Whether you’re in the grocery store aisle, drugstore aisle, flipping through the pages of a lifestyle magazine or perusing Amazon, health products are everywhere. Too many of their claims are based on bogus science, pseudoscience, psychobabble or good old-fashioned snake oil. Often the names and claims sound scientific but too often are not. A new term to describe fake scientific claims is “scienceploitation”.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Monday Links
- How exactly do social determinants of health determine health? (Unconvincing to me.)
- There is no big rise in teenage suicide rates in the US. The increase is concentrated in people over 19.
- Is HHS headquarters the ugliest buildering Washington DC?
- Over 37 million Americans have diabetes (including those who are undiagnosed) and nearly 100 million have prediabetes. That’s more than one-third of the country.
- Correcting the record: seniors have a lot more retirement income than is typically reported.
- Correcting another record: The SAT is a strong predictor of college success, period. Even in grad school, where grades are notoriously inflated, entrance exams are strong predictors of success. HT: Tyler
- Studies: Social media is not changing people’s political views.
Health Affairs: A Bad Job Can Make You Feel Bad
In popular culture the notion of an undesirable employment situation having a negative impact on one’s health is common. We have all heard friends and colleagues say, “that job is going to kill me” or “my boss is driving me crazy.” People the world over spend so much time at work that work is often highly associated with self-identity. Research is increasingly finding our popular notions are indeed true. A bad job can kill you, make you feel depressed and sometimes physically ill.
Friday Links
- Sending money to North Korea is very difficult. Sending DNA sequences for hazardous viruses is easy.
- Rationing by waiting.
- Ivy League admissions: Being in a family in the top 1 percent increases your chance of admission by 34 percent. Being in the top 0.1 percent doubles it.
- Why aren’t there more health care centers of excellence?
- Workers with intellectual disabilities can legally be paid less than the federal minimum wage – in some cases much less.