Public Health
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California say that though fructose is naturally found in numerous fruits and other products, it is not only harmful, the public is being lied to about it on labels.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has long been a target for food activists. Though we live in a world where over 90% of added sugar is sucrose (table sugar), some believe HFCS in soda is causing American obesity. But it can only be American obesity, since much of the world does not use it in soda.
The HFCS disaccharide in common production contains 45…
In 15 seconds, name as many drugs as you can. What
did you come up with? Does the list include heroin, marijuana, and meth? Maybe
you also thought of cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, alcohol, or the wide variety of
prescription drugs. But what about Spice, Molly, Bath Salts, Krokodil, and K2?
A recent
report
by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows that the
manufacture and use of synthetic drugs is skyrocketing – in 2008, about 80
synthetic psychoactive substances had been reported; by 2013 that number had
grown to 348. And it’s kids who are widely using these drugs. For example,…
Obesity often is associated with increased health related complications and death but some studies have found an 'obesity paradox' - people who are obese but otherwise healthy. Concern has been that may cause some to question striving for a normal weight.
Christian Dehlendorff, M.S., Ph.D., of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues sought to determine whether the obesity paradox in stroke was real or an artificial finding because of selection bias in studies. To overcome selection bias, authors only studied deaths caused by the index stroke using a…
Waterpipes - hookahs - create hazardous concentrations of indoor air pollution and poses increased risk from diminished air quality for both employees and patrons of waterpipe bars, according to a new paper from Johns Hopkins, which did an analysis of air quality in seven Baltimore waterpipe bars and found that airborne particulate matter and carbon monoxide exceeded concentrations common in public places that allowed cigarette smoking. Air nicotine was markedly higher than in smoke-free establishments.
Because campaigns against smoking are funded by money levied by taxes on cigarette…
Hank |
Not horrified by PETA's graphic images of food processing or titillated by their penchant for exploiting naked women enough to stop eating meat?
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have opened a new front in their culture war; they have declared that increased Autism Spectrum Diagnoses are due to milk.
They cited one small study, n=20. Hey, that is 66% more subjects than Andrew Wakefield used to declare that vaccines causes autism. And then another study found that taking kids off milk made those darn autistic kids behave better. Thanks, PETA, for demonizing kids so you can…
2.1 billion people, nearly 30% of the world's population, are overweight, according to a new analysis of data from 188 countries.
In 1980, the world was still worried about doomsday prophets and a population bomb that would lead to mass starvation, wars over food, and a world government to mandate abortion; instead, agricultural science has grown so much more food that many poor people can afford to eat like royalty and get fat.
Cheap, plentiful food is a win for the world but now we have a major public health epidemic in both the developed and the developing world.
The study, "…
Professor Simon Capewell, professor at the University of Liverpoolthinks there should be health warning labels on sugary drinks. He seeks the political climate of California, which is effectively a one-party state so if a current bill to put warning labels on sugary drinks makes it out of committee, it will mean vending machines would have to carry warning labels. Capewell thinks that can happen in the UK as well.
He likens sugar to toxic chemicals and cigarettes – warning labels for those are "now agreed by almost everyone", he says, leaving out that studies showed those things cause direct…
When it comes to e-cigarettes, critics seem to prefer regular cigarettes. Or snuff. Or snus. Or they just want to ban behavior. And the biggest tool they have is the precautionary principle. Sure, there are no known health effects but that is easy to fix - speculate about unknown potential ones.
Smoking is, of course, bad. E-cigarettes are not smoking, it is instead a nicotine vapor. The number of people who have gotten lung cancer from nicotine vapor is zero, which is not evidence for much, but it is certainly not evidence it is harmful. Since even among lung cancer patients, up to 50…
When included in addiction treatment and relapse prevention
programs, mindfulness and meditation strategies have been shown to
reduce anxiety and help to prevent relapse. But mindfulness and meditation are
separate practices and even within meditation, not all styles produce the same
results. Which is best?
“Anxiety is universal to the human condition, but addicts
experience it to an extreme because they have real problems. Meditation and
mindfulness practices can help an addict stop worrying about the past, stop
fussing about the future, and can help keep an addict from being caught up in…
If you're in a country that has a Vitamin D Winter - 2 to 6 months without sunshine - there may be good news on the way.
Vitamin D is essential. Without it, kids are at risk of bone diseases like rickets and older children and adults are at risk of bone softening. Some European countries have inadequate sunlight for extended periods, during which time vitamin D cannot be made in the skin. Not many foods are rich in vitamin D so it can be difficult to make up the shortfall through diet.
A project called ODIN started in November 2013 and will help devise food-based solutions to optimise…