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The latest "villain" in the never-ending war against sugar substitutes is erythritol, a sugar alcohol. Is this a sugar? An alcohol? Steve and Irving, our miserable hosts of The Dreaded Chemistry Lesson From Hell (tm) will answer this and more.

The confluence of events that have engulfed the discovery, clinical development, and the market for antibiotics over the last two decades is evolving. And not for the better.

A recent story about the bizarre symptoms of policemen, who were exposed to street fentanyl, turned out to be anxiety attacks – not fentanyl poisoning. What happened? Yes, it's time for another Dreaded Chemistry Lesson From Hell!

Scientists’ use of flawed statistics and editors’ complaisant practices both contribute to the mass production and publication of irreproducible research in a wide range of scientific disciplines. This crisis poses serious questions for policymakers. How many grant dollars and federal regulations reflect irreproducible, flawed, and unsound research?

Paxlovid, the most effective Covid drug to date has its share of critics. But is the criticism fair? Drs. Henry Miller (an ACSH advisor) and Josh Bloom examine the benefits and limitations of the drug.

Trends in COVID-19 outcomes during the past 12 months offer something for nearly everyone. For the alarmists, new cases reached all-time highs in February, but optimists will point to the subsequent 10-fold slide in daily deaths that persisted for another four months. Case-fatality rates follow directly from cases and deaths two weeks later and appear more variable than either. The Omicron variant …

As part of a healthy diet, US federal guidelines recommend that adults eat 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit and 2 to 3 cups of vegetables per day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that only 1 out of 10 Americans eat enough of these foods containing essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber. There can be barriers to consumption. Fresh fruits and vegetables are pricey and have limited availability in some communities. They also have short shelf lives. Frozen and canned foods are more accessible and can be stored longer. Are these options to fresh just as nutritious?

Anti-GMO, anti-pesticide groups have tried to distance themselves from the political instability in Sri Lanka, fueled in large part by the disastrous organic-farming policies they told the country to pursue.

The barrage of PROP's BS propaganda continues. If they haven't looked stupid enough in the past month, you ain't seen nothing yet.

There are hundreds of pain-patient advocates constantly fighting to overturn the cruel and misguided policies of withholding power pain medications from those truly in need. But it would be difficult (perhaps impossible) to find one who's dedicated his career to advocating for pain patients, now for a quarter of a century. An interview with Dr. Richard "Red" Lawhern, an ACSH advisor.

In 2010 the Physician Payment Sunshine Act was passed, requiring pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers to report all payments to physicians, be it royalties, speaking fees, or the proverbial “free lunch.” The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) share the #1 and 2 spot for impactful journals in the US. The authors of their articles are the thought-leaders in our medical understanding, but as a new study points out, reporting their conflicted interests, at least the financial ones, remains challenging.

An excellent commencement address; after all, it is the season
Living with pain
“Because we live in the past when we are online, we will find ourselves fighting over the past.”
The downside of letting machines do our work.

Environmental Working Group claims that "obesogenic" chemicals are helping to make everybody fat. Is EWG correct? Next, do we need a COVID booster shot that specifically targets Omicron sub-variants?

The Non-GMO Project recently reassured its Twitter followers that seedless watermelon is not genetically modified. The only problem is that this delicious summer treat is a "GMO"—and it undermines the project's dubious business model.

A new paper reports that Paxlovid-resistant Covid has been isolated, calling into question the utility of the drug as well as how it should be used. Is this cause for alarm? Not yet, but it could become just that. A look at viral resistance to drugs.

The Chinese use quite a bit more salt in their diet than in Western diets, so a new study looking at reducing the incidence of hypertension by dietary reductions in salt in China should be thought-provoking. It is.

I wrote the other day about a study from China on the effect of dietary salt on blood pressure. The study was unique in that it distinguished four regional Chinese cuisines. This got me thinking about whether salt use varies among American cuisines and regions. The standard narrative is that the salt in our heavily processed foods is a significant factor in the nearly 50% prevalence of high blood pressure—but then I ran across this study.

Americans expect that when the tap is turned on, fresh drinking water comes out. This expectation is increasingly questionable. There is a water crisis in the U.S. The increase of severe droughts in the southwestern U.S. has led to very low levels in lakes, rivers, and groundwater across the area. Water shortages are already common and expected to worsen in the coming years. What are we to do?

You already eat seaweed but probably don’t know it. Seaweeds are multicellular macroalgae used as functional ingredients, a food additive. Hydrocolloids derived from seaweeds provide texture and structure, prevent the melting of frozen foods, providing edible coatings or other desirable properties to foods as different as ice cream, apples, and bread. No longer considered just an additive, seaweed is poised to enter the US market as a whole food due to its nutritive attributes, potential economic benefits, and unique cultivation requirements.

Food deserts are areas frequently in urban settings where it is difficult to find stores providing fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Food deserts have long been thought to contribute to poor nutrition because the food people need is just not available. A study in JAMA Pediatrics suggests that this long-held thought may be a mirage.

Do biotech companies lie about the pesticide-saving benefits of genetically engineered crops? The activist group GM Watch says yes. Do they have a convincing case? Nope.

The FDA just decided that the anti-Covid drug Paxlovid can be prescribed by pharmacists. ACSH & Company was on this 6 months ago.

E-cigarettes can help smokers abandon their deadly habit. Unfortunately, that message has been buried under a mountain of anti-vaping messaging promoted by tobacco researchers and reporters.

Surgeons are frequently impatient, “never letting the skin get in the way of the problem.” One of my colleagues repeatedly asks God, "Please give me patience right away.” That seems to be the case for us that are not scientists; we often are not patient enough for the data to unfold; the data, in this case, some reliable findings on the incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis associated with the COVID vaccinations.

The FDA recently attempted to ban JUUL vaping products and announced a proposal to cut nicotine levels in combustible cigarettes. The policies are designed to reduce tobacco use—but will they? We have our doubts. Join us for episode 10 of the Science Dispatch podcast.