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If you're thinking about going to Consumed the Movie, Amy Porterfield Levy will disabuse you of that notion—hilariously. 

Up to 40 percent of Americans want alternative ways to treat pain, fearing dependence on medication and adverse effects, or inadequate pain control. So-called “alternative treatments” offered by acupuncturists and naturopaths are neither cheap nor covered by insurance. And given a recent study published by the Mayo Clinic, we simply say: Save Your Money.

1. California declares water unsafe, and hands bottled water companies a giant subsidy. What do you do about water? While water is essentially safer than it's ever been, it's still in the news. Flint, Michigan made national headlines for lead-contaminated water even though it's at least 16X more safe than it was when all of the politicians in Michigan blaming each other grew up there.

Not many people in the UK, and probably in the US too, are aware that overweight and obesity are risk factors for several types of cancer. A new report from Cancer Research UK indicates that the majority of those surveyed were ignorant of that fact. This doesn't bode well for the economics of health care in the UK, and the same is likely true for the US since we're even fatter than our cousins across the pond.

In America, despite the public shaming of anti-vaxxers, the anti-vaccine movement remains fairly strong. Yet it has nothing on the anti-vaxxers in France, a country where over 40 percent of its citizens believe vaccines are unsafe, according to a recently published survey of 66,000 people across 67 countries.

Andrew Silver, Inside Science -- Tiny robots taken into the body and controlled by brain patterns could someday help deliver medicine on demand.
The payoff would be tremendous if the technique could be perfected.
"You can get only the dosage you need only at the time you need," said lead author Shachar Arnon, a former computer science graduate student at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel.

The "follow the money" argument is an intellectually lazy fallacy. However, if you really do think that money will change our minds, then write us a check.

It's nearly impossible to get every last drop of liquid foods out of their containers. Ketchup and syrup are among the worst offenders. Up to 15 percent can be wasted due to such inefficient packaging. But a team of engineers, mostly from Colorado State University, has devised a solution to the world's sticky container problem using a super-hydrophobic material.

A purportedly serious publication in a serious forum that was recently published has given rise to a bunch of breathless headlines related to Complementary and Alternative Therapies. I presume that this is what was intended, as the supposed good news story is, in fact, one of the most blatant examples of quackacademic confabulation seen in ages.

It might be wise to consider that while Dr. Amir Attaran was completely wrong in his predictions that the Summer Olympics in Brazil might possibly lead to worldwide Zika virus transmission, there are reasons to believe that the Canadian professor's clarion call turned out to be notably, if inadvertently, beneficial to global health.

Twin pregnancies are at high risk of stillbirths, as compared to mothers carrying just one baby. This risk increases five-fold when they each has their own placenta, and 13-fold if twins share it. Complications can often happen in pregnancies near term that have otherwise gone well, with no single cause identified for this occurrence.
 

By now, anyone who has perused the grocery aisles has seen the plethora of products that proudly proclaim they're "gluten-free." But the number of people that need gluten-free foods — those with celiac disease — hasn't increased. Are people being seduced by ads, or is there some other rationale for making gluten-free choices?

WebMD earned its recently-bestowed moniker, WebBM, by spewing out one poop-related story after another. But they have really stepped in it now. The site, which we will now also refer to as WebD-U-M-B, published an article on fast-food scares that was really, really stupid. 

A major protein inside the egg, called ovalbumin, possesses the sulfur-containing amino acid cysteine. When heated, these sulfur atoms are converted to hydrogen sulfide, the nasty gas associated with rotten eggs and bodily functions. It doesn't take much to wrinkle our noses.

A recent paper took brain scans and noted changes in response to beer flavor, namely increased activity in the right ventral striatum. Beer caused the scans there to light up more, which the authors believe signaled a desire for more beer, while Gatorade didn't increase beer desire at all.

A new story in the British press reveals that very few lunches brought from home are actually meeting nutritional guidelines. But the way to ameliorate the situation is not pass laws to regulate what can be included in that brown bag. Nutritional guidelines should be used to educate, not punish.

Gene drives change the way that certain genes (and therefore traits) are inherited, or passed down through generations. Using CRISPR gene editing technology, the gene drives have the ability to cut and paste a desired gene into each organism, making a trait present in an entire population of organisms.

Preservation of vision should be a cherished, lifetime goal. So let’s talk high velocity projectiles -- or their avoidance -- chemical splashes, particle fragments and creepy crawlers.  

Parents across the country are celebrating the first week of school. But back to school also means back to germs — eek!  Here's a few tips from Dr. Jamie Wells on how to avoid spreading the germs this school year. 

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Concussions: Fact v. Fiction

Dr. David Shlaes, American Council advisor and infectious disease expert, has been blogging about antibiotics since 2009. His latest entry concerning the FDA is rather encouraging, but it's also a bit disturbing.

A mammogram might do more than just screen for breast cancer. A recent study says the test might also help detect a women's risk of heart disease by assessing what's called breast arterial calcification. BAC levels are highly correlated with coronary artery calcium deposits, a key indicator of heart disease.

While on first glance this story appears to be an April Fool's joke, it isn't. Really. The giant African pouched rat may be the latest weapon in the fight to eradicate tuberculosis. It's already proved its usefulness in detecting landmines, and the rodent is now being trained to detect TB.

For more than a decade New York City schools have offered "Breakfast in the Classroom," a program that had hoped to boost academic performance as well as school attendance. However, the BIC program fell short on both counts, according to a study that concluded that there was no evidence of success for the initiative.