It’s a given that the high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia) in diabetes can lead to severe consequences down the road — neuropathy, kidney failure, blindness, and heart disease, for example — but it’s also the case that treating hyperglycemia can be problematic. If treating high blood sugar is too aggressive, it can cause severe [...]
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This morning’s unanimous Supreme Court decision — which overturned a lower Federal court decision allowing Myriad Genetics’ patent of two human genes — is a groundbreaking moment in the history of biotechnology, and a case that will surely rank among the most noteworthy biomedical decisions of our time. The genes in question are called BRCA-1 [...]
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In an extensive re-analysis of data from three large observational trials, Dr. An Pan and colleagues from the National University of Singapore and the Harvard School of Public Health, reported that increased intake of red meat (beef, lamb, or pork) over time increased the risk of type 2 diabetes, while decreasing intake slightly decreased the [...]
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A new study links caffeine consumption by pregnant women with reduced birth weight in their offspring. For each 100 milligrams of caffeine consumed daily, as recorded in daily food diaries, the newborn on average had a birth weight between three quarters to an ounce lower than women who ingested no caffeine. (A 16 oz. cup of Starbucks Pike Place Roast has 330 mgs of caffeine, according to Starbucks website).
A little over a month ago, we reported a swine flu vaccine scare suggesting a link with narcolepsy in children. The scare cited 795 reported narcolepsy cases in 30 million vaccine recipients, to which ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross said Incidence of narcolepsy in the general population is estimated to be between 200-500 cases per million. Meaning that the incidence of narcolepsy in vaccine recipients appears to be less than the general population.
Home blood pressure monitoring programs demonstrated superiority to usual care for keeping hypertension in check, a randomized controlled trial found.
Led by Dr. David Magid from Kaiser Permanente Colorado, a team of researchers followed 348 hypertensive patients, half of whom used the American Heart Association s Heart 360 Program a free, online tool for tracking heart health. Users can upload blood pressure data from their home blood pressure machines and send it to their health care providers.
We would like to acknowledge McGill s Dr. Joe Schwarcz for his recent column The Funny Business of Selling Water, in which he discusses the Molecule Café in New York City s Greenwich Village.
Counterfeit medicine isn t just a problem in America. In Nigeria, two medical practitioners are asking a regulatory agency to check on the importation of fake anti-malaria drugs into the country. They say that more than two-thirds of malaria drugs in the country are fake or substandard.
The long-awaited results of a clinical trial of the world s first potential malaria vaccine among infants are finally in and somewhat disappointing.
The nation's rate of premature births is the lowest in a decade. Dropping for the fifth straight year, the preterm birth rate in 2011 was 11.7 percent, giving the U.S. a C, according to the March of Dimes Report Card. The March of Dimes has set a goal of 9.6 percent by 2020.
It s like adding insult to injury: Taking antibiotics for an infection, only to end up with a severe case of diarrhea. Now a new meta-analysis suggests that probiotics taken alongside antibiotics can dramatically cut one s risk of getting a bad case of diarrhea associated with a certain nasty type of bacteria, called Clostridium difficile or C.diff.
Activists are yet again trying to demonize high-fructose corn syrup, this time with a new study that purports to find a higher prevalence of diabetes in countries whose populations seemingly consume more of the sweetener than other countries. The study found that the rate of type 2 diabetes was 20 percent higher in those countries where HFCS was used commonly.
Kids can be mean, especially if you stick out from the crowd. A new study, published in Pediatrics, suggests that nearly half of kids with food allergies have been bullied,with a third reporting the bullying was food-related. One-eighth had been forced to touch the food that triggered their allergy, and one-tenth actually had the dangerous food thrown at them.
ACSH trustee Dr. James Enstrom is getting some support in his legal battle against the University of California at Los Angeles, which last year fired the epidemiologist from his post at the UCLA School of Public Health, a position he had held since 1976.
Everyone is trying to find an answer as to why first world countries, and America in particular, have had such a growing obesity problem over the past two decades. Could our exploding waistlines be caused by the sweetener known as high-fructose corn syrup?
The U.S. is backsliding when it comes to tobacco control, the American Lung Association says. The group has just issued its annual report card on how well the federal government, states and cities are doing on cessation efforts, giving many Ds and Fs.
The report card grades the various authorities on how well they are doing in preventing tobacco use, helping smokers quit and protecting the public from secondhand smoke.
In the "nothing new under the sun" department, Bendectin - now called Diclegis - a drug that was long ago used to treat morning sickness, is going back on pharmacy shelves after a 30 year absence.
Along with the increased prevalence of obesity, Americans have seen a coincident surge in the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). While there are numerous pharmaceutical treatments available, weight loss is seen as perhaps the most effective means of both preventing and treating the condition. As anyone who has tried to shed even a few pounds knows well, substantial weight loss is often difficult to attain and maintain.
Josh Bloom, Medical Progress Today, 4/17/13 "OxyContin(ues)- The FDA gets it right"
The age-old debate about pharmaceutical patents, novelty, and money will probably never end.
Sarah Kavanaugh, a 15-year-old Mississippi high school student, is making headlines with a petition she began that calls on PepsiCo. to stop using brominated vegetable oil in its Gatorade brand of sports drinks.
We re facing a critical shortage of new antibiotics that may lead to an inability to practice modern medicine, according to Dr. Carl F. Nathan, chairman of the department of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He explains, in a New York Times op-ed, how economic and scientific factors are to blame.
ACSH has been in the forefront of countering specious fears about vaccines — that MMR shots cause autism, polio vaccines sterilize Muslim or Hindu girls, or that the HPV vaccine will lead to promiscuity, for example. Now some researchers have developed a surveillance system, reported in The Lancet, to track vaccine mentions, and used it [...]
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When dining out at a restaurant, you might be getting more than you’re paying for — in terms of calories, fat and cholesterol that is. According to two new studies published in JAMA, even though fast food often gets a bad reputation, smaller chain restaurants may actually be more harmful to your health. And it [...]
The post Nutritional content of smaller-chain restaurants may be worse than fast-food appeared first on Health & Science Dispatch.
A clinical trial that followed 14,641 doctors for over a decade has found those who took multivitamins were 8 percent less likely to get cancer but ACSH is very skeptical about this study, for reasons we ll get to later.
Every October 24, people around the world join together to shed light on the importance of eradicating the devastatingly crippling disease of polio.
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