Here are my takes on some of today’s health headlines:

Vitamin D for babies may prevent type 1 diabetes

A new systematic review reports to have “the strongest evidence to date” that supplemental vitamin D in babies and children may help reduce the risk of later development of type 1 diabetes by 29 percent.

Readers of this blog have read me frequently comment on the host of health problems prevented by vitamin D.

In the book that I co-wrote with my good friend, Donal O’Mathuna, Ph.D., Alternative Medicine: The options, the claims, the evidence, how to choose wisely, we wrote an evidence-based article on marijuana. Here’s our fourth excerpt of that information.

In earlier excerpts, we discussed “What It Is,” “The Claims People Make about Marijuana,” and “Study Findings.” In this excerpt, we’ll discuss, “Cautions.” Next week, our final excerpt will review “Our Recommendations.”

Cautions

Advocates of medical marijuana point out that no one has ever reported a lethal overdose from marijuana. Estimates based on animals have put the amount needed to kill someone at about 20,000 times the amount normally used medically. This compares with some drugs whose lethal dose is only a few times the amount commonly prescribed.

While this may be the case, it would be analogous to claiming that since few people die from an alcohol overdose, no serious problems arise with the use of alcohol below its toxic levels.

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