Asthma patients reported that placebo treatments were as effective as real medicine in relieving their wheezing and coughing, even though an objective breathing test showed that only the medicine significantly opened their airways, a new study ha
The idea that we need to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day to prevent dehydration is “thoroughly debunked nonsense,” according to a commentary published Tuesday in the journal BMJ.
There’s no good scientific evidence for recommending that
As I’ve pointed out before, each new diagnosis of what killed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart reminds me of the story of the blind men and the elephant.
Almost 200 different physical and mental illnesses as well as several methods of murder have been propo
A quarter of all divorces in the United States are among couples who have been married 20-plus years, according to a front-page article in Sunday’s Star Tribune.
Baby boomers are, writes Strib reporter Bill Ward, “the most divorce-prone generation
Several years ago, I left an ophthalmologist’s office after sitting more than an hour in the waiting room.
It’s getting personal.
One of the orthopedic surgeons who authored some of the studies that have been harshly criticized for downplaying or omitting the negative side effects of Infuse, the Medtronic-marketed bone-graft product used in spinal-fusio
The verdict is still out on whether restricting salt lowers the risk of heart disease, according to a new meta-analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration.
The Cochrane reviewers pooled data from seven previous randomized controlled trials that had look
Environmental factors — especially, perhaps, those encountered in the womb — play a larger role in the development of autism than previously believed, according to a study published online Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
On Thursday morning, Gary Schwitzer, publisher of the Minnesota-based HealthNewsReview blog, posted a piece on an “amazingly unbalanced report” by ABC News on the latest data analysis from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), which was released
The number of people with diabetes in this world just keeps climbing. And climbing.
The bad news for Medtronic and its Infuse bone-graft product keeps coming.
In May, for example, a study reported that Infuse, a genetically engineered bone-growing protein that’s used in spinal-fusion surgeries, raises the risk of infertility in
More disturbing evidence about the pharmaceutical industry’s dirty marketing tricks emerged Monday in a report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
According to the report, a major 1995 study of the anti-seizure drug Neurontin (gabapenti
No, your dishwasher is not trying to kill you — despite last week’s press release headline that stated otherwise and the equally startling media headlines that continued with that theme.
My favorite: “The Killer Mutant Fungus in Your Dishw
Some 20 percent of the young adult women in this study reported using binge eating, fasting, diet pills or other extreme measures to control their weight.
Social factors such as low education, racial segregation and inadequate social support are responsible for more premature American deaths each year than heart attacks, stroke and lung cancer, according to a provocative new study by researchers at
Research has shown that we put too much trust in the accuracy of our memories.
Now it’s showing us that we’re also too confident about our ability to be aware of our surroundings.
At least, that’s the finding from a new study led by psychologist C
Over the past two decades any attempt to rein in the often ridiculous and sometimes unsafe health claims regarding nutritional supplements has run into a legislative brick wall.
That wall is the politically formidable Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Can viruses, bacteria and parasites influence our personality and behavior?
Quite possibly, and in not-so-obvious ways, according to an intriguing article published last week in the Washington Post.
First, an obvious example of a microbe-altering
In his Frontal Cortex column in Wired magazine this week, science writer Jonah Lehrer writes about what neuroscience is uncovering about our brains that may help us prevent the next economic bubble.
As Lehrer points out, economic bubbles always see
The Archives of Internal Medicine published a remarkable report this week that should be required reading by every physician.
And every health consumer.
The report, whose lead author is Dr. Gordon D.
