The science of our health and nutrition has been a hot mess for some time, with multiple conflicting studies all claiming the scientific truth. The recent study on red meat's role in our health is different in several meaningful ways: in how it reports outcomes; how it communicates the certainty of the findings; its intellectual transparency; and to whom it is addressed. Let’s break it down.
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The mystery of vaping deaths widens. What is going on? Let's ask Steve. We go back a long way, so when a tricky chemistry problem comes up we like to fire off an email, to pick his warped brain. Often he is right on the mark.
Four sips from the firehose that is Internet content: Spicy and bitter are ways plants tried to dissuade you from eating them; CRISPR, in service of animal welfare, hits a snag; a podcast contrasts Nathan's Hot-Dog Eating Contest to chemotherapy, and good news science is alive and beautifully well.
From a public health perspective, what's the biggest preventable cause of cancer? Pesticides? Poor diet? Pollution? UV light? No, no, no, and nope. It's tobacco, by far. Obesity and infectious diseases are #2 and #3.
Scientists have discovered molecules that inhibit tumor growth by starving cancer cells of their favorite foods: the sugar glucose and the amino acid, glutamine.
Teenagers are rebellious and they do stupid things. Given the range of options available to them -- from drinking and driving to unprotected sex -- vaping is a rather mild vice. However, it is still harmful, so laws need to be in place to prevent teens from getting them.
Dietary science is shaky on a good day. When you throw in new and/or trendy terms, like microbiota, vegan, and plant-based, it becomes even shakier. Angela Dowden tries to digest (sorry) a new study that looks at weight loss, diabetes, vegan diets and gut microbiota. The results may surprise you.
There is wide divergence on the safety assessment of these chemicals, thus making communication with the public extremely difficult.
Acai breakfast bowls are available in nearly every trendy smoothie and juice bar. But if you haven’t indulged in this particular "superfood" fad yet, you haven’t missed out. Turns out acai bowls don’t actually provide a healthy start to the day after all. That's because they're nutritionally equivalent to three bowls of Froot Loops.
When it comes to energy and climate policy, there's little rationality to be found. Those who believe that climate change is an existential threat often reject nuclear power in favor of wind and solar, despite those options being insufficient to power the planet. That said, to embrace nuclear energy, we also must have a realistic solution to the problem of waste.
Unless he has a miraculous change of mind and heart, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will be remembered as a scourge on public health. He'll also be the Kennedy whose words and actions encouraged the spread of not only measles, mumps, and rubella but influenza and cervical cancer as well. What a legacy.
Usually, when we have something to say about California, it's bad. After all, this is the state that gave us Proposition 65, a smorgasbord of insane public health policies, as well as 38 seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. But now, the state has done something good. In fact, very good.
Here's what's on tap: Is tackle football the "New Smoking?" ... Private equity investment + healthcare = SURPRISE Billing. ... Is there an evolutionary role for parasites? ... And time: Is it subjective, fleeting or agonizingly long? A look at the underlying neurobiology.
Followers of the opioid crisis know that nothing much makes sense. And if you follow Proposition 65 madness in California, you know that doesn't add up either. So if you're in the mood for something that puts the Crazyometer® needle in the red, here it is. You will not be disappointed.
Why do teaching hospitals feel the need to write articles justifying why they are better? It makes you believe they have an inferiority complex. Do they?
It's no secret that the CDC's 2016 Advice on opioid prescribing, by any measure, has been an unmitigated disaster. Dr. Red Lawhern, ACSH advisor and pain patient advocate, spares no one in his discussion of the egregious mistakes that the CDC made -- and continues to make.
From what may have been the first fake science news to the actual road between farm and table (with a stop to admire the writing of NY Times restaurant critic). It's autumn in New York.
Dr. Pinker is an excellent writer and thinker. Perhaps his greatest contribution to our national dialogue is his insistence, backed up by considerable research, that life keeps getting better and better. However, he seems to miss the mark in a recent essay titled "Why We Are Not Living in a Post‑Truth Era."
When it comes to antibiotic research, what does the word "innovation" mean? It's a bit different for antibiotics. Dr. David Shlaes argues that a difference in clinical utility is a better measure, even when a new drug or combination of drugs may be structurally similar to older drugs. This, from his blog "Antibiotics, the Perfect Storm."
It's been another eclectic week, perhaps this time with a Thanksgiving feel. On tap here: Do our food choices reflect our politics? ... A beautifully written article on an American icon, Mr. Rogers ... How websites are trying to influence your purchases ... and the best mainstream piece on our vaping "crisis."
Regardless of what time the clock says, our team at ACSH has been tirelessly advocating for science. Here's where we appeared in recent weeks.
How's education in the U.S. right now? According to ACSH advisor Dr. Henry Miller and co-author Andrew I. Fillat, not so great. They explain why, in this excerpt of an article they wrote for the website, American Greatness.
In the face of unethical behavior, we treat corporations differently than we treat individuals. Corporate crisis managers, using our cognitive biases, know how to deflect blame.
Loneliness, as compared to solitude, resulted in a 2-to-3 fold increase in one-year mortality. For social creatures like us, loneliness can detrimentally affect our health.
Here's the latest: A mashup of a warning in the Federalist papers and social media ... navigating the minefield of religious and cultural concerns from India's nutritional guidelines ... and a video pointing out that just because it's a plant, it doesn't make it a healthy food choice.
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