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Pharmaceutical research firm IMS Health began tracking drug sales in 1957, and in 2012, for the first time, they recorded a drop in spending on prescription drugs. This drop is largely due to the widespread use of generics.

For those with severe peanut or tree nut allergies, flying may provoke anxiety. Given that Air Canada is the only airline with any sort of formal policy on peanut and tree nut allergies, a new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology-In Practice may give those with these allergies some relief.

As many as 2 million Americans suffer from the destructive and painful joint inflammation known as rheumatoid arthritis. Now new research is shedding light on lifestyle factors that are risk factors for the progressive, debilitating condition.

Boy, did we hear it from our readers after asserting yesterday that routine annual mammography was overrated, citing a study that found false positive test results can wreak havoc with a woman s psyche.

There s depressing news about aging in America. As many as 1 in 3 seniors die with Alzheimer s disease or other forms of dementia, according to a new report from the Alzheimer s Association.

The evidence continues to mount that routine annual mammography screening isn t such a good thing. Even when a false positive doesn t result in surgery, it takes a psychological toll on women, researchers in Denmark say.

We would like to acknowledge McGill s Dr. Joe Schwarcz for his recent column The Funny Business of Selling Water, in which he discusses the Molecule Café in New York City s Greenwich Village.

A new study published in Nutrition Journal found that diabetics did not benefit from restricting fruit in their diet. There has not been a conclusive answer as to whether fruit consumption should be kept to a minimum in diabetics because of the sugar content or whether the fiber and other nutrients found in fruit mitigate the effect on blood sugar.

We don t often agree with The New York Times editorial board but they were spot-on Friday with an editorial questioning why genetically engineered food should be labeled.

In a consensus statement, seven major professional societies have endorsed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as the best treatment for menopause symptoms, with certain caveats. They note that this treatment is safest for women younger than 60 or within 10 years after menopause in terms of risk-benefit balance, adding that the risk of breast cancer attributable to HRT is small and the risk decreases after treatment is stopped.

There s bad news, at least for the future, on the cervical cancer front. More parents are putting their kids at risk by choosing not to have their daughters vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), a new study finds.

Here s another reason older adults should make sure to get vaccinated against the flu next flu season. Although the effectiveness of the flu vaccine varies, and is certainly lower in older recipients, receiving the vaccine may reduce the risk of hospitalization due to complications from the flu, according to U.S. researchers from the CDC.

This past Wednesday, a Manhattan lawyer suffering from postpartum depression jumped to her death with her 10-month old baby strapped to her chest. The baby survived but this highlights the importance of screening for depression in pregnant women and new mothers. According to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry, as many as one in seven women may suffer from this condition.

There s good news for vapers for the most part.
Researchers led by Dr Maciej L Goniewicz of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., conducted a comprehensive analysis of the vapor from a dozen brands of electronic cigarettes under a controlled setting. They say that while e-cigarette vapors contained some toxic substances, the levels of toxicants were nine to 450 times lower than cigarette smoke.

Over the past two decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of diagnoses of and medications prescribed for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. In a new statement issued by the American Academy of Neurology, doctors stress the ethical and medical implications of prescribing these drugs to healthy kids and teens.

Three million women in the United States have been treated for breast cancer, and most of those women have received radiotherapy. Although the finding that radiation increases a woman s risk of heart disease is nothing new, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine is now putting numbers to that risk.

Vaccinations for the 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak saved an estimated 500 lives and may have caused 77 people to develop Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) a temporary, but serious paralytic autoimmune disorder, a new study finds.
Researchers led by Dr. Bruce Gellin of the National Vaccine Program Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services analyzed a survey of 23 million people in the U.S and found that cases of GBS were about twice as likely to occur in the six weeks following vaccination as they were later on.

In a finding that is sure to have the Natural Resources Defense Council ordering their vassals at Mother Jones to insist we are shills for Big Gel Manicure, we have noted that correlation between gel manicures - used to prevent nail from chipping - and cancer was not good science. It wasn't even good epidemiology.
If two women get cancer and have no family of history of cancer but both had gel manicures, that is not worth claiming they cause cancer - it is simply that cancer can strike anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Former ACSH trustee Betsy McCaughey has an important message for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Stop playing politics with infection control. McCaughey, founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and the former lieutenant governor of New York, says the CDC s current infection guidelines are no match for CRE, the so-called nightmare bacteria that s raging through hospitals, killing up to half of all patients it infects.

A recent study published in the journal BMC Public Health, Outdoor advertising, obesity, and soda consumption: a cross sectional study, investigating the relationship between obesity and outdoor advertising, found that areas with more outdoor advertising had higher rates of obesity than those with fewer ads. Researchers concluded that if this association was further proven with additional research, it could be used to inform policy related to obesity generating advertising.

Zithromax, a commonly used antibiotic that is in the macrolide family of antibiotics (the same as erythromycin) has long been associated with an EKG abnormality called QT prolongation. But according to the FDA, azithromycin may be more dangerous than previously thought.

Thinking about quitting smoking? You can t use I might gain weight as an excuse, according to a new study.
Recent quitters do tend to gain weight, but even if they put on a few extra pounds, they still have a lower chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke than they would have if they continued to smoke.

A significant number of folks over age 70 may be getting unnecessary colonoscopies, according to a study published in JAMA. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends colorectal cancer (CRC) screening begin at age 50 for those at average CRC risk, and follow-up studies every 10 years until age 75. The rationale behind these guidelines is that colon cancer commonly progresses very slowly; therefore, early detection is unlikely to benefit older adults.

We can all celebrate today with any large sugary drink of our choosing, as New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg s ban on a wide swath of sweetened beverages was blocked by Justice Milton A. Tingling Jr. of State Supreme Court in Manhattan. He called the ban arbitrary and capricious, citing the fact that the ban only applied to some drinks in certain food establishments.

Should we be giving even more shots against pertussis (whooping cough)? A new study is showing that the pertussis vaccine isn t as long-lasting as was originally thought.