C M G Buttery

Obese adolescents have the same risk of premature death in adulthood as people who smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day, while those who are overweight have the same risk as less heavy smokers, according to research published on bmj.com [BMJ 2009;338:b496] today. Conclusions Regardless of smoking status, overweight and obesity in late adolescence increases [...]

Most newspapers today are carrying stories about today’s research paper in the New England Journal of Medicine. What they leave out is the intensive supervision of the participants, which due to poor reimbursement by insurers could not be provided in a local medical practice, lack of blinding, and minimal effect over 2 years with losses [...]

From today’s AMA Morning News we learn than an article published in today’s JAMA [JAMA. 2009;301(8):831-841.] reports that “that “heart disease is among the most studied illnesses in all of medicine, yet just 11 percent of more than 2,700 recommendations approved by cardiologists for treating heart patients are supported by high-quality scientific testing,” according to [...]

Ivan Illich could use the latest study on alcohol use and cancer as an example of medicalisation of behavior. In a study reported in the AMA’s morning news today (as well as many national daily newspapers) we are told about a UK study that lasted 7 years. The study was large enough that there were [...]

Parents of children with genetic conditions may avoid the need to choose whether to undergo pre-natal testing or to abort future pregnancies by simply avoiding subsequent pregnancy altogether, a study has found. Parents are ‘choosing not to choose’, researcher Dr Susan Kelly, who is based at the Egenis research centre at University of Exeter,the suggests, [...]

Is another issue favored by ‘health’ activists nothing more than bad research? ScienceDaily (Feb. 18, 2009) — For more than 40 years, the prevailing explanation of why we get old has been tied to what is called oxidative stress. This theory postulates that when molecules like free radicals, oxygen ions and peroxides build up in [...]

A well-off professional who smokes has a much lower survival rate than a non-smoking low-paid worker of the same sex concludes new research published on the British Medical Journal website [BMJ 2009;338:b480]. The study, one of the first to examine the long-term impact of smoking on older men and women, shows that smoking itself is [...]

You may be wondering at this point whether to toss those vitamins into your mouth or into the trash. That’s not surprising since several recent reports have called the value of vitamins into question, leaving people to wonder if it’s time to ditch their supplements all together. “People are so confused,” says Elisabetta Politi, the [...]

Second Thoughts: Fewer than one percent of American teens may need statins. A few months ago a policy recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending that nearly all children be put on statins. Now we have a second look at the issue as reported in today’s AMA Morning News:[Feb17] “fewer than one percent of [...]

A special federal court declared that vaccines are not to blame for autism. The court ruled there was little if any evidence to support claims of a vaccine-autism link. One special master who decided the case called the evidence “weak, contradictory and unpersuasive.” While the special court expressed sympathy for the claims of the three [...]