“Fake news” has become a popular term these days. But when it comes to medical advice, fake news can result in physical harm, even death.

The editors of more than two dozen cardiology-related scientific journals around the world published an editorial Monday to “sound the alarm that human lives are at stake” because of medical misinformation.

These physicians describe regularly encountering patients hesitant to take potentially lifesaving medications or adhere to other prescribed treatments because of something they read online. Or heard from friends. Or saw on television.

“There is a flood of bad information on the internet and social media that is hurting human beings,” said Dr Joseph Hill, the architect of the essay and editor-in-chief of the American Heart Association journal Circulation. “It’s not just an annoyance, this actually puts people in harm’s way.”

The primary example illustrated in the editorial is the use of statins, a cholesterol-lowering medicine that can reduce heart attack and stroke risk in certain people. But doctors say too many of their patients shun taking statins because of bad information they picked up often from politicians, celebrities and others who lack medical expertise.

“We trust aeronautical science when we board an airplane; we trust the science buried within our cellphones; we trust mechanical engineering science when we cross a bridge; yet, many are uniquely skeptical of biological science,” the doctors write in their essay.

Another example highlighted is “the entirely unfounded” concern that vaccines cause autism, a claim that has been debunked by 17 major studies.

Some patients think doctors are motivated by financial gain, even going as far to suggest physicians get kickbacks for prescribing certain medications, said Hill, the cardiology chief at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“My practice over the years has been to say, ‘Your insurance company is paying me to give you the best advice I can based on modern science. You are free to accept it or reject it. I hope you accept it, and I’m happy to provide you with evidence that backs recommendations, but in the end, it’s your life and your body,'” Hill said.

Matter of life and death

Dr Haider Warraich, a cardiology fellow who recently wrote about the dangers of medical misinformation in a New York Times essay titled, “Dr. Google Is a Liar,” said he had to get personal to convince one heart attack patient to take his advice.

The patient, a young woman who was healthy aside from sky-high cholesterol, had refused to take a statin that another doctor had previously prescribed. She agreed to try the statin only after Warraich shared that, after his own father had a heart attack, he urged doctors to start his father on the highest statin dose possible.

Because the benefits of medication and proper advice are often invisible, it can be difficult for patients to see how it affects them, said Warraich, a fellow in advanced heart failure and transplantation at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

“If you have a fracture, or something that happens to you that’s visceral, you’re not going to take an herb to fix it. You’re going to go to a surgeon to get it fixed and your pain will get better,” he said.

“But when it comes to something that prevents the risk of a future stroke or heart attack, or something like a vaccine which doesn’t make you feel better immediately but is backed by very robust data, it’s not as clear-cut in front of you.”

In their editorial, doctors say the mainstream media holds some responsibility in resolving the problem.

“It is easy to find a rogue voice but inappropriate to suggest that voice carries the same weight as that emerging from mainstream science,” they write.

Hill said leaders from Facebook and other social media platforms also need to help find a solution.

“We’re trying to highlight the realities of the harm that social media also can do to our patients,” he said. “I’m hoping that we can make it clear that this is a matter of life and death for many patients.”

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The problem could become worse as young people age, the American Cancer Society’s study says.

One expert says it is “almost impossible” for authorities to detect it when done at such a young age.

Many in the West say they are trying to cut down on meat, but the reality is a different story.

We know by now that iron deficiency in the body is the most common cause of anaemia in children and adults alike. But there is another nutrient that is important for the body to produce healthy blood.

Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps the nervous system, blood cells and DNA function optimally.

Vitamin B12 is found naturally in a variety of animal products such as beef liver, fish, meat, poultry, eggs and other dairy products. Manufacturers often fortify other food sources such as breakfast cereals, nutritional yeast, or plant-based milk with B12, especially for those following a vegan diet.

How anaemia and B12 deficiency are linked

In pernicious anaemia, the body does not absorb enough vitamin B12 from the digestive tract, resulting in inadequate production of normal red blood cells.

Pernicious anaemia occurs when the body lacks the protein needed to absorb the vitamin B12 from the digestive tract. If there is not enough vitamin B12, red blood cells don’t form properly and this causes anaemia. Not only is there a halt in the production of red blood cells, but a lack of vitamin B12 can also cause the existing blood cells to be destroyed more quickly.

Pernicious anaemia is so named because it is a serious illness that was previously incurable (“pernicious” means destructive or fatal). Nowadays it can be very effectively treated by correcting vitamin B12 deficiency in the body.

Do I have a vitamin B12 deficiency?

Symptoms of a vitamin B12 deficiency include:

• Severe fatigue
• Pins and needles in the hands and feet
• A lack of concentration
• A feeling of depression

How to diagnose a vitamin B12 deficiency

You can properly diagnose or rule out a vitamin B12 deficiency through blood tests. While such a deficiency can easily be corrected, it’s important that it is correctly diagnosed.

Treating vitamin B12 deficiency

Vitamin B12 deficiency can be treated with injection or tablets. Injections are the first port of call as these are more quickly absorbed than tablets. After that, you might be required to take tablets between meals, or further injections on a regular basis.

Adjustments to your diet may also be able to correct vitamin B12 deficiency. You can include sources such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products in your diet to boost your intake.

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Marelize Wilke

In a feat that might help pave the way to restoring hair on patients with skin wounds from burns, injuries or surgery, scientists report regrowing hair on damaged skin in mice.

In their experiments with the rodents, the researchers found that activating what’s called the sonic hedgehog cell signalling pathway triggered communication between cells called fibroblasts.

Drug targets for hair growth

These cells secrete collagen, a protein that plays a major role in maintaining the shape and strength of skin and hair.

The sonic hedgehog pathway is very active during the early stages of growth in the womb, when hair follicles are formed, but is not active in wounded skin in adults. This may be why hair follicles don’t grow in damaged skin, the researchers said.

“Our results show that stimulating fibroblasts through the sonic hedgehog pathway can trigger hair growth not previously seen in wound healing,” said study senior investigator Mayumi Ito. She’s an associate professor in the department of dermatology at NYU Langone Health in New York City.

However, animal research frequently doesn’t pan out in humans.

It had been believed that as part of the healing process, scarring and collagen build-up in damaged skin prevented hair regrowth.

“Now we know that it’s a signalling issue in cells that are very active as we develop in the womb, but less so in mature skin cells as we age,” Ito said in an NYU news release.

The team said it will continue its research in an effort to identify possible drug targets for hair regrowth.

The study was published recently in the journal Nature Communications.

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Type one diabetics can often not detect swings in their blood sugar levels. This is where diabetic alert dogs step in.

The dogs are trained to detect dangerous changes in a person’s blood sugar – studies show that they are particular adept at detecting low blood sugar levels.

Watch as these diabetics meet their alert dogs.

The Greenland ice sheet melted a little more easily in the past than it does today because of geological changes, and most of Greenland’s ice can be saved from melting if warming is controlled, says a team of Penn State researchers.

In efforts to curb our use of greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuels, plant-based biofuels are among the top contenders as alternative liquid energy sources for transportation. However, strategies to produce high yields of biomass for fuels are not a one-size-fits-all proposition, according to a study led by UC Santa Barbara professor of ecology David Tilman.

England’s top doctor calls on celebrities to be more ‘responsible’ on social media.