“You are what you eat. A once universal theme of awareness has become all but lost to us when it comes to improving our children’s eating habits. I fondly remember my first grade teacher, Mrs. Hooks, warmly walking down each row of desks passing out snacks. It was the time of the day every one […]
“The London Telegraph is reporting that the doctors believe ’smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations.’ Perhaps the doctors are following the lead of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the British agency that provides guidance on public health. In 2005, NICE proposed that the […]
“Over the past eight weeks, I have been spending a lot of time with my father, who has developed some acute medical problems. For the most part, my focus is day-to-day (or hour-to-hour) on the issues and stresses that arise. But I have also come around to some different points of view about our healthcare […]
“It’s a battle that has been raging throughout the modern history of cardiology. Which is the best way to clear clogged arteries to the heart: bypass surgery or angioplasty with stents? Last week the latest study found that surgery still holds a slight advantage. But wait! There’s another option we hear little about: […]
“Early January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent warnings to seven compounding pharmacies distributing the hormone estriol — a weak estrogen found in the human body — to patients whose doctors have deemed it safer and more appropriate than FDA approved synthetic versions of the hormone. Compounding is a process in which a pharmacist […]
“Taking antioxidant supplements won’t reduce cancer risk, according to a new analysis of a dozen studies including more than 100,000 patients. In fact, the researchers found, smokers who take beta carotene supplements could be increasing their risk of smoking-related cancer and death. While antioxidants have been touted for cancer prevention, different antioxidants have different effects, […]
“The Food and Drug Administration is so understaffed that, at its current pace, the agency would need at least 27 years to inspect every foreign medical device plant that exports to the United States, 13 years to check every foreign drug plant and 1,900 years to examine every foreign food plant, according to government investigators. […]
“A recent study in the UK found that a range of efforts to get people at risk of type 2 diabetes to increase their physical activity were ineffective. The year-long study conducted by ProActive UK and published in The Lancet, found that face-to-face and phone intervention programs were no better at increasing any measure of […]
“The mercury in a vaccine preservative is pumped out of a baby’s body too quickly for it to do any damage, researchers reported on Wednesday in a study they say should further absolve shots of causing autism. The study in the journal Pediatrics reinforces what many vaccine experts have said for years — that the […]
“An attorney representing a group of plastic bag manufacturers and recyclers challenged Oakland’s plastic-bag ban in court Tuesday, saying the city failed to properly study the negative environmental impacts of increased use of paper bags. In the closely watched dispute, the Sacramento-based Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling is arguing that the ban should be […]
