Is moderate drinking good for you? Does consistent imbibing of a glass a day prevent Alzheimer’s? Heart disease and stroke? Or is drinking booze more akin to radiation, where there is not yet a clear “safe” dose? Recent research has begun moving against the consensus of decades. Booze on the Brain For example, take a recent study in […]
Can Shifting Body Clocks Cause Cancer?
Time rules life. Human body clocks are powerful. Disrupt them and people feel worse – and often get sick. Shiftworkers know this: they experience more heart disease, strokes, ulcers and an earlier grave. For years, the World Health Organization has talked of shift work as a possible carcinogen. Yet it’s hard to prove in humans. The people […]
You Cancer Detection Bra Is Ready (7/21/14)
Screening in Public The bra market has a whole new category – wearable cancer detection devices. Put out by First Warning Systems of Reno, Nevada, the new bra may not immediately win fashion awards – though the magazine “The Week” declared it July 18th’s “Innovation of the Week.” The new bra – named the Circadian […]
To Screen or Not to Screen for Cancer (11/5/12)
Cancer Prevention Who would not wish to prevent cancer? When President Nixon started the “War on Cancer,” hopes were high that cancer screening would dramatically lower cancer incidence and death. It did not work out that way. Now, researchers often wonder how much screening benefits hospitals and providers – compared to patients. In his book […]
Can you cut your cancer risk by half? (12/12/11)
Health Versus Health Care America’s health care budget is 2.6 trillion dollars. On its own it would rank as the fifth largest economy in the world. We’re 49th in overall mortality. How much of this vast spending goes to health prevention? A pittance. Not enough people make money on preventing illness, though plenty make money […]