Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
If it’s in the health news today, I’ll be writing about it as soon as I read the research, both old and new. With my email Health Memos, you’ll know more about making lifestyle choices that will help you get and keep good health. These free, concise updates on health are emailed to subscribers twice a week. Subscribe today and get a free MP3, in English or Spanish, of Dr. Chet’s Top Ten Tips—Small Changes for a Healthier Life.
Tainted-Supplement Headlines
I’d like you to read these three headlines, stop, and identify the first thought that comes to your mind: “Hundreds of Supplements Are Tainted With Hidden Pharmaceutical Drugs” “Hidden Drugs and Danger Lurk in Over-the-Counter Supplements, Study Finds” “Supplements Often Tainted by Hidden Drugs” No matter what supplements you’re taking, the thought “I wonder what’s […]
Vitamin D: Stay the Course
Let’s finish this look at the recent paper on vitamin D (1). As you could read in Thursday’s Memo, they included some curious studies in their review. Let’s take a look. Mixed-Purpose Studies Have you ever eaten leftovers? Sure. Did you take all the different leftovers—the spaghetti, the fried rice, the mashed potatoes and gravy—mix […]
A Potpourri of Research on Vitamin D
Scientists try to follow some strict guidelines when they select studies to be included in a meta-analysis. With that in mind, here’s some of what I found in reviewing the studies. Remember, they were looking at fractures, falls, and bone-mineral densities. The length of the studies ranged from as short as eight weeks to as […]
Update: Vitamin D’s Health Effects
With all the political headlines last week, an important health headline could have been overlooked. A group of scientists published a paper suggesting vitamin D doesn’t prevent fractures and falls or help increase bone-mineral density, and they recommended that it not be used for that purpose. I’m a strong believer that vitamin D is one […]
Absolutely True, Relatively Meaningless
In this final Memo about the retraction of several of Dr. Brian Wansink’s publications, there are several important questions that need to be addressed. What do the errors mean? Did Dr. Wansink intend to deceive? Finally, who was making the accusations? Publication Errors and What They Mean Let’s take a look at the errors […]
The Reasons for Retraction
Publications related to food habits are important if you’re in the weight loss field; I rely on them to help people achieve their weight loss goals. If the studies were poorly done, that’s unfortunate but behavioral science is an inexact science anyway. But if someone intentionally manipulated the data to get a specific outcome, that’s […]
Scientific Retractions
One of my favorite observational scientists has been Dr. Brian Wansink, former Director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University. I’ve written about his research and used it in presentations several times over the years. One of my favorite tips came from one of his studies: use a salad plate instead of a […]
Aspirin and Unintended Consequences
We began the week considering a type of shortcut to health called biohacking. The polypill was a biohack to reduce the risk of CVD events, but there’s no research showing whether the polypill will ever prove to be effective. However, the results of the ASPREE trial may give us an idea whether the long-term trials […]
An Aspirin a Day
In Tuesday’s Memo, I talked about biohacking. Specifically, I talked about the idea of having everyone over a certain age take a pill that can impact the risk factors for CVD: high blood pressure, cholesterol, high heart rate, and blood cell stickiness. The idea is that taking that single pill in low doses every day […]
A Look at Biohacking
One of the terms that have evolved in the health and fitness field that I really dislike is biohacking. Whether related to fitness, nutrition, or supplementation, the implication is that there are shortcuts to get health benefits. I believe that we can do things that are a more efficient use of time but when it […]
