Billing itself as a source of ''mainstream scientific information'' on health issues related to food, chemicals and the environment, to name a few, ACSH provides summaries of scientific findings on many ''hot topics'' in medicine.
Comprising 250 doctors, researchers and health-policy experts, the New York-based ACSH populates its Web site primarily with its consensus papers and articles from its magazine, Priorities. Luckily, they're plain-language materials.
Visitors can search the site via broad categories like alcohol, environmental health or food safety. A click on food safety, for example, brings up a list of foods-in-the-news such as artificial sweeteners or olestra, the controversial ''fat-free'' fat added to some snack foods. Users can then go to any ACSH publications on the topic.
Information seekers should be ready for some fairly conservative takes on health issues. On the olestra front, for instance, an ACSH paper notes the product's possible gastrointestinal side effects, but concludes that olestra is a ''positive addition to the American diet.'' Visitors should know that the non-profit ACSH counts food and chemical companies among its funders.
Nevertheless, the site's information has sound research to back it up, and one will never find fads or fluff here.
