Don’t Put Unsterilized Tap Water Up Your Nose

I like introducing you periodically to some of the stranger and more dangerous germs out there. It’s a good reminder that nature isn’t just full of daisies and rainbows, and that the most lethal dangers we face are natural. This week’s news presents a terrific example. Meet Naegleria fowleri. Naegleria fowleri is an amoeba, a single celled parasite that lives in warm bodies of fresh water, like lakes and rivers. Its nickname is the brain-eating amoeba. Isn’t that nice? (My nic...
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Niacin Much Less Helpful in the Age of Statins

Niacin has been getting some bad press recently. A brief retrospective of Niacin’s rise to prominence will help us understand its recent fall from favor. Niacin is also known as vitamin B3 or nicotinic acid, a molecule that we need in tiny quantities in our food. As far back as the 1950s it was known that niacin in higher doses reduces blood levels of cholesterol. At that time our understanding of heart disease was in its infancy and there were few effective medications to treat or prevent card...
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