Science-Based Medicine

3 days ago | sciencebasedmedicine.org | Steven Novella

Oregano oil is being marketed with a variety of health claims, including as a treatment for various infections, inflammatory disorders, and skin conditions. This TikTok video by an “Ayervedic specialist” is typical of the claims made for this product. The claims suffer all the usual problems of the supplement industry, which we can go through them in some detail. But here is the executive summary – claims for oregano oil are based partly on traditional use and partly on pre-clinical data.

1 week ago | sciencebasedmedicine.org | Steven Novella

For those with advance ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) or certain brainstem strokes, they can be what is referred to as “locked in”. They are mostly paralyzed. A tip of the basilar artery brainstem stroke, for example, can leave one only able to more their eyes. Many with ALS, long before they get to this point, lose the ability to speak because of bulbar weakness – weakness in the tongue and muscles in their throat. The resulting inability to communicate can be devastating.

2 weeks ago | sciencebasedmedicine.org | Steven Novella

I’m sure you are as sick of reading about RFK Jr. as we are of writing about him, but this is the world we live in. We cannot let outrage fatigue cause us to take our eye off the ball. If nothing else, SBM needs to chronical every anti-science move that this administration makes. As most people, and certainly most readers here, certainly know, RFK Jr. is a dangerous anti-science and specifically anti-vaccine crank who is now the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

2 weeks ago | sciencebasedmedicine.org | David Gorski

I’m going to start this post with two quotes for you to contemplate. First, during the FDA Roundtable on Cell and Gene Therapy held last Thursday, we have the new FDA Commissioner Marty Makary saying near the end of the proceedings:I think we can learn a lot from individual experiences. We tend to talk in the lexicon of clinical medicine about level 1, 2, and 3 evidence.

3 weeks ago | sciencebasedmedicine.org | Steven Novella

So-called “health influencers” – self-appointed health gurus spreading their unvetted opinions about health through social media, have apparently decided that seed oils are bad for you. Our chief health guru, RFK Jr, even blames seed oils for the obesity epidemic (based on the flimsiest of evidence and logic, which is his MO).