Kevin MD recently posted an article where he reviewed the effectiveness of various injections commonly used for low back pain. These consist of  local anesthetics, steroids like cortisone, and pain meds. The article included a summary of an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, as well as notes from a couple of other reviews previously done on whether injections work well for low back pain. The news wasn’t good:

In a review of 18 trials, only 6 found that the injections had a positive effect. The authors of this review concluded …

You can’t win, can you. A new study has suggested that ” males with high blood concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids are at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer.” Everything I’ve ever read on fish oils suggests that they help with inflammation and that omega 3 fatty acids are great for your brain. In fact I posted something on it not that long ago…
Luckily, sanity prevailed:
Dr. Iain Frame, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, says men reading about the results of this research should not panic about their omega-3 intake. Dr. …

New research has come out showing in quite amazing detail how regular exercise causes changes at the molecular level in brain tissue, and how these changes can help your ability to cope with stressful situations. In the study mice that were given a treadmill to run on for 6 weeks showed significant changes in brain tissue compared to a group of mice who just sat re-watching Season 3 of Game of Thrones (my God, how good was it!).
A couple of quotes form the study:
“Running produced a large increase in the …

This sounds pretty sweet. I have been a huge fan of Vitamin D for years, and now a new study has found that t can help speed up the recovery of muscle injuries. The link to the full article is here but I wouldn’t suggest you try to read it. No offence, it’s just that they use phrases like  “Vitamin D is a pleiotropic micronutrient that influences health across a range of physiological and pathophysiological conditions in humans”. I mean, come on. Anyway, all you need to know is that after a …

I read an article in The New York Times (so highbrow) which outlined the findings of a number of recent studies on the benefits of coffee. You know, just in case you needed an excuse to have another…
“In a study of over 400,000 people, men who reported drinking two or three cups of coffee a day were 10 percent less likely to have died than those who didn’t drink coffee, while women drinking the same amount had 13 percent less risk of dying during the study”
” a reduction in the risk of developing Type …