America's health care system is inefficient, suffers from data overload, and is both complex and costly. Each year, $750 billion (roughly $.35 per dollar spent) is wasted nationwide on inflated administration costs, fraud, and pointless services. … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Improper Rinsing?
The improper use of neti pots, as well as other devices for rinsing out the sinuses, has been linked to a higher risk of infection. The FDA warns that if they are not used properly, the user runs a risk of developing serious infections, even … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Bad Belly Fat!
People with a high waist-to-hip ratio (those with big bellies, but a normal body mass index score) are 2.75x more likely to die from a cardiovascular event. Mayo Clinic, September 2012 … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Tattoo Infections?
Some tattoo inks are tainted with nontuberculous Mycobacteria. This bacteria can cause lung disease, eye problems, and organ and joint infections. Tattoo inks and pigments may also be contaminated with fungi and mold. Tattoo artists should make sure … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Bad Medicine?
Approximately one in five prescriptions to elderly people are inappropriate. Some of the medications with the highest rates of inappropriate use were the antihistamine diphenhydramine, the antidepressant amitriptyline, and the pain reliever … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Calcium and Vitamin D?
It has been a long standing protocol for men at risk of bone loss from hormonal treatment for prostate cancer to take Calcium and vitamin D supplements. New research shows this type of supplementation does not prevent bone loss and may increase the … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Depression Is A World-Wide Problem
It's widely believe that depression is a phenomenon of Western culture, but researchers who analyzed studies involving over 480,000 people across 91 countries have found the opposite is true. They estimate the rate of depression in Middle Eastern and … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Insecticides and IQs!
A study found a difference between how boys and girls respond to prenatal exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos. At age seven, boys had greater difficulty with working memory (a key component of IQ) than girls with similar exposures. MRI scans … [Read more...]
Health Alert: GlaxoSmithKline Pleads Guilty!
GlaxoSmithKline, the world's 4th largest company, pled guilty to fraud and agreed to pay $3 billion dollars to resolve criminal and civil charges against the company. The matter relates to failure to report the safety data of certain prescription … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Cancer and Aging
Why does our risk of developing cancer increase as we age? By the time we stop growing in our teens, we accumulate a large percentage of the mutations we will have during our lifetime. There's a mismatch between the mutation curve and the cancer … [Read more...]
Health Alert: I’ll Have Another
There is good evidence that moderate alcohol consumption protects against heart disease, but when all of the chronic disease risks are balanced against each other, the optimal consumption level is much lower than many people believe. Researchers … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Cortisone
Injections of corticoid preparations can have severe side effects. In 278 cases of complications after corticoid injections, medical errors were found to have been committed in 40% of cases. Typical errors include faulty asepsis, treatment without … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Health Care Costs For Kids
In 2010, per capita spending on children's health care increased to $2,123 (an 18.6% increase from 2007), with spending on health care for infants and toddlers being noted as disproportionately high. Even though children below the age of 3 made up … [Read more...]
Health Alert: Pediatric Blood Pressure!
A study of 2500 pediatric patient visits revealed that doctors and nurses failed to check blood pressure 20% of the time. Of the 2000 patients who were checked, 726 had elevated blood pressure scores; however, 87% of these findings went unremarked … [Read more...]