While the FDA dithers and the chemical industry stalls, now’s the time for you to act by reducing your and your family’s exposure to the toxic chemical bisphenol A, commonly referred to as BPA. That’s because the results of the first major epidemiologic study looking at the potential health effects of BPA in humans, published in the September 17, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) , found a significant relationship between the amount of BPA that people had in their body (as measured by its excretion in their urine) and the occurrence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes (type 2 or what’s typically called adult onset diabetes) and abnormalities of liver enzymes (suggesting some type of liver damage). And while a study of this type cannot prove causality (that BPA actually caused these problems), it comes on the heels of many previous studies showing the […]
Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com
Most likely, Amy Winehouse doesn’t have emphysema. Yet. Most likely, her doctor’s said something like “If you don’t stop smoking that bad cough you have already will just get worse and lead to chronic bronchitis, emphysema and COPD. Not only will your singing career be over, but you’ll be dependent on supplemental oxygen and will have to lug around a tank of it wherever you go. Forever.” Want another cigarette? Just say “No, no, no.”
Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 1 of every 5 deaths (438,000 people) each year. Yet an estimated 1 of every 5 adults (21 percent) in America still smoke (some 45 million people). What’s worse, smoking harms nearly every organ of the body, causing many diseases and affecting the health of smokers in general (not to mention the effects […]
Original post by natalieb and weightlossopinions.com
Recently, we’ve received a number of inquiries about whether there’s an increased risk of breast cancer in women who drink water from plastic water bottles, especially from those bottles that might have been left in a hot car. The assertion is that the heat in the car causes the plastic bottle to release harmful chemicals into the water, which is then consumed leading to inadvertent ingestion of potential carcinogens. This claim has been the subject of many waves of e-mails that get forwarded around the Internet, but which never come with any background or supporting information.
Some Web sites, like Snopes.com, have debunked these e-mails as nothing more than either a hoax or an urban legend. The origin, they say, is from overblown media reports of a master’s thesis written by a University of Idaho student whose research has never been confirmed and whose findings and conclusions have […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
My father will turn 89 in early April and he was recently described by a visiting physical therapist as “a fall waiting to happen.” So the March 7, 2008 article in the CDC’s “MMWR” publication about seniors falling is one of personal interest to me. And since the CDC reports that falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injury in persons 65 years and older, it’s likely that this subject will resonate with HealthTalk readers concerned with their personal risk of falls as well as with the risks to their parents, friends and other loved ones. The CDC has estimated that in a three month period in 2006, about 5.8 million persons over 65 fell and of those about 1.8 million sustained some type of fall-related injury. The overall estimate is that each year in the United States, nearly one third of older adults […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
Senator John McCain’s recent comments providing support to the incorrect notion that childhood vaccines might be associated with autism are not just wrong, but completely irresponsible. Such pandering should be left to political issues and not to medical ones. The facts are these:
• Mercury (from the preservative thimerosal) was removed from all the routine pediatric vaccines in 2001 (the last remaining batches manufactured before that expired in 2003)
• Autism rates did not go down after that, in fact, they have gone up
So even if we were to postulate that there had been a causal association between mercury in vaccines and autism (which many studies have definitively refuted), it would not be relevant today. It’s a moot point. This is why his comments are irresponsible. Because they might scare off people from having their children immunized against a host of preventable illnesses, some of which have significant […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
You’ve probably heard that we’re in the midst of flu season and that cases are being reported from all around the country. You may have also read that this year’s vaccine isn’t protective against most of the influenza virus that’s circulating around. In fact, it seems as though this year’s formulation is only protective against about 40 per cent of this year’s flu strains. How can this be and who’s to blame?
I learned a lot about influenza vaccine when I worked for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals back in the mid-eighties. And one of the main things I want you to understand is that of all the people involved in creating each year’s influenza vaccine, the pharmaceutical manufacturers are in no way responsible for deciding which strains are put into the product. In the case of influenza vaccine, the pharmaceutical manufacturers are just that: manufacturers. They take […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
What do Heath Ledger, Elvis Presley, Anna Nicole Smith, Judy Garland, and Marilyn Monroe have in common? They all died of accidental prescription drug overdoses. And those are just a few of the most famous cases. There are lots more cases involving lesser known stars and of course most tragic are the thousands of “average” people who die each year due to accidental prescription drug overdoses. Exact numbers are hard to come by because of the difficulty in separating out prescription drug overdoses from those involving street drug overdoses (e.g., heroin, cocaine, etc), but one study found that deaths involving prescription opioid analgesics increased from roughly 2900 in 1999 to 7500 in 2004, a 160% increase. That study was done by Dr. Leonard Paulozzi of the Centers for Disease Control who stated that “[B]y 2004, opioid painkiller deaths numbered more than the total of […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
In a move that has already ignited a firestorm of criticism from doctors’ groups, ABC still plans to premiere its new legal drama “Eli Stone” tonight (January 31, 2008) in which a mother, whose child allegedly developed autism after receiving a mercury-containing vaccine, wins a $5.2 million dollar lawsuit against a fictional drug company. The show’s premise is based on a long-standing belief held by childhood immunization critics that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, formerly used in vaccines, is a primary cause of autism in children.
There are just two basic problems with this. First, countless medical studies have failed to show any link between vaccination and autism. But let’s say you don’t care about scientific studies or just don’t believe them. Well, the second, and more important fact, is that since 2001 no childhood vaccines have contained thimerosal or any other mercury-containing product! And autism rates […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
In October of 2006, I wrote a story about the unusual, if not completely bizarre, illness known as Morgellons disease. At the time I said that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was initiating a study, but since government-related things often take longer than expected, it’s just now been announced that the study is finally getting underway. According to the CDC, “Persons who suffer from this condition report a range of symptoms including non-healing skin lesions associated with the emergence of fibers or solid material from the skin, abnormal skin sensations (such as stinging and biting or pins and needles) and non-cutaneous symptoms such as difficulty concentrating and short-term memory loss.”
The CDC is studying Morgellons in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Division of Research because although the illness is reported in all 50 states, the highest concentration is in California. The CDC refers to the illness […]
Original post by admin and weightlossopinions.com
