Peanut allergies range from inconvenient to potentially fatal. The cause is unknown, but it's likely to involve a combination of immunogenetic and environmental factors. For the latter, research suggests peanut allergies are more common among Westerners, possibly because they eat dry roasted peanuts while Asians eat boiled ones.
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Want to prevent heart disease? Get more sleep, eat raw garlic, and have tons of sex — but not necessarily in that order.
To refresh our minds with some cleansing thoughts after a punishing campaign season, let's focus on something America does really well: Science. To that end, the following remains true: The United States leads the world in Nobel Prizes, and our nation spends more money on research and development than every other country on Earth.
How do we get people to make better food choices — to decrease the amounts of calories, fat and sugar in their diets? A new study examined the potential of restricting "unhealthy" food choices vs. incentivizing "healthier" choices, to influence purchasing practices of low-income Americans. The upshot: Both can work, especially in combination.
The tobacco industry certainly earned its reputation for undermining public health. But now anti-soda activists are using the sobriquet "Big Soda" to get people to think that soda consumption is as bad as cigarette smoking. And thus to enact taxes on sugary beverages as many jurisdictions have on tobacco. Whether this move could really benefit public health remains to be seen.
Since kids under age have a limited ability to know themselves physically, and express themselves, is what they're saying always accurate? That's one of the important questions clouding the results of a study which determined that little kids can be influenced to eat by TV food commercials when they are not hungry.
The Food Babe is at it again. This time she's posted an analysis on her website of the amount of glyphosate that can be found in popular American foods, followed by her reasons of why we should be scared. Here is why you should (1) not be scared, and (2) not listen to The Food Babe. Ever.
Highly realistic simulations for training could soon be widely used to rehearse complex cases prior to surgery, thanks to Simulated Inanimate Model for a Physical Learning Experience (SIMPLE), the brainchild of Ahmed Ghazi, M.D., M.Sc., an assistant professor in the Department of Urology at University of Rochester Medical Center, and Neurosurgery resident Jonathan Stone, M.D.
http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/does-industry-money-skew-nu… findings suggest but do not establish that industry sponsorship of nutrition studies is associated with conclusions that favor the sponsors ...
How did the results support this conclusion? Perhaps the authors have a bias not captured in their conflict of interest disclosures. Conflicts of interest are not solely financial.
The process to become a naturopath has been packaged to resemble actual medicine. The degree earned even contains the word "doctor," as in Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. But in comparing the education that physicians and naturopaths obtain in order to prepare for their professions reveals a significant difference.
By Simon Woods, Newcastle University
A dying 14-year-old child recently won the right to be cryogenically frozen after her death following a UK court battle. In a letter to the judge, the child wrote:
The prevalence of dementia in the United States significantly declined from 11.6 percent in 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2012. The consequence of this impacts retirement, families, the health care system, life expectancy, morbidity and mortality, pensions, housing, transportation and countless societal realms.
Pheromones have long been credited (or blamed) for our behavioral choices, most notably our choice of sexual partners. The idea that we could base such a seemingly personal choice on a unconscious chemical signal is fascinating but, is there any scientific evidence to support it?
About 1,500 cooking fires occur every Thanksgiving, mostly from deep frying turkeys. While this practice is fairly new, my family was exposed to a very different Thanksgiving hazard many years ago: Aunt Wilma's turkey. Which is worse? Hard to say.
If you follow the thinking of some activists, you'd think that the only way to get consumers to make better food and beverage choices is to tax the less healthy ones — usually sugar-sweetened beverages. But Maryland's Howard County just may have found a better way to influence (and educate) consumers.
A pair of misleading health directive headlines, one in Tme Magazine, the other in The Daily Mail, play up the findings of a less-than-rigorous study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that failed to make a strong case for associating athletic activities and participation with lifespan.
Given that roughly two-thirds of weather-related deaths are attributed to cold temperatures, it seems appropriate to raise awareness about basic measures to ensure a happy winter season. Stay warm and safe, and ...
All arguments are fair game as for whether Dr. Ben Carson is the right (or wrong) person to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. But don't tell us a brain surgeon only possesses the skills to be a brain surgeon.
An increasing regulatory burden has a disproportionate impact on the small farmer. Larger farms can absorb the high cost of increased compliance, and can afford to hire lawyers and compliance personnel to navigate regulations. As a result, farms and agricultural businesses are forced to get big, or shut down.
No one looks forward to chugging a gallon of gag-inducing bowel-prep and spending hours running to the bathroom, all as a prelude to an even more pleasant experience involving a snaking tube and a camera. So if you're averse to a colonoscopy, here are other options you can consider -- albeit with some caveats.
Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr gives us a new way to think about stopping the HIV epidemic: "treatment as prevention." If implemented across the globe, it may be the key in stopping new cases of HIV -- and stopping the epidemic once and for all.
Surely Pfizer wouldn't mind if you took a closer look at what's listed on its label for Centrum Silver Men, which is marketed to men age 50+, right? Copper sulfate: Pesticide. Silicon dioxide. Glass. Titanium dioxide. Paint. But the biggest dirty little secret about multivitamins is that few people actually need dietary supplements.
Vitamin D is crucial for normal growth and development, and in North America much of a child's vitamin D comes from fortified dairy milk. Parents have been advised to give their children reduced fat rather than whole milk — supposedly to decrease the risk of obesity. A new report by Canadian researchers indicates that this advice just might be counterproductive — especially when it comes to vitamin D absorption, and even to obesity.
Right now it's a recommendation, but what a very smart one it is.
Hats off to the American Heart Association for raising the visibility and importance of aerobic fitness, and declaring that the metric be considered a vital sign which should be monitored and measured in physical checkups administered by physicians.
The scientific statement makes it clear that exercising the heart and lungs is essential to an individual's overall health, and that those prone to inactivity are at greater risk for life-threatening conditions.
We kick off our winter survival segments with a quick lesson on Vitamin D. Before you hit the supplement store for extra dosage of the vitamin, check your fridge. Chances are, you're already getting the daily dosage you need, even if the sun doesn't always shine.
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