- Euthanasia in Canada: are doctors and health workers talking patients into it?
- Japan to young people: drink more alcohol!
- Hospitals say they need more money – their patients are “sicker.”
- The federal government gave state and local governments almost $1 trillion to offset the effects of Covid. What difference did that make? Not much.
- Stats from UK: Why are there so many non-Covid excess deaths? (They may even exceed Covid deaths.)
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Nearly Half of Cancer Deaths Could be Avoided
Many people worry about cancer in their lifetimes. Mutual of Omaha has even sent my wife and me applications for ‘cancer insurance’ on two separate occasions so cancer is undoubtedly something many Americans fear. A new study suggests there is something better that Americans could do to protect themselves from cancer than enroll in Obamacare or buy Mutual of Omaha’s cancer insurance. Americans who want to avoid cancer can lead healthier lifestyles: don’t smoke, limit drinking and avoid being overweight.
Globally, nearly half of deaths due to cancer can be attributable to preventable risk factors, including the three leading risks of: smoking, drinking too much alcohol or having a high body mass index, a new paper suggests.
The research, published Thursday in the journal The Lancet, finds that 44.4% of all cancer deaths and 42% of healthy years lost could be attributable to preventable risk factors in 2019.
The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation.
Friday Links
- Study: there are no economic rewards for expedited discovery of new Part B cancer drugs.
- In its 4.5-billion-year history, the Earth has experienced five mass extinction waves when more than 75 percent of the species on the planet were snuffed out. A nuclear winter could be the 6th.
- Tyler Cowen: the greatest danger to civilization is war, rather than intelligent robots.
- Walensky on the CDC on Covid: “our performance did not reliably meet expectations.” That’s it?
- Yglesias on leftist values. Recommended.
- Can this be true? “Big pharma is betting on psychedelics for mental health.”
One Day a Pill May Provide the Benefits of Intense Exercise
Researchers have identified a substance in blood that is produced when people exercise. Researchers analyzed blood plasma compounds in mice who had just finished intense treadmill running. They found a modified amino acid called Lac-Phe, derived from lactate. Lactate is the chemical that is responsible for the burning sensation in muscles after a strenuous workout. The substance also reduces food intake and decreases obesity in mice.
In mice with diet-induced obesity (fed a high-fat diet), a high dose of Lac-Phe suppressed food intake by about 50% compared to control mice over a period of 12 hours without affecting their movement or energy expenditure. When administered to the mice for 10 days, Lac-Phe reduced cumulative food intake and body weight (owing to loss of body fat) and improved glucose tolerance.