Cancer
Can You Prevent Colorectal Cancer With Aspirin?
For years, doctors have been debating the pros and cons of aspirin. They have long known that this old drug can cause serious gastrointestinal irritation. But epidemiologists have also noted that regu…
Can You Manage Your Blood Sugar Naturally?
Metformin is a first-line medication for people with type 2 diabetes. Although doctors also prescribe it for different disorders, from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) to prostate cancer, the majori…
Show 1200: Making Sense of Changing Nutritional …
Why is nutrition advice so controversial? Often, it seems as if food fights are the fiercest disagreements in medicine. Have you had trouble making sense of changing nutritional guidelines? Changing N…
How Safe Is Water Chlorination?
Most Americans take water chlorination for granted. This is how the majority of municipalities ensure that their tap water won’t make people sick. After all, chlorine is very effective at killing wa…
Do Psychological Benefits from Psilocybin Last?
Several years ago, scientists at New York University Langone Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University reported on an extraordinary pilot study. Both research groups reported that cancer patients co…
Does Taking Belviq to Lose Weight Increase Your …
The Food and Drug Administration issued an alert in January 2020 about the weight loss medication lorcaserin. On February 13, it asked the maker to withdraw the drug, sold under the brand name Belviq.…
Can Indian Fruit Fight Off Cancer?
An Indian fruit in the same Cucurbit family as cucumber and squash has researchers excited. The plant, Momordica charantia, is known in India as karela and elsewhere as bitter melon. Ayurvedic medicin…
Show 1161: What Is the Evidence for Food as Medi…
Angiogenesis–the growth and development of blood vessels in the body–may seem like an obscure topic. However, angiogenesis is a critical phase in the development of tumors. If it can be blocked wh…
FDA Slow to Recognize Asbestos Danger in Powder
Does the FDA rely too heavily on industry expertise? The example of asbestos in talcum powder and talc-containing cosmetics suggests that it has done so for years. Asbestos Risk from Baby Powder: For …
Yogurt and Fiber Lower Your Chance of Lung Cance…
It makes sense that diet could help lower the risk of cancer. On the other hand, you might be surprised to learn that people who eat a lot of yogurt have a lower chance of lung cancer (JAMA Oncology, …
Drug Shortage Threatens Children with Cancer
Vincristine is an old drug that is a pillar of oncology treatment, especially for children with cancer. It is essential for treating cancers like lymphoma, leukemia and brain tumors. Unfortunately, th…
Show 1186: What Happens When Doctors Make Diagno…
When you get sick, you need a diagnosis. If the diagnosis is wrong, the treatment won’t be appropriate. What happens when doctors make diagnostic errors? We talk with a leader in the Society to Impr…
Is Meat OK to Eat Now? Do Food Flip-Flops Make Y…
There’s another huge reversal in dietary advice. This is the biggest yet! First we were told to avoid eggs, and then we learned eggs are just fine. We were warned to use margarine instead of butter,…
Do Onions and Garlic Cut the Risk of Breast Canc…
Scientists suggest that the Puerto Rican culinary tradition of incorporating sofrito into many dishes might help explain a lower rate of breast cancer on the island (Nutrition and Cancer, Aug. 12, 201…
Popular Heartburn Drug (Zantac/Ranitidine) Taint…
On Friday, September 13, 2019, the FDA officially acknowledged that “some” ranitidine (Zantac) pills have been found to contain the nitrosamine impurity NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine). Nitrosamines…
Nivolumab Offers Benefit for Hard-to-Treat Lung …
Immunotherapy is a relatively recent addition to the options for treating various cancers. One of these compounds, nivolumab, works by blocking a protein that keeps immune cells from destroying cancer…
Should You Take a Drug to Prevent Breast Cancer?
Should doctors be prescribing a drug to prevent breast cancer? The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) suggests that women at high risk of the disease would probably benefit from anti-estrogen …
Is It Better to Get Protein from Plants or Anima…
Proponents of a vegetarian diet frequently have to respond to public anxiety that you can't get enough protein from plants. However, there is growing evidence that a plant-based diet has health advant…
Show 1175: How to Mix Conventional and Ayurvedic…
When a doctor is diagnosed with cancer, you can bet he will try to find the best possible treatments for the disease. Dr. Timothy McCall has long added yoga and Ayurvedic medicine to his standard medi…
Is New Cancer Drug Worth the Price?
The FDA has just approved a new cancer drug to treat multiple myeloma. This blood cancer affects the white blood cells that would normally make antibodies. Although there are treatments for multiple m…
Should You Eat Yogurt for a Healthy Colon?
Your diet could influence your risk of developing colorectal cancer. Data from the long-running Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study included detailed information on die…
Do Sweet Drinks Boost Your Risk for Cancer?
Sugary beverages may increase your risk of developing cancer, according to a French study (BMJ, July 10, 2019). Soda pop is not the only culprit, though. Sweet drinks containing 100 percent fruit juic…
How to Grill Safely This Summer
In the summer, the great American pastime is the cookout. From burgers and corn on the cob to s'mores, cooking food over the fire or on a grill has enormous appeal. But public health experts have iden…
FDA’s Accelerated Approval of Cancer Drugs A B…
Two new studies question the value of FDA’s accelerated approval process for new cancer drugs. That is not good news. People with cancer are often enthusiastic about the latest purported advance tha…
Billion Dollar Settlement for People with Bad Hi…
Another week, another BIG settlement! Actually, there was one big settlement in the medical device industry regarding bad hip implants and an even bigger award in a jury trial involving the weed kille…
Another Week Another Losartan Recall | Will It E…
OK, we admit that we are beyond fed up. There have been so many blood pressure drug recalls since last July that we have totally lost count. It was only about a week ago that we wrote about a recall o…
A New Carcinogen Found in BP Meds | More ARB Rec…
How many times have we said, Not Again? We are, sadly, referring to ARB recalls. ARBs are short for angiotensin receptor blockers. They treat high blood pressure. Basically, it boils down to another w…
FIT | Can You Detect Colon Cancer Without a Colo…
Have you ever had a colonoscopy? It might not be the most pleasant screening test ever devised, but it does save lives. Colon cancer is a leading cause of cancer death, and a colonoscopy is a way to d…
Show 1151: What Was the First Immunotherapy for …
Back at the turn of the 20th century, the only treatment for most types of cancer was surgery. When a young New York doctor lost his first patient to sarcoma despite treating her by the book, he began…
Will Colonoscopy Change Your Gut Flora?
Colonoscopy, in which the gastroenterologist uses a scope to examine the colon for signs of polyps or other growths, can save lives. (Learn more here.) A study in The New England Journal of Medicine (…
CAR-T Immunotherapy Produces Stunning Results vs…
We have been waiting for long-term survival data from a pricey new immunotherapy called CAR-T. That stands for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. Patients donate blood so that their white blood…
Show 1144: New Ways to Heal Your Digestive Tract
Heartburn is a common problem. Many people take powerful acid-suppressing drugs like Nexium or Prilosec every day to treat gastro-esophageal reflux disease or GERD. If untreated, chronic irritation of…
Can Fish Oil Really Help Your Heart?
Most physicians agree that eating fish is good for the heart. There is less consensus about fish oil supplements. These are among the most popular supplements on drugstore shelves. People take them to…
Vitamin D Strikes Out Against Heart Attacks and …
Millions of Americans are low in vitamin D. They are at higher risk for a range of health problems, from asthma to osteoporosis, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. These individuals may b…
Is Fish Oil to Prevent Heart Attacks a Dud?
In addition to vitamin D3, the VITAL study also considered the effects of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil to prevent heart attacks (NEJM, Nov. 10, 2018). The results were disappointing. Concentrated…
Are Organic Food Enthusiasts Protected from Canc…
French scientists have added a new entry to the long-running debate over organic food. Some previous research has focused primarily on whether organic food is more nutritious than conventionally-grown…
Do People Who Eat Fish Grow Old More Healthfully…
Does eating fish or taking fish oil make any difference for your health? For decades, researchers have touted the anti-inflammatory benefits of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil. They have sug…
Is Melatonin Safe for Night Shift Nurse?
People who do shift work put their bodies through a lot of stress. Most of us adapt to getting up in the morning and going to bed at night. If we are reasonably regular about the times, our body clock…
Show 1135: Who Do You Believe–the Experts or t…
Doctors have been advocating evidence-based medicine for a few decades, but a surprising amount of medical practice is based on tradition. How can you sort out the value of evidence-based medicine fro…
How Good Should You Feel About BPA Substitutes?
Over the last few decades, scientists have identified a large number of compounds that can mimic hormones like estrogen. These endocrine disruptors include bisphenol A, also known as BPA. Scientists h…