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The invaluable Snopes.com, which exposes hoaxes, notes an e-mail that's been making the rounds that warns people about purported dangers from heated or frozen plastic containers. Here is the text of the e-mail, with some commentary from HealthFactsAndFears.com:

Info for the Health Conscious

Dioxin Carcinogens causes cancer. Especially breast cancer. Don't freeze your plastic water bottles with water...

Now there is no argument for the need of communities to improve their public space infrastructure to allow for the availability of parks, bike lanes, walking paths, smoking policies, faith-based organizations, improved educational efforts, etc., as proactive measures to improve the health practices and lifestyles of its population to help stem the rising health care costs, reduced productivity, and the deterioration of the general health of its residents. I would consider this common sense. However, the Blue Zone Philosophy comes with a dietary protocol based upon a very skewed interpretation of the nutritional habits of the Blue Zone population groups.

Okinawa, Japan, is one of the five communities used by the Blue Zones to establish their proposed dietary protocols. Longevity...

While he was the Prince of Wales, King Charles repeatedly demonstrated a pitfall of the sort of inbreeding that has plagued the royal families of Europe for centuries: feeblemindedness. In unequivocal and outspoken – and completely misguided – comments in an interview in the Telegraph, the then-Dunce of Wales said that multinational agribusiness companies were a "gigantic experiment I think with nature and the whole of humanity which has gone seriously wrong.” "Why else are we facing all these challenges, climate change and everything?" he asked rhetorically.

Not-so-bonnie King Charles has said that he rejects the idea that genetic modification simply extends or refines "traditional...

A diet high in trans fatty acids or trans-fats has been associated with cardiovascular disease and death. These noncommunicable diseases have displaced neonatal deaths and pneumonia as the number one and two causes of global health concerns [1] so concern about prevention is warranted even while attribution to specific products is far from settled.

Trans fats are natural - or not

There are two sources for trans-fats, those found naturally in meat and dairy products of our ruminant friends (cattle, sheep, goats, and camels among others) and industrially produced sources found in fried foods, baked goods and cooking oils – the overwhelming majority of trans-fats in diets in other countries comes from these industrial sources. But their consumption by...

When it comes to kids under age 5, can parents ever be certain about what they say they're feeling, is true? And further, since they have a limited ability to know themselves physically, and express themselves, is what they're saying always accurate? Or is it just roughly true? Or can they say things that on occasion may not even be true at all?

Well, if it's hard to say for sure, consider that these are some of the important questions hanging over a recent study which sought to determine whether little kids can be influenced to eat by TV food commercials when they are not hungry.

Certainty is an essential element in any study, and obviously those with some uncertainty baked right in should be viewed with a skeptical eye. And that's what it appears we have here with a...

Credit: Shutterstock Credit: Shutterstock

Out of the blue I passed bright red pee. I freaked, thinking it was a sign of terminal disease. Then I remembered the roasted beetroot tarts served at the party the night before – so delicious I’d eaten three!

Beetroot, artificial colors, vitamin supplements and medications can change the color of your urine or bowel motions. Knowing which color changes are due to food or medicines can save...

An open letter to Center for Science in the Public Interest director Michael Jacobson:

The random mixing of science, politics, agendas, and self-aggrandizing when used against individuals who don't happen to endorse your opinions is a sad commentary on CSPI. Your media event criticizing the USDA-HHS Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is another example of the myopic vision and irrational knee-jerk judgmentalism expected from CSPI.

Unhappy with seven of the thirteen appointees, CSPI proceeded to publicly question their suitability through character assassination. These top-ranked, highly-regarded, well-published, nationally and internationally recognized leaders sinned in your eyes because they had the audacity to accept research grants or advisory panel...

Every day more than 5,500 Americans turn 65 and officially become senior citizens. For many of these people, the years ahead will bring significant changes: changes in their social roles, in their family lives, in their health concerns, and though they may not realize it in their nutritional needs and priorities. Many seniors are, of course, healthy, relatively independent, and well nourished. Some older adults, however, are beset with accumulating medical, performance, and social problems that can make adequate nourishment difficult.

More than 70 percent of senior citizens rate their health as "good" or "excellent," and only 4 percent live in nursing homes. Twenty-three percent of seniors report difficulties with such self-care actions as bathing and dressing; 28 percent report...

Angela Logomasini of the Competitive Enterprise Institute defends BPA in the Washington Examiner in light of this week’s possible Senate vote on an amendment to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that would ban the chemical in food packaging.

“As she writes in her op-ed, BPA has many important applications for consumer products,” says Dr. Ross. “All valid scientific evidence and all government regulatory bodies that have evaluated this evidence have come to the same conclusion: BPA is safe. Any argument to the contrary is a politically motivated attack on a safe consumer product...

The Personal Health column "Added Sugars Are Taking a Toll on Health"( Sept. 12) highlights a significant problem with addressing nutritional issues in the United States.

It would be more productive to focus on positive messages to teach consumers about appropriate food choices, rather than emphasizing negative ones although the latter make better headlines.

This, however, is what got us into the low-fat dead end. By telling people that fat is "bad," and that the way to lose weight is to eat low-fat foods, we diverted attention from the real issues: too many calories in and too few out in physical activity. Should we repeat this error by telling consumers that it's really the added sugar that's "bad"?

Labeling foods or ingredients as 'good' or 'bad' is simply an...