Search results

Apparently, we're saving America one kale salad at a time, courtesy of Calley Means and RFK Jr., as they fight to treat chronic diseases by bringing new "experts" to the federal Dietary Guidelines. In the latest episode of "Follow the Money," the real game is controlling the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by pretending food is medicine.

This week, we are diving into the unanticipated outcomes of free medical education, gender testing in sports, "male flight" from college, and Sweden paying grandparents to babysit; it’s all here in the wild world of health, education, and social policy.

Pasta has its own national day as Evan Funke tempts us with perfectly crafted sfoglia. Economists dive into whether hard work really gets you anywhere, at least financially. There is a closer look at port automation and the supply chain. Finally, is the antidote to Marie Kondo clutter? Is there a place for those “joy-sparking” knick-knacks?

In the spirit of Halloween, let's indulge in bite-sized everything – the week’s best brain candy. Beginning with the culinary heresy of full-sized Halloween bars and ending with RNA finally getting the spotlight (move over, DNA). The FTC’s giving us a treat by targeting those “never-ending subscriptions.” Throw in some fast-food receipts and political dining drama, and we’ve got a reading list.

As part of a challenge study conducted during the pandemic, 34 healthy volunteers were deliberately infected with SARS-CoV-2 to assess the potential cognitive impacts of COVID-19. Everything about the experiment, from its timing to its design, was suspect and almost certainly unethical.

It seems the Mayo Clinic is more interested in spinning a cautionary tale than sticking to the facts about opioid use for pain relief – and Red Lawhern isn't letting it off the hook. In his latest article, the ACSH advisor calls out Mayo for promoting the fear-laden idea that opioid prescriptions practically guarantee addiction, or worse. It turns out the real story in their data reads more like "healthcare fails the vulnerable" than "one pill, and you're hooked." But why let nuance get in the way of a good scare?

An unneeded solution is looking for a non-existent problem. It's one more illustration of the reality that all of U.S. public health policy on the so-called "prescription opioid crisis" is outright fraudulent.

Ah, post-election, where the real begins. This week, I’ve read on the hallowed (and heated) grounds of scientific 'neutrality,' checked out Julia Child's vintage gadget arsenal at the Smithsonian, revisiting Tutankhamun's tomb, and got a quiet glimpse into the 9/11 Memorial.

An inherent conflict of interest – USDA both regulating and promoting livestock industries – prevents appropriate responses to outbreaks of infectious disease.

Nary a day goes by that the plaintiffs’ bar is not busily at work initiating a new mass tort action. Some cases expand on earlier initiatives, like the Valsartan cases. The theory against these was launched from the Zantac claims, which are still clogging court calendars.

Surrogates are effectively used in politics and pregnancy. In the former case, no one raises an eyebrow. When it comes to pregnancy, however, laws and societal views vary globally. These distinctions foster inequities in the treatment of gestational carriers and invite reproductive tourism. Italy is the latest country to staunch the surrogate supply.

While medical headlines often focus on the biochemical underpinnings of disease, our body's biomechanics are equally crucial. A recent study explores how hypertension affects lung function, revealing that high blood pressure doesn’t just strain the heart, but also alters the mechanics of breathing.

Sugar is America’s favorite carb and the sweetheart of federal subsidies. Uncle Sam has been feeding the sugar industry for over two centuries while we foot the bill, shelling out for a market manipulated to prop up sugar prices far above what the rest of the world pays. And that doesn’t consider sugar’s impact on our health. If we, the people, are not benefiting, who is?

A trucker who took CBD oil for pain control was abruptly fired after failing a drug test that found THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana, in his system. Although the product was marketed as THC free – a claim the man verified with the manufacturer – it was not and federal law mandated his termination. It's yet another case of awful drug laws and even worse science harming good people.

This week’s reads explore the physics of crowd movement, the practicality of ID systems in India, the surprising history of virtual meetings, and Emily Oster’s take on how public health agencies could stop alienating everyone with their tone-deaf messaging.

Vinegar and baking soda are touted as a "green" method of cleaning all kinds of things. The problem is that if they're combined they will no longer clean anything. And they could possibly blow your head off. The reason is that the two react immediately with each other. Here's what's going on.

One of the most common complaints about the healthcare system revolves around conflicts of interest, both real and perceived. The wellness industry attempts to pretend as though it doesn’t struggle with them. That couldn't be farther from the truth, because COIs abound.

In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court created the doctrine of “Chevron deference,” requiring courts to defer to a government agency’s legal interpretation of the statutes the agency implements. Earlier this year, in the Loper Bright case, the Supreme Court eliminated that doctrine. Since then, commentators have bemoaned the loss of the Chevron deference, saying that courts will be making technical decisions that are best left to scientists. But the sky is not falling.

The spectrum of information that can be obtained by prenatal testing is wide and rapidly increasing. Many mutations, or "abnormalities," are inconsequential, while others are significant. Genetic counseling combined with noninvasive prenatal screening (NIPS) can be helpful.

Vaccination remains one of the most effective tools in protecting public health, and maintaining high immunization rates is essential to preventing the resurgence of preventable diseases. However, rampant anti-vaccine disinformation largely driven by politicians, grifters, and “influencers” on television and social media undermines public confidence in vaccination.

In 2013, the American Heart Association (AHA) thought it had heart disease prevention all figured out with their trusty "risk calculator." Fast forward a decade to the new and improved PREVENT equations, promising to reflect a more diverse and current U.S. population. While the old calculator had us popping statins like candy, the new equations suggest many of us might not need them after all. Welcome to the latest chapter in the never-ending saga of heart health guidelines.

Historians may record that it was the confluence in time and space of two events the unprecedented success of the "Old Joe" Camel ads and the anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling against tobacco companies which triggered the beginning of the end for cigarette advertising in America.

That is the concensus of leading physicians, toxicologists and epidemiologists who met in New York on Wednesday to discuss the issue of food safety and pesticide use. In an unusual action, a panel of scientists, joined by 65 of their colleagues, signed a full-page advertisement that appeared Wednesday in major national newspapers, denouncing the recent pesticide scare.

This material has been published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 38, 71-84 (1997), the only definitive repository of the content that has been certified and accepted after peer review.

Proposals for drug legalization are rooted in the belief that drug prohibition does not work. Legalization advocates point out that the prohibition of alcohol failed in the United States two generations ago. They argue that the use of illicit drugs is widespread despite prohibition and that the high costs and negative consequences of that prohibition ranging from costs for police and prisons to the loss of privacy caused by drug testing in many settings, notably the workplace are unreasonably high prices to pay for an ineffective policy.