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capsule moments

MARIJUANA USE IN PREGNANCY AND BREASTFEEDING:

As usual with studies on marijuana, there isn’t enough of them at this time.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women not use marijuana while pregnant as it may be harmful to mother and child.  This source cites the lack of long-term studies on exposure to marijuana.  Now that Canada has legalized marijuana and with other countries soon to loosen their regulations, more research will be done on the matter.  For now, I’m content with the idea that pregnancy, breastfeeding and pot shouldn’t be mixed simply because we don’t know the long-term effects.

TENNIS FOR LONGEVITY:

This conclusion was drawn from a 25-year study of 9000 people in Denmark.  All the sports mentioned in the comment were a good source of physical activity but it seemed that tennis players lived longer.  Trying to find out why, the researchers said that personal wealth may have played a part because tennis players are wealthier so can afford better healthcare.  Education also was a consideration.  They actually controlled for those factors in the analysis and the longevity effect still persisted.  They compared increases in life expectancies of various sports.  For tennis players it was a 9.7 year increase.  Badminton players: 6.2 years and soccer players: 4.7 years.  At the other end of the spectrum, were jogging at 3.2 years and going to the gym at 1.5 years.

(I wonder where pickle ball falls?)

WARTS AND DUCT TAPE:

There is a small book out about the 1001 uses for duct tape.  I don’t have a copy but its use on warts is sure to be among the 1001.  If a child has warts, duct tape might be a good first try because it’s less threatening than cryotherapy.  It’s just like putting a BandAid on the wart.

Common warts are actually caused the human papilloma virus which invades the outer layer of skin causing a rapid growth of cells resulting in a wart.  There are over 100 viruses in the HPV family with some causing genital warts and others cause the warts on the hands.

BOGUS INTERNET CLAIMS:

I’ve seen many ads for electronic gismos like a box with different coloured lights on it and each colour is supposed to be good for treating various diseases.  (Lumina 11-11 costs only $4000US).

Many magnet therapies are available from mattresses to small discs you can wear.  I was looking on the site called QuackWatch which sets out to debunk bad science and all these “miracle” cures. The site lists the many phrases that hucksters used to suck you in.  Here’s a few examples:

“We treat the whole patient”; “No side effects” (perhaps no effect!); “We attack the cause of the disease”; “We treat medicine’s failures”;  “Time-tested….used for centuries”;  Backed by scientific studies”; “Studies are underway”; “Science doesn’t have all the answers”; “They persecuted Galileo!”; “Toxins are everywhere”; “We offer alternatives”; “Only 10-20% of medical procedures are proven”.  There are many, many more “hooks” that work quite well to separate the gullible from their money.