/oss/taxonomy/term/713/all en /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking/cockroach-scorpion-and-turpentine-extract-heart-disease <p>What would you think if after a heart attack your doctor prescribed capsules of extracts of ginseng, Chinese scorpion, cockroach, leech, peony root, sandalwood and turpentine? I suspect this might evoke a touch of skepticism. But believe it or not, that is just the treatment that 1899 Chinese heart attack patients received to prevent further complications.</p> Fri, 10 Nov 2023 14:50:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9717 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history/dead-cow-moldy-hay-and-drug-discovery <p>There are roughly 20,000 prescription medicines approved for use around the world and in developed countries two thirds of the population takes one or more of them. Then there are all the non-prescription drugs and the various supplements that claim to have some sort of therapeutic effect that vastly outnumber prescription drugs. Obviously, drug development is a gigantic business, which is understandable given that health matters more than anything else in life and drugs promise to help with a wide range of ailments.</p> Thu, 31 Aug 2023 17:11:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9614 at /oss /oss/article/medical/high-level-endurance-exercise-bad-your-heart <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-is-high-level-endurance-exercise-bad-for-your-heart">Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 24 Mar 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9444 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history/forget-willow-bark-extract-go-aspirin <p>Contrary to popular belief, aspirin does not occur in nature, it is not found in the willow tree. But there is a connection. Aspirin, or acetyl salicylic acid, was first produced commercially by the Bayer Company based on a synthesis by Felix Hoffmann, a chemist working in 1897 for the Bayer company in Germany. While Hoffmann did indeed synthesize the first commercial sample of acetylsalicylic acid, he certainly was not the first to produce the substance in the laboratory.</p> Wed, 28 Sep 2022 19:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz Phd 9247 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/assessing-reports-linking-espresso-and-cholesterol <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-assessing-reports-linking-espresso-and-cholesterol">Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>A friend of mine recently sent me an article titled <a href="https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/973819">Espresso Associated with Increased Total Cholestero</a>l. I was told I needed to contextualize this thing quickly, ideally before dinner, after which, my friend noted, good Italians drink their espresso.</p> Wed, 18 May 2022 18:57:27 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9113 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/do-holidays-cause-heart-attacks <hr /> <p>This article was first published in <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/artificial-trees-secular-greetings-and-holiday-heart-attacks-some-answers-to-your-christmas-queries/">The Skeptical Inquirer</a></p> Fri, 24 Dec 2021 00:00:07 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 8966 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/taking-daily-aspirin-good-idea <hr /> <p>This article was originally published in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/christopher-labos-is-taking-a-daily-aspirin-a-good-idea">Montreal Gazette</a></p> Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:15:15 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8909 at /oss /oss/article/health/statins-have-proven-track-record <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-statins-have-a-proven-track-record">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> Wed, 25 Nov 2020 18:41:09 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8493 at /oss /oss/article/health/why-people-lower-incomes-have-more-heart-disease <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>​</em><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-why-people-with-lower-incomes-have-more-heart-disease">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> <hr /> <p>Many studies have shown that low <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.117.029652" target="_blank">socioeconomic status</a> is tied to cardiovascular disease. To put it simply, if you have more money, you are less likely to have a heart attack.</p> Wed, 11 Dec 2019 17:51:19 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8047 at /oss /oss/article/health/aspirin-take-or-not-take-question <p class="note"><strong>Take-home message:</strong><br /> - One in four adults over 40 take a daily aspirin to prevent heart disease, despite guidelines suggesting not to.<br /> - Contrary to popular belief, in patients with no history of heart attack of stroke the benefit from aspirin is quite small and largely offset by bleeding risk.<br /> - The most recent 2019 guidelines from the American College of Cardiology recommend against routine aspirin use in patients over the age of 70 without heart disease or those at increased risk of bleeding.</p> Fri, 06 Sep 2019 10:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7845 at /oss /oss/article/nsaids <hr /> <p class="note"><strong>Take-home message:</strong><br /> - Anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen (Advil), naproxen (Aleve), and diclofenac (Voltaren) can increase your risk of having a heart attack.<br /> - Even short-term use of these medications carries a potential risk.<br /> -Aspirin is the one anti-inflammatory that does not increase heart attack risk, although it comes with an increased risk of bleeding.<br /></p> Tue, 09 Oct 2018 16:23:32 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7387 at /oss /oss/article/health/dissecting-american-heart-associattions-go-red-women-campaign <p>You are probably familiar with the American Heart Association’s "Go Red for Women" campaign. Its goal is to raise awareness about heart disease among women. They have a series of add campaigns that use infographics, like the one below, to inform the public. Recently, someone asked me whether those numbers and statements are true (we live in skeptical times) so I thought it would be useful to examine some of the claims in that infographic (seen below).</p> Thu, 04 Oct 2018 17:28:49 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7382 at /oss /oss/article/health-quackery/can-you-cough-away-heart-attack <hr /> <p class="note"><strong>Take-home message:</strong><br /> -A variety of internet posts and e-mail chains have said that when you have symptoms of a heart attack, you should cough vigorously to essentially perform CPR on yourself.<br /> -This idea makes no sense because CPR should only be performed on an unconscious person with no pulse. If you are conscious and can cough, you should not perform CPR.</p> Tue, 21 Aug 2018 16:19:34 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7315 at /oss /oss/article/health-quackery/mark-heart-attack-your-ear <p>If the eye is a window to the soul, could the ear be a window to the heart?</p> Thu, 21 Sep 2017 14:17:48 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 2631 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health/hearts-turning-bone <p>Doctors have long noticed that after a heart attack, a patient’s heart may develop what appear to be bone deposits or patches of calcium and phosphate, but they’ve never really known why. <a href="http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(16)30345-9">A new study</a> believes these bone deposits are a sort of accidental by-product of a heart’s attempts to repair itself after an attack.</p> Sun, 21 May 2017 18:10:01 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 2467 at /oss