October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, a time for various breast cancer organizations and health professionals to remind women of routine mammography guidelines and to make sure that those who need it are screened. Yet instead of educating women, one particular group called Breast Cancer Action following their usual pattern has decided to needlessly scare them by alleging that a perfume produced by the Susan G.

Six percent of adults were told by a health professional last year that they have coronary heart disease (CHD), according to the results of a national survey conducted by the CDC. Published in the journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, these data constitute a significant decrease compared to 2006, when 6.7 percent of adults were diagnosed with the disease.

Harm reduction has been an effective tool in relieving the plight of drug addicts who are at an increased risk of contracting severe infections especially hepatitis and HIV, but also drug-resistant bacteria such as MRSA as a result of using contaminated shared needles.

Fluoridating water reduces the incidence of tooth decay by 25 percent nationwide and is heralded as one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the twentieth century by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nevertheless, the practice has been rejected by about 200 jurisdictions over the past four years.

A commentary in the New England Journal of Medicine expresses concerns about the advisability of employing weight-loss surgery for teenagers who are severely obese. While this type of surgery has become increasingly common among adults, it is less clear whether weight-loss surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, should be employed for adolescents.

Are hospitals really doing enough to help smokers quit the dangerous habit? The numbers seem impressive: The records show that they re providing advice on smoking cessation to 99 percent of heart attack patients, 97 percent of heart failure patients, and 95 percent of pneumonia patients. But a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that they re not doing an adequate job.

A new report published in The Lancet by researchers in London reveals promising news for epileptics: About half of epilepsy patients are able to remain entirely free of seizures for at least 10 years following brain surgery for the disorder.

We ve reported on bad studies. We ve reported on scare tactics. But a new screed from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) manages to combine both of these in one wildly unfounded toxic seafood threat.

Last time we checked on the status of the genetically-engineered salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies, a number of Congressmen and Senators were clamoring to prohibit the FDA from approving the fish. Now, the FDA has submitted its support of the salmon s commercial production, leaving only the final step of approval from the White House s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

This week, we haven t had much that s positive to say about dietary supplements. However, the results of a new Norwegian study have reminded us that, despite the questionable utility of most supplements, folic acid actually offers real benefits. Folic acid supplementation in women of childbearing age has long been shown to help prevent major birth defects in a fetus developing brain and spine.