Lance now has the opportunity to become a powerful advocate for change. For all his faults, he has been a tremendous leader in the fight against cancer. He's not a despicable person and I'd love to see him channel his positive energy into a new cause.
You would think that half a century would be enough time for a company that brands itself as a nutritional innovator to keep up with the science, but in its new anti-obesity commercial, "Coming Together," Coke continues avoiding the real issues of obesity.
We are either a product of brute biology -- how we are designed -- or of culture, and designs of our own. To some extent, inevitably, it must be both. But how the balance is struck is itself subject to evolution, and we may lend a guiding hand. We may mix the batter.
Vaccinations and antiviral drugs are not the only options available for preventing and treating influenza. There is some scientific evidence that that certain nutrients and herbs may also be useful.
Many unpatentable modalities in the realm of complementary and alternative medicine do not inspire huge and costly trials. We need such trials to know for sure what does and doesn't work. In the absence of them, we need to avoid a rush to judgment.
Investigations into online inappropriate physician conduct will be up to the state boards. Online behavior from physicians and any other licensed health care professional should mimic their professional life offline. It's imperative that professional ethics is maintained online and offline.
Our eating habits provide the building blocks (nutrients) for our bodies to create the chemicals we need. And each food has different amounts of particular blocks. If the building blocks aren't provided in adequate amounts, our bodies react with symptoms.
What do Lance Armstrong and Bernie Madoff have in common? Are they a different species from each other and from us? No, they are all too human. Like many of us, they want to be superhuman. The difference? They feel driven and entitled to go for it at any cost.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration issued an announcement that could affect millions of Americans who take some of the most common medications for sleep.
Would we fall off the edge of the earth if we produced only enough to live healthy, peaceful lives? After the startling results brought to light in a recent health report, many are questioning whether it is better to strive for high corporate growth at the expense of life expectancy.
The study doesn't show that soda causes depression, but rather found an association between the two -- soda drinkers were more likely to be diagnosed with depression. It is important not to confuse the two.
Efforts aimed at obesity prevention are well underway, but we are still a nation very uncomfortable with paying for services that could help treat the two-thirds of Americans who carry excess weight.
Following a public act of unspeakable horror, like the shootings in Connecticut or Aurora, mental health professionals are asked to explain why or how a person could hurt others so profoundly. And then we are asked how to identify such people and prevent these violent acts.
It is during public health crises like these that we are reminded of the grave consequences of our country's failure to let workers earn paid sick days.
Advocates need to keep making noise to make a compelling case for the critical importance of medical research. The health of our citizens and the economic and fiscal health of the nation are at stake.
During the fiscal year of 2010, self-referrals amounted to over $109 million dollars in extra payments from Medicare, which equates to approximately 400,000 diagnostic imaging examinations for seemingly arbitrary purposes.
A team of neurologists at UCLA have demonstrated an unsettling link between Parkinson's disease and exposure to a fungicide called benomyl, which was used for decades on wide variety of fruits, vegetables and nuts before being discontinued in 2001.
My biggest concern is that solely focusing on weight impedes the health movement's progress. Such a clinical and quantitative frame gives very little thought to -- and leaves no room for a conversation about -- socio-political and environmental factors that pose a threat to our health.
The surprising revelation in a recent report is that the rising burden of disease is similar among all countries regardless of socioeconomic status, and these increases are in cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic diseases, which have historically been considered "Western diseases."
At the population level, epidemic obesity is incontrovertibly established as a clear and all-but-omnipresent danger. It is absurd to suggest otherwise. And it's those who do so -- who play ping-pong with science -- who frighten the hell out of me.
