American Council on Science and Health

How Data Become Science - Here is an insider's look on how to know when data should be taken seriously and when they should be ignored. (Hint ... it's all about where you find it.) Read more

HPV Immunization Rate, Woefully Low: What Is To Blame? - Although the vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus has been available for a decade, people are still warming up to it.  The HPV vaccine, which offers protection against various cancers -- in men and women -- is only approved for those aged 9 to 26, so people really should get it while they can. And that's why the indifference is a concern. Read more

Space Flight Causes Drop in T-Cell Production in Astronauts -A drop in T-cell production may mean that astronauts are at least temporarily immunocompromised by space flight. To those of you who are eager for a trip to Mars, add "immunosuppression" to your list of concerns.
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Organic Honey is Disappearing and Other Weekend Stories You May Have Missed  - Some of the top health stories making news over the last 48 hours. Read more

 Kids at Risk in Hot ‘Bounce Houses’? No, So Bounce the Study - Seeking entry into the annals of Perceived Threats That Makes Parenting Needlessly More Frightening, we now have a new "study" claiming that kids playing within enclosed, inflatable, trampoline-like enclosures in warmer climates are potentially at risk of dying from heat stroke. "Researchers" please stop scaring parents. Read more

Chemists Can Detect the True Animal Source of Leather - A team of chemists demonstrated that they can identify the true animal source of leather goods by examining collagen. This technique could be enormously useful for investigating cases in which counterfeit leather goods are suspected. Read more

New Data on Obesity, and The News Isn’t Good - The latest anthropometric data from NHANES have been released — and the picture isn't pretty. Over a period of approximately 20 years, both men and women have added weight, especially around the middle.  Read more

A New Drug For Asthma: Too Good To Be True? - A novel (and sorely needed) asthma drug is making some noise during Phase II clinical trials in Great Britain. Inflammation and constriction of the airways was shown in a small number of subjects. Should this hold up in larger trials, it could be a game changer for all asthmatics. Read more

Chickens: New Weapons in Fight Against Malaria, Zika? - A study in the Malaria Journal suggests that chickens may be helpful in the fight against malaria. Unlike humans who in the United States last year consumed 90 pounds of chicken each, mosquitos are a bit fussier. Who knew? Read more

‘Cupping’ Not Science Based, Yet Olympians Swear By It - Some Olympians are using a recuperative procedure known as "cupping therapy," where hot glasses or cups are placed over sore areas of the body. And while there's no scientific study proving its effectiveness, don't tell that to these pumped-up, polka-dotted performers, because to them the process is absolutely beneficial to their quest for Olympic gold. Read more

Quitting Contraceptives Might Lower Vitamin D Status - Women who use estrogen-containing contraceptives may have an increased level of vitamin D in their blood. However, a recent study suggests that the vitamin level can drop if she decides to become pregnant and stops taking the pills. It's important for women and their doctors to be aware of this possibility. Read more

New York’s Hospital Star Ratings, Part 2: The Real Culprit Appears? - In the first article of this series we discussed the last of four measures that the Center for Medicare Services uses to establish hospital star ratings — the patient experience — which heavily weighted in determining hospital ratings. New York hospitals had significantly longer delays than national averages, and the ratings reflect this. Read more

Want Milk To Last For Two Months? Do This For One Second - Spoilage in milk, and risk of food poisoning, happens because of the presence of harmful bacteria. That is why pasteurization saves so many lives and the raw milk food fad has orders of magnitude greater risk of causing illness. So do you want milk to last for two months? A new science study shows it's affordable and works. Read more

Food Companies Are Changing the Color Of Your Food - For marketing purposes and to reinvent themselves, some food companies are now adding rather unusual colors to your favorite foods. For example, McDonald's in China unveiled two new sandwiches with red and green buns to celebrate the release of "Angry Birds." Read more

You Thought It Was The Other Way Around: Music Makes Beer Taste Better - There may be something about complementary sensations: sometimes we remember food or drink as tasting better because of the setting or the company. So what if, instead of alcohol making music sound better, it's the other way around? Read more

'Cupping' and Other Performance Enhancing Utensils - As we wrote recently a number of Olympians swear by "cupping therapy," which they claim allows them to recover from injury and overcome muscle soreness more quickly. Although it's a bunch of nonsense, we think it may have room for improvement. Read more

Common Horse Bacterium Kills Seattle-Area Woman - One of the profoundest mysteries of medical microbiology is why some people become deathly sick from rare infections while the vast majority remain unscathed. Now, a common horse bacterium has claimed a woman in the Pacific Northwest. Read more

ACSH in USA Today: Hot Water Causes Cancer? Don't Believe It - In her Op-Ed published Wednesday In USA Today, Dr. Julianna LeMieux, ACSH's our newest biologist, criticizes the International Agency for Research on Cancer for its scaremongering tactics involving hot drinks. She writes that just "because it is biologically possible, IARC feels justified in alarming the public. ... But just because it's plausible does not make it probable." Read more

Can Hampton Creek Regain Consumer Trust? - The 1938 Code of Federal Regulations was created because of companies like Hampton Creek. The government wanted to give the public confidence that a company wasn't just slapping the name of a famous food on a jar -- a jar which may not contain that thing at all. Read more 

Going for Gold, With Olympic-Sized Calorie Consumption - Here'e to appreciating how, through precisely-calibrated nutrition, these extraordinary Olympic athletes become powerhouses of performance. Aside from their training, it can be argued that Team USA thrives only because of the USOC's Sport Nutrition Team, which puts the right food on the training table and guides each athlete through their unique consumption schedule. Read more

Asleep at the Wheel – Two Miles Up  - Great frigatebirds seem to defy the rules of gravity, and now they are redefining basic physiology. To understand how birds who remain in flight for weeks at a time also sleep, scientists recorded their brain activity with surprising results. They were found to not only sleep one hemisphere at a time, but even more surprisingly both hemispheres of the brain slept simultaneously -- while in flight.  Read more

Appetite Control in Elderly Might Help the Young Control Eating -It's well known that even healthy elderly people have decreased appetites and may eat less than is necessary to promote continued health. A new study suggests that an elevated level of an anorexic hormone — PYY — might be involved. Read more

Doctors, It’s Time to Hang Up the White Coats -You wouldn’t want to be cared for by a doctor who doesn’t wash his or her hands. You wouldn’t want to be operated on with instruments that weren’t sterilized? So why would you want to be treated by a doctor wearing a white coat that hasn’t been washed in a week? Many white coats are covered in bacteria like MRSA -– and they are dirty. So it’s time to hang them up for good. Read more

‘Bed-of-Nails’ Surface Physically Rips Bacteria Apart -A new nanostructured material selectively destroys bacteria, while leaving eukaryotic cells alone. Antibacterial surfaces such as this are needed for medical devices. Read more

Flubendiamide: Bayer Belt Loses Its EPA Approval -  Bayer's Belt insecticide, which was given conditional approval by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2008, has seen its registration pulled. Though labeled for use in almonds, pistachios, walnuts and various vegetable crops in 49 states, it wasn't used much. Read more