Entries by Chet Zelasko

Do Tattoos Increase Skin Cancer Risk?

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The other day, out of the blue, Paula asked me a question: “Do you think people with tattoos have more undetected skin cancer?” You can’t help but notice that more and more people of all ages are getting elaborate tattoos, some covering extensive parts of their arms and legs—the areas most likely to get increased exposure to the sun. A section of black ink could mask a rapidly growing black mole, for instance, and skin cancer could go unnoticed for longer.

Move forward 10 hours. I was changing to work out at the gym, and the guy a . . .

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PPIs and Heart Attacks: The Bottom Line

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Here’s why the Stanford Study on PPIs and heart attacks is not as concerning as the press release and the study itself suggested (1-2): it comes down to the data mining.

The data-mining algorithm obtained a lot of data in addition to PPIs, diagnosed acid reflux, and heart disease. It collected data on blood lipids, systolic blood pressure, and smoking status. What it did not do was collect the heights and weights to determine BMI from the medical records. The researchers acknowledged that they had no data on diabetes as well. Of all the information that could . . .

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PPIs and Heart Attacks: A Closer Look

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Today we’ll take a closer look at the Stanford Study I talked about on Tuesday (1). Before I do, I have to say that I’m in awe of the sheer data that was examined in this study. The lead author, Nigam Shah PhD, is a pioneer in this type of data-mining technique. The research wouldn’t have been possible if Stanford did not begin using electronic medical records in 1994. The program did not only read the diagnoses and other variables but also physician notes. Think how complicated a program would be required to do that!

And . . .

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Acid Reflux or Heart Attacks?

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One of the most frequently asked questions I get is what to do about acid reflux. By the time most people ask, it’s a serious issue and they should see their physician. In most cases, they will be prescribed a proton-pump inhibitor or PPI. One of the people who uses a PPI is Paula. When she saw the headline “Heartburn Drugs May Boost the Risk of Heart Attacks,” she asked me to check it out because she didn’t want to have to choose between those two problems. Because I’m a great husband and I’d like . . .

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Drinking Your Phytonutrients: The Bottom Line

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To finish this series, I’ll briefly cover two recent research studies on coffee and tea, and then give you the bottom line and a recipe.
 
Research
Green Tea and Neuronal Mitochondria
The mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cells, and that includes brain cells. When they operate at peak activity, they provide our brains with the energy for learning and memory. The downside is that they produce many free radicals in the process, and if we don’t have antioxidants to quench those free radicals, it can cause a decline in mental function. Researchers have recently . . .

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Drinking Your Phytonutrients: I Love Coffee

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I’ll say it again: I love coffee. I’ve been drinking it since my mother put coffee with a little sugar in my bottle when I was a baby; I guess she wanted me to stay awake. (Yes, that’s Ma and I in the photo; Paula’s feeling creative this week.)

In my lifetime, the health news has said coffee is both bad and good for you. Today it seems to be mostly on the plus side; there’s good reason for that and it appears the benefits are due to the phytonutrients and—surprise!—the caffeine.

Caffeine . . .

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Drinking Your Phytonutrients: Tea of Any Color

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Summer is here and with it, iced tea seems to be a staple drink. It gave me the idea to do a series on the phytonutrients we can get from our beverages. Getting people to eat vegetables can take some time, but everyone wants a cool drink in the summer and hot drink in the winter. This week is all about tea, coffee, and the latest research on both.

Let’s begin with tea from the leaves of Camellia sinensis. Based on world-wide statistics, black tea is consumed by 72% of the population while 36% drink green tea. Obviously . . .

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The Dark-Chocolate Study: The Problems

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After Thursday’s memo, you’ve got to be wondering what could be worse with the dark-chocolate study than its misleading conclusions. I’m going to examine the process the author explained in his faux study to show how that applies to many research studies from legitimate health research.

Not enough of the right expertise
There was no input from a nutrition expert that I could find. The author used a physician to do the study and collect the data. Even though the purpose of the study was to prove that eventually something will be statistically significant . . .

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Problems with the Dark-Chocolate Study

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The journalist and his colleagues who perpetrated the dark chocolate and weight loss study I talked about Tuesday were out to prove a point: typical journalists, even the ones who specialize in health, don’t really understand the fundamentals of nutrition, weight loss, and fitness. They especially don’t understand statistics and how they’re misapplied even in legitimate studies. Nothing new there.

What I think they did show was that there are many news and information sources on the web that will publish anything provocative. Dark chocolate helping weight loss certainly fit that profile.

The author explained everything he . . .

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Dark Chocolate and Weight Loss

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Late last week, Paula and a couple of readers sent me links about a journalist who managed to get a study on dark chocolate and weight loss published in a scientific journal in March 2015 (1). It made headlines everywhere. Then in late May, he wrote about how he fooled the journalistic world (2). While a lot has been written about his sting and the reasons he said he did it, there are more issues here than have been written about so far, and that’s what I’ll talk about this week. Let’s begin with the study.

The . . .

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