• Less TV and Video Games Significantly Reduce Kids’ Chances of Weight Gain
• Canada to declare plastic bottle chemical (bisphenol A, or BPA) harmful
• Toxicology Agency Finds Smoke but No Fire with Bisphenol-A (BPA)
• Self-tests ‘no benefit’ for Type 2 Diabetes
• NYC’s calories-on-menus law upheld
• ‘Jury out’ on prostate screening

A story in AMA News tells how more medical schools are teaching spirituality to medical students.

Here are some very appropriate comments on this news, as well as the topic of spirituality in medicine, by my good friend, Al Weir, MD:

Patients want and need spiritual support in their illnesses, and doctors should be providing that support as a part of competent, whole person medicine.

We should be teaching this to our students in our medical and dental schools. This is all good science.

Spanking could be a thing of the past, at least in California.

An anti-spanking bill in the California Assembly would actually criminalize spanking a child, and that worries some family advocates.

According to one observer, “The way this bill is written, a legitimate spanking can be equated with cutting a child. The accepted use of a swat with a hand could be construed as child abuse.”

The bill, A.B. 2943, makes no distinction between a commonly used and appropriate form of discipline and other, more violent acts.

So, is spanking good or bad?

Health officials in New York City won a huge victory this week in the fight against the epidemic of childhood obesity.

A federal judge upheld a proposed New York City regulation which will require some chain restaurants to post calories on menus.

The Judge ruled, “It seems reasonable to expect that some consumers will use the information disclosed … to select lower calorie meals … and these choices will lead to a lower incidence of obesity.” 

To their credit, some outlets, including Starbucks and Chipotle, have already started to post calorie information — and it’s time for more to do the same.

In my book, SuperSized Kids: How to protect your child from the obesity threat, we wrote for the reasons we favor such legislation. Here’s an excerpt from the section “It’s time to strengthen food labeling in fast-food restaurants:”

 

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• Pro-Life Group Challenges Pro-Abortion Politicians With Video of Abortions
• Black Pro-Life Leader: Why Are Shepherds Leading the Sheep to Slaughter
• Safety of Water Bottles, Baby Bottles Questioned
• Vitamins ‘may shorten your life’ Can ‘Tree Man’ Be Saved?
• Can ‘Tree Man’ Be Saved?

Tuesday, in my weekly interview with Mark Elfstrand on WMBI in Chicago, a woman called to inquire about the risk of autism from vaccinations.

It reminded me of a chapter from my book, God’s Design for the Highly Healthy Child, in which I discuss a number of myths about vaccinations. This week, I’ll start a multipart series on a dozen or more of these common myths and misperceptions.

The Associated Press reported this week that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched an investigation of Kinoki Foot Detox.

What’s their alleged crime?

They claim their foot “pads use secrets of ancient Japanese medicine to cure or lessen many health woes.”

As my co-author, Donal O’Mathuna, PhD, and I write in our book, Alternative Medicine: The options, claims, evidence, how to choose wisely, one of the warning signs of quacks and frauds in the alternative medicine world is that they claim to use “ancient,” or “forgotten,” or “hidden” secrets to “cure” this and that and that and that, etc.

Here’s an excerpt from my and Donal O’Mathuna’s book, Alternative Medicine: The options, claims, evidence, how to choose wisely. You find the book here. Each week, for the next 4 weeks, I’ll post another five warning signs.

So, when you suspect quackery or fraud, how do you know if your suspicions are right? What are some of the warning signs?

When evaluating a medical claim, here’s what to look for.

• Big U.S. study links breast cancer to drinking
• Trans-fats linked to breast cancer risk in study
• Soy compound linked to lower breast cancer risk
• Martin Luther King Jr’s Niece: Abortion and Racism Have Same Roots
• A Controversial Diagnosis for Herschel Walker
• Study Favors Once-A-Year Infusion over Oral Drug for Osteoporosis
• Barrack Obama Doesn’t Know When Life Begins
• Congress Aims To Ease Doctor Shortage
• Expert panel urges improvements in elderly care
• Traditional acupuncture may ease migraines
• Raw milk’s the rave? Demand grows despite risks
• Costs Soar for Mass. Health Care Law
• Measles hits home: Sobering lessons from 2 travel-related outbreaks