| 03/31/2008 - FDA inspection of foreign drug makers: April Fool's joke? |
| We now know that a large majority of prescription drugs are not made in the U.S. And we now know that foreign drug makers are rarely if ever inspected. |
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| 03/31/2008 - Drug prices and the amazing power of the placebo effect |
| The energy used by the human brain is enough to illuminate a 25-watt light bulb… |
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| 03/27/2008 - Lung cancer risk cut in half with proper diet |
| If you eat plenty of this vegetable and others like it, you might reduce your risk of one of the most common and deadly chronic diseases that afflicts both men and women - especially women. |
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| 03/27/2008 - Milk thistle for psoriasis |
| Let's do the math: If milk thistle supports liver health, and if poor liver function is one of the triggers that sets off psoriasis, then… |
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| 03/26/2008 - Fish oil or flax oil - which is the best omega fatty acid source? |
| "I wish I could find somebody who can give me some straight answers." That plea comes from an HSI member named Oliver who wants some help evaluating sources of omega fatty acids. And he came to the right place. |
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| 03/26/2008 - Antioxidants may protect hearing |
| If your guinea pig is suffering hearing loss from too much exposure to jet engines, a few antioxidants might help. And they might help you too. |
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| 03/25/2008 - Antioxidants and conventional cancer therapy can work together |
| According to a recent survey, nearly two out of every three cancer patients who take dietary supplements don't discuss their supplement use with their doctors. |
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| 03/25/2008 - Drugs in our drinking water |
| Everyone seemed surprised by the recent revelation that traces of antibiotics, sedatives, sex hormones, and a variety of other drugs turned up in the tap water in nearly 25 major U.S. population centers. |
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| 03/24/2008 - Daily grapefruit helps lower cholesterol |
| Studies have shown that when cholesterol drops TOO low, stroke risk actually increases and immune function may be compromised. |
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| 03/24/2008 - Vitamin E may help prevent the common cold |
| Do you take a daily vitamin C to reduce your risk of the common cold? If so, you might want to add one more key vitamin to your prevention list: E. |
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| 03/20/2008 - New genetic test reveals prostate cancer risk |
| For a mere $350,000 you can purchase the full sequence of your genetic code. |
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| 03/20/2008 - Snow contains bacteria, but it's still OK to eat a little |
| I have a friend named Barbara who grew up in Vermont during the depression. She once told me that during those lean years her family would sometimes make a winter meal of snow balls drizzled with maple syrup… |
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| 03/19/2008 - Gallstone risk is significantly reduced with sufficient magnesium intake |
| Magnesium has a type 2 diabetes connection, which in turn has a gallstone connection. |
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| 03/19/2008 - Chicken waste reveals a little too much for comfort |
| Just imagine how many chickens it takes to produce 48 billion pounds of chicken meat. That's the total produced by the U.S. chicken industry in 2006. |
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| 03/18/2008 - Is Airborne ineffective, or just misunderstood? |
| Airborne executives were recently ordered to pay more than $23 million in a class action suit that boils down to this: They made claims about their product that were not sufficiently backed up by reliable studies. |
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| 03/18/2008 - Tomatoes - now with no artificial ingredients! |
| On a recent trip to my local Wegman's grocery store, I came across a bin of grape tomatoes that had little stickers on them that said: "No artificial ingredients." |
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| 03/17/2008 - Newfound trigger of gout revealed: sugar-sweetened soft drinks |
| "I want to know how to relieve the pain from GOUT." That request comes from an HSI member named Jackie, and he's in good company because gout is the topic of many e-mails we receive from members. |
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| 03/17/2008 - Warn young people about acetaminophen dangers |
| She was 19 - bright, talented, and an excellent student. But she made a fatal mistake. |
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| 03/13/2008 - Avoid the flu without a flu shot |
| Two articles recently arrived in my e-mail inbox, sent to me by Michele Cagan, who writes the HSI On the Spot blog that appears on our web site at hsibaltimore.com… |
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| 03/13/2008 - Don't expect much from vitamins in soft drinks |
| When you're mixing up a batch of Diet Coke Plus, you'll need some aspartame, of course, some carbonated water, caramel color, potassium benzoate, caffeine…and a small handful of vitamins. |
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| 03/12/2008 - Avoid type 2 diabetes with vegetables and low glycemic load |
| Researchers from the Institute for Medicine and Public Health at Vanderbilt University teamed up with scientists at the Shanghai Cancer Institute in China to examine the effect of fruit and vegetable intake on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. |
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| 03/12/2008 - Health Insurance - buyer beware! |
| For those of you who might have wondered (as I did) if the $9 million awarded to former Health Net customer Patsy Bates might be reduced on appeal, rest assured - that's not going to happen. |
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| 03/11/2008 - Health insurance company exposed - fined $9 million |
| If you've ever been mistreated, given the runaround, or outright swindled by an insurance company, this is a story that will warm the cockles of your heart. |
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| 03/11/2008 - Inside the not-so-strange world of Suri Cruise |
| How strange is the world of Suri Cruise? |
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| 03/10/2008 - Lipitor ads under fire |
| You've probably seen the ad where Dr. Robert Jarvik- the inventor of the artificial heart- makes his pitch for Lipitor while we watch footage of him rowing around a mountain lake in a one-man racing shell. Thing is, Dr. Jarvik is not a sculler. |
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| 03/10/2008 - Women tea drinkers may avoid stroke |
| Three cups of tea daily may lower stroke risk in women by reducing plaque in the carotid arteries - the two arteries that supply blood to the brain. |
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| 03/06/2008 - Drug company puts lives in danger while protecting their product |
| You've probably never heard of Trasylol because its use is so specific: It controls bleeding during heart operations. But for well over a decade Trasylol may have contributed to many thousands of deaths. |
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| 03/06/2008 - Removing bitterness from coffee the hard way |
| Do you love coffee? Do you maybe even think of yourself as a coffee gourmet? Do you feel like there's nothing you wouldn't do for a truly top-of-the-line cup of coffee with no bitter aftertaste? |
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| 03/05/2008 - Free-range meat and eggs provide better nutrition and less bacteria risk |
| It's important to remember that safety is the flip side to the free-range/factory farm debate. I recently came across two excellent articles that show why food from free-range animals is clearly the safer choice. |
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| 03/05/2008 - Calcium supplements increase bone health in teenage girls |
| Mothers, tell your daughters - and grandmothers, tell your granddaughters: Take calcium supplements now for healthy bones in decades to come. |
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| 03/04/2008 - The FDA opens a dangerous door with recently proposed guidelines |
| The FDA allows doctors to prescribe any drug to treat any health condition - this is "off label" prescribing. The catch: Drug companies can only promote a drug for the condition it's been approved for by the FDA. |
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| 03/04/2008 - Meditation eases chronic lower back pain |
| Chronic back pain might be alleviated by closing your eyes and calming your mind. |
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| 03/03/2008 - Nutritional labels reveal more than expected |
| Know where you can almost always find some unintentional humor? Just give a close reading to processed food packaging. Hilarious! We'll start off the Nutritional Label fun with that 100 percent reliable source of humor: the FDA. |
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| 03/03/2008 - Emotional stress during sports events can be hard on the heart |
| With March Madness upon us, avid basketball fans with coronary heart disease should take note of a recent New England Journal of Medicine study. |
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