Nov 17 – Journal of Cell Biology. Researchers have helped clarify the mechanism of vitamin D’s action against colon cancer.
I’m in lazy reporting mode now, with so much to catch up on, so I’m just going to quote wholesale from the press release:
Vitamin D stymies colon cancer cells in two ways. It switches on genes [...]

An article in the current issue of JAMA reports on the efficacy of low-dose aspirin for the primary prevention of atherosclerotic events in patients with type 2 diabetes.
This was a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded, end-point trial conducted from December 2002 through April 2008 at 163 institutions throughout Japan, involving 2539 patients with type 2 [...]

The Physicians’ Health Study II was a large-scale, long term, randomized clinical trail that included 14,641 physicians taking either 500mg vitamin C or 400IU vitamin E or their respective placebos. It was found that after a follow-up of 10 years, no effect was found on the incidence of total cancer.
It was noted that while there [...]

Further to my previous article mentioning results showing little effect of vitamins C & E on incidence of cardiovascular events, a new study appearing today from UC – Berkeley demonstrated that vitamin C reduces the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an important biomarker of heart disease and diabetes.
The study looked at the effects of [...]

A study in Human Reproduction has today looked at the efficacy of real vs placebo acupuncture on IVF in a randomized, double blind trial. Placebo acupuncture was more effective, but only by a narrow margin and failed to reach significance.
To me, acupuncture is one of those things that I do try to believe in (although, [...]

You might think from all the stories I’m reporting on that have to do with fatness that I’m some kind of fat fetishist, and that my pejorative tone betrays some deep psychological problem with fat people. Allow me to clarify – this blog reports on scientific progress as it relates to the quest for human [...]

An article released today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute claims that calcium plus vitamin D supplementation is not associated with a reduced breast cancer risk, but my prima facie observations appear to reveal a crucial flaw.
The researchers evaluated breast cancer incidence in 36,282 post-menopausal women who were randomly assigned to take [...]

Researchers at the University of Exeter have discovered that a sudden brisk walk can reduce cravings for chocolate, adding to their list of vices curbed by a jolly stroll.
Self-confessed chocaholics were subjected to three days of forced abstinence, then tempted with the chocolate they craved so much. However, instead of getting the chocolate, they had [...]

A study in the aptly-named journal Apetite has revealed that fat chicks just can’t control themselves in the same way that skinny chicks can.
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Psychology have performed an interesting study on that very telling attribute of one’s personality: the ability to delay gratification.
Even pigeons can learn [...]

According to a report brought to my attention by Sciencedaily.com, a study on the risk of major cardiovascular events while taking vitamin C and E showed no effect in reducing their incidence.
While the historical studies seemed to suggest that vitamin E and C supplementation might reduce cardiovascular disease on account of their anti-oxidant properties; in [...]