Oregon Congressman David Wu was showing signs of mental breakdown during his recent re-election campaign.

Stanton Peele finds an interesting tidbit in the recently revised Food And Drug Administration dietary guidelines: The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans on Monday. There weren’t many surprises in its recommendations to reduce fat and salt, eat whole grains, and cut the overall amount we eat. But here’s one [...]

The federal government’s newest dietary guidelines have finally stated that which has long been between the lines: Americans eat too damn much food.

A recent WSJ piece titled Why Rich Parents Don’t Matter is interesting if misnamed. How much do the decisions of parents matter? Most parents believe that even the most mundane acts of parenting—from their choice of day care to their policy on videogames—can profoundly influence the success of their children. Kids are like wet clay, [...]

“The sight of cleavages gets patients narcotised and distracted from the pain rather quickly.” For an explanation:  click.

Fitness guru Jack LaLanne has succumbed to the inevitable at the ripe old age of 96.

Via the AP: Officials fear bath salts becoming the next big drug menace: Law enforcement agents and poison control centers say the bath salts, with their complex chemical names, are an emerging menace in several U.S. states where authorities talk of banning their sale. Some say their effects can be as powerful as those of [...]

Pedestrian fatalities are up. Experts blame Michelle Obama.

Sometimes, there’s some good news to be found in tragedy:

Jared Loughner could have possibly been stopped, and treated, if someone had said something.

We really need a better understanding of mental health disorders in this county, and events like those over the weekend underscore this fact.

There’s a lesson to be drawn from the tragedy in Arizona, but it isn’t the one the media is talking about.

For many years, parents, celebrities, and medical quacks pedaled the theory that the rise in childhood autism was linked to vaccines given to children in their early years, an assertion that was based largely on one study from Great Britain. There were never any follow up study that confirmed this theory, and yet celebrities like [...]

The seemingly sensible end-of-life counseling that was originally part of the Health Care Reform Bill is making a comeback.

Will you age slower if you exercise, eat well? A study conducted by German researchers says Yes. But maybe it just seems like you’re aging slower?

The US has always outspent our G7 brethren on healthcare but the divergence has skyrocketed over the last three decades.

While health experts warn Americans to cut the amount of fat in their diet, the Federal Government helps businesses like Domino’s and Taco Bell promote high-fat products to the public.

72 percent of black babies are born to unmarried mothers today, compared to 17 percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans.

Perhaps the dumbest study ever published in the Lancet compares the negative effects of alcohol and illicit drugs without controlling for incidence.

Some people on Twitter and around the blogosphere are shouting  Hypocrisy! because Michelle Obama, who has been running around the country touting the dangers of childhood obesity, ordered a cheeseburger and fries at a Milwaukee diner. President Obama often uses a “Don’t tell Michelle” line when he travels on the road and eats fast food. [...]

Experts say 80% of all alcohol sales go to people with drinking problems. The mathematics of that are staggering.

The days of multiple births as a byproduct of IVF may soon be over. Filming human embryos used for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) at an early stage in their development has allowed scientists to select those with the best chance of going on to develop into healthy babies with an accuracy of more than 93%. [...]

Thirty-two years after the first “Test Tube Baby” was born, the doctor who pioneered the procedure that created her has been recognized with a Nobel Prize.

A new study suggests that laws banning texting while driving don’t actually have any impact on accident rates.

Have another drink:  It’s good for you.   Don’t take my word for it:  It’s science. [A] new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that — for reasons that aren’t entirely clear — abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one’s risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The [...]

A federal appeals court has ruled that there’s no link between autism and childhood vaccines.

Via Reuters:  Kudzu extract may treat cocaine addiction: study. Goodness knows that there is plenty of it in the Southeast!

Yet another sign that the America of my youth is dead: whole wheat bread is outselling white bread.

Mutated bacteria spreading in India could mark the end of effective antibiotic drugs. The medical repercussions would be enormous.

Dilbert creator Scott Adams says that the amount of stress in the world is constant, with relief always transferred to another person or another time.

Christopher Hitchens takes us through this initial weeks with cancer with brutal introspection and wry humor.

Despite new breakthroughs, an HIV vaccine is still some ways off. But, my, we’ve come a long way.

If you thought that KFC’s Double Down was the height of gastronomic excess, you haven’t met the Grilled Cheese Burger Melt: To public health advocates, a new sandwich from restaurant chain Friendly’s must seem like a cruel practical joke — the Grilled Cheese Burger Melt. The sandwich is a burger with all the trimmings, wedged [...]

Using sexual arousal aids increases your chances of getting AIDS.

Christopher Hitchens has esophageal cancer.

In California, five children have died of Whopping Cough since the beginning of the year. One has to wonder what role the discredited vaccine-autism hysteria has to do anything with this.

The legendary food police are going after Ronald McDonald and his Happy Meals.

Coffee and tea drinkers get reduced heart disease in addition to the more immediate, manifest joys of indulging: Researchers in The Netherlands found: * Drinking more than six cups of tea per day was associated with a 36 percent lower risk of heart disease compared to those who drank less than one cup of tea [...]

Esquire reports that good coffee is bad for you: That “freshly roasted organic” coffee you’re drinking? It is probably not very good for you — nor is it organic. Here’s why: Coffee is roasted in exhaust — not exactly the same kind of exhaust that spews from your neighbor’s Hummer, but the principle is not [...]

I had heard of shingles but, until my late father got it about a year ago, I had no idea what it was or how horrible it was. Shingles and its painful complication, called postherpetic neuralgia, result from reactivation of the chicken pox virus, which remains in the body after a childhood bout and is [...]

Apparently, chugging vodka and Red Bull isn’t a good idea. A new study finds that college athletes are significantly more likely to engage in energy-binge drinking when consuming alcohol than non-athletes. Athletes who combined alcohol and energy drinks, 150 of the 401 surveyed, also consumed more than double the amount of alcohol when compared to [...]

An article in New Scientist shines light on research finding that radically reducing intake of food, especially protein, can lead to a longer, healthier life. Calorie restriction dramatically extends not only the lifespan of laboratory animals, but also their “healthspan” – how long they live free of disease. On the assumption that it has the [...]

Via Reuters:  Migraine sufferers at greater risk of a stroke.

Peter Suderman cites a “study” showing that 35 million Americans who are currently insured could lose their coverage and be forced into the government pool. A number of big employers are already considering dropping employee coverage, and a new study from former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Cameron Smith suggests that, depending on [...]

While it’s always wise to read journalistic accounts of medical studies with a healthy grain of salt, as the parent of a toddler who loves the outdoors, I hope this is right: Exposure to a natural soil bacterium, which people likely ingest or breathe in when they spend time in nature, could increase learning behaviour, [...]

Remember KFC’s Double Down sandwich, the bacon and cheese between two pieces of fried chicken concoction introduced to the delight of comedians and horror of the medical establishment?  Well, it has been a smashing success. KFC says Americans are gobbling down so many Double Down sandwiches that the fast-food chain will offer the bunless, meaty [...]

The salt Nazis have claimed another victim. For the first time in 40 years, Heinz ketchup is changing its famous recipe — by lowering the salt content in an effort to appeal to more health-conscious consumers, the company said yesterday. Company officials have taste tested the new blend and believe it will be as popular [...]

Remember the recent flap over the retired generals fighting to for school lunch reform, arguing that our kids are too fat to fat? Daniel Engber makes a persuasive case that they’re wrong. In addition to pointing out that the armed forces have easily met their recruiting goals the last few years, he points out that [...]

Senate candidate Sue Lowden’s repeated suggestion that we go back to the barter system for health care (“in the olden days our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor, they would say I’ll paint your house”) has generated endless fun for leftie pundits and, now, some wag has generated a “Lowden Plan Medical [...]

The Feds are telling going to limit the amount of salt that can be in processed foods, literally ranging from soup to nuts. The government intends to work with the food industry and health experts to reduce sodium gradually over a period of years to adjust the American palate to a less salty diet, according [...]