babies

Japan’s problem is not that it is stopping having babies at a record speed. It’s just that he did it 17 years earlier than he should have.

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If there is a way out of demographic pitJapan still hasn’t found it. And not for lack of effort. Although all your effortsof the imagination and million-dollar investment that has been allocated to birth policies, its balance of births continues to be disastrous. The last one has just been published by the Government and shows that in 2025 they were born in Japan 15,179 fewer babies than in 2024. It is the tenth consecutive year of decline, a new historical low and above all a scenario in which Japan did not expect to find itself until 2042. The question is: Is Tokyo willing to cover this birth rate disaster with a greater migratory flow, the demographic table that keeps afloat other countries? What has happened? that Japan has received a hard bath of demographic reality, something that is beginning to be common. The Ministry of Health has just published the birth rate for 2025, a document that leaves little room for optimism. Throughout last year, 705,809 babies were born in the country, a bad figure no matter how you look at it. It represents the lowest record since statistics began to be compiled in 1899, and above all it confirms that the birth rate has been declining for ten consecutive years… with no prospect of improvement. In annual terms, these 705,809 births represent a decrease of 2.1% compared to 2024. If we look further back, to the last decade, the drop is around 30%. The only good news is that the data improves (slightly) some forecasts launched by the Japanese press a few months ago and that the speed at which the birth rate falls seems to be slowing down little by little. At least it is lower than that of the 2022-2024 period, when it exceeded 5% annually. Is it that bad news? Yes. For several reasons. The main one is that the Japanese demographic crisis is worsening much faster than the Government believed, which years ago prepared for a pessimistic scenario. In 2023 the National Population and Security Research Institute and Social Security (IPSS) published a report in which it calculated that the number of annual births would not decrease to 700,000 until 2042. The reality is that the country has already moved within that range in 2025, 17 years than expected. What’s more, the IPSS estimated that 774,000 babies would be born in 2025. The actual data that we know today (705,809) is closer to its most pessimistic projection (681,000). Why is it a problem? Because Japan is proving that, despite its multiple attempts, it has not managed to close its demographic gap. It is not just that their birth rate is falling, it is that vegetative growth (difference between births and deaths) gives clear alarm signals. Although the deaths have decreased by 0.8%the Japanese population shrank by 899,845 people last year. Media like Nikkei either The Japan Times In recent hours, they have published analyzes that warn of the gradual aging of the country and (above all) the pressure it puts on its social security system and pensions. There will be something positive, right? More or less. The statistics leave some positive readings or that show possible paths to follow, although with nuances. For example, in 2025 marriages increased slightly compared to the previous year (1.1%) to reach 505,656. The question is whether this rebound is the result of the hangover from the pandemic, when many couples postponed their weddings. Another curious fact is that there are territories that seem to have hit the right demographic key: in Tokyo the births increased by about 1.3% last year, reaching 88,518, and it is estimated that its metropolitan area accounts for almost a third (30%) of all births registered in the country. What is the solution? The big question. The difficult thing is to answer it. Japan has tried with economic and labor incentives, programs for pair…Everything to boost your birth rate, a goal to which you have dedicated millions and millions. It has been of little use to him. There are those who believe that in this scenario a possible salvation is to rethink the national immigration policy. “Refusing to accept an adequate flow of migrants is not only ignoring economic reality, but giving up on our collective future,” pointed recently to The World Akito Tanaka, from the Migrant Solidarity Network. “Policies that are increasingly limiting the entry of foreign workers are exacerbating precisely this problem,” Tanaka insists.who warns that Japan faces “an unprecedented demographic crossroads.” The latest data from the Ministry of Health actually leaves an interesting idea: the 705,809 babies registered in Japan in 2025 not only correspond to births to parents of Japanese origin, but also include foreigners. What is Tokyo’s position? It does not seem very willing to bet on foreigners to revive its population. In fact just yesterday transcended that Japan’s immigration agency has tightened the guidelines that applicants for permanent residence must comply with. In practice the changes make it more difficult meet the requirements to obtain the visa, for which it is key to demonstrate good conduct and financial self-sufficiency, among other conditions. It’s not exactly new. It has been known for months that the government of the conservative Sanae Takaichi was planning double the time minimum stay that foreigners must remain in Japan to qualify for citizenship. Can it change? In the midst of an avalanche of international tourism (which has generated multiple tensions between foreign visitors and the native population) the presence of foreigners has become a relevant issue in Japanese politics. In fact, after taking the reins of the Government, Takaichi did not take long to promote an immigration policy that revolves around regulations with an eloquent name: “Law for a society of orderly coexistence with foreigners.” His last results at the polls They show that their position does not upset the electorate. Image | Andrew Leu (Unsplash) In Xataka | If Korea believes it is experiencing a demographic crisis, it is because it does not … Read more

The scientist who was in prison for creating the first genetically modified babies. Now he wants to do it again

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In 2018, a scientist took to a stage in Hong Kong to announce that he had crossed the Rubicon: the birth of the first genetically modified babies in history. Today, after serving three years in prisonHe Jiankui is back. But he does not seek forgiveness. With financing of 50 million yuan (about 7 million euros) and an increasingly messianic aesthetic, the man nicknamed the “Chinese Frankenstein” plans to rewrite the code of life again. This time, with an even greater promise: eradicating Alzheimer’s. “I know what it feels like to be God!” shouted Professor Frankenstein—played by Colin Clive—in the film Frankenstein (1931), forever establishing the myth of the scientist who crosses all limits. Upon his release in 2022, He Jiankui appears to have assumed that role without irony. In a recent interview with WIREDhe no longer presents himself as a reckless researcher who learned his lesson, but as a “pioneer of gene editing”, a term he demanded as a condition of being interviewed. On social networks, he is defined as the “Chinese Darwin” or the “Oppenheimer of China”and often posts photos in a pristine coat, posing alone in a lab. Isolated from international academiaI have assured WIRED that investors “come to him every week.” He has established an independent laboratory in the south of Beijing and, although Chinese law expressly prohibits the genetic editing of embryos for reproductive purposes, he claims to operate within a gray area: “philanthropic” research, financed by private entrepreneurs and desperate patients. What happened to the babies? The original 2018 experiment sought to make babies immune to HIV by modifying the gene CCR5. The result, according to geneticists and bioethicists, was a technical and ethical failure. The researcher Lluís Montoliu detailed in The Conversation that the girls born from that experiment are “genetic mosaics”: not all their cells were edited in the same way, and unwanted mutations were also detected —off-target— in other regions of its genome. Despite this, He Jiankui maintains a defiant stance. As stated to the Wall Street Journalall three girls—including a third born in 2019—are healthy and attending primary school today. “I don’t have to apologize to anyone,” he said. However, experts warn that this statement rests on a huge information gap since the real impact of genetic alterations on your immune system, the long-term effects and the psychological consequences of growing up knowing – or one day discovering – that they were humanity’s first genetic experiment are unknown. The new frontier: Alzheimer’s. He Jiankui’s new target is Alzheimer’s, a disease with a personal component: his mother no longer recognizes him due to this pathology. As explained to WIREDtheir plan is to introduce a genetic mutation into human embryos —APP-A673T— discovered in the Icelandic population, which appears to confer natural protection against cognitive decline. The scientific consensus is devastating. Kari Stefansson, the Icelandic geneticist who participated in the identification of that mutation, warned in the Wall Street Journal that He’s approach is “very high risk.” Manipulating the genome of an embryo means that any error, no matter how small, will not only affect one individual, but will be transmitted to all future generations. There is no going back. Still, far from moderating his ambition, He is already planning the next step. confessed in the interview that their ultimate goal is to make up to 12 simultaneous genetic modifications in a single embryo to prevent cancer, HIV and cardiovascular diseases. “The children born will be much healthier and may live longer than us,” he says. For many scientists, that phrase sums up the problem: a totalizing promise based on a still immature technology. Science without borders. How does a scientist disqualified by his own country plan to execute this plan? The answer is a transnational structure that some experts describe as “guerilla science.” In China, He limits his work to human cell lines and experiments with mice and monkeys. In the United States, as revealed by South China Morning Postplans to operate – through his wife, businesswoman Cathy Tie – a laboratory in Austin (Texas), where private financing allows research with embryos discarded from in vitro fertilization. The final destination would be South Africa, a country that relaxed its ethical guidelines in 2024 and that, according to He, would be very interested in authorizing human trials. The financing of this network is as ambitious as it is opaque. While the Wall Street Journal points out that He refuses to reveal the identity of his sponsors, the SCMP reports that even Alternative avenues have been explored such as cryptocurrencies promoted by their environment to raise funds. The uncomfortable mirror of Silicon Valley. The most controversial part of He Jiankui’s speech is his frontal attack on the American technology elite. “Some Silicon Valley billionaires are pushing to improve IQ in babies. I think it’s a Nazi eugenic experiment,” stated in WIRED. However, the border between what He does and what is already happening in California is increasingly blurred. Startups like Nucleus Genomics or Orchid Health they do not edit DNAbut they do allow embryos to be selected based on genetic scores associated with intelligence, obesity or risk of Alzheimer’s. The technical difference is real; The underlying logic—optimizing the human being before birth—is eerily similar. While tycoons like Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel invest billions in biotechnologies that promise to slow down or reverse aging, the human body has become in one more financial asset. He maintains that he edits to prevent disease, while Silicon Valley selects to optimize. For global ethics, both models raise the same fundamental question: who decides what “best” means? Science versus myth. There is an essential point that is often lost among promises and figures: DNA is not a destiny. Genetic predictions about intelligence or success explain only 5% to 10% of the real variability between people. Additionally, there is a critical technical risk: Analyzing a few cells from an embryo requires amplifying its DNA, a process that can introduce errors and lead to decisions based on flawed data. Behind … Read more

Japan already knows how to get out of the demographic catastrophe in which it has sunk: with foreign babies

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Japan seems to have found the key to solve its demographic crisisperhaps the most serious problem, entrenched and apparently unsolvable (apparently) that the country faces. The latest data of the Government show that last year the nation softened its birth rate thanks to babies born to foreign couples. Not only did they grow in net terms, they also grew proportionally, partially alleviating the disaster of Japanese households. It is nothing that many other countries have not experienced before, including Spainbut there, in Japan, the data fuels the debate on immigration. What has happened? That the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare show that Japanese demographics are advancing at two very different rates. If we talk about Japanese households (local population), the birth rate is clearly declining, with around 41,000 fewer babies in a matter of a year. Things are, however, very different when we look at foreign couples. Among them, the same indicator has skyrocketed to almost total 23,000 babies3,000 more than in 2023. The global birth rate remains negative, but it casts little doubt on its demographic driver. What does the data say? That immigration is the lifeblood of Japanese demography. And without a doubt also. The government figures, which show the balance for 2024 and have been published by Nikkei, They reflect how immigration has softened the country’s population setback. In 2024, the government registered 22,878 births of “foreign citizens in Japan,” a label that identifies babies born to foreign parents or a single foreign mother. The data is interesting for three main reasons. First, because they represent 3,000 more than in 2023. Second, because if we look even further back to gain perspective, we see that it represents a growth of 50% in a decade. And third, because thanks to this trend, foreign newborns now account for 3.2% of all births in Japan. It is a percentage very similar to the weight of the foreign population in the country: 3.6 million on a total of 124 million. And Japanese couples? The opposite has happened with them. Among Japanese couples, 686,173 births41,115 less than in 2023. If the blow of that ‘hole’ was not greater in the country’s final census, it was precisely because the foreign birth rate grew to provide almost 23,000 babies. Particularly noteworthy is the number of children born to mothers of Chinese origin (4,237), Filipino (1,897) and Brazilian (1,351). The remaining 14,425 births are attributed to a much broader and more diffuse category called “other nationalities”, which include, for example, Vietnam or Nepal. How many foreigners are there in Japan? Not that many, actually. The Nikkei agency specifies that at least at the end of 2024 in Japan there were around 3.77 million resident foreigners, more or less 3% of the global population. It represents a historical maximum and, above all, a sufficient volume to have strained the migratory pressure between the hottest topics of the national public debate. It is especially relevant that the big surprise of the July elections was Sanseito, a populist party that stands out (among other things) for the harshness of his speech against foreigners and tourism. In fact their motto was “Japan first”with which it won 14 seats and became the third force in the opposition. Even the candidates to preside over the PLD, including Sanae Takaichiwho will probably be the country’s new prime minister, toughened their speech. Why is it important? Because it shows the extent to which Japan faces an existential dilemma. The increase in the foreign population has become a topic of debate, but at the same time official data show that right now it is its demographic float. And that is not a minor issue in a country that has long been mired in a deep birth crisis that is undermining its census and aging society, with all the implications that this entails at an economic, labor, social and health level or even for defense of the nation. Is the situation so serious? In 2024 the country lost more than 900,000 people, a historic collapse that left its global census around 124.3 million of people, far from the maximum 126.6 million registered in 2009. Not only that. The ‘national’ birth rate (among Japanese) stood at its lowest level since there are records (1899) and the country has seen how those over 65 years of age have come to represent around 30% of the global population. Among foreign residents, 56% They move between 20 and 30 years old. Images | Yanhao Fang (Unsplash) 1 and 2 In Xataka | Japan has found the three most serious problems with the massive arrival of tourists. And none of it has to do with tourists.

“optimize” their babies even before they are born

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“There is no gene for the human spirit,” warns the protagonist of Gattaca, a film that imagines a future in which DNA decides who is valid and who does not. In that world, the genetic selection at birth assigns professions and determines the destiny of each. What seemed science fiction in the nineties begins to look at reality today: Silicon Valley, cradle of technological giants, has become an epicenter of a new market that seeks to optimize the next generation before even born. Babies to the letter. In a report by The Wall Street Journalstartups such as nucleus genomics, Herasight and Orchid Health They have brought the screening of embryos beyond the usual in in vitro fertilization (IVF). If before the objective was to rule out chromosomal anomalies or serious mutations such as cystic fibrosis or Down syndrome, predictions about the intellectual quotient (IQ) and the propensity to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer or diabetes are now added. In this ecosystem, prices range between $ 2,500 per embryo analyzed in Orchid (to add 20,000 of an IVF cycle, According to Washington Post), The 6,000 of Nuleus or the 50,000 of Herasight. The clientele concentrates on the technological elites of San Francisco, where, As the WSJ has reportedthere are even matrimonial agents specialized in matching managers with “intelligent” couples to “have smart children.” Elon Musk has publicly defended that people with high intellectual talent should reproduce more. Prevention or social engineering? Behind the fever due to the genetic screening of embryos in Silicon Valley, very different motivations coexist, ranging from the intimate desire to avoid diseases to ambitious social engineering visions. For many future parents, priority is strictly medical: minimizing the risk of transmitting mutations associated with serious ailments to their children. This was the case of Simone and Malcolm Collins, cited by the Wall Street Journalwho, through the Startup Herasight, selected an embryo with low cancer probability; A medical decision that coincided with another “benefit”: the prediction that the child would be in the 99 intelligence percentile. On the other hand, other customers have come to these services promoted by a more openly cognitive objective. The mathematician TSVI Benson-Tilsen, co-founder of the Berkeley Genomics Project, He explained to the WSJ that his goal is to “make more geniuses” capable of facing global threats such as artificial intelligence out of control. And on a more ideological plane, the trend is aligned with pronatalism that, As my partner has written in Xatakagains influence in the United States and Europe: figures such as Elon Musk or Vice President JD Vance. The process. The path to an “optimized baby” begins the same as any in vitro fertilization treatment: ovarian stimulation, ovules extraction and laboratory fertilization. According to Washington Postthis step alone already represents about $ 20,000 per cycle, without counting genetic analysis services. Five days, at the blastocyst stadium, between five and ten cells of each embryo are extracted. This minimum material is amplified to sequence the genome, but the technique can introduce errors. From there, startups come into play, who apply algorithms to calculate risks and estimate traits. The reports that parents receive are more similar to a financial spreadsheet than a medical history: “How many points of IQ compensate for 1% more Risk of ADHD?” Or “What risk of Alzheimer’s accept in exchange for less probability of bipolarity?” The result of this reproductive engineering exercise is the selection of an embryo that, on paper, maximizes health and intelligence expectations. That will be, if the pregnancy thrives, the son who is born. Science under suspicion. While the marketing of these companies promises unprecedented control over the genetic future of a child, the science behind some statements is at least fragile. The Wall Street Journal collect the warning Of the geneticist Shai Carmi, a pioneer in polygenic prediction models: for the intellectual coefficient, current models only explain between 5% and 10% of the real variation between people. Translated to practical results, choosing the embryo with the “best” genetic score would barely mean an average gain of three or four points of IQ in front of choosing a random one. To this is added a technical problem: working with a few cells forces to amplify DNA, and that process can introduce distortions. Stanford Genetist Svetlana Yatsenko compared it at the Washington Post with “playing Russian roulette”: a mutation could appear as present or absent due to an amplification error, not to the genetic reality of the embryo. In addition, there are population limitations. Most genetic databases come from populations of European descent, which makes the predictions less precise – until 50% less – for people with different origins. Although companies such as Orchid claim to apply statistical corrections and, in some cases, avoid giving scores if they are not reliable, the source bias remains a scientific aquiles heel. And we arrive at the ethical dilemma. Selecting for a specific feature can lead to unexpected consequences. As Harvard statistic Sasha Gustav has warned In the WSJchoosing the most estimated embryonic embryability of high IQ could involve, at the same time, increase genetic predisposition to autistic spectrum disorder. In other words, genes are rarely “clean” from complex associations and, in many cases, which is optimized on the one hand can be a risk for another. Finally, there is the debate on whether this practice constitutes a new form of eugenics, even if it is private and voluntary. Lior Pachter, Bioeticist cited in the Washington Postbelieves that translating human genome into a series of numerical scores encourages the idea that “genes are better than others” and feeds a social division based on DNA. For defenders, such as TSVI Benson-Tilsen or Collins, it is not about discriminating, but about giving the children the best possible opportunity. For critics, it is to open the door to a world where the value of a person decides even that it is born. Pronatalism and Eugenics. The famous Sydney Sweeney announcement, in which a word game between genes and jeans served as … Read more

In Brazil there is a fever for babies. The problem is that they are so real that people are confusing them

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The story began as a harmless content in Tiktok, one that quickly climbed to became a national issue in Brazil. A young woman He published a video In which he pretended to take his “baby” Bento to the hospital: he prepared his backpack, lying it in the car, weighed it, gave him the bottle and cleaned his cheek. More than 16 million people saw that scene, but few realized that he was not a baby, it was A Reborn doll. Political chaos. I told this week The Guardian. While Jair Bolsonaro faces a trial for I attempt at once of state and the current president Lula is going through The worst moment of popularity of his third term, the focus of wide sectors of the Brazilian public debate It has diverted Towards an unusual phenomenon: Reborn dolls. We talk about figures Baby hyperrealistscollected and made by thousands of people (mostly women) in Brazil for decades, who have suddenly become white of viral teasingviolent threats and an unusual legislative wave. Laws against dolls. According to The New York Timescurrently there are at least 30 legislative projects presented in Brazil to prevent Reborn dolls from accessing public services such as health or education. Legislators on the right, especially in the state of Amazonas, have even taken Dolls to Parliament claiming that some women are trying to obtain public benefits with them, (although there is no evidence to support it). In a turn of the events that approaches a dystopia, one of the drivers even asked if the next step would be to castrate “Reborn dolls” in veterinarians. Stigmatization As a mockery, the official account of the city of Curitiba warned To the “Mothers Reborn” that their dolls do not give the right to use yellow seats reserved for pregnant women on buses. In contrast, the Municipal Council of Rio de Janeiro proposed to establish On September 4 as the day of the storker Reborn to honor the artists who manufacture them, although the mayor He vetoed the measure on the argument that “this is not happening.” To put things in order, or almost, According to the UOL mediait has only been documented A real case of a woman with a psychiatric disorder who tried to enter a hospital with a doll, which shows that most bills are based on viral fictions. Vinyl body kit From Tiktok to Congress. As we said at the beginning, it all started with a series of virals in networks where a collector had called “Crazy” for taking his doll to a mall. Then, another clip showed a doll being Attended in a hospitalas part of a role -playing game. Although the author of the video clarified that it was A dramatizationthe content was replicated alarmistly as if it were real. From there, social networks exploded with teasing, threats and a torrent of indignation aimed at the so -called “mams reborn.” The controversy reached a disturbing point on June 6, when a man assaulted a real baby four months on public roads by confusing it with one of these dolls. The aggressor was released on bail and the baby is out of danger, but the fact illustrates the climate of hysteria unleashed. Disguised misogyny. What at first glance seems like a lower controversy over eccentric hobbies hides a darker background: the pathologization of female entertainment. It counted at the Guardian The sociologist and political scientist Isabela Kalil, professor at the FESPSP, who warns that while adult men can collect action figures or spend hours in front of video games without raising suspicions, women who interact with hyperrealistic dolls are quickly tildos of unbalanced. The artist Larissa Vedolinknown as Emily Reborn In networks, he has received death threats daily for sharing his creations. “They write to me from anonymous accounts who are looking forward to finding me on the street with a weapon,” He recounts. Vedolin, like many other creators and collectors, defends that the Reborn are not toys, but works of art. Some may take weeks to complete and reach prices of up to 3,000 eurosdepending on the level of detail, such as the width hair implant. Social reflection. He Youtuber Chico Barneywho recorded a collector event in São Paulo for Your documentary Reborn Babies Don’t Cry, He pointed out With surprise the normality of the meeting: “It was only a group of people sharing an interest, with nothing eccentric.” But that contrast between the reality of the phenomenon and the viral narrative highlights a frequent dynamic in contemporary digital culture: the constant search for a target for collective hatred. Kalil summarized it rarely: the fury is not based on real events, but on a need for channel social anxiety through symbolic objects. “This case has served to project contempt, mockery and aggression against women who deviate minimally from conventional expectations,” affirms. Ancient practice. The Times remembered that Reborn dolls exist Since the 90s and his interest is not limited to Brazil. In the United States, Dave Stack, founder of Reborns (an online sales platform) ensures that sales have grown up constantly: 10 dolls a day five years ago between 40 and 60 currently. Prices range Between 200 and 250 dollars For vinyl models, and up to more than 4,000 for limited editions of soft silicone. Among its buyers there are mothers who They have lost childrencenters for patients with dementia, lawyers who use them in judgments, creators for film and television, and mainly people who “simply love babies.” Some clients even take them to medical consultationsThey feed them with porridge or photograph them with Santa Claus. A hysteria as radiography. In summary, the Reborn phenomenon in Brazil has become the closest thing to A mirror of collective anxiety, normalized misogyny and the excessive influence of social networks in political discourse. What is essence is a form of artistic expression or an emotional refuge has been transformed in whitewashing, legislation and polarization. The episode reveals not only the ease with which a moral panic is generated, but … Read more

We have been seeing that Ozempic affects fertility. Now the United Kingdom has begun to take the “Ozempic Babies” seriously

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Ozempic He began his career as a drug against diabetes but became one of the most popular medications worldwide when we realized that among its “side effects” was weight loss. Since then we have been detecting other possible effects, positive and negative but surely the most surprising of these is on its effects on fertility. Set deals with the phenomenon of the “Ozempic Babies” The United Kingdom warns. The authority responsible for regulating drugs and health products in the United Kingdom, MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) warned a few days ago of a “new” side effect associated with the consumption of Ozempic, that of an increase in pregnancy probability. While this is the first time that the organism warns about the effect, the first news about this occurred More than a year ago. How it works. Ozempic is the brand with which Danish pharmaceuticals Novo Nordisk markets a diabetes treatment based on semaglutida. This compound also serves as a basis for Wegovyname under which the drug oriented to weight loss is marketed. To understand why the same compound can function as a treatment against diabetes and as a thinning we have to understand how it acts in our body. The semaglutida works as an agonist of the peptide receptors similar to glucagon-1 (LPG-1), that is, it works as an analogue of this key hormone in the digestive process. When we eat our body naturally secretes the GLP-1 hormone to transmit two messages. The first to the pancreas, so that it begins to segregate insulin with which to metabolize the sugars of the food. The second to the brain, so that this knows that we are satiated. Drugs like Zepbound and Mounjaro They act similarlyalthough the tirzepatida on which they are based works as a double analogue of LPG-1 and GIP hormones (gastric inhibitor polypeptide). Ozempic Babies. A little over a year ago, dozens of women in treatment with any of these medications They started informing of a strange phenomenon: They were becoming pregnant despite being considered infertile or despite resorting to contraceptives. This phenomenon was soon baptized as the “Ozempic Babies“,” Ozempic babies. “ How do you do it? Since the phenomenon began to document, many wondered how it was possible. There are two mechanisms (alternative or complementary) that can explain this phenomenon. The first has to do with contraceptives, specifically with oral contraceptives. One of Ozempic’s effects is that of slow down our digestionwhich in turn makes nutrients and other compounds absorb more slowly. In the preparation of an oral treatment, absorption speed is an important variable to take into account. Drugs such as contraceptives are designed for specific speeds, if these change too much, treatment can lose efficacy. He Another mechanism that could explain this phenomenon has to do with its slimming effect. As experts also highlight, there is an inverse relationship between obesity and overweight and fertility. It is possible, that by facilitating weight loss the drug is also contributing to increasing the probabilities of pregnancy. A double problem. The problem is double since it not only implies a greater probability of an unwanted pregnancy; also because this type of treatments They are contraindicated Not only for pregnant women, but also in those who seek to be. According to the recommendations, who wants to find a pregnancy should interrupt these treatments At least two months In advance to allow our body to return to normal and avoid unnecessary risks in a process as complex as gestation. Positive effects and negative effects. The “fever” by Ozempic and the drugs of its class began with a side effect: a medication aimed at treating diabetes made those who consumed it lose weight. The demand for these compounds has allowed us to find other possible Side effectspositive and negative, on which we have a greater or lesser degree of certainty. Possible adverse effects documented by the manufacturer itself can find problems such as aggravation of diabetic eye disease, potential allergic reactions and a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, from nausea to constipation. However, since it also began to be used We have found indications on other possible effects. Some positives such as helping the fight against addictions or possible effects on renal health either cardiovascular. In the negative face we have also found indications of loss of hair and eye problems. In Xataka | “Ozempic face”, “Ozempic language” and “Ozempic teeth”: the other very visible effect of consuming the medicine to lose weight Image | Chemist4u / Camylla Battani

More 41 -year -old mothers babies are born than 25

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The demographic engine of Spain It is gripped. Although we walk towards the record of inhabitants, overcoming the 49 millionthe rise is more explained by immigration than by birth. The tables Of births and vegetative balance they reveal that the winds of demographic winter continue to hit the demography. They reflect it The data launched by the INE, which among other keys leave an interesting idea: in our country more mothers’ babies are born with 40 or more years than women who do not reach 25. We have fewer and fewer children. And later. Demographic puncture. The photography of the INE is not a fixed image but shows in any clear a clear trend: Spain suffers a demographic puncture. Population increase is supported largely In the increase of people born abroad, not in a good vegetative balance domestic. On the contrary. That indicator, which makes the difference between births and deaths, entered last year in red numbers: it was negative, in -113,256 people, according to The tables. Evolution of the number of births, according to the data collected by the INE. 24% less births. The graphics They are eloquent. And do not invite precisely to optimism. The INE estimates that in 2023 322,075 births were recorded in Spain, a bad fact whether compared to the historical both in the short and long term. With respect to 2022 it is a 2% setback and if you look further back, a decade ago, the fall is even more pronounced, of 24.1%. In 2013 the balance of birth was quite higher than the current one, of just over 424,400. Mothers with more than 40 years. If there is an eloquent fact in The balance It is the one that shows how there are more and more Spanish who decide to be past mothers. Its number has increased so forcefully throughout the last decade that today there are more births between women who have reached quarantine than among those who are not 25 years old. Retail. The tendency they give off is clear: in 2023 34,554 births of women with 40 or more years were registered compared to 30,298 associated with young people of less than 25. 2021 tableswhich allow further to decrease in detail, they reveal that during that year 7,762 lights of 25 -year -old women were scored compared to the 8,739 of those of 41. Do not go back far back in time to find a radically opposite panorama. Just a decade ago, in 2013, the number of births between women who had not yet blown the 25 candles was 40,916, well above 28,976 starring mothers who passed from 40. Today the latter are already responsible for 10, 7% of births in Spain. Births by mother’s age 2013 2023 Total 424,440 (100%) 322,075 (100%) Less than 25 years 40,916 (9.6%) 30,298 (9.4%) 25 to 39 years 354,548 (83.5%) 257,224 (79.9%) 40 and more years 28,976 (6.8%) 34,554 (10.7%) And mothers with fewer children. Another equally relevant phenomenon is that Spanish have less and less children. In 2022 women resident in Spain had on average 1.16 offspringnothing to do with 2.77 that were reached in the mid -1970s. The average age to which the Spanish became a mother was located two years ago in 33.1. Both data, together with the delivery of older ages, basically respond to the same causes: social, cultural and economic changes. Deepening the keys. In the cocktail, cultural issues and a change of mentality and labor and vital perspectives are mixed. Also instability, which explains to a large extent that the age at which the young Spaniards have increased has increased until they are in 30.3 years on averagethe greatest of the last two decades. With that backdrop, Albert Esteve, director of the Center for Demographic Studies and Professor of Sociology, is clear why the age at which children are postponed is postponed. “It comes because of the need that people have to form, to insert themselves into the labor market, to form a couple, to have a stable life,” points to The country. The risk: to delve into a demographic winter that already punishes other nations, Like Japan. Images | Hollie Santos (UNSPLASH) and INE In Xataka | The change in motherhood in Spain is summarized in a fact: 120% more pregnancies of women over 40 years In Xataka | The slow but inexorable “Japanese” of Spain: births have fallen 50% since the Baby Boom time *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2024

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