Public Health

From an article in Rolling Stone about mercury and autism: The CDC “wants us to declare, well, that these things are pretty safe,” Dr. Marie McCormick, who chaired the [Institute of Medicine’s] Immunization Safety Review Committee, told her fellow researchers when they first met in January 2001. “We are not ever going to come down that [autism] is a true side effect” of thimerosal exposure. According to transcripts of the meeting, the committee’s chief staffer, Kathleen Stratton, predicted that the IOM would conclude that the evidence was “inadequate to accept or reject a causal relation”…

Introduction: Bioterrorism is the utilization of microorganisms or toxins in order to produce a disease and/or death in human beings, animals or plants. Different from conventional weaponry, relatively economic means are used that allow the elimination of living beings without destroying the surrounding atmosphere. The most probably method for spread of bioweapons is aerial transmission, continuing into water supplies and food. The CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta) has subdivided into three categories the aggressiveness of "Bioweapons". Category A comprises:…

LONDON, February 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A new initiative from a Belgian company, in collaboration with European scientists and research laboratories has succeeded in producing a less harmful substance for a 'safer' cigarette, without combustion. It completely eliminates passive smoking. Underpinned by scientific toxicological studies at Leuven University (Belgium) and produced in European ISO 9001-2000 norm certified laboratories. This much safer alternative also reduces the nicotine content (yet still provides the smoker with the taste and aroma of cigarettes), contains no herbal ingredients,…

Researchers from the University of Chicago have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related abnormalities that include obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, and diabetes. Scientists have long noted that humans inhabiting colder regions were bulkier and had relatively shorter arms and legs. In the 1950s, researchers found correlations between colder climates and increased body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat, based on height…

Continued from Part 7: I interviewed Gary Taubes by phone a few weeks ago, shortly after he gave a talk about the main ideas of his new book — Good Calories, Bad Calories — at UC Berkeley. The interview lasted about 2 hours. This is part 8. SETH: Marc Hellerstein thought that the obesity epidemic was caused by people being sedentary? TAUBES: He believed that the key is whether you’re sedentary compared to how you used to be. When I told him about the Pima and the Sioux Indians and this 1981 study of obesity in oil field workers, he had an excuse for everything. So the Pima and the Sioux…

Night-time noise from aircraft or traffic can increase a person’s blood pressure even if it does not wake them, according to a new study published today in the European Heart Journal. Scientists from Imperial College London and other European institutions monitored 140 sleeping volunteers in their homes near London Heathrow and three other major European airports. The researchers measured the volunteers’ blood pressure remotely at 15-minute intervals and then analysed how this related to the noise recorded in the volunteers’ bedrooms. People with high blood pressure (hypertension) have an…

Scientists are reporting new evidence that natural pigments responsible for the beautiful blue/purple/reddish color of certain fruits and vegetables may help prevent obesity. Their animal study, published in the Feb. 13 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reports one odd qualification - eating the whole fruit containing these pigments seems to be less effective than eating an extract of the berry. Ronald L. Prior and colleagues, who did the new study, note that past research has shown that the pigments — called anthocyanins — prevent obesity in laboratory mice fed a high-fat…

If you just got done reading our previous article, Digestive Reflex May Mean Artificial Sweeteners End Up Causing Weight Gain, it may seem confusing that we now have an article saying artificial sweeteners help with weight loss. Welcome to the world of neuroscience. We just report the data. In this case, a recent review of scientific literature concluded that low-calorie (or no-calorie) sweeteners may be of help in resolving the obesity problem. Although they are not magic bullets, low-calorie sweeteners in beverages and foods can help people reduce their calorie (energy) intakes. “Low-…

If you want to lose weight, diet soft drinks are not the answer, according to findings in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience. Psychologists at Purdue University’s Ingestive Behavior Research Center say the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. The researchers reported that, relative to rats that ate yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar with 15 calories/teaspoon, the same as table sugar), rats given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin later consumed more calories, gained more weight,…

More than 25 per cent of the world’s adult population are hypertensive, and it has been estimated that this figure will increase to 29 per cent by 2025. In addition, hypertension causes around 50 per cent of coronary heart disease, and approximately 75 per cent of strokes. In demonstrating that nitrate is likely to underlie the cardio-protective effect of a vegetable-rich diet, researchers at Barts and The London School of Medicine have discovered that drinking just 500ml of beetroot juice a day can significantly reduce blood pressure. Led by Professor Amrita Ahluwalia of the William Harvey…