food and nutrition

Concern about the increase in obesity in children and adolescents has spurred research into their activity levels. Data garnered from girls' reports of their activity, for example, indicates that as girls mature, their participation in leisure-time and total exercise appears to decrease. Because these studies are based on participants' reports of their activities, it is hard to know how accurate they are.

A new study, published in the July 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA 2008; 300:295-305) confirms and extends the earlier reports with a more quantitatively...

DISPATCH 7/11/08: Nature and Fluoride for All, Plus Smoke and Life

ACSH taste tests Truvia
ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan and Dr. Ruth Kava attended the New York launch of the "natural" sweetener Truvia yesterday. ACSH staffers sampled it today with mixed results -- some of us liked it, while others complained about its aftertaste. "We're happy to have another sweetener on the market, and I'm sure it's very safe, but we're concerned about marketing it as 'natural'," Dr. Whelan says. "It's appealing to ignorance on the concept," which includes most people thinking "natural" things are inherently safer or better than "artificial" things.

"The definition of natural used for Truvia is...

This piece first appeared in the Washington Times.

Scares regarding chemicals in plastic -- bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthlates -- are only the latest manifestation of a deeper problem. But the problem is not "our toxic environment" or the evils of industrial civilization. The problem is a pervasive unease and anxiety that feeds upon itself and searches for danger, at which point reason, along with common sense and skepticism, tend to be tossed aside.

Americans are bombarded with an array of warnings and reassurances, stop and go signals, regarding...

In a July 6, 2008 letter to the New York Post, Thomas Aldrich, Chair of the New York State September 11th Workers' Protection Task Force, objects to a Post piece by ACSH's Jeff Stier:

The NYS September 11th Workers' Protection Taskforce and its rigorous and balanced efforts are mischaracterized by Jeff Stier ("Exploiting 9/11," PostOpinion, June 26).

Contrary to Stier's assertions, the Taskforce used gold-standard science in coming to its conclusions. FDNY has complete medical findings on virtually every firefighter, before and after 9/11 -- demonstrating real, new, and serious increases in respiratory, gastrointestinal and psychological...

DISPATCH 6/27/08: Lying Brains, Silent Strokes, Unsafe Sex, and Rotavirus Vaccines

ACSH: A group of Rota(Teq)-rooters
We were thrilled to hear that RotaTeq, a rotavirus vaccine approved in 2006, is dramatically reducing the incidence of the gastrointestinal virus in the United States. Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe vomiting and diarrhea in infants and young children around the world, killing at least 500,000 each year. Dr. Elizabeth Whelan says, "This vaccine has really changed the course of the disease in the U.S.," where it delayed the onset of the rotavirus season by three months and reduced its severity by half. "...

The e-mails and phone calls I get these days are relentless. Usually triggered by the latest scary headline, panicked consumers want to know how to avoid all the "chemicals" (a term they often use synonymously with toxins) to which we are exposed.

Well, I tell them, I worry a lot more about slipping in the shower than about exposure to chemicals released from my polyvinylchloride (PVC) shower curtain. I do not look to eliminate plastics marked with the recycling identifier numbers one, three, six or seven from my life, and if I had to wear a shower cap, I would not worry about its effect on my health. Neither would I be concerned about my neighbour making wine from elderberries picked from a bush that grew in a cemetery. Alright, now for the details. Because it is there, rather...

As befits any birthday, Americans will celebrate this July 4 with food, pageantry, and, of course: fireworks!

Who cannot remember the thrill of their first fireworks display, the childish wonder that is rekindled each 4th? Fireworks are a big part of this holiday.

But would anyone claim that such celebrations are worth $100 million -- the amount that fireworks-related injuries cost Americans each year? Each year, over 10,000 Americans seek treatment in emergency rooms and almost a dozen people die from fireworks-related injuries. Nearly half of these injuries occur during the July 4th holiday weekend.

Most frequently, fireworks-related injuries involve the eyes -- nearly a third of these ER visits are for serious eye injuries. And 33% of ocular fireworks...

This piece first appeared in the New York Post.

It's right to take pride in treating our heroes well. We should certainly compensate first responders who were actually injured as a result of exposure to the air on 9/11 and the following few days.

But we shouldn't be suckers for every claim. And a quickly growing group of workers -- many of them not even sick -- are trying to collect "9/11 money." These people aren't heroes.

To be fair, many aren't villains, either: They sincerely believe they're...

Infertility is a serious issue for many women and it rarely has an easy explanation or a quick fix. Frustrated by years of uncertainty and difficult treatments, women experiencing unexplained fertility problems can be particularly susceptible to claims of miracle cures. If they believe the book The Fertility Diet, they also have a new enemy to contend with: trans fats.

A review of the book in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of the Harvard Public Health Review sums up its findings as, "women may be able to increase their chances of getting pregnant by avoiding trans fats, eating more...

The massive outbreaks of E. coli 0157:H7 in spinach and lettuce in 2006 caused several deaths and hundreds of illnesses and devastated the produce industry. Since then, the FDA has been under increasing pressure to approve the petition -- submitted in 1999 -- to allow irradiation of ready-to-eat food. Irradiation technology could be used to ensure microbiological safety of fresh produce. Some national TV networks and many popular and scientific articles (including one by this author) demanded that irradiation be used to provide the necessary "kill step" for pathogens in fresh produce.

In March 2008, Dr. S. Sandlof, Director of the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, testified at a Congressional subcommittee hearing to launch legislation on food safety...