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Despite the tragedy and dismay that struck with Japan s 2011 earthquake and resulting tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown, a World Health Organization report concluded that people living near Fukushima Japan s 2011 nuclear disaster site face only a slightly greater risk of cancer.

Vaping is catching on. The number of American smokers who have tried e-cigarettes doubled in just a year, from 10 percent in 2010 to about 21 percent in 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
Among former smokers, the number grew from 2.5 percent to 7.4 percent, according to the report in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
E-cigarette use is growing rapidly, says CDC Director Thomas Frieden. There is still a lot we don t know about these products, including whether they will decrease or increase use of traditional cigarettes.

Pregnant women who suffer from severe morning sickness and vomiting which in its severest manifestation is termed hyperemesis gravidarum can now find relief: The popular anti-nausea drug Ondansetron (Zofran) was found to pose no increased risk of harm to their developing babies.

In a study published in The Lancet, scientists reported on the discovery that five major psychiatric disorders autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia may share common genetic risk factors. Specifically, these include variations in genes involved in the balancing of calcium in brain cells.

A little over a month ago, we reported a swine flu vaccine scare suggesting a link with narcolepsy in children. The scare cited 795 reported narcolepsy cases in 30 million vaccine recipients, to which ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross said Incidence of narcolepsy in the general population is estimated to be between 200-500 cases per million. Meaning that the incidence of narcolepsy in vaccine recipients appears to be less than the general population.

Here is some relief for women experiencing pain during sexual intercourse (dyspareunia), one of the most common problems reported by postmenopausal women. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just approved a new drug to treat mild to moderate dyspareunia. Osphena acts like estrogen, making vaginal tissues thicker and less fragile, resulting in a reduction in pain.

Metastatic breast cancer which has already spread on initial presentation was found to have increased slightly among young women, ages 25 to 39, a 34-year analysis suggests. More research is needed to verify the finding, and scientists are not sure what may have caused the apparent increase.

Type 2 diabetes affects about 26 million Americans and this number continues to increase. A new study published in the journal Diabetes Care found that gastric bypass surgery (in which parts of the stomach and small intestine are bypassed, allowing less time and surface area for food digestion) can reverse pancreatic damage that often accompanies Type 2 diabetes, and produce better outcomes than medication alone.

A new study links caffeine consumption by pregnant women with reduced birth weight in their offspring. For each 100 milligrams of caffeine consumed daily, as recorded in daily food diaries, the newborn on average had a birth weight between three quarters to an ounce lower than women who ingested no caffeine. (A 16 oz. cup of Starbucks Pike Place Roast has 330 mgs of caffeine, according to Starbucks website).

ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross calls him America s greatest surgeon general ever. C. Everett Koop, surgeon general from 1982 to 1989, and longtime friend of ACSH, passed away yesterday in Hanover, N.H., at the age of 96.
He was in the forefront of transmitting science-based information about AIDS, says Dr. Ross. Nobody even talked about it officially before he did. For someone who came from a very conservative, traditional mindset he said he was using Christian compassion to deal with the sick and potentially sick people, whatever their personal behaviors.

In her Personal Health column in today s NY Times Science section, Jane Brody sheds light on the pregnancy hazards linked to many medicinal substances, and new findings which show that during the last 30 years, the use of prescription drugs in the first trimester of pregnancy has grown by more than 60 percent.

It has long been recommended that women take vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent fractures from osteoporosis. However, the U.S Preventive Services Task Force is now recommending against the use of low or moderate doses of the supplements for postmenopausal women, saying that they do not work to prevent fractures and may put women at higher risk for kidney stones.

In an effort to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, this morning the American Academy of Pediatrics issued new guidelines for how doctors should diagnose and treat ear infections.

Well, Mayor Bloomberg is at it again. As we have recently learned, along with his ban on big sodas taking effect in March eateries are also to be prohibited from serving or selling sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.
What does that mean? No more 2-liter sodas with your pizza delivery, pitchers of soft drinks at your kid s birthday party and some bottle-service mixers at your favorite nightclub.

A Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, was found to prevent about 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease in people at high risk, according to a new study. These results were so pronounced that the study ended early, after five years, because it was deemed unethical to continue.

At the American Council on Science and Health, our goal is to increase people s awareness of actual threats to their health smoking, for example without their having to spend time worrying about things that pose no danger at all. Unfortunately, the goals of some politicians, the media, and certain activist groups can be somewhat different they frequently aim to create a sensation and gain publicity without much regard for actual scientific evidence. This annual list of the top 10 health scares aims to quell fears by discussing the real evidence about these unscientific scares.

This year s flu vaccine appears to be doing a poor job of protecting the elderly, federal health officials reported yesterday.

The FDA has issued its strongest warning a boxed warning to physicians advising against the use of codeine as a painkiller for children following surgery to remove either tonsils or adenoids a common procedure, estimated to occur about 500,000 times annually. The warning states that kids given codeine following these procedures could experience fatal breathing problems.

Bariatric surgery, one of several procedures performed on obese patients to produce rapid weight loss, does not provide the medical savings originally hoped for over the six years following the operation, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Last December, the French senate passed a law that would become effective in July of 2015 banning the use of tubes containing diethylhexyl-phthalate (DEHP) from pediatric, neonatal and maternity wards. The ban may be challenged by the European Food and Safety Authority if they find that it is not scientifically warranted.

Antioxidants, and eating a diet filled with antioxidant-rich foods, have often been touted as contributing to disease protection including warding off dementia. A new study, however, has shed some light on the science: older adults who eat diets high in antioxidants had the same risk of dementia or stroke as the comparison group who consumed the lowest amount of the substances.

A few weeks ago, we covered a story about how obesity rates are actually declining among children in New York and California. Now we might have an explanation. A new federal analysis found that American children consumed fewer calories in 2010 than they did a decade before. And although obesity rates have remained flat in many other places, this may an indication of changes to come in the future.

About 30 percent of cancer chemotherapies with no generic competition are being used off-label, to fight tumors that regulators at the FDA have never approved them to treat, a new study says.

Low-dose aspirin did not reduce overall incidence of stroke or improve outcomes following a stroke, an analysis of the Women s Health Study showed.
Researchers analyzed data from about 40,000 participants from the Women s Health Study, 460 of whom had been diagnosed with a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) in the preceding year. There was a mean follow-up of 10 years. Ultimately, researchers compared stroke patients against study participants who had not reported a stroke.

Following a year filled with baseless attacks on chemicals ranging from phthalates to BPA, a United Nations-sponsored research team released a report blaming these everyday chemicals for an increase in birth deformities, hormonal cancers and psychiatric diseases among many, many other conditions of vague or indeterminate etiology, including cancers of various types, obesity, you-name-it.