Health Care-Prevention
Should I worry about ticks?
by Joel Snape 16/7/23 The Guardian
As arachnid superorders go, ticks are pretty evolutionarily successful. They’ve been around for at least 100 million years in one variety or another, with their main party trick – hanging around until they can latch a host to feed on – working on thousands of different animals across almost endless environments. But how concerned should you be about them in the UK? You won’t miss the blood they take, but they can cause a variety of unpleasant conditions in their hosts – and there’s some evidence that their population is growing.
Children need the freedom to play on driveways and streets again – here’s how to make it happen
by Debbie Watson 4/6/25 THE CONVERSATION
In many cases, children don’t have easy access to purpose-built spaces like playgrounds. They need adults to get them there. Without the use of more informal spaces to spend time with other children, this means they often lack daily opportunities for play.
Should I worry about ticks?
by Joel Snape 16/7/23 The Guardian
As arachnid superorders go, ticks are pretty evolutionarily successful. They’ve been around for at least 100 million years in one variety or another, with their main party trick – hanging around until they can latch a host to feed on – working on thousands of different animals across almost endless environments. But how concerned should you be about them in the UK? You won’t miss the blood they take, but they can cause a variety of unpleasant conditions in their hosts – and there’s some evidence that their population is growing.
Can multivitamins improve memory? A new study shows 'intriguing' results
A team of researchers wanted to assess how a daily multivitamin may influence cognitive aging and memory. They tracked about 3,500 older adults who were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial. One group of participants took a placebo, and another group took a Silver Centrum multivitamin, for three years. The participants also took tests, administered online, to evaluate memory.
Wearables Aren't Going to 'Make America Healthy Again'
by Beth Skwarecki 1/7/25 LIFEHACKER
Health and fitness wearables can do many things, but they really can’t do much to make people healthier—no matter what U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., says in front of Congress.
5 ways Trump's megabill will limit health care access
The bill, passed in both the House and the Senate without a single Democratic vote, is expected to reverse many of the health coverage gains of the Biden and Obama administrations. Their policies made it easier for millions of people to access health care and reduced the U.S. uninsured rate to record lows, though Republicans say the trade-off was far higher costs borne by taxpayers and increased fraud.
Antioxidants in fruits and flowers seem to counteract harmful effects of microplastics, study shows
by Tom Perkins 24/2/25 The Guardian
Antioxidants that give fruits and flowers their vibrant colors seem to counteract some of the most dangerous reproductive-system effects of exposure to microplastics, such as decreased fertility, and could ultimately be used in developing treatments, new peer-reviewed research shows.
Myth-busting study shows controversial seed oils reduce inflammation
by American Society for Nutrition 21/6/25 ScienceDaily
A new study is turning heads by challenging the popular belief that seed oils are harmful to health. Researchers analyzed blood markers from nearly 1,900 people and found that higher levels of linoleic acid — an omega-6 fat commonly found in seed oils — were linked to lower inflammation and better cardiometabolic health. The study used direct biomarkers instead of diet surveys, making its findings more robust. These results support a growing body of evidence that seed oils, far from fueling disease, may actually help protect against heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
|Infamous paper that popularized unproven COVID-19 treatment finally retracted
A 2020 paper that sparked widespread enthusiasm for hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment was retracted today, Then-IHU Director Didier Raoult, the paper’s senior author, enthused about the promise of the drug on social media and TV, leading to a wave of hype, including from then-U.S. President Donald Trump. But scientists immediately raised concerns about the paper, noting the sample size of only 36 patients and the unusually short peer review time: The paper was submitted on 16 March 2020 and published 4 days later.
Here is how we know that vaccines do not cause autism
By Matthew Herper 2/03/2025 STAT
“If RFK Jr. uses his perch as HHS secretary to discourage parents from getting their children inoculated with the MMR vaccine, severe negative repercussions could result, including measles outbreaks and childhood deaths,” Prasad wrote. “This is not a good policy.”
Researchers say flu shot connected to 40% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease
by Walter Einenkel 2/6/22 DAILY KOS
One of the many tragic turns the politicization of COVID-19 and our country’s response to it has been the deleterious effect it has had on public health consensus. With the rise in privatization, greed, and a withering government response over the decades, the public’s trust in medicine and science as entities above politics and money has dwindled. The novel coronavirus pandemic, as it did with everything else, expedited the trend of deteriorating public trust.
Seeds and beyond: Native Americans embrace ‘food sovereignty’
Christian Science Monitor Richard Mertens 2/22/21
For many Native Americans, the return to traditional foods is part of a wider effort to “decolonize” their people, a way to repair the economic and cultural damage inflicted by European Americans who drove them from their lands, confined them to reservations, sent them to boarding schools, and tried to sever them from their old ways. It means not just planting old seeds but reviving the economic and cultural life, the ceremonies, the customs and beliefs, around food and food production.
New polymer-coated vitamins and minerals
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/new-polymer-coated-vitamins-and-minerals-could-fight-malnutrition-low-income-countries Science Mag 11/13/19
Frustrated by such failures, health policy experts at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington, sought the help of Jaklenec and her supervisor, Robert Langer, an MIT chemical engineer who has pioneered numerous dissolvable coatings for protecting and delivering fragile medicines. Jaklenec, Langer, and their colleagues initially considered more than 50 different polymer coatings that were stable in boiling water but would dissolve in the stomach’s acidic environment. After narrowing the list to 10 candidates and studying each closely, they settled on a polymer known as BMC. A protective coating in dietary supplements, BMC is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (and therefore considered safe). The MIT team coated 11 micronutrient powders in BMC, including iron, zinc, folate, vitamin A, and vitamin D. They also coated microparticles containing up to four different vitamins and minerals. Lab testing showed that all stood up well to heat, ultraviolet light, and even 2 hours straight of being cooked in boiling water. The particles also readily dissolved in a low pH solution meant to mimic stomach acid.
U.S. life expectancy plunged in 2020, with Black Americans acutely affected.
Thursday’s figures give the first full picture of the pandemic’s effect on American expected life spans, which dropped to 77.8 years from 78.8 years in 2019. It also showed a deepening of racial and ethnic disparities: Life expectancy of the Black population declined by 2.7 years in the first half of 2020, after 20 years of gains. The gap between Black and white Americans, which had been narrowing, is now at six years, the widest since 1998. Still, unlike the drop caused by the extended, complex problem of drug overdoses, this one, driven largely by Covid-19, is not likely to last as long because virus deaths are easing and people are being vaccinated. In 1918, when hundreds of thousands of Americans died in the flu pandemic, life expectancy declined 11.8 years from the previous year, Dr. Arias said, down to 39. Numbers fully rebounded the following year.
Health Check: why swimming in the sea is good for you
https://theconversation.com/health-check-why-swimming-in-the-sea-is-good-for-you-68583 the Conversation December 25, 2016 3.41pm EST
Historically, doctors would recommend their patients go to the seaside to improve various ills. They would actually issue prescriptions detailing exactly how long, how often and under what conditions their patients were to be in the water. Using seawater for medical purposes even has a name: thalassotherapy.
To this day, healing and spa resorts by the seaside abound. They are thought of as places where people can not only let go of their troubles but, in some cases, even cure arthritis.
Little-known nutrient can boost your brain and fight cancer
by Jordan Joseph 26/6/25 earth.com
The work centers on queuosine, a vitamin‑like micronutrient we must borrow from food or friendly gut bacteria.
Scientists Just Discovered a Surprising Benefit of Turmeric
by Lauren Manaker 24/6/25 NEW STUDY
A new review of studies found that turmeric may help improve blood pressure, cholesterol and more. Older people without dementia experienced better cognitive health while taking turmeric.
Some ultra-processed foods are good for your health, WHO-backed study finds
by Denis Campbell 13/11/23 The Guardian
Some ultra-processed foods increase the risk of developing cancer, heart disease and diabetes – but others are good for you, new research into the demonised foodstuffs suggests.
Ready to cold plunge? We dive into the science to see if it's worth it
Your body's first reaction to a plunge in chilly water is the "cold shock" response. Your heart rate jumps. Stress hormones spike. You gasp suddenly, and may hyperventilate.
Can multivitamins improve memory?
A team of researchers wanted to assess how a daily multivitamin may influence cognitive aging and memory. They tracked about 3,500 older adults who were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial. One group of participants took a placebo, and another group took a Silver Centrum multivitamin, for three years. The participants also took tests, administered online, to evaluate memory.
Just add sugar: Research shows common antioxidant can be more beneficial through glycosylation
by Sydney Dahle 14/6/23 PHYS ORG
Polyphenols are a class of compounds found in many plant-based foods. Polyphenols help prevent cellular damage in the body and can help to prevent diseases such as cancer or heart disease. However, many of them do not dissolve in water, making it difficult to fully take advantage of their health benefits.
RFK Jr.’s made promises about vaccines. Here’s what he’s done as health secretary
by Associated Press 30/6/25 National Politics
During his Senate confirmation hearings, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested he wouldn’t undermine vaccines.
Here is how we know that vaccines do not cause autism
Vaccines do not cause autism. You’ve almost certainly read that before — probably hundreds of times. But many people do not believe it, perhaps because too often it is repeated without a real explanation of how we know that.
Children die as USAID aid cuts snap a lifeline for the world’s most malnourished
For years, the United States Agency for International Development had been the backbone of the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria, helping non-government organizations provide food, shelter and healthcare to millions of people. But this year, the Trump administration cut more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall assistance around the world.
30-Min ‘Japanese Walking’ Trend Goes Viral As Expert Says It Beats 10,000 Steps
The fix-all “10,000 steps per day” method credited with longevity and healthy aging has been bettered by a surprisingly easier fitness hack.
Yoga teachers 'risking serious hip problems'
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50181155BBC News 11/03/2019
Mr Matthews says the amount of yoga teachers do, as well as the fact they might not be doing any other kind of exercise, can explain the problems that develop......."They might be doing yoga six days a week and think that's enough, without doing any other kind of exercise, like cardio or cross training," he says...."It's like anything. If you do the same thing again and again, there can be problems. You need to mix it up in terms of the kind of exercise you do.
