FSM News & Articles
Pete Evans new alkaline water a 10 on the richter scale of BS: “You can put in acid or alkaline but in order to keep the internal pH constant your kidneys and lungs get rid of it… This is a nine or 10 on the Richter scale of BS.”
Kids off limits to controversial Victorian chiropractor: It seems that this particular chiropractor is banned from practicing on children under 12 years old while he is investigated… One wonders how many chiropractors offer similarly ‘disturbing’ treatments to babies that go under the radar. What is the appropriate level of risk to accept for a practice that is based on pre-scientific ideas?
General
Campaign given extra $12m to expand reach to broader TV audience: With the number of personalities and celebrities getting their anti-vax sentiments distributed through the media, it’s important to combat this with pro-vaccine voices, especially for fence sitters.
Measles cases spike globally due to gaps in vaccination coverage: I’m going to keep on saying this until the message gets through: Vaccines Save Lives. “The resurgence of measles is of serious concern, with extended outbreaks occurring across regions, and particularly in countries that had achieved, or were close to achieving measles elimination,” said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director General for Programmes at WHO. “Without urgent efforts to increase vaccination coverage and identify populations with unacceptable levels of under- or unimmunized children, we risk losing decades of progress in protecting children and communities against this devastating, but entirely preventable disease.”
More than 900 dead in Madagascar measles epidemic: At least 922 people have died in a measles outbreak in Madagascar, the majority of them children, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
Health check: Will eating nuts make you gain weight? Nuts help us feel full for longer. As well as fat, nuts are rich in protein and fibre. So, nuts help to keep us feeling full after we eat them, meaning we’re likely to eat less at later meals. Recent studies have also suggested providing people with nuts helps improve the overall quality of the types of foods they eat. This may be because nuts replace “junk foods” as snacks.
Today’s Abused Health Concept
Compounding pharmacy pain creams: Do custom-made compound creams actually work? Compounding pharmacies are pharmacies that can mix up (compound) customised drugs and dosages in store. This used to be a very important step in providing drugs to patients, but is far less necessary in the light of a more versatile range of products strictly manufactured to meet the wider range of patient needs. Further compounding represents a reduced level of oversight and quality control. Yet compounding pharmacists aggressively promote their services and this may not be appropriate. In some case the drugs compounded for topical use were no better than placebo.
Great Moments in Health and Science
The invention of fine needle aspiration – Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNA): Without the need for an anaesthetic, fine needle aspiration is able collect a sample of cells from (for example) a suspicious breast lump, to investigate whether there is cancer or not, without leaping straight to invasive surgery before there is an accurate diagnosis.