Culture And Poor Choices

"Both tobacco use and obesity are caused, in part, by our choices. And our choices are influenced, in part, by our culture. An unhealthy lifestyle can be deeply ingrained in a culture. It's certainly much easier to smoke or make poor dietary choices when a substantial number of your friends and family are doing it."

Here are some other points to ponder.  Consider the states where tobacco use and obesity are the highest.  These same states correlate with poverty, lower education and voting for Republicans.

Regional Patterns of Tobacco Use and Obesity Correlate in the U.S.

A Change In The Types Of Supplements Used By The Public

"Dr. Kantor and colleagues suggest that much of the changes in supplement use reflected media reports of the efficacy of the various items in addressing the risk of various chronic ailments — they noted several expert bodies concluded that 'there is either insufficient or no evidence to support uses of MVMM [multivitamin multimineral supplements] or supplements to prevent chronic disease". (See here for our take on those conclusions)."

Americans Catching on that Dietary Supplements are More Fad than Fact

Good Health And Nutrition Advise Available

"What caught our attention was the results of a survey run by the Independent Women's Forum that found:

-    '83 percent of women said they have trouble telling the difference between a legitimate scientific study and one designed to scare them; and

-    87 percent of women say they have a tough time finding sources for health and wellness information that they can trust.'

While we have no further information about the reliability of this survey or its generalization, these figures surprised us, and motivated us to reprint some advice about who to trust, and who not to trust."

It's Easy to Find Good Health/Wellness Information — Read ACSH

The Longevity Debate

"So, in a sense both sides of this debate are correct. The evidence does strongly suggest that we are approaching the limits of human lifespan at 115 years. That is the best our current approaches to health care will provide. But, that does not rule out that new technologies can be game-changers. It does mean, that is what it will take – radical new approaches that change the nature of the game of slowing aging."

Link

NSAIDs And Cardiac Risk

"This new evidence gives more support and context to our understanding of how NSAIDs can harm. NSAIDs do raise your risk of heart failure, although some are worse than others. However, if your underlying risk of heart failure is low, then occasional NSAID use is not a concern. As your risk of heart failure increases, your risk of experiencing harm from an NSAID increases, too. So do the risks outweigh the benefits? Ultimately this comes down to your individual factors: your reasons for use, any risk factors for disease you may already have, and the expected benefits. When used on a short-term basis by those who are not at risk of heart failure, the potential harms are slight. So don’t use NSAIDs indiscriminately, but don’t panic, either."

Another way ibuprofen can kill us?

Why Nutrition Is A "Soft Science"

"Of course, this type of clinical trial isn't suited to most nutritional research. Simply altering intake of one food or another doesn't take into account the rest of the diet, and again, accurate quantities are hard to come by. A well-controlled study of intake on a metabolic ward (a hospital or clinic where participants in a study might live or get all their foods), for example, involves actually weighing the foods, whose composition has been scientifically determined, given to participants. Any foods a person doesn't eat are weighed again, and the amount actually consumed can be determined by the difference. Obviously, this isn't conducive to learning what free-living people really eat.

"Unless and until we develop solid means of determining what people really eat, I'm afraid we're bound to continue to find contradictions in nutrition research."

Reliability of Nutrition Research Questioned

The EXPERTS On Vaccines

I continue to be amazed by the ignorance and ideology of many people when it comes to vaccines (other subjects also, of course).  Below are links in support of the safety and effectiveness of vaccines from the EXPERTS, who are in scientific consensus agreement on the subject:

The Stress Of Running For President

"Since the intense pace of Trump and Clinton’s political paths is a marathon and not a sprint, it is likely that both have created some tricks to impose an element of normalcy in their predictably unpredictable current lifestyles.  Running for president is a full-time job and then some.  The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) recommendations to manage stress in the most challenging of times may not be so realistic:  avoid drugs and alcohol, find support and connect socially, eat a well-balanced diet, maintain a normal routine, get plenty of sleep and stay active with exercise, hobbies and relaxation techniques.  A sense of humor is a bonus to stress reduction."

Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump: Who’s Got the Stamina?

Water Intake: The Truth

We all have been exposed to many claims that we should drink a great amount of fluids for heath and athletic performance.  However, this propaganda is bogus, there is no scientific evidence to support such claims.  In fact, there is probably more danger of OVER-hydration than under-hydration.

Why you don't need 8 glasses of water a day.

The Difficulty Of Treating Children's Pain

"As if things weren’t difficult enough, the AAP Section on Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine has published a clinical report in the September Pediatrics that aims to remind providers that it is “time to say no” to one of the our most popular pain medications: codeine. Sadly, the authors are not raising new concerns. Instead, they are once again pointing out serious problems with this drug, problems we have known about for over a decade that have resulted in deaths and inadequately treated pain."

American Academy of Pediatrics Calls for End to Pediatric Codeine Use…Again

Medical Fitness For The Presidency

"But, where did this interest in medical fitness come from? What's fit or unfit in 2016?  Basically, what would cause you, or the leadership of a major party, to declare a candidate not medically qualified to be President and not worthy of a vote?"

Who's NOT Medically Fit To Be President? 

Why Environmentalism Is Important

"Human sovereignty over the environment is a double-edged sword. For instance, on the one hand, advances in science and technology have caused deaths from infectious diseases to plummet around the world. But on the other hand, pollution causes chronic diseases that erode both our health and life spans. Reducing exposure to these noxious environmental factors is a major goal of global public health."

Globally, About 1 in 4 Human Deaths Are Due to Environmental Factors

Obesity And Cancer

"A recent report by the organization known as Cancer Research UK presents some worrisome data describing the population's lack of awareness about links between overweight status or obesity and several types of cancer."

What People Don't Know About Obesity and Cancer Will Hurt Them

It Is Not As Bad As You Think

But the USA does have a real problem.

Proof The World Isn’t Falling Apart

How To Interpret The Results Of Animal Studies

“When people do studies in animals, you pay attention to them, but you don’t make any policy or any other conclusions related to that until you do good epidemiological observation in the human system.”

Don’t Make Policy Based on Animal Studies 

Low Back Pain Management

"Many people with lower back pain don’t manage it well because of wrong advice – and a lot of unhelpful myths about what back pain is and what you should do about it. Healthcare professionals all over the world speak to patients who think, for example, that back pain can damage their backs. This is not always the case. The weight of evidence shows that many assumptions made about lower back pain are wrong and, what’s more, could be harmful."

5 Myth About Lower Back Pain

Genetic Risk Testing

"This ties in with my recent article about prevention. It will be valuable to have more reliable estimates of risk. But it would be far more valuable to find effective ways of persuading all patients to take preventive action, not just the patients we think are at the highest risk."

Genetic Testing: Does Knowing Risk of Disease Make a Difference?

The Use Of The Hospital ICU And Its Value

"That greater utilization of ICU and invasive procedures increases cost without subsequent reductions in mortality is not an original conclusion, it’s really just a confirmation."

Why Use The ICU If It Doesn’t Improve Mortality?

HDL And Longevity

"A giant chunk of the public no longer trusts science, because scientists have not yet put epidemiology over with the social sciences and the humanities on the credibility scale. Using epidemiology, everything can both cause and prevent cancer."

I put medicine and health somewhere between the "Hard" sciences (i.e. physics, chemistry and biology) and the "Soft" sciences (i.e. social sciences, economics, politics and psychology).

High And Low Levels Of HDL Cholesterol Linked To Premature Death

More Evidence Of The Protective Aspects Of Being Physically Fit

"'The advantages of being physically active one’s entire life are crystal clear,' says researcher Per Ladenvall at Salgrenska Academy of the University of Gothenburg."

Being Unfit Nearly as Harmful as Smoking