Health Warnings

Most parents don't realize that not getting enough food can be the cause of unexplained vomiting in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning.

Where there is no fever, stomach flu, or any other common cause of vomiting in younger children, vomiting is often caused by low blood sugar. Most typically, this happens to children between 8 months and 4.5 to 5 years of age. Read more »

In July of 2006, the United States Food and Drug Administration released the results of its latest research on the acrylamide content of common foods.

The top 20 foods by average acrylamide intake by the U.S. population are as follows:

1. French Fries (made in restaurants)
2. French Fries (oven baked)
3. Potato Chips
4. Breakfast Cereals
5. Cookies

In a previous article on acrylamide, I wrote that potato chips and French fries are best avoided for their high acrylamide content. What follows are answers to a few questions on acrylamide that were submitted by readers:

What other foods are high in acrylamide and should be avoided? - Tyler G. Read more »

For me, the most fascinating segment of Morgan Spurlock's documentary on McDonalds, called Super Size Me, involved the man who has become famous for eating almost nothing but Big Macs since 1972. Don Gorske is the Guinness world record holder for number of Big Macs eaten, having passed 19,800 Big Macs as of June, 2004. Read more »

A study published in the American journal Cancer found that people who frequently had some types of dental X-rays in the past had an increased risk of a meningioma, the most common type of brain tumor.

It should be noted that their data was from a time when radiation doses with typical X-rays were higher than they are today, given that many dentists are moving from traditional film to digital images. Read more »

Originally published in March 2009

In the wake of the tragic passing of actress Natasha Richardson, I'd like to share a few details on head injuries that everyone should know about.

Based on what I've read in several newspaper reports, Natasha Richardson died from an epidural hematoma, which medical professionals will tell you is one of the most frightening conditions around because it can be caused by a low force blow to the head, and also because initially, there may be no signs to indicate that a serious injury has occurred. Read more »

CAREX Canada is a multidisciplinary team of researchers based at the University of British Columbia that is developing estimates of the number of Canadians exposed to known probable and possible carcinogens in workplace and community environments. The goal is to help develop exposure reduction strategies and cancer prevention programs.

Below, you'll find a list of twelve cancer-causing agents that affect the highest numbers of Canadian workers: Read more »

In a suburb of Ottawa, there's a river that mostly freezes over in the winter and becomes a trail for snowmobiling enthusiasts. As this river runs past the backyard of a friend of mine, it narrows substantially, which translates to faster water flow, making it less able to transform into solid ice. Read more »

Updated on October 17, 2011

It's estimated that 10 million Americans suffer with noise-induced hearing loss. In fact, noise is one of the most common occupational hazards today, with as many as 30 million Americans being exposed to harmful noise levels at work.

We register sound through little hairs that vibrate in our inner ears in response to different noises. When these hairs are exposed to a sudden burst of very loud noise or to a steady stream of fairly loud noise, they can get damaged, resulting in hearing loss. Read more »

Dr. David Phillips, professor of sociology at the University of California in San Diego published a study in 2008 that highlighted an alarming trend: From 1983 to 2004, while deaths caused by firearms, fires, drownings, and traffic accidents decreased, the rate of deaths from prescription and over-the-counter drugs increased at a rapid clip. Read more »