Little proof for some altitude sickness 'cures'

New York

WHEN the pop band Panic! at the Disco played in Colorado at the Red Rocks amphitheatre more than a mile (1.6 kilometre) above sea level, the frontman, Brendon Urie, joked that his "drug of choice" was oxygen.

Urie raised his elevation to 6,400 feet (1,950 metres) when he travelled from a gig in Las Vegas to the stage outside Denver in October, so he kept an oxygen tank nearby for quick hits when he felt what he called "lightheaded" during the performance. "It acted as a kind of security blanket," he said.

And there are a lot of security blankets being sold to Rocky Mountain visitors:…