This could be a significant step in the right direction, with the potential to blunt some of the more egregious negative effects of our society’s outsourcing of medical research to profit-driven pharmaceutical corporations. Editors of medical journals should unite in requiring independent statistical analyses of industry-sponsored clinical trials, according to the two top editors of [...]
Archive for March, 2010
Medical Journals Move Toward Independent Statistical Analysis of Drug Industry Trials
Posted in Uncategorized on March 27, 2010 |
Bush Administration FDA and Medicare Chief Bullish on Health Reform Act
Posted in Uncategorized on March 26, 2010 |
Quite an interesting perspective here from Marc McClellan, interviewed by Ezra Klein. Let’s start with the basic question: Is this a step forward? It’s an important step. We have to do something about the problem of access to affordable health insurance. The bill unquestionably does that. The provisions related to changing provider payments are significant [...]
Study Shows Higher Prices on Junk Food Decrease Sales
Posted in Uncategorized on March 25, 2010 |
Taxing junk food seems to be an idea that is gathering steam. A new study from Archives of Internal Medicine strengthens the case, as reported in an email I just received from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Food Taxes Could Improve America’s Health Taxing unhealthful foods may be an effective way to control weight and [...]
Prevention Approaches in Health Reform Bill
Posted in Uncategorized on March 23, 2010 |
Ezra Klein of the Washington Post has a brief interview on prevention with Dr. Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health and a member of the faculty at the George Washington School of Health Policy: Give me some examples of the types of programs and initiatives it will fund. The focus tends [...]
Calorie Labeling Goes National for Restaurant Chains and Vending Machines
Posted in Uncategorized on March 23, 2010 |
One small part of the new health reform law mandates a major expansion of calorie labeling, to take effect within a year. From the Food Politics blog: The provision covers chains with 20 outlets throughout the country and is supposed to go into effect in a year or so. It also covers vending machines! These [...]
National Nondiscrimination Law Part of Health Reform
Posted in Uncategorized on March 23, 2010 |
For chiropractors and other non-MD health professionals, a key provision in the health reform law concerns nondiscrimination on the basis of provider type. Here’s the language, for which great thanks go to Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), along with commentary from the American Chiropractic Association: The provider non-discrimination provision (Section 2706) to be enacted into law [...]
Which Fruits and Vegetables Have the Most Pesticides?
Posted in Uncategorized on March 22, 2010 |
Food News, from the Environmental Working Group, has the full list. Here are the ten worst offenders, the ones where it’s most important to go organic: RANK FRUIT OR VEGGIE SCORE 1 (worst) Peach 100 (highest pesticide load) 2 Apple 93 3 Sweet Bell Pepper 83 4 Celery 82 5 Nectarine 81 6 Strawberries 80 7 [...]
More Americans Aware of Health Effects of Foods
Posted in Uncategorized on March 20, 2010 |
All steps in the right direction really matter. A new FDA survey reports on steps forward as well as backward: Compared with self-reported responses given in 2002, the percentage of Americans who knew diet was related to heart disease rose from 83% from the 2002 survey to 91% in the 2008 FDA Health and Diet [...]
Junk Food Tax Could Improve Health
Posted in Uncategorized on March 20, 2010 |
Stories with this message are appearing more frequently. Taxing junk food may help reduce obesity and improve health, researchers have found. Patients got significantly less of their energy (calories) from soda or pizza when there was a 10% increase in the price of either (P<0.001), Penny Gordon-Larsen, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at [...]
Long-Distance Runners Have More Calcification of Coronary Arteries
Posted in Uncategorized on March 20, 2010 |
Quite an interesting report from the meeting of the American College of Cardiology, showing that marathon runners have more, not less, plaque in the arteries of the heart. A group of elite long-distance runners had less body fat, better lipid profiles, and better heart rates than people being tested for cardiac disease, but, paradoxically, the [...]
