Smoking And The Poor: A Health And Economic Crisis In The Making

"It’s worth emphasizing that more deliberate efforts to bolster quitting can pay off. A study of a Massachusetts program to promote smoking cessation in Medicaid showed that it helped reduce the rate of smoking and saved $3 in hospital costs for every dollar invested. The savings were due in large part to the prevention of heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases."

Note: the states with the largest number of the smoking poor are in the "Red" state/Republican south, many of which have refused to expand Medicaid.

Help Poor People Quit Smoking Today – Or Spend Billions Tomorrow

The Coming Population Bust

"A new kind of research and theory is required for a world of zero population growth, albeit one that both acknowledges and avoids the often-catastrophic legacies of past demographic thinking."

The Politics and Ecology of Zero Population Growth

Supplement Regulation: Politics Run Amok

"You might argue that the public gets the regulations they want, but the public is largely unaware of how lax these regulations are. They assume that claims and products are reasonably regulated, and they are simply wrong."

Former FDA Directors Criticize Supplement Regulation

Why Is Whole Foods Allowed To Act This Way?

"Whole Foods’ disingenuousness in communicating with customers is as bad as its deficient food preparation and storage. Central to the company’s inflated pricing are the misleading representations about its organic food offerings."

Whole Foods Goes From Defrauding Consumers To Endangering Them

About Herbs

"The About Herbs approach to evidence seems to be if there is any evidence, good, bad or indifferent, then mention and reference it. But don’t explain or advise. The approach renders the guide next to useless."

About Herbs: an app to avoid

The Latest Survey Will Be Misused By The Alternatives To Medicine Folks

"Any use of treatments and products that are not based on reasonable scientific evidence and plausibility is a complete waste of money, most of which is out of pocket. These treatments can also distract from actually effective treatments, or use up limited resources so that patients do not have the money for effective treatments. There is real harm to relying on nonsense for health care.

Catholic Hospitals

In recent decades, there has been the phenomenon of Catholic health corporations purchasing secular hospitals.  This has caused the serious issue of opposing standards of care:  secular hospitals provide care approved by medical organizations, whereas, Catholic hospitals provide care approved by Catholic authorities.

Aspartame

"If all of this seems silly, it’s because the Moroncolas of the world use the same trick —ignoring dose. They dig up studies where an animal is fed a bazillion times more of (name that chemical) than you’ll ever be exposed to. Next is looking for any kind of effect, which in many cases is expressed in data that are not statistically significant. Finally, they imply that the animal model and dose are predictive of disorder X in humans. That’s the big scare."

The Perils of ‘Internut’ Health Advice (Diet Soda Causes AIDS?)

Vitamin D Supplementation

"At present, they stated that the evidence supports Vitamin D to prevent fractures (especially accompanied by calcium), and maybe to prevent falls in older patients. But, they say: 'No other effects are proven. For many other conditions, the evidence for vitamin D supplementation is plagued by the use of small, poor-quality trials.'”

At Last, Some Sense About Vitamin D Supplementation

The Middling Power Of The Placebo Effect

"Alternative medicine practitioners love the placebo effect. To many of them, it is proof that the mind can heal the body through the power of positive thinking. While that is a tempting narrative, it is very much a tall tale. The placebo effect is not nearly as powerful as it's billed to be, nor can it be controlled with a simple thought."

Outside the setting of clinical trials, there is no justification for the use of placebos

Avoid These 6 Foods

"So if your company also does not want to be sued for poisoning customers, you might take some advice on what foods he avoids after 20 years of litigation. Just don’t sell this stuff.

The 6 Foods The Lawyer Who Made A Fortune Suing Over Food Illness Won’t Eat

MSG

MSG myth – debunked with real science

An Example Of The WHO Not Doing Its Job Well

"The World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says it doesn’t know if coffee causes cancer or not, a switch from 1991 when the agency said it did.

Of Course It Is A Public Health Issue

It is more than about time to stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby.

AMA Decides Gun Violence is a Public Health Issue

Chiropractic Fraud 4

4th in a series:

Chiropractor Convicted of Chelation Fraud

Time To Enlighten Celebrities And Consumers

"According to Dr. Bragg, music celebrities could endorse healthier options, such as lower calorie beverages, 'because that would harness the celebrity’s’ popularity to promote healthy messages to young people. We know from research that adolescents care a lot about brand and really idolize celebrities, so this sort of popularity could be used to encourage healthy dietary habits.'"

Famous Singers Make Your Kids Fat

Immune System Boosting

All of it is bogus, except vaccines.

A deeper look into the immune system.

The Value Of Muscle Strengthening Exercises

Regular participation in muscle strengthening activity such as weight or resistance training has many health benefits.

Morality Within Embryology

No scientific field has elicited more emotion than embryology.  This is because it is the study of cells prior to birth.  This article highlights the moral issues in light of advancing science.  Humanity continues to be put in situations where there are conflicts between reason, science and dogma.  Here's hoping dogma is dropped from consideration.

Embryology policy: Revisit the 14-day rule

Mediterranean Style Diet

Mediterranean style diet might slow down aging, reduce bone loss