Dr. Kabat, a cancer epidemiologist at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, explains how we are scared of the wrong things – and why. A compelling read, and a must for anyone wanting to take a critical look at the mass of conflicting information we're constantly bombarded with.
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The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to revisit a challenge to the NFL's class-action lawsuit brought by former players. The high court's refusal, which ends a landmark case that began in July 2011, allows for payments approaching $1 billion to start being made this spring to more than 20,000 former players.
How about an invention that will benefit everyone?
They don't come along very often, but with a little luck Dr. George Bonheyo (1) and his group at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) might have something very big on their hands—a novel way to clean up oil spills, with the aid of chemically modified sawdust.
A new study published in JAMA details the U.S. county-level trends in mortality rates for major causes of death. While a bit flawed, it's a step in the right direction as regional health disparity is often way more vital to informing policy than national tendencies.
Vivek Murthy recently announced that e-cigarettes pose a "major public health concern," adding that "the use of nicotine-containing products by youth, including e-cigarettes, is unsafe." But that's not what the science says. It'd be far better for the Surgeon General to say that those who don't currently vape shouldn't do it, bit, but that e-cigarettes are likely to prove much safer than regular cigarettes.
In the mid-1600s, the remains of a small child from a family of nobility, were placed in a crypt in Lithuania. Now we are learning, according to a recent report in the journal Current Biology, that this small body is revealing secrets about the origins and spread of smallpox, one of the deadliest scourges to ever plague mankind.
You'd be excused for thinking that by now everyone understands the health risks of cigarette smoking. But some recent research points to a significant lack of knowledge among many Americans — a lack that can certainly put their health at risk.
On the 12th Day of Christmas ACSH gave to me 12 swimmers cupping....
On the First Day of Christmas, ACSH gave to me... The End of the NRDC
On the Second Day of Christmas, ACSH gave to me... Two Killer Coffees
On the Third Day of Christmas, ACSH gave to me... Three French Fries
You've heard it before: Only eat oysters in months that end with 'R.' If you consider this adage true, December is your lucky month — though you've only got a few days left to indulge in delicious shellfish. But if this were truly a fact, how do millions of restaurants serve up oysters year-round with no public health repercussions? Experts in the field say that's because the safest time to eat oysters is, in fact, all year long.
Dipping a toe into the waters of dental issues associated with scuba diving, a DDS-to-be wants to alert divers to the fact that taking the plunge can exacerbate problems with unhealthy teeth and loose fillings.
The researcher, a student in the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine, began a small survey of divers on a personal instinct that underwater conditions worsen existing dental problems.
As amphibians, toads prefer a wet environment. Those that live in arid regions hide during dry spells underground, where the soil is moist, and they emerge from their shelter when the rain returns. But given that the subterranean soil they inhabit is already damp, how do the toads know when it's raining?
Social media is a significant purveyor of health misinformation (including outright falsehoods), seeded and fertilized by celebrity know-nothings and a handful of contrarian physicians, and abetted by disreputable organizations with legitimate-sounding names. One recent scam misreports an American Heart Association (AHA) study, falsely claiming that the COVID vaccine is tied to heart defects.
However, the dangers of misinformation aren’t limited to vaccines and haven’t stopped with diminished vaccine uptake.
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.
Influencers are not new, but their popularity has exploded since the advent of social media. They have become an easy place to go for health advice and recommendations, but that’s not necessarily good.
Ischemic heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, has long puzzled researchers. While high serum cholesterol levels are linked to cardiovascular risk, the role of dietary fat remains unclear. The copper deficiency theory, suggesting a strong link between decreased copper intake since the 1930s and the rise of ischemic heart disease, can provide a new perspective on prevention and treatment.
Orange-juice makers claim they can reduce high blood pressure and help prevent stroke. Saw Palmetto herbs boast they can "support prostate health." Dried plums (nee prunes) are touted for cardiovascular benefits. These claims are not backed up by solid scientific evidence, but under federal law they are legal.
Some pundits concerned about health conditions linked to dietary excess are proposing draconian fixes. The problem, though, is that these drastic fixes are broken to start with. Perhaps most wrong-headed of all is the argument made for regulating the consumption of foods with added sugars as though they were cigarettes or alcoholic beverages. Sin taxes, age restrictions, food stamp limitations: as with alcohol and tobacco, so with added sugar, goes the logic.
New York, NY -- May 1, 2007. The public health establishment has misled smokers about the benefits and risks of using smokeless tobacco as a method of quitting cigarettes.
A column in yesterday’s Sunday Review showed how closely the writer, Ian Urbina, hews to the agenda of his apparent mentor, Nicholas Kristof, in trying to scare Times’ readers about the alleged dangers of toxic, unregulated chemicals. Of course, as we have noted recently, it’s the “TSCA reform” silly season, when those who feel passionately that [...]
The post New chemophobe-in-chief at the NYTimes? appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
ACSH staffers would like to offer a seat at the table to Ken Green of the American Enterprise Institute for his article on the BPA scare.
To the Editor:
At last the truth about water consumption is starting to leak out (Why You're Drinking too Much Water; 5/23/02)! I suspect the exaggeration of the amount of water a person ought to drink each day to stay healthy may have come about through careless transformations of the scientifically valid daily fluid requirement into a daily water requirement.The "fluid" humans require is, of course, water, which can be found in abundance in foods such as milk, juices, fruits, and vegetables, thus decreasing the amount of plain water required.
Bloomberg's recent hit piece on milk touches upon almost every sensitive issue that worries parents: food, school and their children. Toss in a conspiracy theory about "Big Dairy," and that's how Bloomberg came up with a fear-mongering headline, complete with a disgusting photo that is supposed to make readers feel queasy.
We count on innovation to improve our lives. In a quest to make innovations come faster we have considered how, and to whom, we entrust research and development. A new study suggests that the rate of innovation is driven mostly by how many simple and complex solutions might be available.
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