The health headlines move fast and most coverage gets the science wrong. Every day, Dr. Ravi Kumar, MD, a board-certified neurosurgeon, cuts through the noise: what a new study or story actually says, what it doesn’t, and what it means for you. Researched, sourced, and reviewed before it’s published.
The trial answered the standard objection to failed vitamin D studies, that the dose was fixed and blood levels were never checked. It still could not tell a real benefit apart from chance.
In 129,287 US adults, the number of days on a first Z-drug prescription predicted whether patients were still filling sleeping pills seven years later.
A study of 216,293 adults with type 2 diabetes found a lower five-year risk of atrial fibrillation in people who started an SGLT2 inhibitor than in those who started a GLP-1 drug, and no extra benefit from adding a GLP-1 on top.
In 318,308 adults with no diagnosed liver or heart disease, three scores calculated from ordinary blood work each predicted future heart problems, and stacking all three predicted the most.
A Global Burden of Disease analysis found annual US alcohol-attributable cancer deaths climbed from 11,361 to 23,126 between 1990 and 2023, with colorectal cancer overtaking liver cancer as the top alcohol-linked cancer death in adults under 55.
A Florida International University study tested Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and Fitbit watches against lab-grade metabolic equipment and found they read high, with the biggest errors in people carrying more body fat.
A national records study of more than 300 million patients found weight-loss drug prescribing in grade-schoolers climbing fast from a very low starting point, with almost all recipients already carrying severe obesity and a second illness.
A genetic analysis of more than 205,000 men found that inherited GLP-1 receptor activity tracks with male pattern hair loss, but no one in the study was taking Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound.
Four national medical societies published their own fall and winter shot recommendations on September 2, alongside three JAMA evidence reviews, after the CDC's vaccine advisory committee was dismantled and left in legal limbo.
A Czech trial of 558 patients found that threading a catheter into a lung clot and dripping in a clot-dissolving drug beat blood thinners alone, without the bleeding penalty that sank earlier attempts.
The American Stroke Association's first rehabilitation update since 2016 says therapy should begin as soon as a patient is medically stable, while warning against moderate to high-intensity exercise in the first 24 hours.
Researchers in Europe built and validated a five-marker blood score that tells Takotsubo syndrome apart from a heart attack before a patient reaches the catheterization lab.