It's been clear for years that the CDC was making a huge mistake in gathering data about opioid overdose deaths. Specifically, lumping together prescription drugs with street drugs. All this accomplished was to make the pills look much more dangerous than they really were. The agency finally fessed up. Too little. Too late. Too secretive. 

Aging can be associated with a loss of muscle mass and functional deficits. Recent research finds that while testosterone can help older men gain muscle, just adding more protein to the diet does not. Thus, there doesn't seem to be a reason to change protein requirements for seniors.

Recently on vacation abroad I was exposed to a conspiracy tale that went something like this: "I read this thing on Google that says corporations control science." As a result, one thing really stuck out: Americans are a whole lot more scientific than their counterparts in Europe.

Our northern neighbor affirmed that a variety of Golden Rice, which has higher levels of provitamin A, is otherwise no different that varieties of rice that have been genetically modified for thousands of years. Further, it does not pose a greater risk to human health than rice varieties currently available on the Canadian market.

Twenty years ago, an expert panel at the National Institutes of Health lowered the BMI cutoff for being overweight from 27 to 25. But a recent report suggests that for one segment of the population — postmenopausal women – that might not be low enough. Also, to define obesity in this population the cutoff of 30 might be too high.

In the years since AIDS became known to Americans in 1982, it's gone from a certain death sentence to a very manageable disease. And even as good as anti-HIV drugs are today, after nearly four decades of research HIV infection remains incurable. But thanks to two drugs and a bunch of rhesus monkeys, that may soon change. 

Commissioner Scott Gottlieb believes that his FDA should be in the business of getting smokers to transition away from cigarettes, to something less harmful like e-cigarettes or other products. That's similar to the policy taken by the UK's National Health Service, and it's precisely in line with ACSH's policy stance of harm reduction.

Some of our actions are habits, like putting the key into the ignition as soon as you get in the car. Yet other times we have to think about what we're doing. New research highlights the area of the brain that controls this process, and how it distinguishes between the two categories of actions.

With so many well-respected medical schools in Boston, you just might assume that physicians there are likely among the best paid in the nation. But that isn't nearly the case. In 2017, the Boston metro area produced the ninth-lowest average pay for physicians in the U.S., according to a recently-released salary analysis.

ACSH President Hank Campbell sat on a Q&A panel for an anti-agriculture film called "Poisoning Paradise," knowing they were going to yell about corporate conspiracies. And he thinks everyone who cares about science should. Not for the activists who want farmers extinct, but for the people who walk out when they see how environmentalists behave. Because those people can be reached.