Ten Years Later: The HPV Vaccine is Still Incredible & Lifesaving

From Healthcare Triage. We love some good vaccine data, and we were pretty excited to see a new, long-term study published this month on cervical cancer outcomes after the HPV vaccine. Related HCT episodes: 1. More People Should Get the HPV Vaccine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT65ayU6fpc Be sure to check out our podcast! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkfBg8ML-gInFaYyYhKLBp2u7h5IojTw4 Other Healthcare Triage Links:…

Do Oreos Lower Cholesterol? No.

From Healthcare Triage. According to a recent study, “Oreo Cookie Treatment” is better at lowering LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) than high-intensity therapy with cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins. ARE OREOS A HEALTH FOOD NOW?! Check out the study cited in Aaron’s Bad Food Bible: https://www.nationalaffairs.com/storage/app/uploads/public/58e/1a4/cb2/58e1a4cb29d64718517577.pdf Related HCT episodes: Misunderstanding the Data on Diet and Exercise:…

Fraud, Abuse, and Malfeasance in the American Health System AWARDS

From Healthcare Triage. The 2023 Shkreli Awards from the Lown Institute have been released! Dysfunction in healthcare is one of the foundational pillars here at Healthcare Triage, and these awards highlight some of the worst examples. Related HCT episodes: Shkreli Awards 2022: https://youtu.be/plNovnhtKWU Be sure to check out our podcast! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkfBg8ML-gInFaYyYhKLBp2u7h5IojTw4 Other Healthcare Triage Links:…

Do Food Dyes Make Kids Hyperactive?

From Healthcare Triage. Avoiding certain food dyes to help improve a child’s behavioral issues is common advice, and not just on TikTok! Several doctors stand behind this recommendation as well. But several doctors also prescribe vitamin D, and that’s usually pretty useless according to the data. So where do the data stand on food dyes?…

Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer

From Healthcare Triage. When we released a recent episode about the artificial sweetener erythritol, many of you brought up questions about recent news on other artificial sweeteners – sucralose and aspartame – so we went to take a look and That’s the topic of this week’s Healthcare Triage. Related HCT episodes: Is the New Artificial…

Zoloft, Mounjaro, and Social Stigma

From Healthcare Triage. Drugs that do a pretty good job of easing symptoms of depression and drugs that really help people struggling with obesity have a couple things in common. The first is that we have almost no idea how they work, and the second is that there’s often shame around using them because so…

Ways We Can Mitigate Climate Change

From Healthcare Triage. We’ve spent a bunch of time this year examining the many, many health effects of climate change. And while we are no experts on climate change and what the best solutions are to address it, we are clearly interested in addressing it for the sake of public health. So, leaning on the…

Public Health Solutions to Climate Change Problems

From Healthcare Triage. Much of the conversation around climate change centers on things like lowering carbon emissions, which is obviously critical, but we think the public health response to climate change should be a larger part of the conversation. Whatever we do moving forward to address climate change, there’s no avoiding the fact that we…

Aspartame and Autism?

From Healthcare Triage. What’s the deal with Aspartame and Autism? Whenever you see a study claiming that a single ingredient has a specific link to a specific health outcome, you should immediately feel wary. That’s because it is nearly impossible to conduct a study that provides solid evidence in support of such a claim. Let’s…

Climate Change Is Already Impacting Our Health

From Healthcare Triage. Massive storms, flooding, extreme heat, droughts, air pollution, increased rates of disease, changes to our food and water… global warming, and the changes to climate that come with it, are increasing human health risks. Our physical and mental health both stand to suffer, and some populations are more vulnerable than others. What…

The Unequal Impacts of Climate Change

From Healthcare Triage. Climate change is driven by humans and will affect us all. But it’s not driven by everyone equally, and it doesn’t affect everyone equally. In the last 250 years, 77% of global emissions were emitted by Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan. At the same time, carbon emissions from nearly all low-income…

The Unequal Mental Impact of Climate Change

From Healthcare Triage. We’ve been on a Climate Change and Health kick lately but so far, we’ve focused on the threats that our physical health faces on a warming planet. However, the looming cloud of climate change is tough on our mental health, too, and we should talk about that. Related HCT episodes: HCT Climate…

Debunking and Prebunking: How to Fight Misinformation

From Healthcare Triage. It’s the final episode of our three-part series on health misinformation, and we want to spend these few minutes with you talking more about the best strategies for countering misinformation and how we can best deal with misinformation when we come face-to-face with it online. Thanks in part to the National Institute…

How to Talk About Misinformation

From Healthcare Triage. In the first part of this three-episode series we touched on the fact that misinformation has been around for a long time, and that it may seem like a recent problem because the internet has forever changed the way we share information. Since the internet and social media are probably here to…

Misinformation About Health Is Nothing New

From Healthcare Triage. Misinformation. A recent and major problem facing us all, and one that is pervasive in many realms including medicine and healthcare, which are, of course, favorite realms around here. But is all this stuff recent? Is misinformation a new phenomenon in the world of medicine and health, or does it have a…