Diet, flu vaccines, crystals and more …

FSM news and articles

Disappointment for King, Friends of Science in Medicine: “We’re trying on the one hand, to work towards best practice in science-based medicine, and then we’ve got this incredible commercial pull to provide anything that possibly sells off the shelf. And you rarely see evidence of clients being provided with advice as to what exactly homeopathy is, and why, according to the laws of physics and chemistry, it has no scientific basis.”

 

FSM Friends news & articles 

If you cannot argue against your critic, have him jailed (a chilling story from China): Alternative medicine types often find it convenient to use a narrative about how they are oppressed by the medical establishment. Perhaps this is because they are so willing to oppress points of view that they find inconvenient.

Adding sensation to robotic limbs: “So far BMI researchers have shown that subjects (monkeys or humans) can learn to control either a computer or a robotic limb with their brains. The brain can form the pathways necessary to produce functional control. How fine that control can be has yet to be determined, but researchers were able to train a monkey to feed itself Cheerios with a robotic arm.”

 

General

Better health and diet well before conception results in healthier pregnancies: “Taking folic acid supplements in the two to three months before and after conception results in up to 70% reduction in the risk of defects in the brain, spine, and spinal cord (with spina bifida being the most common). As a result, folic acid supplements are already part of established guidelines for women planning to have children. Our research shows women with a healthy, balanced diet in the three years before pregnancy are less likely to get gestational diabetes, high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. A balanced diet includes a high intake of fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and fish, and low intake of red and processed meat.”

Explainer: what’s new about the 2018 flu vaccines, and who should get one? What’s new this year?  There are two notable changes. One change is that several states (Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT) are now offering free vaccination for children less than five years of age. This is important because children are prone to severe illness and they spread the virus to their contacts, at home and in day care. Previously, only WA offered children the influenza vaccine free of charge.

The second change is “enhanced” vaccines are available for adults over the age of 65. Two products have been developed to improve the immunity offered by the vaccine: one is a high-dose vaccine four times the strength of the standard vaccine and the second is an “adjuvanted” vaccine, that contains an additive that boosts the immune response to the vaccine.

 

Today’s Abused Health Concept

Nutritionists – I used to be a holistic nutritionist: It is shocking how little effort or knowledge it takes to become a nutritionist. The term is not protected, so all one needs is an inflated sense of their own importance, and they can call themselves a Nutritionist, start seeing patients, giving out bad advice, and pretending that they are some kind of expert.

 

Great moments in health and science

The Invention of Colonoscopy: A flexible video camera with the ability to sample and remove suspicious bowel lesions, colonoscopies can save lives and monitor disease progress.

 

Did you know?

Crystal Healing: Stone-cold facts about gemstone treatments: Some people believe precious and semi-precious gemstones can be used for healing. This is based on the belief that the stones act as conduits of energy: healing energy in and disease energy out. So crystal healing is energy healing. The trouble is there is no basis for this mysterious energy. What is this healing energy? From whence does it flow and why is it attracted to rocks? Having arrived at the rock, why would it continue to flow into or out of your body? And what the heck is a chakra anyway? Perhaps this is a too literal-minded way to think of this New Age practice, but I can’t help it. Treatments need to have a basis, something explainable in terms of chemistry and physics. And crystal healing just doesn’t make the cut.