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▼ DECEMBER

Autism epidemic worsening: CDC report
Is the incidence of autism among U.S. children so high to justify calling it autism epidemic? If one looks at the percentage number, it appears to be rather low; even if it keeps increasing - especially with respect to what it was, or thought to be, just a 2-3 decades ago - it is at present estimated to be about 1%. But one in hundred means that the total number of children affected by autism runs into hundreds of thousands... »MORE
 

Rosuvastatin indication broadened, or: JUPITER statin study, phase 2?
It shouldn't come as a surprise to see this news: on December 15th, FDA's advisory committee voted overwhelmingly (12 to 4) in favor of broadening indication for rosuvastatin - AstraZeneca's anti-cholesterol drug better known as Crestor - to include those at low to moderate risk for cardiovascular disease, whether their LDL cholesterol level is elevated, or not... »MORE
 

High-protein diet effects
If you are living in the U.S. - or most any Western country - your protein intake is likely to be between elevated and high. Health wise, any dietary excess is undesirable, and proteins are no exception. But what are, exactly, high-protein diet effects? How serious is the downside, and isn't there something good coming from it, at least in part compensating for its negative effects?... »MORE

 Folic acid cancer risk
Are you confused? After over a decade of having our foods fortified with folic acid, studies are producing pretty consistent indications that elevated intake of this form of vitamin B9 - produced synthetically for food supplements and fortification - increases the risk of developing cancer. For a while, we've been told exactly the opposite... »MORE 
 

Folic acid studies: message in a bottle?
For a while, we thought of folic acid - the most common synthetic form of vitamin B9, or folate - as a good friend of our health. Then, just as we stepped into this new century, a string of folic acid studies came to unexpected result: not only that this vitamin doesn't necessarily give us protective aura we thought it does, it can even partner with the most feared of all our health enemies - cancer... »MORE

Sweet, short life on a sugary diet
Imagine you are a tiny little worm, happily feeding on bacteria, and also got lucky to have some steady sugar added to your diet. Everything looks - or should we say tastes - great ... until it's time to go. The bad news is that for you it comes 3-4 days sooner than for your counterparts without extra sugar in their diet; they get to live all of their 18-day long lifetimes... »MORE

Smoking health hazards: no dose-response
Some things we just know: for instance, a few cigarettes a day hardly can do any harm. Nothing to worry about. But a recent study on cardiovascular mortality and cigarette smoke begs to differ. Its data show that dose-response relationship matters little when it comes to smoking health hazards...»MORE

C. difficile warning
These days, anyone using medical services on a regular basis should be concerned about Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), tiny intestinal bug that can cause anything from severe diarrhea, colitis, hypotension and toxic megacolon, to sepsis and death. To a smaller extent, everyone else should be concerned as well... »MORE

Asthma risk and waist size in women
Does enlarged waist makes women more vulnerable to succumb to asthma? Some previous studies did find positive statistical link between overweight/obesity and asthma risk. A recent study indicates that even wider waist alone, without overweight factor, increases that risk... »MORE

▼ SEPTEMBER

 Antioxidants' melanoma risk: 4-fold or none?
First we got scared into thinking that taking rather small doses of a few common supplemental antioxidants increases the risk of melanoma - common skin cancer - in women more than four times. Confusing? Well, that was what relatively recent French study (Hercberg et al, 2007) has come up with. Then, just this last month, the headlines all over the Net were reporting that another large study (Asgari et al, 2009), this time American, found no significant association between the two, men or women... »MORE


Vitamin D status: murky waters
Is abundant skin exposure to sunshine unreliable in securing good body vitamin D status, as Binkley et al results imply? Is the nominal 25[OH]D level by itself sufficiently accurate indicator of vitamin D status? These questions concern our very basic understanding of our needs for this important nutrient, necessary to preserve, or regain health... »MORE
 

Is vitamin D deficiency hurting you?
Is your child getting enough of vitamin D? What if not? What about you? And what is "enough", anyway? As we are becoming increasingly aware of its importance to health, answering this questions becomes more pressing. Two recent studies found that vitamin D deficiency in both, children and adults is rather common. The real picture, though, is likely worse than what the studies present... »MORE

▼ August

Pill-crushing children
Could you guess medication use in U.S. children younger than 12? If you're like me, you'd say: "Once in a while, when they get sick". Not a lot. Welcome to the real world. This young children are already well into the pill crush of the grown-up's world... »MORE

New gut test for children and adults
Have you checked on your gut health lately? There is no health without well functioning gut - and the good news is that a novel diagnostic gut test makes it even easier to assess its performance. All it takes is breath  analyzer... »MORE

Unhealthy habits - whistling past the graveyard?
Everyone is talking about the importance of healthy lifestyle for sustaining health. But how much those typical unhealthy habits - like excess body weight, junk foods, smoking or lack of exercise - really hurt? A recent CDC (Centers for Disease Control) study comes up with some specific numbers for these four main offenders... »MORE

▼ July

Asthma solution - between two opposites that don't attract
With all the hoopla about molecular medicine and new health discoveries, how much progress has been made in treating asthma? Not too long ago, the official asthma solution would fit in a short sentence: "You just have to learn to relax". Then pharmaceutical companies learned how to, more or less efficiently, suppress asthma symptoms with drugs. On the opposite end, environmental medicine... »MORE

Light wave therapy - how does it actually work?
What is going on with that light wave therapy? The latest FDA approved LED devices include DPL therapy System for muscle relaxation, temporary relief of minor muscle and joint pain, aches and stiffness (including those caused by arthritis), as well as the NeuroStar TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) Therapy system for helping those with standard-treatment-resistant depression... »MORE

Hodgkin's lymphoma in children: better alternatives
Now that we have unveiled the true face of "cure" for Hodgkin's offered by the conventional medicine, can we blame parents for trying to use non-invasive alternatives first?... »MORE

▼ June

Hodgkin's, kids, and the abuse of power
Considering very serious risks, and hardship involved with the conventional Hodgkin's treatment, shouldn't a child-patient be allowed option of an alternative non-invasive therapy first, leaving conventional treatment as a last resort?... »MORE

Efficacy and safety of the
conventional treatment for Hodgkin's: behind the hype
Is Hodgkin's lymphoma in children as highly "curable" with the conventional chemo and radiation treatment as the headlines in various medical and media publications would make you think? After going through a small but relevant portion of evidence, it turned out not to be the whole truth. And, mind you, what's been left out doesn't exactly gives picture of a cure... »MORE

Long-term mortality and morbidity after
conventional treatments for pediatric Hodgkin's
Specific information on long-term morbidity and mortality of highly toxic conventional treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma is - for some reason - hard to come by where it should be given to you: doctor's office, hospitals, and government health organizations. Is there something to hide here? Read on, and decide for yourself... »MORE

▼ May

Late health effects of the toxicity
of conventional treatments for Hodgkin's
No one disputes the fact that conventional chemo/radiation treatments for cancer in general - and for Hodgkin's lymphoma in particular - are highly cytotoxic. They have to be, in order to kill cancer cells. But healthy cells are not spared either - they do suffer serious damage. So the question whether conventional treatment for Hodgkin's has serious side effects is rather formal. Most of us are familiar with its immediate adverse health effects. The real question is does it cause serious long-term adverse effects in children subjected to it?... »MORE

Daniel's true 5-year chances
with the conventional treatment for Hodgkin's
Is "90% success chance" promised to Daniel Hauser by the conventional medicine close enough to 100% success to justify forcing him into a highly toxic treatment?... »MORE

Daniel Hauser Hodgkin's case: child protection
or medical oppression?
Should the authorities have the power to decide what type of medical treatment is appropriate for your child's life-threatening illness? And, if you don't agree, to take your child away - possibly jailing you in the process - and force that treatment upon it? The parents of 13-year old Daniel Hauser from Minnesota, suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma, are just learning that what they think is best for their son doesn't count... »MORE

▼ April

Protection from EMF: you're on your own
As newer and more sophisticated studies continue adding to the decades long research overwhelmingly suggesting that low level non-ionizing radiation is capable of causing all kinds of adverse health effects, the question of protection from this type of EMF (electromagnetic field) exposure has become very important... »MORE

EMF pollution battle: same old...
EMF pollution is here to stay, and with it the struggle between the proponents of  the "no evidence of EMF harm" camp, and those believing that there is plenty of evidence for at least preventive action... »MORE

EMF health threat and the politics of status quo
Is it by accident that international organizations, part of the scientific community, governmental bodies and, of course, the industry, all find themselves on the same side - that for preserving the status quo for non-ionizing EMF exposure safety standards - and against the rest of scientific community and concerned public, demanding official reaction to the piles of evidence of non-ionizing radiation being a health threat at the common levels of exposure?... »MORE

▼ March

Electromagnetic danger - "No such thing in our view"
"Sticks and stones may break my bones" - we all know that, but what about those weak non-ionizing EMF that are everywhere? Can those tiny, invisible, imperceptible waves hurt?... »MORE

EMF safety standards - are they safe?
Call it electrical pollution, electropollution, dirty electricity, stray voltage, microwave radiation, or any other of its many informal names and forms, the question is just the same: Do all those energy fields around us adversely affect health, possibly at the levels much below current official safety standards?... »MORE

Power-frequency field exposure
Power-frequency field (PFF) is produced by the standard 50/60Hz electricity in power and distribution lines, indoor and outdoor wiring and electrical devices of all types. Average 24-hour residential PFF exposure in the U.S. is around 1.2mG, with 95% of the population being in the 0.3-3.4mG range (Zaffanella, 1998)... »MORE

▼ February

Electricity and health
Not long ago, electricity was regarded as a clean, residue-less power source, with remarkable, silent efficiency. If used properly, it produced no smell, no smoke, no sensation of any type. The relationship between electricity and health seemed to be as good as it gets... »MORE

Electromagnetic spectrum: health connection
Radio-waves, microwaves, extremely low frequencies including 50/60Hz electricity waves, AM, FM, light, X-rays - they all belong to the form of energy that we generally call radiation. More specifically, electromagnetic radiation. It comes in the wide range of frequencies, called electromagnetic spectrum... »MORE

Is power pollution making you sick?
It was all fine while we were only using animals and steam to do the work for us. Then combustion engines came along, with coal and gas, opening the era of power pollution - that is, contaminating our environment with by-products of power production: smoke, particulate matter, harmful chemicals and gasses. Then we learned how to use electromagnetic fields... »MORE

▼ January

Pneumococcal vaccine for adults useless?
Is it possible that the only one who benefits from the pneumococcal vaccine for adults is - the manufacturer? According to a hot-from-the-oven study, it seems to be very likely... »MORE

DHA in brain development study - why not boys?
It is no news that essential fatty acids are needed to maintain health. One of them, Docosahexaenoic acid (much better known as DHA), is particularly popular, as there is solid evidence that it boosts protection from cardiovascular disease. It is also no news that - shame on us - we still don't know much of what exactly DHA, and other essential fatty acids, do in the body. A recent Australian study moves us another small step deeper into that uncharted territory... »MORE

HRT shrinks brains
For no good reason, it took decades to medical doctors to find out that interfering with body's estrogen management through so called Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) can be pretty risky business. And it's no wonder, since they didn't really know what they were doing (not that much has changed in that respect these days). And, as you can read in the last issue of Neurology, that story isn't over yet... »MORE

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