Social support and memory in postmenopausal women: a careful null
A secondary analysis of the ELITE hormone-therapy trial found hints that social ties tracked with cognition, but none survived correction for multiple testing.
Light alone barely moved young adults' clocks; a combined package did
Two small pilot studies in 18-to-25-year-olds found morning bright light on its own shifted circadian timing little, while adding a timed schedule and evening blue-blockers advanced it about 35 minutes.
Two obesity-diagnosis systems agree on advanced disease, split early
Applied to 411,000 UK Biobank adults, the Edmonton staging system and the Lancet Commission's clinical-obesity model classified severe disease alike but diverged on who counts as early-stage.
Supplements for depression: big effect sizes the authors call unrealistic
A network meta-analysis of 163 trials found EPA, vitamin D and a St John's wort extract beat placebo by margins so large the researchers treat them as a warning about the evidence, not a green light.
What actually works for period pain: strong evidence for NSAIDs, weaker for exercise
Cochrane reviews rate anti-inflammatory painkillers a very effective treatment for menstrual cramps, roughly doubling the odds of good pain relief. Exercise helps too, but on lower-quality evidence.
The morning-after pill works less well the later you take it — and at higher weight
Trials put the pregnancy rate after emergency contraceptive pills at roughly 1-3%. But the risk rose more than threefold in obese women, and the levonorgestrel pill fared worst of all.
Modern fluoridation studies show a benefit of about a quarter of a tooth
Cochrane's 2024 review found low-certainty evidence of a small effect since fluoride toothpaste became widespread. The IQ meta-analysis that reopened the argument reported a null below 1.5 mg/L in one key analysis.
Coffee measurably changes the gut microbiome. Nobody has shown it damages the gut lining
The human intestinal-permeability literature lists endurance exercise, NSAIDs, pregnancy and surfactants as stressors. Coffee is not on that list, and alcohol's case is largely inferred.
Who needs STI screening, how often, and whether home tests are accurate
US guidelines recommend routine chlamydia and gonorrhea screening for sexually active women under 25 and older women at higher risk. Self-collected swabs match clinician-collected ones closely.
The best-evidenced gut-brain treatment is not a supplement. It is hypnotherapy
Twelve studies in 1,158 IBS patients found gut-directed hypnotherapy improved symptoms, with the firmest results in high-volume and group delivery. The microbiome route is weaker.
Do pelvic floor exercises work? For stress incontinence, the evidence is strong
A Cochrane review found women doing pelvic floor muscle training were eight times more likely to report their stress incontinence cured than untreated women — with the strongest evidence for that one condition.
Intestinal permeability is measurable and real. 'Leaky gut' as a diagnosis is not
A review in Gut says no intestinal disease can be cured by normalising barrier function, and that it is unproven whether restoring the barrier improves any clinical outcome at all.
Can you lower your PFAS levels? The experiment has not been run
A Copenhagen team has just published the protocol for the first study designed to test whether reducing PFAS exposure changes anything. That it is still a protocol tells you where the evidence stands.
Cranberry does cut recurrent UTIs — in the people it helps, and not the ones it doesn't
A Cochrane review of 50 trials found cranberry products lower UTI risk in women with recurrent infections and in children, but no benefit in the elderly, in pregnancy, or in bladder-emptying problems.
Polyethylene glycol got a strong recommendation. So did three drugs that cost far more
A joint AGA and ACG guideline graded ten treatments for chronic constipation. The cheap osmotic laxative and the newest secretagogues sit in the same recommendation tier.
Endometriosis has no disease-modifying cure. Every treatment targets the symptoms
Hormones, surgery and painkillers can reduce pain and improve fertility, but none reliably alter the disease itself — and even removing the uterus does not guarantee the disease goes with it.
17,598 people were randomised to a PPI or placebo for three years. One harm signal emerged
Observational studies had linked proton pump inhibitors to fractures, dementia, kidney disease and more. A randomised trial collected all of those outcomes and found only enteric infections.
What actually manages PCOS, according to the international guideline
The 2023 global guideline puts lifestyle first for everyone, letrozole first for fertility, and the pill for cycles and excess hair — while rating much of its own evidence low to moderate quality.
Obesity and sleep disorders track with worse semen. Alcohol mostly does not.
An umbrella review graded 249 effect sizes across 67 risk factors for male infertility. More than half were rated very low certainty — and the review contradicts its own table on one of them.
The fermented-food boom rests on one 17-week trial with 18 people per arm
It found rising microbiome diversity and falling inflammatory markers in the fermented-food arm — and no change in its own primary outcome in the high-fibre arm it was compared against.
What egg freezing actually delivers: age at freezing and egg count decide the odds
In two large clinics, the live birth rate per woman who returned to use her eggs was around 39-50% under 35 or 38, but far lower for older women — and most women who froze never came back to use them.
How much does fertility really fall with age? Less sharply than the scary numbers
In modern couples timing intercourse, an estimated 18% of women aged 35-39 failed to conceive within a year — not one in three. The most alarming figures come from models, not from watching real couples try.
Peroxide whitening softens enamel measurably in the lab, and only in the lab
A 2026 meta-analysis of nine in vitro studies found a small, outlier-sensitive reduction in enamel microhardness. Every study was done on extracted teeth. The better-evidenced problem is sensitivity.
The probiotics evidence splits by indication: null for gastroenteritis, positive for colds
Two randomised trials in more than 1,800 children found no benefit in acute gastroenteritis. A Cochrane review of 23 trials found fewer upper respiratory infections, on low-certainty evidence.
Seven gut-microbiome tests got identical stool. They disagreed as much as different people
US government metrologists sent one homogenised faecal standard to seven consumer testing services. Species counts came back ranging from 20 to 1,701 for the same material.
Can a cycle-tracking app work as birth control? The evidence, honestly
In a 22,785-user study of one temperature-based app, typical use failed 6.9 per 100 woman-years and perfect use 1.0 — but the study came from the maker, and traditional methods vary widely.
95% of human-microbiome-into-mice studies reported the disease transferred too
A systematic review in Cell called that rate implausible and said it overstates the gut microbiome's role in human disease. A separate audit found the statistical tools themselves disagree.
Does the pill change your mood or your weight? What the largest studies found
A million-woman Danish cohort found a modest rise in antidepressant use among hormonal contraceptive users. A Cochrane review of weight found no evidence the pill causes weight gain.
Low-FODMAP ranked first in every IBS comparison. No trial tested the part you do alone.
A network meta-analysis of 13 randomised trials put the diet ahead of every alternative for IBS symptoms. Its authors note the trials skipped reintroduction and personalisation entirely.
551 back pain trials, 71,126 patients, and almost none of it is good evidence
A network meta-analysis found six treatments clearing the clinically important threshold in the short term. It also graded 98.6% of the evidence very low certainty, and found nothing that held up past a year.
No trial has tested whether flossing prevents cavities. Cochrane says so twice.
Two Cochrane reviews found low- to very low-certainty evidence that floss slightly reduces gum inflammation. Neither found a single trial measuring interproximal decay, the thing flossing is sold to prevent.
The birth control failure rate on the box is the best case, not your case
The numbers most methods advertise are perfect-use figures from clinical trials. In everyday use the pill fails about seven users in 100 a year, the condom about 13, withdrawal about 20.