Behind the Numbers Be careful what you wish for – especially when the target is something as complex as cholesterol and heart disease. Controlling cholesterol levels has near religious status among drug companies and many researchers. Statins have been the source of tens of billions in profits for drug companies, who have continued to […]
Diet and exercise won’t solve obesity (5/27/11)
The Missing Link That Explains Obesity? It’s front-page news – the missing link to explain why we’re so fat. In the May 26th New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope reports on a new study led by Timothy Church that “a sizable portion of the national weight gain can be explained by declining physical activity during the […]
Banned in Arkansas – Lazy Cakes are off the shelves (5/23/11)
Regulators Begin Actions on Drugs as Foods Lazy Cakes, a brownie filled with now 7.8 mg of melatonin, unknown amounts of valerian root and other “herbal” drugs, was banned last week by the Arkansas Department of Health. It also facing a ban in Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts. When I wrote about Lazy Cakes […]
Is business travel unhealthy? (5/20/11)
Business Travel May Be Hazardous to Your Health Worried about airplane safety? Thinking of air traffic controllers and pilots who fall asleep, birds flying into engine intakes, intrusive and radioactive TSA body scanners, suicide bombers with explosives knitted into their underwear? Relax. Heavy personal business travel is far more likely to lead to your early […]
Getting the perfect nap Part I (5/13/11)
The Purpose of Your Nap Naps are back in the news. Air traffic controllers, pilots, truck drivers, and your average citizen are falling asleep in droves – with sometimes fatal results. For a chronically sleep deprived population, can naps restore and rebuild? Yes. Naps can return function to many sleepy people. But rest’s capacity to […]