Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of the topics I have covered this past year.
[apologies to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II]
Of course, I might be forgiven for the hyperbole as to the specific topics, but as ACSH’s self-appointed generalist, I have allowed my curiosity free range this past year. Here are a few of my favorite writing moments.
I freely confess to being a foodie (there is actually no need for a confession; one look at my grandfather's bod is sufficient), and I have had at least my share of ultra-processed foods. Of course, what foods they are changes with the definition, and I found this contrarian study demonstrating the health benefits of the bad-boy of our food chain compelling.
The Emperor Of Ultra-Processed Foods Has No Clothes
There is a firewall between the writer’s group and our administrative staff. Still, occasionally, a note flies over the transom (a metaphor since I work remotely) suggesting that someone look at the latest public flogging of Erythritol. I took the assignment more out of my curiosity than a need to debunk the newest zig or zag in nutrition. It turned out to be a win-win; I learned a lot, and if the counts of readership are to be believed so do many others.
Debunking The Erythritol Study
One of the great joys of my job is that I get paid to read and make my own choices regarding what I read and report upon. That has allowed me to read about clinical medicine in greater breadth and depth than I ever did in 30 years of clinical practice. This year, there has been remarkable progress in several diseases, Parkinson’s Disease among them. I took the opportunity to learn more than the hour lecture in medical school offered. (To be fair, my knowledge deficiency may have been fueled by my lack of attention to lectures, but that is another story.)
