You and the kids may decide to splurge a little, devouring some Halloween candy. (Know that just a few of these morsels pack a load of unhealthy excess calories and sugar — see the great infographic from Consumer Reports.) So here’s the penitent-tradeoff: While muching on a choice few bites of candy, please also take….
Continue ReadingArchives for October 2017
Trillions in tax cuts for the rich, pennies to fight the opioid drug crisis
As the Republican-controlled Congress rams through a national budget and a package of changes to the tax system, President Trump and his partisans are staying true to course. They’re determined to slash taxes for the rich, even if they only half-heartedly tackle one of the biggest public health crises in decades, and if they inflict….
Continue ReadingHeads up: Youth concussions may be tied to later multiple sclerosis diagnoses
Although state and local laws may be curbing some of the harms the young can suffer with sports-related concussions, parents, coaches, teachers, and players may wish to reconsider even more the risks of head traumas: That’s because early such injuries may be tied to later diagnoses of multiple sclerosis. To be sure, this is a….
Continue ReadingAs medical costs climb, it’s not just drip, drip waste, look at hospital bloat, too
Whether it happens in the drip, drip, drip of costly eye drops or it occurs in the flash of a pricey imaging scan, patients get gouged by modern medicine’s wasteful practices. The inefficiencies can be traced to many and different causes. But Americans need to keep asking whether they can allow or tolerate profit-seeking enterprises….
Continue ReadingWith obesity soaring, Americans gulled by dark chocolate myths and more
Although most of our elders have preached at us from a chapel of common sense, dietary nonsense seems to rain on our heads faster than the autumn leaves. It ought to go without saying that dark chocolate really isn’t a health food. And, to repeat again something that many pregnant women ought to know already:….
Continue ReadingShame and blame in a lame nomination for drug policy chief
Some powerful political players deserve a big dose of public condemnation for bungling and stalling the nation’s desperately needed war on the epidemic abuse of opioid drugs. President Trump can step up for the first of a series of smacks for nominating yet another dubious candidate for one of the nation’s high offices—in this case….
Continue ReadingAs infertility, testicular cancer rates rise, is it time for male private(s) talk?
Gentlemen, rev those engines of anxiety: Male infertility rates are on the rise, as are those for testicular cancer. Meantime, a global effort to improve one of the most common forms of male contraception may provoke some uncomfortable discussions about masculine misconceptions. When there’s a break in the Major League Baseball championships, or the NCAA….
Continue ReadingLittle red pills, given off-label to seniors by the millions, are no laughing matter
With baby boomers leading a graying wave that’s sweeping the nation, there’s little wonder why there’s a furious search under way to medically assist and to support seniors suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. But should the appropriate response be to burst out laughing, crying, or just to scream out loud about Avanir Pharmaceuticals’ little….
Continue ReadingUncle Sam should be wary in partnering with Big Pharma on cancer treatments
Is Uncle Sam launching a way to speed and improve cancer treatments so they get to patients sooner—or is Big Pharma about to fleece taxpayers, yet again? The National Institutes of Health should carefully consider its just announced, five-year public-private partnership with a dozen drug makers, the “Partnership for Accelerating Cancer Therapies” or PACT. Under….
Continue ReadingLatest disastrous strain on medical care: Northern California wildfires
As California’s Wine Country deals with the prospect that the toll will rise more and the largely unchecked blazes will wreak greater havoc, doctors and hospitals have struggled with patient evacuations and the destruction of medical facilities. Millions of residents are coping with noxious smoke, terrible air quality, and breathing woes. The Golden State crisis….
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