As I mentioned on Monday, the Chairman of the New York Senate Health Committee recently proposed a ban on e-cigarettes in New York. I was disturbed that such a counterproductive measure would actually be considered. I sent a letter to the members of the Senate Health committee, which while expressing support for the proposal to ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors explains why a total ban would be antithetical to public health:
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Fewer women in their 40s are having mammograms, a new study from the Mayo Clinic reports and this is good news. In 2009, a federal advisory panel recommended that women should wait until age 50 rather than age 40, as was previously recommended before beginning regular mammographic screenings for breast cancer.
It wouldn't be a complete month without a study (or two) on coffee.
Researchers continue to investigate how to help smokers kick their lethal and addictive habit. Unfortunately, two recent studies involving nicotine patches and individualized therapy fall vastly short of a breakthrough.
On an otherwise pleasant morning, ACSH staffers blood began to boil after reading the latest anti-chemical screed in theHuffington Post, which included such fear-mongering claims as this: Ninety-nine percent of pregnant American women carry multiple manmade chemicals in their bodies, sharing that concoction through the umbilical cord.
When I was in practice in the 1980s and 90s, the world was a simpler place. We internists had it figured out: Men had heart problems, often fatal, decades younger than their wives. It seemed obvious that a major factor in this advantage was the hormonal difference between the sexes. If not the estrogenic stew keeping women s hearts younger and healthier, what else could it be?
A study just published in the Annals of Internal Medicine has reached a somewhat tautological conclusion: Following restrictions on the use of partially hydrogenated fat (trans fat) in New York City chain restaurants, the trans fat content of patrons purchases decreased. Well, okay. But does this fairly predictable result translate to improved health among New Yorkers?
A potential breakthrough in treatment for venous leg ulcers has given us a promising look into the future. The new treatment is called spray-on-skin, and a recent study in The Lancet finds that it accelerates healing time as well as greatly reducing the size of the ulcer.
Almost a third of the estimated 3.2 million Americans with hepatitis C, as well as millions around the world, take silymarin, an extract of milk thistle, with the hope of alleviating their symptoms and preventing disease progression. The supplement is alleged to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiviral properties.
Children are often encouraged to take vitamins in order to supplement their diets, yet a recent study found that, even among the nearly 40 percent of kids who take supplements, more than a third failed to get sufficient levels of some nutrients, especially calcium and vitamin D.
The 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act can take credit for banning candy-flavored cigarettes and requiring tobacco manufacturers to list their ingredients. And according to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, the law has been a success. But as ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross points out in an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, such legislation will save exactly zero smokers.
In addition to the usual supplement craze, some people in New York City are willing to pay more than $2.50 dollars for a bottle of a new brand of molecule water. The big secret behind the label? It comes straight from the tap!
In July, the CDC reported that the U.S. was on track for the worst whooping cough (pertussis) outbreak since 1959. And so far this year, an estimated 18,000 cases of whooping cough have already been reported about half of which occurred in infants younger than three months. Because such young children can t yet be vaccinated, they must rely on herd immunity, which occurs when there are high immunity rates within the whole community.
Over a decade ago, major cigarette manufacturers were forced to take responsibility for their role in tobacco-related health care costs, in the form of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The court case set right numerous cigarette marketing practices that were misleading and harmful. Yet the ruling was a mixed bag for public health: Some marketing restrictions and increased taxes contributed to a decline in smoking rates, but Big Tobacco was ultimately granted immunity from individual lawsuits.
Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) relies on classifying patients based on their global cardiovascular risk the probability of developing CVD within a set period of time, taking into account a number of risk factors at once. A person is found to be either high, intermediate, or low risk based on several risk models, among which the best known is the Framingham Risk Score (FRS). It has become increasingly apparent, however, that the intermediate risk group is actually a composite of individuals of various predicted risk levels.
Earlier in the week we discussed the spate of lawsuits against the food industry filed by many of the same lawyers who negotiated the 1999 Master Settlement Agreement with Big Tobacco. Unfortunately, while the claims against the tobacco industry were entirely justified, the allegations in these latest suits can only be described as spurious. (Something about the absence of real berries in Cap n Crunch Crunch Berry cereal, we believe.)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported on the rising rates of melanoma, noting that this often deadly disease now most commonly affects young women. These statistics may not be so surprising after a study by IBISWorld revealed that white women between the ages of 18 and 21 are in the lead when it comes to using indoor tanning beds. In fact, an amazing 32 percent of white women admit to having done so, and the total number of tanners in the U.S. has been estimated at 28 million!
A study published yesterday in JAMA has revealed some surprising results: Normal weight Type 2 diabetics are nearly twice as likely to die compared to those who are overweight or obese.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom is at it again, this time with an op-ed in Forbes. In this piece, Dr. Bloom describes two significant accomplishments of America s pharmaceutical industry within the past two decades: the development of effective anti-HIV drugs, and the recent approval of curative and tolerable treatments for hepatitis C. However, as Dr. Bloom points out, such innovations will be much less likely in the future.
In some alarming news, federal health officials have announced that the sexually transmitted infection, gonorrhea, is becoming dangerously close to being untreatable.
In 2011, over 3.7 billion retail prescription drugs were filled in U.S. retail pharmacies, according to health statistics compiled by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. So with such a large number of scripts issued, it becomes even more imperative to ensure drug quality. But a new Reuters investigation finds that pharmaceutical quality control may not be at the top of the list for many manufacturing plants in China.
We ve previously reported on various studies touting the alleged health benefits of chocolate consumption, and now new research from Sweden claiming that moderate chocolate intake can reduce a man s risk of stroke can be added to the pile.
Each year, more than 15,000 children and 15,000 adults are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Yet a new study shows that such numbers may only begin to describe the actual prevalence of the disease.
After reviewing new evidence since its previous recommendation, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is still advising against routine screening for ovarian cancer. The recommendation is very much in keeping with its recent recommendations for breast cancer screening and PSA screenings for prostate cancer.
For years now, the medical community has held onto the idea that counseling patients about their individual risk of diabetes based on genetic makeup could change their behavior for the better. Unfortunately, as a new study has found, when it comes to genetic diabetes counseling, high-risk people are no more likely to alter their lifestyle than are people at low risk for the disease.
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