Average number of Americans hospitalized each July with sparkler injuries: 1,020 (1)
Per cent of 1255 people (100%) going to the ER with serious food allergy symptoms due to peanuts or milk respectively: 23% / 15% (2)
Per cent of people who self-report having a milk allergy or a peanut allergy that actually have a positive skin or blood test for either allergy: <1% (3)
Amount spent by food companies on cross-promotion advertising (agreements between different companies to promote each other’s products) to children and adolescents in 2006: $195 million (4)
Number of cross-promoted products in 2006 and 2008 respectively: 96 / 171
Per cent of cross-promoted food that met the Institute of Medicine’s standards for foods sold in schools: 18%
Increased risk of collision when texting while driving: X 23 (5)
Number of annual traffic accidents associated with use of cell phone talking or texting: 1.6 million
Per cent of all traffic accidents associated with same: 28%
Number of states that have passed laws regarding cellphone use while driving: 40
Rate of gastrointestinal bleeding within 30 days of a colonoscopy: 1.6 per 1000 exams (6)
- This very low rate and the even lower rate of 1 perforation per 5000 exams means that colonoscopies are quite safe.
Per cent reduction in rates of all kinds of cancer in people who eat lots of fruits and vegetable: 3%
- This massive study of 500,000 people in 11 European countries completing a year-long food-frequency questionnaire with an average of 9 years of follow-up led the NIH to the conclusion that “a broad effort to increase fruit and vegetable consumption would not have an effect on cancer incidence” …unless you are a smoker or a heavy drinker. (7)
Increased risk of dying from a motorcycle injury if you are over 40 years old rather than under 40: x 2 (8)
Per cent of injured motorcyclists who were wearing a helmet: 73% for both over and under 40 years old
Number of poisonous gases , chemicals, or metals identified in tobacco smoke: 250 (9)
Number of those that are classified as class A carcinogens: 11
Chance that a lifelong smoker will die prematurely from a complication of smoking: 50% (10)
Per cent who resume smoking within one month after trying to quit on their own: 80%
- There is no question that nicotine is addictive, and that smoking is a highly efficient means of drug administration.
- Smoking tobacco “improves concentration, reaction time, and performance of certain tasks. Relief from withdrawal symptoms is probably the primary reason for this enhanced performance and heightened mood.”
Number of Burmese pythons captured in the Everglades in 2000 and 2008 respectively: 2 / 343 (11)
- Such pythons grow to 20 feet in length, weigh up to 200 pounds, and EAT alligators! “By the time they reach two years of age, not much can eat them in the Everglades.” This population was started by the release of pet snakes which can grow from 20 inches to 8 feet in a single year.
Number of minutes of cell phone use equivalent to one day’s exposure to radio frequency waves if you live next to a cell phone tower: 30 (12)
- This study of 1400 cancer cases in children over a 3 year period in the U.K. showed no increase in childhood cancers in offspring of mothers who lived near cell phone towers while pregnant.
References:
1. Harper’s Index; June 2010, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
2.Pediatrics April 2010
3. JAMA May 2010
4. Public Health Nutr March 2010
5. NEJM June 10, 2010; 362:23
6. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2010 Feb.
7. J Natl Cancer Inst 2010 Apr 21,
8. Univ. of Rochester medical Center
9. NEJM June 17, 2010, 326:24, pg. 2319 National Toxicology Program
10. NEJM 362:24 June 17, 2010, pg. 2295, “Nicotine Addiction”, N. Benowitz, MD
11. Sci Am Feb 2010, pg. 16
12. BMJ online, June 23, 2010, Paul Elliot
HUB's LIST of medical fun facts 