I like to read. I read a lot. I am retired and have time to read. And I like to tell others about the books I have read. (My teachers made me write a lot of book reports in high school and I guess the habit stuck.) As a… read more "A Cornucopia of Crislip"
Broken Brain
Mark Hyman has a new series of 8 documentaries on The Broken Brain. He interviews over 50 “experts” carefully selected to agree with his ideas, with nary a word of dissent. He says we are experiencing an epidemic of broken brains, manifesting as anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s, bipolar disorder,… read more "Broken Brain"
Fake News About Margarine
When margarine attacks! One of those alarmist emails has been circulating with fake news about margarine. A friend sent it to me and asked if there was any truth in it. There is a little bit, but not much! It is horribly misleading, and has even been debunked by Snopes.… read more "Fake News About Margarine"
The Elephant in the Compounding Pharmacy
Compounding pharmacies create medicines specifically designed for the needs of an individual patient when those needs are not met by products available on the market. They may eliminate an ingredient the patient is allergic to, they may prepare a liquid version of a pill for patients who have difficulty swallowing,… read more "The Elephant in the Compounding Pharmacy"
Rigor Mortis: What’s Wrong with Medical Science and How to Fix It
I just finished reading Richard Harris’ excellent book, Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions. From the title, I was expecting an angry, biased polemic attacking science and scientists. I was very pleasantly surprised. He doesn’t condemn science. He points out problems with… read more "Rigor Mortis: What’s Wrong with Medical Science and How to Fix It"
A Misguided Study to Test the Reliability of Traditional Chinese Medicine Pulse Diagnosis
Pulse diagnosis and tongue diagnosis are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. They are based on imagination, not on anatomical and physiologic reality. Pulse diagnosis History of pulse diagnosis Pulse diagnosis was an important part of ancient medicine in Egypt, Greece, India, Tibet, and elsewhere. The specific methods used were… read more "A Misguided Study to Test the Reliability of Traditional Chinese Medicine Pulse Diagnosis"
New Blood Pressure Guidelines: Why Are Previously Normal BPs Now Classified as High Blood Pressure?
Under the new blood pressure guidelines, more people are classified as having high blood pressure; but the treatment emphasis is on lifestyle changes, not medications. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology recently released new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure. The highlights are reported here.… read more "New Blood Pressure Guidelines: Why Are Previously Normal BPs Now Classified as High Blood Pressure?"
Turpentine, the Fountain of Youth According to Dr. Jennifer Daniels
Jennifer Daniels says turpentine is the Fountain of Youth, able to cure many ailments, both real and imaginary. It isn’t; it’s a poison with no recognized benefits for human health. Turpentine is a solvent and a poison, but some people are drinking it as a medicine. Scott Gavura wrote about it two… read more "Turpentine, the Fountain of Youth According to Dr. Jennifer Daniels"
Freud Was a Fraud: A Triumph of Pseudoscience
Psychiatry is arguably the least science-based of all the medical specialties, and Freudian psychoanalysis is arguably the least science-based psychotherapy. Freud’s theories have been widely criticized as unscientific, and treatment of mental disorders has increasingly turned to psychotropic medications and effective therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Freud’s impact on… read more "Freud Was a Fraud: A Triumph of Pseudoscience"
I Was Wrong about Protandim
A seriously flawed Protandim study seemed to show that side effects were no more common than with placebo. Actually, they were almost twice as common. The researchers were looking at the wrong numbers and didn’t even add correctly. I have written about Protandim several times. In May, 2017, I said that while there was no… read more "I Was Wrong about Protandim"