Alcohol is both good and bad. Makes some happy, others sad. It amplifies joy, or exacerbates decline. It alienates, it coalesces. It de-stresses, stresses, calms and kills. But you know what? You are the variable. So, then is moderation sexy? Explore your prescription.

Some terrifying aspects of AFM, which surfaced in the summer of 2014, are that the cause is unknown, anyone can get it and it affects the nervous system. Even worse, most of the cases are in children. The only silver lining is that it's rare. In the first eight months of this year, 50 cases have been confirmed in 24 states.

First, it was the half-baked nuttiness of infrared saunas. Now comes cryotherapy, a full-body chamber offering insanely cold temperatures that its purveyors say can cure just about everything and anything -- that is, if you're gullible enough to believe them. And if it doesn't kill you, like it did last year to a 24-year-old Nevada woman.

Once the weapon of choice for prepubescent teens, cyberbullying is now deployed, with ruthless efficiency, against PhDs who have committed the unspeakable crime of conducting research on, and publicly advocating, GMOs. The goal is straightforward: Biotech scientists must be destroyed professionally. Failing that, they must be destroyed emotionally. 

The crisis of antibiotic resistance and our failure to produce a robust pipeline of new antibiotics is no more than us sticking our heads in the sand and pretending the problem will go away before we have to go to the hospital and face the crisis in a very personal way. 

In some circles high sugar consumption, especially from sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), has been considered to be virtually the root of all evil when it comes to health issues. But a recent study tried -- and failed -- to find a link between high SSB consumption and cancer survivors. Thus any supposed link with cancer recurrence or cancer mortality wasn't supported by this report.

Can't lose weight? A new study reveals two glasses of wine before bedtime could help you shed some pounds. But resveratrol, the chemical in question that some have boasted as a miracle compound, is basically just part of a fad. But if someone hands us a glass of vino, who are we to complain? 

Kratom, a mixture of 40+ chemicals derived from the leaf of the Mitragyna speciosa tree, has a core of very devoted followers, some of whom think it is a panacea to what ails them. Some maintain that it isn't even a drug. They are partially correct. It is a mixture of drugs. 
 
 

tree

Michael Pollan, food activist and journalist, is the proverbial man trapped in the past. His latest piece for The New York Times criticizes the Obama administration for not catering to his bizarre beliefs about how food production actually works. And along he tries to smear ... the American Council's president, and you.

As many as half of lab tests ordered may not be necessary, and cutting back on them can not only minimize the "ouch factor," but it can also lower medical costs. Some research has been done in this area, producing some eye-opening conclusions.