Kamal Dining at the venerable Harvard Faculty Club is a cherished tradition for many, including current and former faculty and alumni of the prestigious university. But this spring, over 300 people became ill with a norovirus,. The infection can be transmitted directly from person to person, but it is far more often spread through food which … Read more
Few young baby boomers went tromping through the backyard without the parental warning, “Don’t step on a rusty nail. You’ll get lockjaw!” echoing behind them. There was a certain urgency in the warnings that today’s children just don’t hear from their parents. Lockjaw, or tetanus, a brutal bacterial infection, is now entirely preventable, thanks to … Read more
Even a partial list of body image problems that a child may run up against can be petrifying—anorexia nervosa, bulimia, body dysmorphic disorder, severe calorie restriction, low self esteem, self harm. High fashion and Hollywood aren’t fully to blame for the prevalence of these problems—that would be a tough case to argue—but they certainly haven’t helped. Lindsay … Read more
1 in 2.37 The odds a child 2 – 11 has cavities in his or her primary teeth are 1 in 2.37 (US, 1999 – 2004). Sources & Definitions SOURCE(S) Dye BA, Tan S, Smith V, Lewis BG, Barker LK, Thornton-Evans G, et al. Trends in oral health status: United States, 1988-1994 and 1999-2004. National … Read more
It’s a timeworn theme, dying of a broken heart. The poet of the Psalms recognized that “by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken” (Psalms 15:13). In Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, a broken heart takes Enobarbus. In Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard, it takes Jack Point. More recently (and non-fictionally), some imply it hastened … Read more
Just having our blood pressure tested can raise it. Hearts tend to speed up as the nurse squeezes the upper arm into a black cuff, tightened with Velcro, to measure how well our arteries are handling the 2,000 gallons of blood tumbling through each day. The reading will depend on the condition of the heart … Read more
1 in 8.28 The odds a female will ever be diagnosed with breast cancer are 1 in 8.28 (US, 2004 – 2006). SOURCE(S) Horner MJ, Ries LAG, Krapcho M, Neyman N, Aminou R, Howlader N, Altekruse SF, Feuer EJ, Huang L, Mariotto A, Miller BA, Lewis DR, Eisner MP, Stinchcomb DG, Edwards BK (eds). SEER … Read more
Can eating right prevent cancer? The odds a person will ever be diagnosed with cancer are 1 in 2.44, and the odds a person will die of it are 1 in 4.7. Although most of us think we eat pretty well—the odds an adult considers him- or herself a healthy eater are 1 in 1.56 (64%)—cancer remains the second most … Read more
Contrary to what some email forwards will tell you, drinking cold water with meals does not lead to colon cancer. And cancer is scary enough without Internet hoaxes. With about 560,000 cancer deaths per year in the US, it is the second leading killer of Americans (only heart disease causes more deaths). The odds a person … Read more
Most medical research suggests that vitamins are a good way to create expensive pee. Many of us take them anyway. Fifty-three percent of men swallow a multivitamin at least once a week, the same as the odds (1 in 1.89) that an adult drinks traditional coffee in a day. Even more women, 1 in 1.57 (64%), take … Read more