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 [...]

Adam Ozimek, Alex Tabarrok, Andrew Sullivan, Miss Cellania, and others post this picture of “Human Freight Car” Chauncey Morlan (1869-1906), one of the freak show fatties who traveled with the Barnum & Bailey Circus: Alex wonders, “What would the circus goers of 1890 have thought if they were told that in the America of 2010 [...]

The big news overnight is that President Obama has ordered hospitals to allow partners of gays and lesbians to visit and be allowed to make critical decisions. Michael Schear, WaPo: “Obama extends hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners of gays” President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of [...]

Pilots will be allowed to fly while taking the most common antidepressant drugs and those who lied about doing so in the past will be granted limited amnesty. The government is lifting a 70-year-old ban on letting pilots fly while on antidepressants, citing improvements in the drugs and an unforeseen side effect of the restriction: [...]

Just in time for St. Patrick’s day, CNN explores the myths and realities of hangover remedies. A hangover is really the symptoms of acute withdrawal, in which your body reacts to not having a drug in its system anymore, said Krista Medina, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati. Contrary to popular belief, [...]

President Obama is setting a bad example for the country by getting expensive, unnecessary medical tests, at least two critics charge. NPR’s Scott Hensley reports: For starters, take the whiz-bang CT scan that looked for traces of calcium in his coronary arteries, a screening test for heart disease. Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the [...]

Felix Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, wants to ban the use of salt in restaurants. “No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off [...]

NAF’s Robert Wright argues that the current panic over Toyota safety is a function of inumeracy. My back-of-the-envelope calculations (explained in a footnote below) suggest that if you drive one of the Toyotas recalled for acceleration problems and don’t bother to comply with the recall, your chances of being involved in a fatal accident over [...]

The juxtaposition of two stories on YahooNews spell bad news for some: Low IQ among top heart health risks, study finds Intelligence is second only to smoking as a predictor of heart disease, scientists said on Wednesday, suggesting public health campaigns may need to be designed for people with lower IQs if they are to [...]

For quite some time now, there has been claims that autism in children has been linked to vaccines, namely the MMR vaccine. The reason for this, at least in part, was an article in the Lancet. That article has been formally withdrawn. The scientific evidence since 1998 has been completely unable to find any link [...]

A senior Canadian politician is heading to the USA for heart surgery. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States. CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week. The premier’s office [...]

The gang at Esquire asked Mehmet Oz (aka “Dr. Oz”) a dozen questions about health. The only really interesting exchange: You’re marooned on a desert island and you can choose only three foods to have. What are they? Broccoli, walnuts, and beer. Broccoli has a chemical in it called an indole, which helps the liver [...]

A new CDC study suggests that Americans may have reached the limits of human obesity. Americans, at least as a group, may have reached their peak of obesity, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Wednesday. The numbers indicate that obesity rates have remained constant for at least five years among [...]

Glenn Reynolds passes along a Wired summary of a new report in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research which finds that whiskey produces worse hangovers than vodka. One reason for the different effects of vodka and bourbon, Rohsenow says, could be that bourbon contains 37 times more toxic compounds than vodka does, including nasty [...]

Ezra Klein passes on word that the public doesn’t understand the public option.  Or, more specifically, when asked, “Could you confidently explain what exactly the public option is to someone who didn’t know?” 66% answered no; the others lied or were in error.  Matt Yglesias is bemused by this because, after all, this has been [...]

New York City’s ban on food cooked with transfats is forcing shelters to throw out food donated to homeless shelters. When a small church comes to the Bowery Mission bearing fried chicken with trans fat, unwittingly breaking the law, they’re told “thank you.” Then workers quietly chuck the food, mission director Tom Bastile said. “It’s [...]

Gail Collins proclaims the first ten years of the new millennium “the Decade of Medical Backtracking.” Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests for prostate cancer aren’t all they were cracked up to be and the news that a high fiber diet doesn’t do anything to prevent cancer, the health establishment began looking [...]

In a much discussed post, Ezra Klein produced a series of graphs showing that Americans pay more for office visits, scans and imaging, drugs, and other aspects of health care — often, far more — than is the case in Canada or Western Europe. There is a simple explanation for why American health care costs [...]

Via Kevin Drum, I have learned that current Senate version of the health reform bill would provide for insurance payments for Christian Science prayer treatments–and probably other “spiritual” treatments as well. Reporting from Washington – Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would [...]

President Obama has declared that the swine flu, which is much less prevalent and deadly than the ordinary influenza virus, is an “epidemic” and a “national emergency.”  Silly as it sounds, it was the right call. President Obama has declared H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, clearing the way for his health chief to give [...]

On his new policy blog at True/Slant, E.D. Kain provides a good defense of the Wyden-Bennett Act. In Congress, however, we get bad compromises, not good ones, which is why we have the Baucus bill, which is neither as cost-effective, as close to universal coverage, or as fundamentally game-changing as Wyden-Bennett. Indeed, there is little [...]

I’m getting the distinct sense that Slate’s Double X spin-off is some sort of elaborate spoof rather than a smart, female-centric magazine.  Yesterday, via Julian Sanchez, I came across their insipid advice column saying it pushed the “limits of friendship” to expect one’s friends to not leave you for dead after you’d been administered a [...]

NewsBusters‘ P.J. Gladnick has dug up a 2007 speech by former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich that purportedly “reveal[s] the brutal truth about what liberals ultimately have in store for the public with their health care plan.” I’ll actually give you a speech made up entirely, almost on the spur of the moment, of what [...]

James Capretta does a back of the envelope calculation on the Baucus health care reform bill and concludes that it would be like having a 70% marginal tax rate on the low income. According to CBO, family coverage in 2016 is likely to cost about $14,400 under the so-called “silver option” in the health-care reform [...]

Tyler Cowen passes along a paper [PDF] which finds that “every death of a helmetless motorcyclist prevents or delays as many as 0.33 deaths among individuals on organ transplant waiting lists.” The study is titled “Donorcycles:  Do Motorcycle Helmet Laws Reduce Organ Donations?” On balance, I oppose helmet and seatbelt laws on the grounds that [...]

Ezra Klein enjoys cooking and endorses “Naked Chef” Jamie Oliver’s notion that we’d be a healthier society if we cooked our meals at home rather than eating so much high calorie fare at chain restaurants.  Still, he notes, The problem is that the evidence suggests meals aren’t driving the rise in obesity — snacks are. [...]

A new study finds that living to 100  will soon be commonplace: If current life expectancy trends continue, more than half of babies born in rich nations since 2000 will live to 100 years of age, and they’ll have less disability than elderly people in previous generations.  That’s the conclusion of researchers who found that [...]

Rather amusing video of 365 days of photos of a rather out-of-shape fellow, John Stone, as he undergoes a workout and diet regimen. According to the linked website, he actually did this in 2003 but has kept it up. Via Jayvie Canono

The big news surrounding President Obama’s latest heathcare speech is that South Carolina Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted “You lie!” in response to the claim that illegal immigrants would not be covered under universal coverage: AP (“Obama heckled by GOP during speech to Congress“): The nastiness of August reached from the nation’s town halls into [...]

Weekend Caption Jam Linkfest. . . Rodney is still a little nuts. Wizbang landed chinese — Won Wing Lo. Wyatt Earp has the Magnificent Six. Cowboy Blob lost his beer goggles RT’s Ponderings has been canned. Blonde Sagacity has a real head banger. Military Times is keepin’ cool Other Humor: Icanhascheezburger welcomes you to the [...]

Charles Krauthammer proclaims “Obamacare Version 1.0 is dead” and helpfully proposes a version 2.0.  Basically:  No public option, no death panels end-of-life counseling, softpeddle government “best practices,” abandon cost-cutting, and guaranteeing universal coverage. What’s not to like? If you have insurance, you’ll never lose it. Nor will your children ever be denied coverage for preexisting [...]