In November I wrote about an important study in the Annals of Internal Medicine that demonstrated the effectiveness of an antibiotic for the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Dr. Mark Pimentel, the author of the study, is the director of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Gastrointestinal Motility Program. Last year he published a book outlining his theories about the cause and treatment of IBS: A New IBS Solu...
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Growth Hormone Doesn’t Help Healthy Older Adults
I've written before about the popular antiaging trend in healthcare. Another medication that has been widely touted as an antiaging remedy is growth hormone (GH). It has been shown to be beneficial in certain diseases (especially GH deficiency) but has also been recommended by some to healthy older people to increase muscle mass, improve bone density, and "reverse aging".
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Caution Urged When Giving Infants Cough and Cold Medications
I never write about children's health, since I have no training in pediatrics and my patients are adults. Nevertheless, I thought this story deserves your attention, particularly since many of my patients have young children.
The Centers for Disease Control released a warning today in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report about adverse events in infants taking cough and cold medications. If you have a chil...
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Studies You Should Ignore
The media constantly bombards us with studies purporting to show new evidence about medicines we should avoid, or foods we should eat, or behaviors that either protect us or harm us. Many of these studies, because of their design, actually tell us absolutely nothing. Nevertheless, the media is not in the business of downplaying the news, so the studies are inevitably announced in the mainstream press with much fanfare and little scientific scrutiny.
So that leaves us, the consumers of the news ...
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