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Tens of thousands of women have mastectomies to treat breast cancer each year and a new study lends hope to the idea that reconstructive surgery could make breastfeeding possible afterward.

When ACSH's Alex Berezow was the editor of RealClearScience, he frequently linked to Pacific Standard's content. However, in recent months, he says the magazine as a whole has now become nearly unreadable. As its political cheerleading becomes more and more blatant, its standards for science journalism have fallen -- and that's no coincidence.

Do you know what a “bezoar” is? Probably not, but we'll explain. However, you have likely heard of the term "psychosomatic," which means an ailing mind can actually, physically bother or impair your body. Sometimes the primary disease is truly in your head, or at least it seems to have started there.

California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, commonly called Proposition 65, was enacted by popular vote in 1986. It was initially sold as a way to prevent cancer and birth defects due to chemicals in drinking water and therefore got an overwhelmingly favorable response. Who isn’t in favor of clean water? (1)

We here at the council enjoy debunking health fads. We especially enjoy debunking — in both print and video — weight loss fads. In fact, just last week I debunked one of the hottest trends in weight loss: body wraps. I don't know why this is, but something about selling unrealistic goals to vulnerable consumers for financial gain that only benefits the person at the top of the pyramid scheme really irks me. 

1. In America, we have the luxury of plentiful, affordable energy and full bellies - and so we have groups who are raising a billion dollars a year criticizing modern science and technology. Most media outlets just play along but UPI recently took a critical look at one topic; the claims of health effects related to modern natural gas extraction.

Glutathione (GSH), a combination of three amino acids made by the body, had become a fad for skin bleaching. While it is a potent antioxidant, GSH supplements or injectables have not been widely tested or approved for skin lightening. And for anyone interested in using GSH for that purpose, we can only warn that the injectable form should not be given by unqualified individuals.

Over the past few decades, there's been a significant increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer throughout the world. The countries with the highest prevalence had two common denominators: improved access to diagnostic tests (ultrasounds, CT scans, and MRIs) and routine cancer surveillance.

The MINDACT trial results suggest that women with a certain genetic profile would have a good chance of survival and cure regardless of chemotherapy, but it's not so simple.

The first in a series of articles about all of the weird things that people put in places in their body, which then get stuck there. In short, decisions that make absolutely no sense.

One of the few places one might expect to find a soaring rate of gonorrhea infection is the piously conservative state of Utah. But, new CDC data shows that the incidence of gonorrhea is up over 400% in merely three years, from 2011 to 2014.

Roughly 40 percent of women have dense breasts, but, what does that mean in the context of breast cancer diagnosis? Turns out that having dense breasts makes mammography less effective at screening, and a recent study shows that radiologists have large variations on what constitutes a dense breast in the first place.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) V has relegated the terms substance abuse and substance dependence, replacing them with substance use. Substance use disorders (SUD) are characterized as mild, moderate, or severe according to the new diagnostic criteria which require evidence of impaired control, social impairment, risky use and pharmacological indicators (tolerance and withdrawal). The actual substances in consideration include alcohol, cannabis, hallucinogens, inhalants, opioids, sedatives/ hypnotics/ anxiolytics, stimulants, and tobacco. 

Bariatric, or weight loss, surgery works. A severely obese person might lose 50 percent of his or her excess body fat in the first year after such surgery. One question that has lingered for decades is: How long do such effects last? Another is: Do people gain back the weight that they've lost and, if so, how quickly does that happen?

Geeta Sidhu-Robb bills herself an inspirational mother of three, ex-corporate lawyer and entrepreneur who created a line of organic smoothies that she claims will detox you. Or anyone willing to give her money, really. She says her inspiration emerged because one of her children had severe food allergies, eczema and asthma and pesky medicine couldn't solve it. Really.

In 1960, a Boeing mechanic was told he had renal failure – a death sentence. But he was started on an experimental technique – dialysis – which extended his life for 11 years and made him Patient Zero in this revolutionary area in health care. Today, Medicare spends more than $10 billion on dialysis, medications and laboratory testing for some 370,000 patients.

We know you hate guessing games so lets' get right to the answer. An alarming 58 eight countries or territories currently have active Zika transmission. And those do not include those countries where someone brought it back home after becoming infected on a trip. Here's the breakdown.

Being around smokers is almost as weird for e-cigarette users as it is non-smokers.

One of the latest contributions from the Huffington Post to the national dialogue comes courtesy of self-described teenage "food safety activist" Rachel Parent, who skyrocketed to fame after giving an anti-GMO talk for Tedx, and debating Kevin O'Leary. Her new article is titled "GMO Propaganda Has No Place In Your Child's Classroom." She then goes on to regurgitate her own propaganda.

In case you're wondering, it isn't just you that has more than your share of accidents. Hundreds of thousands of people per year do, as well. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that unintentional injuries are the No. 3 cause of death in the United States and account for 1 of every 4 visits to the emergency room.

Researchers in Pittsburgh studying the effectiveness of email say that the electronic process is rife with miscommunication, exchanges between parties often have a difficult time conveying feelings properly, and most interestingly that emails among friends are no more effective than those between total strangers. 

We all know aerobic exercise -- running, swimming, walking briskly -- is good for the heart. Apparently it's also good for the brain, too. Researchers wanted to know what happens to the brains of older folks who exercised vigorously and often, if they stopped exercising. The report of their study was published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

When it comes to picking produce at the grocery store, don't judge a book by its cover! Spotted fruits and veggies aren't spoiled or harmful — they've simply been through a lot, and they need a little TLC.
 
 

The American Academy of Pediatrics wants to guide clinicians on “Countering Vaccine Hesitancy” among parents. This policy statement, published in the journal Pediatrics, rightly champions vaccination as "one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century." There is just one problem; pediatricians actually don't need more guidelines and protocols.

Roughly 1 in 3 women douche, but there is no good health reason to do so. Douching can change the makeup of the bacteria that normally live in the vagina, and it can even make women more susceptible to STDs. Now, researchers have added another concern: Douching appears to increase the risk of infection with HPV (human papillomavirus), which causes cervical cancer.