Topic: health studies

Why People Smoke: Mental Illness Is A Big Factor, Says New CDC Report

Why People Smoke: Mental Illness Is A Big Factor, Says New CDC Report

You barely have to look at smoking statistics to know that it’s terrible for your health, and with so many anti smoking campaigns educating Americans about why they should quit smoking (and never start), it’s hard to imagine why people smoke at all. But a new CDC report says that it isn’t just because of advertising that covertly appeals to teens, or movies that still make it look cool: Mental illness could be a big factor, too. More »

Men Who Watch Too Much TV Have Fewer Sperm (But Don’t Worry, Fertility Is Still A Women’s Issue)

Men Who Watch Too Much TV Have Fewer Sperm (But Don't Worry, Fertility Is Still A Women's Issue)

A couple of news stories about reproduction are floating around the internets this week: One about how watching too much TV might lower male fertility, and another about how the economy will tank if women don’t pop out more babies, stat. One is based on a health study; the other is the opinions of Jonathan V. Last, a journalist who just wrote a book about politics, fertility, and demographics called “What to Expect When No One’s Expecting.” Neither story necessarily commands readers to take action or address the issue at hand as an emergency, but they do follow a frustrating trend in stories about reproduction and fertility: That it’s a woman’s job to worry about making babies. More »

5 Heart Health Facts You Probably Haven’t Heart Yet, In Honor Of Heart Health Month

5 Heart Health Facts You Probably Haven't Heart Yet, In Honor Of Heart Health Month

February is American Heart Health Month, so you’re probably about to hear a lot of advice like “eat more vegetables” and “get more exercise.” But you know this, right? We all do. So to help you learn something new (and get you on the best path to lower your risk of heart disease), we compiled some of the best new research and findings on cardiovascular health from the past year. More »

CDC Calls Out Which Foods Cause Most Food-Borne Illness; May Not Be Improving Food Safety At All

CDC Calls Out Which Foods Cause Most Food-Borne Illness; May Not Be Improving Food Safety At All

In their research on which foods cause the most food-borne illness, the CDC found that vegetables are most likely to make people sick, and poultry is most likely to kill people. They’ve emphasized in public statements that this shouldn’t scare us off from eating vegetables (they seem to mostly want to use the report as an argument for allocating funds to various CDC departments). But they’ve conveniently avoided analysis of which kinds of farms and food production chains are responsible for illness. More »

Cool Fact: Lightning Could Be A Cause Of Migraines And Headaches

Cool Fact: Lightning Could Be A Cause Of Migraines And Headaches

Health studies often range from controversial to uninformative (and are often misinterpreted by the media), but every once in awhile researchers come along with new discoveries that are just kind of interesting to read about. In today’s benign-but-cool news: A University of Cincinatti professor and his son (a med student) found that lightning could be a cause of migraines and headaches; in a small-scale experiment, they found that subjects who lived within a 25 mile radius of a lightning bolt were 24% more likely to experience migraines (and 23% more likely to get a headache) on the day when it hit. More »

Got Melamine? If So, You’ve Probably Also Got Toxins In Your Soup

Got Melamine? If So, You've Probably Also Got Toxins In Your Soup

Melamine dinnerware has long been a parent’s best friend (it’s durable enough to survive temper tantrums and high-chair hijinks), but it’s also become super popular in the past couple of years, as more designers have taken to the material to experiment with funky designs and summer barbecue-friendly patterns. (See Bon Appetit’s roundup from last July: “Unbreakable, unmeltable, unmistakably beautiful: These melamine plates and platters can handle the great outdoors–and your dishwasher.”) A new study points out one really big drawback, whether you’re using it to serve baby food or ribs: If it gets hot enough, melamine actually leaches toxic chemicals into your food, and can end up causing kidney stones and other averse reactions in children and adults. More »

It’s Now Legal For The CDC To Research Gun Statistics And Public Health

It's Now Legal For The CDC To Research Gun Statistics And Public Health

After the Newtown massacre in December, a number of graphs depicting gun statistics went viral, and a number of takedowns quickly emerged pointing to their inaccuracy. That’s probably due, in part, to the fact that there’s been a virtual ban on research of how gun violence impacts public health in the U.S. According to NBC, the NRA has effectively had a stranglehold on gun statistic research. That’s a story in and of itself, but today, the major headline is that Obama is clearing the way for scientific inquiry into how gun violence impacts our health (and giving researchers some funding, while he’s at it). More »

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