Sooner isn’t always better… especially when it comes to drug research.

In fact, drug studies that end early–something that happens more often than you might think–tend to exaggerate the med’s effectiveness and miss dangerous side effects and complications, according to a new report.

Researchers compared 91 studies that were cut short to 424 comparable studies that went the distance, and found that the truncated trials overestimated the study drug’s effectiveness by an average of 30 percent.

In some cases, these shortened studies didn’t just make a drug look more effective than it really was… but also magically turned completely ineffective meds into working drugs, according to the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

That’s some parlor trick… but it’s just the research equivalent of smoke and mirrors.

Studies are supposedly cut short only when patients are in danger, or researchers get overwhelmingly convincing evidence of a drug’s effectiveness… but in reality, those latter cases are usually just an early spike in the data.

They know this, by the way. They know it–but still end the study early. After all, that’s how the drug companies that fund most of these researchers like it: Get in, get the result you want, and get out–fast. Shorter trials are cheaper, the drug gets to market faster and they can even switch the placebo patients onto the pricey new med.

And, as an extra bonus, a shortened study is also less likely to reveal any potential problems with the med.

That’s the kind of stock-boosting side effect Big Pharma really likes.

Dr. Victor Montori, author of the new study, called the practice misleading… but he’s being kind. Let’s call this what it really is: a dangerous lie.

These lies can have fatal consequences. For example, a study on beta-blockers was cut short when it found seemingly conclusive evidence that these meds can prevent heart attacks during surgery.

So docs began using them based on that conclusion–and who knows how many lives were lost… because a larger trial later on found that some patients on these meds had significantly higher death rates.

When that happens, we’re well beyond “misleading.”

These trials aren’t cut short by a couple of hours, days or weeks… in some cases, they end years ahead of time. The JUPITER trial on the statin drug Crestor, for example, was cut short by two years.

Two whole years!

It’s like walking out on a movie before the end… and missing the part where the villain rises up and kills the main character.

But this tragic ending wasn’t made by Hollywood. As the new study shows, it was brought to you by Big Pharma.

What did you have for breakfast today?

If you helped yourself to bacon and eggs, good for you. But if cereal and a glass of juice are more your speed, you’re getting off to the wrong kind of start.

A new study finds that your choice of morning meal can actually set your body up for the rest of the day’s eating.

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham fed mice either a high-fat breakfast or a high-carb breakfast. They found that the mice that ate fats in the morning were better able to process the variety of foods that come along during the course of a day.

They basically had normal metabolisms, according to the study published in the International Journal of Obesity.

The carb-eating mice, on the other hand, had metabolisms that seemed locked in on carbs for the rest of the day. Even when they were eating other kinds of foods, their bodies were focused only on carbs.

And by the end of the day, these mice had higher weight gain, increased glucose intolerance and other risk factors for metabolic syndrome as a result.

Sound like anyone you know?

We’re a carb-crazy society in general… but at no time is that more obvious than breakfast. Toast, bagels, pancakes, cereals and all that orange juice we drink in the a.m. add up to a recipe for metabolic syndrome and all the problems that come along with it.

Just look around and you can see the damage it’s doing to us, and not just at breakfast time. We’re eating the unhealthiest carbs morning, noon and well into the night. For many people, those sugary cereals might be the healthiest food they eat all day.

But the new study also confirms how fatty foods, on the other hand, can help you to eat less overall. Fats help you to feel fuller for longer periods of time, and the researchers found that, by the end of the day, the fat- eating mice had consumed fewer calories overall.

We already know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day… but this new study is an eggs-cellent reminder of how to make sure you start yours off the right way.

Soda might be especially bad for kids… but it could be even worse for men who hope to have their own kids someday.

A new study finds that young men who drink a quart of cola each day have 30 percent fewer sperm swimming around. A quart may sound like a lot of soda–but it’s really just two of those 16-ounce plastic bottles most people consume easily enough.

Danish researchers looked at 2,500 young men and found that those who didn’t drink soda had a healthy 50 million sperm per milliliter of semen. Those who downed that daily quart, on the other hand, had an average of 35 million sperm per milliliter of semen, according to the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

That’s still enough to make a baby… but since lower sperm is linked to lower fertility, clearly these young men have a higher risk of reproductive problems–especially if those levels continue to fall as they age.

The researchers say cola alone may not be causing the sperm problems, since the soda-slurpers also tended to have unhealthier lifestyles. They were, for the most part, fast- food eaters. And like a lot of cola-loving youths, they didn’t make much time for fresh fruit and veggies.

But while these other reasons might also help explain millions of missing sperm, the researchers believe they know one thing that’s not causing it: caffeine. The study also found that men who drank coffee or tea instead of soda did not suffer from lower sperm levels.

Researchers are interested in what all that pop does to men since Danish youths have been increasing their consumption of this carbonated liquid poison. But if they’re really looking for some answers, they don’t need a study–they just need to look across the sea.

Americans consume more soda than any other people–and we’re also among the most overweight and diabetic. Soda is one of the prime ingredients fueling our problem-packed unhealthy lifestyle.

Soda has also been linked to tooth decay, liver problems and cell damage. Cell damage can actually disrupt your DNA, leading to conditions like Parkinson’s disease and cirrhosis.

And soda can also causes bone loss and poor mineralization, increasing the risk of broken bones and setting the stage for osteoporosis.

All that’s bad enough… but for men–especially young men– none of that may seem as bad as the idea of being less manly.

Looking for a new reason to quit smoking?

If the hacking, coughing, wheezing and bad breath aren’t enough… if the increased risk of lung cancer won’t do it… and if the higher likelihood of a stroke can’t get you to quit, maybe this latest reason will: Smokers simply aren’t as smart–and not just because they’ve made a unwise health decision.

A new study finds that nicotine fiends suffer from lower intelligence.

Israeli researchers looked at data on 20,000 men between the ages of 18 and 21 before, during and after their military service. And they found that the smokers among them had an average IQ of 94… versus 101 for the nonsmokers.

The average range for healthy mean in that age group, meanwhile, is between 84 and 116, so it’s the difference between being right in the middle and being much closer to the low end.

And the more you smoke, the more it seems to hurt: Men who puffed away at a pack or more a day had an average IQ of 90, according to the study published in the journal Addiction.

In other words, smoking won’t just shrink penises (you can look it up, it’s true!)… it will also shrink your intelligence.

The researchers say that while many people assume that smokers are more likely to come from rougher backgrounds and may have lower intelligence to begin with as a result, their study included men of diverse socio-economic levels– so they don’t believe background is a big factor.

They also looked at the impact of smoking and intelligence on twins, and found that when one twin smoked, the non- smoking brother was more likely to be the smarter of the two.

Remember, if you’re a smoker it’s not too late no matter how long you’ve been at it. Your body can actually undo much of the damage, and it starts the moment you quit.

But if you’ve been smoking for years, it could take years before you’re fully healed.

In other words, don’t wait–get started now. Smokers are four times more likely to die of coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. Smokers are also far more likely to die of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and countless other awful conditions.

And now, as the new study shows, it may hurt more than just your body–it could also hurt your mind.

You might say that quitting is the smartest choice you can make.