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The Decaf Wars
We can add decaffeinated (decaf) products to the list of things you probably shouldn’t worry about but someone wants to make you worry anyway. You may have read recently that some decaf coffee and tea brands have “chemicals” in them that may be a health risk. The real story, as you might imagine, is more complicated. The cause of the recent headlines...
Ultraprocessed Foods
What are “ultraprocessed foods” and are they a health risk? One would think there is reason for concern, given all the hyped headlines, but as is often the case the data is somewhat complicated. The complexity begins with the fact that there is no agreed-upon operational definition of “ultraprocessed food” (UPF). Processed food generally refers to food products that are already prepared...
What are “Adaptogens”?
The multi-billion dollar “snake oil” industry is nothing if not good at marketing. This is probably because this is not one or even a small number of companies, but likely thousands of companies and millions of individuals crowdsourcing many different marketing strategies. Those that work tend to prosper and proliferate, spawning variations. The rhetoric has been evolving in this way for at...
Khat and Muguka Use in East Africa
Many countries (such as Kenya’s recent regulatory changes regarding Muguka use) are struggling with the dilemma of how to regulate drug use by its citizens. There are many psychoactive drugs (we seem to be good at discovering them) with a variety of effects. Often there may be subjectively desirable effects in the short term, but long term addiction, the potential for withdrawal,...
The Health Costs of Fossil Fuel
Imagine if we could save over 8 million lives per year globally through public policy. Many of these preventable deaths are in younger people and fall disproportionately on the poor and disadvantaged. This is the estimate of a recent observational and modelling study on the effects of air pollution (fine particulate and ozone pollution). Of these death, over 5 million could be...
Male and Female Brains are Different
Neuroanatomical research has long established that there are statistical differences at the macroscopic level in male and female brains. There are also functional differences in terms of memory and cognition. However, these differences are largely statistical, and exist in a mosaic of different traits. This means that, if we look at specific features (whether anatomical or functional) there are male-female differences, but...
How To Approach Psychogenic Symptoms
Remember back in 1997, the Pokemon seizure episode? Hundreds of children reported symptoms, including seizures, after watching a specific episode of the Pokemon cartoon that includes a sequence of flashing alternating red and blue lights. The press reported the episode at face value, attributing the reaction to a known phenomenon of photosensitive epilepsy. However, later reviews found that the majority of cases...
Kava and Liver Damage
Kava is an herbal supplement used mainly for its calming psychoactive effects. It is a traditional drink in Oceania that has been used for centuries. It has also been linked to liver toxicity and cases of liver failure and even death. However, the liver toxicity of kava is extremely controversial – this controversy, however, reflects the various narratives that we see surrounding...
Don’t Blame the Patient
When patients are diagnosed with cancer, or a terminal illness of any kind, they report that there are a couple of near universal reactions by the people around them. First, everyone has advice for them. Everyone thinks they know what caused their illness and what will cure it. The floodgates of free advice and misinformation open. Everyone also wants them to stay...
Firearms as a Public Health Crisis
The US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, recently put out a 40 page report titled: “Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America.” The report is entirely informational, without any policy force, but Murthy is hoping it will have the same long term cultural effect as the Surgeon General’s warning about the health risks of tobacco. I wrote about this exact issue in...