Because Good Medicine Deserves Better Explanations
The science of Alzheimer’s disease has come a long way since 1906, when Alois Alzheimer first described the key features of the disease. Alzheimer, who was a German neurologist and psychiatrist, noticed abnormal deposits in the brain of a 51-year old woman who had dementia. It was later confirmed that patients with Alzheimer’s disease often have brain abnormalities … Read more
During the first few months of this year, we’ve seen at least three strong signs suggesting that health authorities have misled the public for several decades about dietary fats. This finding is of particular interest because later this year the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be published. Ever since the beginning of the 1960s, “eat less fat, in … Read more
The metabolic syndrome is a constellation of risk factors, most usually associated with increased body weight, fat accumulation around the abdominal organs often termed central, or visceral obesity (1), and increased resistance to the effects of insulin. Other names that have been used to describe the metabolic syndrome are syndrome X, the insulin resistance syndrome, the deadly quartet (2) and … Read more
Cardiology is renowned for its innovative procedures and cutting edge technology. However, one of my favorite scientific papers of 2014 did not address innovative techniques, DNA sequencing or new wonder drugs. It dealt with the fact that certain lifestyle habits and the absence of abdominal obesity may prevent most heart attacks. Toady, chronic noncommunicable diseases are one of the biggest … Read more
The modern history of coronary heart disease is quite remarkable. Acute myocardial infarction (acute heart attack) appears to have been relatively uncommon until it emerged in the early 1920s. Then came the plague. In the 1950s coronary heart disease had become the most common cause of death in the industrialized world. The symptoms were often dramatic and … Read more