Search results

How much do you know about food? That's the question at the heart of understanding the recommendations contained in the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It's a laudable and worthwhile report, but since it's such a sizable document we thought we'd break it down to help you understand it better.

In an act of sheer brilliance, Charlie Sheen stopped taking his AIDS meds and surprise! his viral load went up. Then other similarly-enlightened celebs chimed in. Who looked most foolish? We think Jenny McCarthy dispensing advice in some tongue that barely resembled English made her top boob.

If "you are what you eat," what are you when many confusing food labels muddy the issue? Labels have become a way to promote self-identification with a worldview, tied to ethics, the environment and even the planet. So frequently labels are about what isn't in food, or "you don't get what you pay for."

PFOA, a chemical used to make non-stick substances, was dumped into the Ohio River between the 1950s and 1990s. A New York Times Magazine article serves as an expose of this practice, targeting DuPont as a bad actor. The newspaper uses this as an excuse to call for revision of federal government legislation.

When should women at average risk for breast cancer start mammography screenings? Should they start at 40, or is it better to wait until 50? The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has weighed in, concluding that "cancer mortality is generally reduced" with screening. But other issues need answers.

If it s a desperate race against time, and there's a possible life-saving therapy that hasn't undergone the rigorous FDA approval process, should an unapproved drug be used in the chance that it may prove effective, or life saving? Here's the case for the Right to Try.

Over 18 million young people 68.9 percent of middle and high school students see some form of e-cigarette advertising, according to the CDC. The agency is worried about e-cig use in teens, and officials there are right in their concern. But is it an advertising-created phenomenon?

A protein involved in pathological angiogenesis can serve as a new therapeutic target in the treatment of chronic liver disease, which claims nearly 50,000 lives annually. In vivo tests involving knock-out mice has shown promising results.

Is the Campbell Soup Co. crazy for putting GMO labels on its food, the very thing it recently said was an unnecessary scare tactic by Big Organic? Not at all, and here are several compelling reasons why that's the case.

There's a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, where scientists have identified a protein that could potentially clear 80 percent of LDL- or "bad-" cholesterol from the blood stream, without any apparent side effects.

How to motivate obese people to lose weight is a really hard nut to crack. While there are many weight-loss strategies available from dieting guidelines to surgery over one-third of Americans are obese. And according to a new study, providing monetary incentives at work isn't the magic bullet, either.

A sloppy article about a so-called hepatitis C "outbreak" in Utah is profoundly flawed. It's a result of careless reporting and questionable advice from a state public health official. The article sounds like it's the end of the world, but it's anything but. Good thing we're around to call attention to messes like this.

Why does it seem that the more we analyze heath and health behavior, the only result appears to be more confusion? Maybe it's got something to do with those providing the information suspect information, that is. A new ranking of the nation's healthiest cities is very flawed, as its evaluation of New York shows.

With no topic beyond reach of his scorn, Donald Trump takes a shot at the NFL, calling the game "too soft" for its attempts to protect players with rule changes. Meanwhile, a big thumbs up to another mogul, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for publicizing the vaccination of his infant daughter; and a sad, early goodbye to legendary rocker David Bowie, a one-time heavy smoker, who died at the age of 69.

In campaign marked by hostility and disagreement, interestingly it seems that Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie and Donald Trump do agree on one important issue in the public health realm: that addiction is a major problem in the U.S. and battling it requires a better strategy. And each has a personal story of grief.

As guest writer Vivian Moses points out, we can trace the anti-GM movement to two things: increasing disillusion as a result of the progress of left-wing ideologies, and a growing awareness of environmental problems.

The "Cancer Statistics" report from the American Cancer Society confirms the continued decline in cancer deaths in America. Since peaking in 1991, the death rate has dropped by 23 percent, translating to more than 1.7 million deaths averted through 2012.

Turmeric has long been known for its medicinal properties. Researchers at the University of Arizona are investigating whether the anti-inflammatory properties of this powder can supplement standard treatment for those diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

The DEA tried to curb addiction by making it more difficult for everyone to obtain opioid narcotics, including people who desperately need them. Would a new measure, modeled after Oregon's Right-to-Die law, make it easier for those with a legitimate need for these narcotic painkillers to get them?

What is the broader health media community saying about the new nutrition guidelines? We took a look around the country, and the internet, and here are some of the most popular sentiments, from the intriguing to the batty.

The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans have just been published, and there are some positive moves as well as some of the same-old recommendations that have yet to be shown to be effective. Dietary advice always brings a variety of dissent and assents, so we thought we'd add some of our own.

Like the use of luminol in crime scene investigations, researchers at Duke University, in collaboration with MIT in Boston, have developed a chemical dye that emits brighter fluorescence in cancer cells than normal tissue. The innovation could lead to better surgical results, by preventing subsequent operations.

New York's Compassionate Care Act recently became state law, allowing dispensaries to open with medical marijuana only for those with well-defined diseases and conditions. So if Smoky Sam shows up there hoping to just get stoned, he'll be bummed out since the rules make it nearly impossible to get pot just to party.

An op-ed in the NY Times co-authored by Dr. H. Gilbert Welch decries Medicare's proposal to penalize doctors for ordering the prostate screening tests. That seems like an odd sentiment to endorse, given that we here at the American Council believe that these tests are being given far too often.

Writing at Reason, Ron Bailey dissects some worrying trends and then highlights some insight on cancer which, I am proud to say, came from us.