood puts pressure on and damages brain cells.

Why do they happen?

Common causes of hemorrhagic stroke include trauma, hypertension, ruptured or malformed blood vessels, clotting disorders, and masses. The actor did not share whether he had an ICH or an SAH but did reveal doctors are still unsure what caused his stroke. His medical scare also demonstrates the hidden dangers of brain bleeds. Foxx’s headache, the most common symptom, was dismissed by the first doctor he saw, who sent him home with a cortisone shot. Doctors warn to be wary of a sudden, severe headache accompanied by neurological deficits such as blurry vision, facial droop, weakness, or speech changes.

How long does it take to recover?

Prognosis depends on the underlying cause and bleed characteristics such as size and location. Even then, stroke rehabilitation, which seeks to improve neurological and functional capacity, is highly variable, lasting months to years, and many patients unfortunately never fully recover. Jamie Foxx woke up on May 4, 2023, in a wheelchair with no recollection of his last 20 days. He has fully recovered after a year of neurological and physical rehabilitation and is back to acting and comedy. His next film, Back in Action, scheduled for release Jan. 17, 2025, is a fitting name.

Paracetamol for Pain:

Acetaminophen (paracetamol), more commonly known as Tylenol, is one of the most widely used medications in the world. With dozens of generic versions of Tylenol, acetaminophen’s market size was valued at an astonishing $10.83 billion in 2024. It is many people’s initial medication of choice for fever, muscle aches, and all sorts of pain.

However, a November 2024 study examined the incidence of acetaminophen side effects and found the medication to be more harmful than commonly perceived, contributing to previous findings that suggest acetaminophen use in older patients requires reconsideration. The cohort study looked at over 500,000 adults ≥65 years in the United Kingdom and found patients with acetaminophen exposure (at least two acetaminophen prescriptions within six months) were at increased risk of perforation or ulceration or bleeding (PUB), uncomplicated peptic ulcers, lower gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, heart failure, myocardial infarction, hypertension, and chronic renal failure compared to unexposed patients.

Due to its perceived safety, many doctors recommend acetaminophen as a first-line medication for older patients with osteoarthritic pain. However, the authors argue that these results combined with the fact that acetaminophen has relatively weak analgesic effects suggest there may actually be a minimal positive or even negative risk-benefit ratio for its use in older adults. While further research is needed to confirm the findings, the authors believe acetaminophen guidelines should be revisited.

FDA Against Addictive Vape Flavours:

On December 2, 2024, the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court heard arguments for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) rejection of two e-cigarette companies’ flavoured vape products, rejections the companies argue failed to follow proper federal law procedures. The FDA is concerned flavours are attractive to youth and have thus-far only approved 27 e-cigarettes. This marks another escalation of a decades-long battle between the two sides since the introduction of e-cigarettes to the U.S. market in 2007.

While e-cigarette, or vape, use among high-schoolers has drastically declined from its 2019 peak of 27.5%, 5.9% still report using e-cigarettes, with 87.6% of those users favouring the flavoured variety. Ongoing research, including systematic reviews and large meta-analyses, continues to corroborate and identify new adverse effects of vaping on respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological systems. E-cigarette use has been shown to increase smoking cessation, although it has also been linked to higher chances of combustible cigarette usage later in life.

The Supreme Court’s ruling is expected by June 2025. However, the FDA’s battle against nicotine addiction won’t end there. Vaping gained widespread cognition and remains popular due to its prevalence in pop culture. Social media, celebrity and influencer use and endorsements, movies, TV shows, and music all contribute to the phenomenon of vaping as a symbol of popularity, edginess, and even art. Flavoured or not, e-cigarettes will remain popular among teenagers and young adults.

Coffee and Tea, Beyond Caffeine?:

While people drink coffee and tea for their taste or energy boost, new research has found another benefit: potential protective effects against head and neck cancer (HNC). The study, published on Dec. 23, 2024, in Cancer, compiled data on 9,548 HNC cases and 15,783 controls from fourteen case-control studies. Although previous papers have found an inverse relationship between coffee and tea consumption and the reduced risk of HNC, this study highlighted dose-dependent effects on different HNC subsites.

The authors found that compared to non-coffee drinkers, individuals who drank over 4 cups of caffeinated coffee daily had 17% lower odds of all HNCs, while individuals who drank 3-4 cups daily had a 41% lower risk of developing hypopharyngeal cancer. The study also found inverse relationships between decaffeinated coffee and tea consumption with HNC occurrence. Interestingly, tea consumption was highly dose-dependent, with individuals drinking over 1 cup daily having 38% higher odds of developing laryngeal cancer.

This doesn’t mean exclusively drinking coffee or tea, which at USD 3.08/cup will certainly harm your wallet. Large quantities of caffeine can cause nervousness, headache, anxiety, or even palpitations and chest pain, and worsen osteoporosis or irritable bowel syndrome. A single tea bag can release billions of microplastics into the body and may increase the risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease, potentially explaining the increased likelihood of developing laryngeal cancer.