Many Americans whose BMI puts them in the obese category either don't know it, or assume they're "just overweight." This misperception can lead to fewer consultations with healthcare providers, and less attention to dealing with the issue, according to a recent survey.
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Many people think they have a drug allergy, when in fact what they have is drug intolerance. According to the CDC, approximately 10% of all U.S. patients report having an allergic reaction to penicillin, but fewer than 1% of the population is truly allergic to penicillins.
Only 1 in 8 women are aware that density is a risk factor, and just 1 in 5 know that dense tissue reduces the sensitivity of mammograms to find tumors. Since breast cancer is second worst cancer killer among women, why hasn't there been more emphasis on the risk factors associatd with dense breasts?
Molecular biology never ceases to amaze. The 15-year-old question — why world-saver Jack Bauer never pees, eats or poops has been answered. Hint: He's got some very foreign DNA.
Nate Silver, statistician and election forecaster, told ABC News that election forecasts that gave Hillary Clinton a 99% of chance of winning didn't "pass a common sense test." That is certainly true. What he left unsaid -- possibly because it wouldn't be good for his career -- is that all election forecasts that provide a "chance of winning" don't pass the science test.
Is there really a wrong way to eat Nutella? Spread it on bread, eat it by the spoonful.... but depending on the way you consume it, the nutrition content may differ. And because of how the Ferrero-made product has evolved over the years, now the FDA is taking a second look at its calorie content per serving.
The American Council on Science and Health and has entered a content sharing agreement with the prestigious science site Live Science. Live Science, which produces excellent biomedical and health news reporting, will allow ACSH to reach millions more readers around the world.
We were recently contacted by a concerned group of pro-science scholars who wants to counter the unscientific arguments made by anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva. We made this handy flyer for them. Then, we realized that this could be useful for anybody who needs to confront the anti-GMOers in their lives.
So, here it is. Feel free to print and distribute as widely as possible!
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.
Do you "hold the fries?" You might want to if your pants buttons start blowing off. But don't do so because of a deep-fried, phony chemical scare: acrylamide.
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.
When you need some serious medicine for an asthma attack or an autoimmune disease flare-up, prednisone is your drug of choice. But the stuff is also nasty. Here's why.
A speaker at a recent Alzheimer's conference said that the Alzheimer's-Amyloid Plaque hypothesis shouldn't be shown the door quite yet. That's despite one failure after another to dissolve the plaques and slow the progression of the disease. Not so sure I agree.
There's an ever-growing body of evidence that reinforces the health benefits of being with animals. A new study published in BMC Psychiatry explores the role pets had with those suffering from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other significant, long-term mental illnesses.
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
The U.S. Office of Inspector General estimates that in 2013, more than 80 percent of the $438 million paid to chiropractors under Medicare Part B did not comply with Medicare's own requirements.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been grooming selected journalists to give favorable treatment to government findings, and even FDA ad campaigns, by inviting them to elite briefings that other journalists could not attend – or did not know even existed – as long as these special friends in journalism played by a strict set of FDA-friendly rules, as detailed in an exposé by Charles Seife in Scientific American, which confirmed what outsiders had long suspected.
Pharmaceutical companies usually provide innovation that helps improve the lives of patients. But AstraZeneca marketed Nexium, a drug that should have never been approved in the first place. The company did it solely for money — without any benefit to society – and it hauled in nearly $48 billion during the past decade.
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.
Although they have been prominently featured in the news since March, the herpes vaccines GEN-003 and Theravax are not the only kids on the block. Here are some of the others you should know about.
African women have one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. Although some means of prevention exist, compliance has not been great. However, two large, random controlled trials of vaginal rings containing a viral inhibitor, and requiring changing only once every four weeks, suggest that there may be help on the horizon.
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.
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.
The 21st Century Cures Bill is a huge piece of legislation that's soon expected to become law. Part of the bill facilitates antibiotic research, but a number of anti-pharmaceutical groups and individuals object to it because it benefits the pharmaceutical industry. None is worse than Public Citizen. They want to kill you, not bacteria.
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