Public Health

I never know what I'm going to find on the editorial pages of the New York Times. Sometimes I agree with them, and sometimes I don't. But, they usually, at the very least, make sense.  That streak ended on March 2nd, when the Times printed an editorial titled "Painkillers Abuses and Ignorance." The paper really dropped the ball on this one. After reading it, I was left wondering whose ignorance was being referred to, because in 433 words, they did nothing short of a superlative job of mixing together misleading statements, bad conclusions, and naive suggestions. Taken at face value…

Want to lower your risk of dying from a heart attack? Go a little nuts. Peanuts are getting a modern rehabilitation.  Except for severe cases, it has been found that peanut allergies will go away if kids eat them early, and when they reach adulthood they will have less likelihood of dying from heart disease - and be an equalizer across low-income and racially diverse populations.  While research has previously linked nut consumption with lower mortality, those studies focused mainly on higher-income, white populations. This work by researchers at Vanderbilt University and…

An on-board air filtration system called  high-efficiency cabin air, or HECA, developed specifically for school buses reduced exposure to vehicular pollutants by up to 88 percent, according to a new paper. study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.  The HECA system could help protect the 25 million American children who commute on school buses nearly every day, according to the authors from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Children are more susceptible to air pollution than adults because they breathe more quickly and their immune and cardiovascular…

Known for years as the “career woman’s disease” based on the idea that women without children develop disease in their reproductive organs, endometriosis is a painful condition thought to affect one in ten women worldwide. The condition occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (that is, the endometrium) grows outside the uterus. These tissues implant in and form lesions on organs such as the ovaries, bowel and bladder. The condition can only be definitively diagnosed through surgery and because people often don’t believe the symptoms being reported by women, diagnosis is often…

Emulsifiers are one key group of food ingredients that is broadly used in formulation of packaged food products. Scientists have shown that it may cause disruption of the mucosal layer in our intestines and thus promote diseases related to gut inflammation. This research, led by scientists at Georgia State University, was initiated with the hypothesis that “emulsifiers, detergent –like molecules” may disrupt mucus-bacterial interaction, increase gut permeability and consequently lead to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as well as obesity related disorders. The key findings of this research:…

Nature is all about booms and busts - it is common for species to grow too large to be sustainable. Humans were once that way too, but science has now made it possible for even the poorest people to be fat. We no longer have a feast or famine existence. And the worst thing you can do to lose weight is go on a 'crash' diet, according to modern nutritional thinking - your body quickly goes into starvation mode. But that is in the short term, clearly if you were to go on a starvation diet for any extended period, you lose a lot of weight, it happens every season on "Survivor".  Mitochondria…

A connection between persistent insomnia and increased inflammation and mortality from all causes has been identified by a group of researchers in The American Journal of Medicine. The results apply to those with persistent insomnia, not intermittent insomnia. Persistent (chronic) insomnia affects up to 10 percent of U.S. adults.  Although about 20% of U.S. adults are affected by insomnia, only half (10%) suffer from persistent (or chronic) insomnia. Researchers found that after adjusting for various confounders such as age, sex, body weight, smoking, hypnotics, and physical…

Sunlight may have benefits not yet discovered. Joseph D'Mello CC BY-NC Summer sunshine makes most of us feel better, but there may be more to the benefits than just feeling good. A growing body of evidence suggests sunlight itself – with adequate protection, of course – may actually be good for health. Sunlight comprises two types of solar radiation: UVA, which causes reddening and burning of the skin, and UVB. The latter increases the production of an inactive form or precursor of vitamin D by the skin, which is then activated by the liver and kidneys. Unfortunately, both UVA and UVB also…

Sleep is essential for overall health. Without regular age appropriate amounts of sleep, adolescents are at risk for developing a variety of conditions such as depression, anxiety, weight change, and sometimes insomnia. There may be noticeable behavioral changes when teens don’t sleep well, such as moodiness, experimentation with substance use and an increase in stress from school. Many physicians today inappropriately prescribe addictive medications for both kids and adults, which can easily lead to abuse and addiction, or at least increases the possibility. While previous studies have shown…

Can he be the global warming culprit? Link Could our meat-loving Western diets push climate change over the edge? That was the message of a recent report from UK think tank Chatham House that, even if the world moves away from fossil fuels, growth in meat and dairy consumption could still take global warming beyond the safe threshold of 2C. The report recommends shifting away from this “four degree” Western diet in favor of less meat- and emissions-intensive food. What the evidence shows is that becoming vegetarian might help reduce your personal footprint – but it will be better to focus on…