If you’re such a die-hard fan you slogged through that pro football championship that was perfect for the new Year of the Boar, please don’t be so sheepish in your celebrity adoration as to get gulled by quarterback Tom Brady’s health and diet bunk. His oddball theories well might go into a flaming dumpster, along….
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In hectic holidays, don’t ignore cautions on food, teething toys, antibiotics
Here’s hoping the season stays merry for all and that holidays are relaxing, restful, and healthful. A few tips to stay on the right side of health and safety: Be sure to follow best practices when it comes to food hygiene and safety. Do wash fruits and vegetables to rid them of surface contaminants, including….
Continue ReadingStaying healthy, safe and thankful during the holidays
As we all race to groaning tables for one of the traditional and happier holidays of the year, here’s hoping the turkeys stay brown, tasty, and on the table. Sadly, food poisoning is a real issue, and not just for worry-warts. Cooks preparing this major feast may want to keep watch on growing reports from….
Continue ReadingWith boasts about foodstuffs’ health benefits, a grain of salt is needed, too
Foolishness about food and its health effects can run not only into the negative — the sky will fall if you even nibble on meat, butter, or eggs! — but also into extremes about its purported benefits. Which is why, as recent news reports indicate, skepticism and care need to be exercised about probiotics, so-called….
Continue ReadingHundreds of supplements for diet, muscle, and sex are tainted with risky drugs
Same story, new data, and a message that needs repeating: Over-the-counter supplements — sold as safe alternatives to prescription drugs for weight loss, muscle building, and sexual enhancement — may be risky and not beneficial to your health. Indeed, many of them are adulterated with strong prescription drugs. As the Washington Post reported of a….
Continue ReadingUnhappy meals: Fast food still tops out too many time-stressed eaters’ menus
Americans can’t stop chowing down on fast foods, despite years of warnings about their health harms. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that 36.6 percent of Americans — 37.9 percent of men and 35.4 percent of women — eat some kind of fast food on any given day. As the Los Angeles….
Continue Reading‘Fat shaming’ plays ugly role in medicine’s failing campaign to treat obesity
The medical establishment needs to take a hard, long look at its failing efforts to combat obesity and overweight, conditions that now affect just under 40 percent of American adults (93.3 million people) and 20 percent of youngsters (13.7 million) in the U.S. That’s because doctors and medical scientists have “ignored mountains of evidence to….
Continue ReadingPediatricians, with blast at FDA, warn of food additive and packaging risks to kids
Moms and dads who have tried to safeguard their kids’ health by emphasizing fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet may need to take yet more steps to protect youngsters from harms associated with chemicals found in common foods and their packaging. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a formal, research-based caution to consumers….
Continue ReadingBaltimore bounces sugary sodas off restaurant children’s menus, favoring milk, water, juices
Families dropping into Baltimore restaurants may be surprised by what is no longer on the children’s menu, thanks to an official mandate: sugary soft drinks. At the behest of public health officials, Baltimore has become the largest US city and an East Coast pioneer in enforcing a new restaurant ordinance that makes water, milk, and….
Continue ReadingWilting in the summer’s heat: Food safety, water hygiene, and officials’ ethics
Americans hoping for relaxed, healthful summer days, instead may be getting steady and unwelcome reminders that, despite much publicized claims about regulators’ protective programs, the safeguarding of the nation’s food and water supplies remains a flawed work in progress. The list only keeps growing of well-known commercial brands affected by tainted food claims, now including:….
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