Coffee is good for you. And coffee is bad for you. Cell phones cause cancer. And cell phones don't cause cancer. Like any other year in health, 2011 was one of conflicting studies. In the end, we're not always sure how to act or what to drink or when to exercise, but we do know more about ourselves and the world we live in thanks to researchers everywhere and the work that they do.
However broad or specific their conclusions, however small or large their sample size, medical studies do contribute to our wellbeing simply by existing and, if nothing else, by making us think twice about the things we eat, say, and do on a daily basis. We may not know -- yet -- whether cell phone use leads to the development of brain tumors, but we are considering, more than ever, how much time we spend on our handhelds. Everything in moderation.
10. PROSTATE EXAMS COULD DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD
Earlier this year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force gave the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test a D grade, recommending that it no longer be used. The test, now routinely performed on about 75 percent of all men over the age of 50, could do more harm for patients than good, the Task Force said. While we've been taught that cancer -- all cancer -- should be treated as early as possible, the Task Force claims that the detection of very slow-growing cancers with the PSA test result in treatments that can have multiple debilitating side effects. If left alone, many of these cancers would spread slowly in patients that would die first from old age or other conditions. And that's one of the better case scenarios. The PSA test can also result in false positives that lead to unnecessary biopsies, unnecessary surgery, and unnecessary cost. The Prostate Cancer Foundation shot back, calling the recommendation a "tremendous mistake."
9. HHS OVERRULES FDA ON PLAN B AGE LIMIT
For the first time in history, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) overruled a decision made by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This case, which has been called "astounding" and "extraordinary," was over the contraceptive pill Plan B One-Step and whether it should be made available to women age 16 and under without a prescription. The FDA said yes. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, hoping to avoid what the New York Times suggested would be a "bruising political battle over parental control and contraception during a presidential election season," said no. The decision, made just last week, is likely to have serious repercussions for the Obama administration, which aligns itself with more Republicans than Democrats with this controversial stance. Many one-time supporters have already expressed serious disbelief, especially considering the FDA issued a statement that it has been studying Plan B for over a decade.
8. LINK BETWEEN VACCINE AND AUTISM SEVERED
Thirteen years after his scientific study found that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine could cause autism in otherwise healthy children, Andrew Wakefield was outed as a fraud by BMJ, the journal published by the prestigious British Medical Association. In the years after the study was first published in 1998, most of the researchers turned against their own findings, the study was formally retracted, and follow-up studies found that there wasn't a link between autism and the vaccine. But Wakefield continued to promote the link until his medical license was revoked following a months-long hearing and investigation that found he had deliberately faked the results of his 12-person study. Still, Wakefield's work sparked an anti-vaccine movement that continues to this day, with two-thirds of parents reportedly questioning the vaccination of their kids. What's more, researchers have traced outbreaks of mumps and measles in Europe to those who ignore recommended vaccination schedules.
7. CONTAMINATED CANTALOUPES
Cantaloupes contaminated with listeria from a single farm in Colorado spread quickly around the United States this past summer. By late September, 13 people had died after eating one of the "Rocky Ford" fruits and dozens more were reported ill in 18 states. Soon after, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) named this the deadliest food outbreak in more than a decade and consumers everywhere were urged to check the labels on their melons. Jensen Farms, whose animals and water supply are under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because of the outbreak, had shipped cantaloupes -- five to 15 melons per crate, 300,000 crates -- to 25 states, but related illnesses were showing up in states not even on the farms' shipping list. Traffic to WebMD's listeria content shot up more than 700 percent in October as consumers sought more information about the bacteria, which is more deadly than E. coli, salmonella, and other well-known pathogens.
6. CELL PHONES EITHER CAUSE CANCER OR THEY DON'T
Early in the year, a study from the University of Manchester that analyzed newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer over a 10-year period from 1998 on found that, despite increased cell phone use, there was no statistically significant change in the incidence of brain cancer. Three months later, after reviewing dozens of studies, a panel of experts told the World Health Organization that "cell phones may cause brain cancer," putting them in the same category at engine exhaust and DDT. And children, they said, are at an increased risk due to their thinner skulls and scalps. Researchers have gone back and forth, with almost every study on the subject concluding with caution and a call for even more research on the potential link between cell phone use and brain cancer. A lot of that work will come out in the coming year, making this one of the biggest health stories of both 2011 and 2012.
5. THE FIRST FULL FACE TRANSPLANT IN THE U.S.
In 2008, Dallas Wiens, 25, lost almost all of his facial features when a horrific mishap pushed him into a high-voltage live wire. The only thing that remained was a piece of chin. In March, more than 30 surgeons and nurses performed the first full face transplant in the United States at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Wiens walked out a new man. It took more than 15 hours of work -- time that was spent painstakingly reconstructing the nose, muscles, skin, lips, and more -- but Wiens is recovering quickly. "There were no complications," Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, the plastic surgeon that led the transplant team, told the Boston Globe after the procedure. "He's doing great." Following a news conference, Wien's grandfather, Del Peterson, told the media: "Definitely it's a miracle. When I first saw him after the injury I had no idea what would follow. This is beyond anything I had imagined."
4. ALZHEIMER'S, REDEFINED
For the first time in 27 years, the definition of Alzheimer's disease was updated to reflect a growing pile of evidence that the degenerative process in the brain starts long before symptoms of dementia make themselves known. In April, the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association divided the disease into three stages, with the newest being that which occurs first. "Over time, the new diagnostic criteria are likely to have a powerful impact on caregiving families coping with Alzheimer's," the New York Times reported. And that's because more funding will be made available to researchers focused on finding ways to identify and treat the disease, which is typically diagnosed in patients over the age of 65, earlier and earlier. About five million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's, and a study in Alzheimer's and Dementia has predicted that one in 85 people around the world will be affected by 2050.
3. STEVE JOBS AND THE ROLE OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
The death of the legendary Apple CEO (a title he gave up just months before his passing) was one of the biggest technology stories of the year (and, indeed, my colleague Alexis Madrigal included it in his year-end round-up), but it was also one of the biggest health stories. Since 2004, Jobs had been fighting a rare form of pancreatic cancer that had us initially questioning his ability to run the company he founded decades earlier. But for seven years, Jobs survived on acupuncture, herbal remedies, a vegan diet, and other alternative therapies, according to his biographer (and Atlantic contributor) Walter Isaacson, forcing us to reconsider how we approach disease just as he forced us to reconsider how we use personal technology. There's no telling how long he might have lived had he used traditional medicine, but know this: Those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer typically succumb to the disease in less than a year.
2. THAT FISH ISN'T WHAT YOU THINK IT IS
In a five-month investigation, the Boston Globe uncovered just how extensive the mislabeling of fish has become on restaurant menus. "In classic sting fashion, the reporters, Jenn Abelson and Beth Daley, sent samples of fish from 134 Massachusetts restaurants to a DNA-sampling lab in Guelph, Ontario, and found that a full 48 percent were mislabeled on the menu," we wrote after the two-part piece was published. The mislabeling -- haddock is usually served as cod, ocean perch or tilapia as red snapper, and Vietnamese catfish as grouper -- is oftentimes intentional, according to the Globe, with restaurant owners switching the labels around to make more money and convinced customers that they're dining on something familiar. The Globe report added to an earlier investigation conducted by Consumer Reports that found 20 percent of 190 samples to be mislabeled. The only fish consistently labeled correctly were coho salmon, bluefin and ahi tuna, and Chilean sea bass.
1. MYPLATE REPLACES THE DECADES-OLD FOOD PYRAMID
Hoping to push its message of healthy eating to a wider audience, the federal government unveiled MyPlate in June. Based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), which are put out every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services, MyPlate is meant to replace -- and improve upon -- the decades-old food pyramid that we were all introduced to in elementary school. Simple and colorful, the new MyPlate icon is made up of five components -- fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy, with dairy, a discretionary group, off to the side, representing a glass of milk or a cup of yogurt. Together, fruits and vegetables take up half the plate; grains and proteins make up the second half. "The circular plate … is meant to give consumers a fast, easily grasped reminder of the basics of a healthy diet," according to the New York Times.
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