Earlier this month, we published a Dispatch item on the possibility of using cellphones to combat childhood obesity. Now, a new study published in the journal Obesity suggests that active games – exergames which are a form of exercise and use technology to track body movement – may play a role in weight loss in [...]
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The question of whether or not students should be screened using an electrocardiogram to detect cardiac problems before engaging in sports has come up again. Although the European Society of Cardiology advocates for the use of an ECG, the American Heart Association recommends only taking a history and doing a physical examination without an ECG. [...]
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Before you give your young child medication, make sure to carefully read the label. According to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, 40 percent of parents are giving children under four years of age cough medications they should not be taking. And 25 percent of parents reported giving [...]
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After the politically-motivated listing of the plastic hardener Bisphenol-A (BPA) was at last squeezed onto California’s nefarious Proposition 65 list of allegedly toxic chemicals, a local Sacramento judge kicked it off, correctly stating that the chemical’s listing flew in the face of scientific and regulatory evidence. A division of California’s environmental agency finally figured out [...]
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So we’ve gotten through another Earth Day. I meant to write something about this event when it occurred, yesterday, but I was too busy dealing with its proponents’ fanciful dogmas concerning “sustainability” and carbon footprints, and never got around to it. Better late than never. This year, we managed to avoid the devastating effects of [...]
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New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced yesterday that the City plans to raise the legal age for tobacco product purchases to 21 from 18. Given the stated support for this proposal by both a majority of the Council, as well as Mayor Bloomberg, the likelihood is close to 100 percent that this will be enacted and go into effect, probably this year.

It s called the cinnamon challenge a dare popularized by YouTube, in which the hapless victim tries to swallow a spoonful of ground cinnamon in a minute without liquids.

We have been writing regularly about the escalating crisis of antibiotic resistance (for the latest developments in this area, see the blog by ACSH advisor Dr.

Concerns about the effects of different parenting styles on eating patterns and body weight of children have grown along with the increased prevalence of obesity in young people. A new study examines the association of two types of controlling parental practices — food restriction and pressure-to-eat — with adolescents’ body weight. KA Loth and colleagues [...]
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