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Susan Perry

Susan Perry writes Second Opinion for MinnPost, covering consumer health. Second Opinion is sponsored by UCare. Susan has written several health-related books and her articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Minnesota Monthly, The History Channel Magazine and Woman's Day. She is a former writer/editor for Time-Life Books and a former editor of Nutrition Action Healthletter, published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

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Second Opinion

Coca-Cola's argument in "vitaminwater" lawsuit is exhibit 1 for corporate chutzpah

By Susan Perry | 08/11/10
You’ve got to love the sheer audacity of processed food manufacturers. I mean, just how dumb do they think we consumers are? (OK.
Second Opinion

A large waistline is associated with premature death -- even if you're not overweight, study finds

By Susan Perry | 08/10/10
Rely less on your bathroom scale and more on your tape measure. A new study has found that having a too-big waistline is associated with an increased risk of premature death — no matter what weight category (normal, overweight or obese) your body m
Second Opinion

Girls are beginning puberty at younger age, study finds

By Susan Perry | 08/09/10
For more than a decade scientists have been debating whether girls are entering puberty at earlier ages — and, if so, what might be causing it. A study published today in the journal Pediatrics raises the issue yet again.
Second Opinion

Health research: Firms get leading experts -- for a price

By Susan Perry | 08/06/10
I recently heard a report on National Public Radio (NPR) about how BP is handing out lucrative research contracts (more than $200 per hour) to prominent marine scientists at Texas A&M, Louisiana State University and elsewhere — as long as the re
Second Opinion

How a group of Minnesotans helped give birth to the theory of cognitive dissonance

By Susan Perry | 08/05/10
In his Frontal Cortex blog yesterday, science writer Jonah Lehrer expounds on the ubiquitousness of cognitive dissonance in today's Internet-connected world — why, in his words, “we seem to squander ever more oxygen on worthless conversations about O
Second Opinion

U of M lab studying children with an uncommon neurological disorder: face blindness

By Susan Perry | 08/04/10
In simplest terms, these are kids whose brains are configured in a way that makes them unable to remember faces.
Second Opinion

We're happiest before rather than after a vacation, research suggests

By Susan Perry | 08/03/10
Newsweek science columnist Sharon Begley has some rather discouraging news for summer vacationers.
Second Opinion

Wealth can hamper ability to savor life's pleasures, study indicates

By Susan Perry | 08/02/10
A recently published Belgian study offers a bit of schadenfreude for everybody who’s struggling financially as we deal with the great recession: Wealthy people, it seems, can't savor everyday joys as much as the rest of us. As the researchers themsel
Second Opinion

Study links calcium supplements with an increased risk of heart attacks

By Susan Perry | 07/30/10
Taking a calcium pill is part of the daily health regimen of millions of Americans age 40 and older, particularly women. For years, doctors (and advertisers) have told us that the supplement will ward off osteoporosis by keeping our bones dense.
Second Opinion

Food-dye warning labels are now required in Europe; will the FDA do the same?

By Susan Perry | 07/29/10
Earlier this month, the European Union began requiring foods that contain certain synthetic dyes to carry a label that warns consumers that the food “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” It's not a ban, but the labels w