Once again, the echo-chamber nature of press releases serves to promote misleading science and internet "health news" clickbait. This time, it's with headlines claiming that tobacco – not marijuana – boosts early stroke risk. So is this fact or fiction? Let's take a look.
heart disease
OK, America. Time to finally but down that second burger and that extra-large soda. A new CDC report shows that for the first time in 22 years, life expectancy for the average American has dropped. Heart disease, which remains the leading cause of death, is directly linked to nation's ubiquitous overeating epidemic.
A pair of misleading health directive headlines, one in Tme Magazine, the other in The Daily Mail, play up the findings of a less-than-rigorous study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that failed to make a strong case for associating athletic activities and participation with lifespan.
While it's true that statins are effective in preventing a recurrence of cardiovascular events (e.g. heart attack or stroke), the evidence that they are useful for primary prevention in older people isn't robust. Should the prescription of these drugs be extended to our expanding geriatric population, or is this an example of over-medicalization?
The famous singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, as per his manager Robert B. Kory’s statement, “died during his sleep following a fall in the middle of the night on November 7th." Ironically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released their estimates of the top 5 causes of preventable deaths.
A preliminary study presented at the American Heart Association meeting provides some puzzling data. The researchers found an association between "yo-yo" dieting and an increased risk of heart disease — but only in normal weight, postmenopausal women. But overweight and obese women didn't exhibit the same finding.
Last Monday marked the first debate of of three Clinton-Trump debates. Though no fits of any kind -- coughing or otherwise -- were thrown, the two presidential candidates did throw many jabs, as expected. But when Trump said her Democratic rival "doesn't have the stamina," it eventually led us to this question: Who does have the stamina?
Questions were raised about Hillary Clinton's health after a recent public dizzying episode. Her doctor released a "summary update" on the presidential candidate's health, "since the release of [her] previous medical statement in July 2015." What does this letter mean? Not everything and not nothing.
The occupational groups community & social services, and transportation & material moving, had the greatest percentage of workers who met two or fewer cardiovascular health metrics. That means these workers may be at the highest risk of cardiovascular disease as compared to everyone else.
While statin drugs, which lower cholesterol production by the liver, have helped many avoid atherosclerosis not everyone can take them. A new means of dealing with artery-blocking cholesterol plaques may be on the horizon — with an old compound called cyclodextrin possibly being repurposed to do just that.
What everyone "knows" is that dog ownership is good for one's health. But are there data to support that? Yes, a preliminary study from Sweden provides some confirming data.
A new CDC report reveals surprising and disturbing findings regarding overall death rates in America. They were found to have risen last year, albeit slightly, as compared to the year before. The cause, or causes, of this upturn are unknown, but should be pursued.