FSM News and Articles
Does traditional Chinese medicine have a place in the health system?: “The resurgence of interest in traditional Chinese healing in Australia, along with other alternative medicines, is due to rising discontent with conventional medicine; a preference for natural (or gentler) alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs or surgery; desire for greater control over personal health care and the relatively low success rate of conventional medicine in treating conditions, such as chronic pain, for some individuals.”
“Among traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to be registered are those who provide Chinese medical diagnosis, dispense Chinese herbs and perform acupuncture. All three components of this practice have serious flaws, being based on non-existent energies (Yin and Yang), non-existent bodily structures (meridiens) and on principles of disease diagnosis based on the imbalance of five non-existent elements. It is therefore doubtful whether such practitioners are able to make correct and safe diagnoses.”
FSM Friends News and Articles
George Clooney PSA for good science including vaccines: George Clooney goes after all kinds of science deniers, including the anti-vaccine religion. Of course, Clooney may know more about vaccines when he played pediatrician Dr. Doug Ross on ER than most anti-vaxxers and their lame Google University degree.
As a bonus, George Clooney goes after evolution deniers too.
General
FDA Warns Public Of Homeopathic ‘Remedies’ That May Actually Do Something – Like Kill Your Kids With Natural Rat Poison: “WePackItAll produce Puriton Eye Relief Drops, and during tests FDA found the eye drops were not sterile, which could lead to eye infections. You read that right, these people can’t even bottle water correctly… These are outliers, of course. If you must buy a homeopathic product, do your best to research it first and make sure your placebo does nothing, like it is supposed to do.”
Health professionals threatened with disciplinary action if they spread anti-vaxx messages: Australian practitioners have responsibility to promote evidence that vaccines are safe and effective, regulators say
Election 2016: Revamped Health Australia Party broadens policies, but raises ire of AMA: The deceptively-named “Health Australia” party is anti-scientific and promotes misinformation in its views opposing vaccines and fluoridation.
Antibiotics: why asking doctors to prescribe fewer is futile: “Several steps should be taken. Clearly defined antibiotic regulations and access rights need to be established, and the visibility and urgency of the problem need to be heightened. Collective or team-based rather than individual prescribing decisions should be encouraged, and prescribing should be carefully monitored. Also, social and reputational incentives and sanctions to encourage responsible prescribing should be introduced. Finally, perverse incentives that encourage over-prescription should be removed.
In the long run, it’s unlikely that the problem of antibiotic resistance can be eliminated entirely, but the steps that we have suggested could slow the process.
Eventually, radically new methods of dealing with bacterial infections will be needed. But if nothing is done immediately, then dangerous pandemics may be just around the corner.”
Today’s Abused Health Concept
Routine Vitamin Supplementation: Can Too Much Vitamin B Increase Hip Fracture Risk?: “Many people take routine supplements with little to no knowledge or concern for if they need the supplements or not. But “Both insufficient and excess intakes of a nutrient may be harmful…[for example] evidence has tied supplements including Herbalife, Hydroxycut, and garcinia cambogia to increased risk of liver failure.”
In this study “Researchers used data from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) [to compare B6 and B12 vitamin intake to hip fracture risk]. Final analysis included responses from 75,864 postmenopausal women, and include 2,304 hip fractures were recorded.”
“An increased intake of both [vitamin B12 and B6] was significantly associated with increased hip fracture risk compared to a reference category of a low intake of both vitamins (RR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.15-1.89).”
“For women aged 19 to 50 years old, the National Institutes for Health (NIH)’s recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin B6 is 1.3 mg; for women aged older than 50 years, NIH recommends a 1.5 mg dose. The NIH’s vitamin B12 recommendation is 2.4 μg for women aged 14 years and older.”
Thanks to Science
You might just have another excuse to eat more cheese: Why cheese may help control your blood sugar: This study, conducted in rats, found that cheese consumption reduced insulin resistance and helped stave off diabetes. This seems to replicate some human observations that cheese has beneficial effects on CVD risk factors but there’s still no strong evidence for cheese reducing insulin resistance in humans. The researchers suspect the protein or calcium in the cheese, and not the fat, may be responsible for the benefits.
More research is definitely warranted as there are still a lot of important questions to answer – like how do I sign up to be in the cheese eating study?