Photo: Sao Paulo at night by Julio Boaro At the dawn of the modern environmentalist movement, as we awoke to the devastating downsides of modern industrial life, our first and most obvious response was to cut back. If our voracious consumption of Earth’s bounty was hurting the environment, the thinking went, then we should probably trim that consumption. That logic is still sound. Reducing the amount of …
Pregnant and (anti)depressed Part 2 – A potential mechanism?
Disclaimer: I do NOT think that women should be blamed or targeted for taking antidepressants during pregnancy. Antidepressants are absolutely necessary for many people to be mentally and physically healthy individuals. I am pointing out that there may be unappreciated health consequences to antidepressant use during pregnancy, and that these should be part of the conversation. As I discussed last time, …
Pregnant and (anti)depressed – Part 1
When it comes to pregnancy, everyone is a vocal and nosy expert. “My word! You can’t have WINE when you’re expecting!” “Are you sure you should be eating that? It’s bad for the baby!” “Oh, let me rub your beautiful baby bump. Yes, isn’t that nice?” Thus, I’m reluctant to enter the already tense conversation about what expectant mothers should do with …
Young blood
Centuries ago in the dark forests of Hungary, Elizabeth of Bathory preyed upon the daughters of peasants and servants in a sadistic quest for youth and pleasure. On top of torture and murder, legend has it that she bathed in the blood of virgins to maintain her youth. Crazily, she may have been onto something. There is promising research suggesting that transfusions of …
Love your bugs
Featured image from Kelly Brogan As much as you may want to, you can’t escape germs. In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t. Humans are populated by a rich community of about 100 trillion microbes, 10 times as many cells as we have in our bodies, and weighing an estimated 3 pounds (the weight discrepancy is due to the larger size of human …
Risk Misconceptions
Last week, a man peed into the reservoir that housed some of the municipal water supply for Portland, Oregon. In response, the public health officials in Portland, Oregon dumped and flushed the 38 million gallon reservoir. The City Commissioner, Nick Fish, claimed he “didn’t have a choice”, since he doesn’t “have the luxury of slicing it too thin when there’s a potential …
A Healthy Diet: How do we Know?
The question of what’s for dinner is not as simple as it used to be. We are told to avoid sugars, gluten, and saturated fats, and to increase our intake of resveratrol, vitamin D, and Omega-3 fatty acids. We’re sold the Atkins diet, the Paleo diet, the Mediterranean diet, Jenny Craig, DASH, Weight Watchers, and on and on. There are so many programs …
When humans are treated worse than animals
Main photo from Wagingnonviolence.org I posted previously on how animals used for research are treated differently than those that are eaten. Since then, I have been reading about the criminal justice system in the United States (check out books here and here). I was struck by how much our prisons use solitary confinement. Humans are social creatures, and social research animals are guaranteed the right to interact …
Food and disease: Are you what you eat?
Since the early 1900s, Americans have argued about whether “natural agriculture” produces food that is healthier than conventional agriculture. Conventional foods are grown with petroleum based fertilizers, and are typically processed with added preservatives, while “natural foods” are grown with organic inputs and are processed with as few preservatives as possible. In the 1970s, this argument launched into a national movement, …
The greatest risk factor
Throughout recorded human history, millions of people have died from infectious diseases like tuberculosis, mumps, and measles. In many parts of the world, they still do. Public health scientists aim to improve human health by identifying risk factors for disease and setting up systems to reduce those risks. To achieve this, they study everything from systemic problems like unclean air and …