Michael Greger of the Humane Society says influenza is the disease to watch because flu viruses are the only known pathogen capable of infecting billions of people within months. He traces the pandemic risk largely to factory farmed meat, though he says accurate prediction is not possible.
Section archive
Page 8 of 8
Comments
Commentary on food, farming and health.
- All desks
- Abortion
- Accutane
- Acetaminophen
- Acid Reflux
- Acidic Foods
- Acne
- Acrylamide
- Acupuncture
- Additives
- ADHD
- Adiposity
- Advisories
- Aerobic Exercise
- Aflatoxin
- Agave
- Agent Orange
- Aging
- Agriculture
- AIDS
- Air Pollution
- Airline Passengers
- Airport
- ALA
- Alcohol
- Alcoholic Beverage
- Alerts
- Allergy
- Alli
- Aloe Vera
- ALS
- Alternative Medicine
- Aluminum
- Alzheimer's
- Amalgam
- AMD
- Ampyra
- Amygdala
- Anal Cancer
- And
- Anemia
- Angiogenesis
- Animal Protein
- Animals
- Anorexia
- Anthocyanins
- Anthrax
- Anti-Angiogenesis
- Anti-Obesity
- Antibacterial
- Antibiotic
Comments
Banana diet, water spray in stores, and diet and cancer
Karen Collins of the American Institute for Cancer Research answers reader questions, saying the Banana Diet's reported results likely come from its other rules rather than bananas, and that grocery store misting of produce has not been shown to reduce nutrient value.
Comments
Are Psychiatric Drugs Necessary?
Medical journalist Robert Whitaker challenged psychiatrist Herbert Meltzer in a televised debate, citing Vermont patients discharged in the 1950s and 1960s, a third of whom had fully recovered 30 years later and had all stopped taking anti-psychotic drugs.
Comments
How sweet it was: AHA says limit sugar intake
The American Heart Association recommends women hold added sugars to about 100 calories, roughly 6 teaspoons a day, and men to 150 calories, about 9 teaspoons, less than one 12-ounce soda. Survey data put average US intake at 22.2 teaspoons a day, with sweetened drinks the leading source.
Comments
Reader's Comment: Chocolate and Heart Attacks
A reader's letter responding to an article on chocolate and heart attacks, recommending a cold-pressed chocolate product she markets and linking to several promotional websites for it.
Comments
Mayo Clinic DEAD Wrong on Diabetic Recommendations
Researchers at North Carolina State and the Mayo Clinic built a computer model weighing each diabetes patient's heart attack and stroke risk against the cost of statins to decide when to start treatment. Mercola answers the timing question with a flat never.
Comments
Can We Have A Fat Surgeon General?
Critics question whether Regina Benjamin, Obama's overweight surgeon general nominee, can lead on obesity policy, while others call the attacks hypocritical and sexist. The piece quotes Chicago commentators who reject fat-acceptance arguments.
Comments
Which is worse? Germs in our Food or the Antibiotics that Kill Them?
The piece weighs pathogens in food against the antibiotics used in farming, citing the 2009 PAMTA bill's claims that 70 percent of U.S. antibiotics go to farm animals and 48 percent of national streams carry antibiotic traces. It lists FDA letters to farmers over drug residues in cows sold for food.
Comments
Squalene: The Swine Flu Vaccine’s Dirty Little Secret Exposed
Dr. Mercola argues against making children the first target for swine flu vaccination, estimating that some 75 million US children would be injected with a fast-tracked vaccine containing adjuvants including squalene to prevent perhaps 100 deaths.
Comments
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology advertisement
An open letter from the Vitamin D Council to American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology editor Thomas Garite, responding to the journal's refusal to run the Council's vitamin D advertisement in April and May 2009.
Comments
Warning: Swine Flu Vaccine Coming Soon
Baxter International said it was in full-scale production of a swine flu vaccine due in July, a day after the WHO declared a pandemic. Mercola warns that the fast-tracked vaccine will reach the public without safety evaluations and urges readers to fear it more than the flu.
Comments
Editorial: Eli Lilly and CVS Caremark in Zyprexa Hot Seat
An editorial on Eli Lilly's off-label push, with CVS Caremark's help, to get doctors prescribing the antipsychotic Zyprexa for dementia in elderly patients after seven studies found it ineffective for them, and on the ghostwritten journal articles and insurer lawsuit that followed.
Comments
How to Stay Healthfully Hydrated
AICR advises drinking about 16 ounces two to three hours before exercise and 6 to 12 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during it, with water usually the best choice for typical adult exercisers. Juices spiked with herbs may carry too little of the added ingredient to do anything.
Comments
Making Sense of Yogurt Choices
The American Institute for Cancer Research sorts through the yogurt aisle: all yogurts supply probiotics, though US evidence supports only help with lactose intolerance, and some brands now add prebiotics such as inulin that the Nutrition Facts panel will not reveal.
Comments
Beat the Summer Heat without Red Meat
AICR's report concludes that diets high in red meat and especially processed meat are a convincing cause of colorectal cancer. Grilling any animal product also forms HCAs and PAHs, though the report calls the evidence that these contribute to human cancer limited but suggestive.
Comments
Busting Cancer Myths: Acidic Foods and Cancer Risks
The American Institute for Cancer Research rebuts the claim that acidic foods promote cancer: the lab findings apply only to isolated cells, the body regulates acid-base balance tightly through the kidneys and lungs, and urine test kits say nothing about body pH.
Comments
Soyfoods Do Not Impact Sperm Count
Researchers quoted here say headlines tying soy to lower sperm counts overstate a small retrospective study. Jorge Chavarro found soy and isoflavone intake unrelated to sperm count, ejaculate volume, motility or morphology, and his 'high' intake category was modest.
Comments
Food diary helps weight loss, but would you keep writing it till you die?
In a Kaiser Permanente study of more than 1,500 overweight and obese adults who attended 20 weekly group meetings and followed the DASH plan, participants lost an average of 13 pounds in five months, and those who kept a daily food diary lost twice as much and kept it off.
144 stories