For years now, purveyors of various foods and supplements have pitched their products as being better for health because of the so-called "antioxidant" properties of their constituents. The theory is that highly reactive molecules, called oxygen free radicals or just free radicals, can stimulate the occurrence of diseases like arthritis, atherosclerosis, and various types of cancer.

The nation's supermarkets and restaurants seem to have been transformed overnight into one immense promotional campaign for the (scientifically unproven) Atkins diet plan: cutting carbohydrates. The truth is that virtually any plan to cut calories while maintaining or increasing exercise will cause weight loss, not just one magical mix of food types. But there may be a worse problem with Atkins than the annoying hype and the distraction from calorie-cutting: It may diminish the amount of folic acid women get.

Critics of so-called "alternative" medicine frequently raise the possibility that patients who avoid mainstream, scientifically-based medicine in favor of various other modalities may miss getting potentially life-saving therapies. And yes, this does happen. Let's look at one small example.

The belief that some foods are better than others indeed that some foods are inherently good while others are inherently bad has become a well-accepted underpinning of current nutrition lore. What does it mean to speak of a food as being good or bad? How can you tell if the food you are eating is good or bad? Is it helpful or even possible to think about foods as being good or bad?
The Good, the Bad, and the Confusing

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King isn't the only film I'll be rooting for to win an Oscar or two. Nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Screenplay is the smart, funny, poignant French-Canadian film Barbarian Invasions by Denys Arcand. The film's positive reception with U.S. critics teaches one very important lesson: If a film harshly criticizes socialized medicine and other follies of the left but has subtitles and is a little artsy, even capitalism-hating U.S. film critics may like it. That's useful information.

There's been a lot of controversy over Janet Jackson revealing her breast at the Superbowl, which must make Madonna and Britney envious (though Madonna is cleaning up her act in some ways: she has reportedly quit smoking and is trying to get Britney to do likewise). The real booby prize for Celebrity with a Bad Idea should go not to poor Miss Jackson, though, but to...actress Pamela Anderson.

The animal rights radicals who used Dr. Atkins' private medical records to out him as a fat guy, the PETA-affiliated Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, don't really care about human diets too much. They just want to make sure animals are not part of those diets. But animal rights are a tough sell, so PCRM feigns concern over the deadly dangers of meat consumption instead.

"The studies didn't do that but they certainly told us a great deal about what does not exist as health threats to the community."
Dr. Malcolm Smith of the National Cancer Institute, after an exhaustive study found no environmental causes for an alleged cancer cluster in Fallon, NV, as quoted by AP on February 24.

If I told you that I knew how to find the cause of childhood leukemia, you might think I was either a genius or Erin Brockovich. If I further told you that we could attribute this cruel disease to products of multinational chemical corporations, companies that do millions of dollars of business with the U.S. Navy, or to underground nuclear tests, you might refer me to some eager lawyers.

Hey, have you heard the claim that childhood vaccinations for measles, mumps, and rubella may cause autism? It's not true, but the myth has nonetheless contributed to the decline in vaccination rates around the world. Well-meaning but superstitious parents seek to "protect" their children from minuscule or non-existent risks from vaccine side effects. Instead, anti-vaccine parents expose their kids and others' to the very real risk of being victims in new outbreaks of old diseases we thought were nearly vanquished.