Health Advice

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Clean air, cleaner bill of health

As fires rage in California, more information is coming out air pollution's risk for serious health problems. High levels of fine particles in smoke, burning coal, and from road traffic, called PM2.5 have been found to increase the risk for dementia. High daily levels are also associated with chronic bronchitis, reduced lung function, and lung ...Read more

The power of purpose

Having a positive purpose is essential for optimal health, happiness and longevity. But having a sense of purpose can be elusive sometimes. Around 60% of young adults say that during the past month, they felt they lacked meaning or purpose in their lives, and only 28% say their work is meaningful. And for folks ages 50 and older, a study in JAMA...Read more

Is social networking making you irritable?

You hear a lot about how harmful social media is to kids' and teens' emotional and mental health. (Studies correlate the increasing incidence of non-suicidal self-injury and suicide in young people with the ever-increasing influence of social media on daily living.) But did you know it's harming grown-ups, too?

A new study in JAMA Network Open ...Read more

Don't let vitamin D determine if you get a migraine

Almost 40 million folks in the U.S. have been diagnosed and treated for migraine. That adds up to over 160 million workdays lost every year -- not to mention the severe pain and misery the headaches cause.

Migraine triggers vary from person to person. Stress, hormone shifts, irregular eating patterns, sleep disturbances, alcohol, smoking, even ...Read more

Cool it -- but not too much!

When a winter chill blankets most of the nation, it's hard to imagine that older folks could be harmed by having their home too warm. But that's the conclusion of a new study in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences that reveals seniors are most cognitively alert when the indoor temperature is 68 F to 75 F. If the temp varies by even 7 ...Read more

Multiply your chances of dodging dementia

The new year started off with a bang -- especially when it comes to confirming two simple steps you can take to protect your brain from cognition problems and Alzheimer's.

It's not news to anyone who reads this column that eating processed red meat poses a huge risk for body-wide inflammation, heart disease, diabetes and other chronic ...Read more

Spotlight on grocery stores' highly processed food bombs

Ultra-processed foods make up 60% of the calories Americans consume, leaving folks nutritionally deficient and at increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, dementia -- the list goes on and on.

One reason so much of what Americans eat is stripped of nutrition and loaded with sugars, additives and preservatives, is that many ...Read more

Simplifying your battle against Type 2 diabetes complications

Many of you find that managing Type 2 diabetes is complicated -- juggling medication, insulin, dietary plans and ways to manage your weight. And it can get even more complicated if you develop the well-known complications of Type 2 diabetes, such as eye, nerve, kidney and heart disease.

Unfortunately, new research indicates there are additional...Read more

New insights into the newer weight-loss drugs

A KKF poll finds that, overall, 12% of Americans have used or are using a GLP-1 agonist like Trulicity, Ozempic or Mounjaro for weight loss or to manage Type 2 diabetes and associated complications. Specifically, around 25% of folks who have been told they have heart disease are taking it and that goes up to 40% among those with Type 2 diabetes....Read more

How to lower your increasing risk for cognition problems

Half a million Americans will be diagnosed with dementia this year. That represents a 42% jump in the risk that someone age 55 or older will develop the life-altering condition. In fact, an NIH-sponsored study in Nature Medicine reveals that half of all adults in the U.S. will experience cognition problems after age 55. And by 2060, there will ...Read more

Good morning, joe

More than half of Americans agree with the statement, "Coffee is pure pleasure to me." No wonder a third of folks drink an estimated three to five cups a day. And while they love it as a pick-me-up, a source of warmth, and a morning ritual, they may not know what it is doing once it gets inside them.

A new study in Nature Microbiology shows ...Read more

The non-vegetarian's smart balance of animal and plant proteins

We are a nation of carnivores -- about 70% of Americans' protein comes from highly inflammatory, saturated fat-packed animal sources, two to three times the global average. (Americans don't eat much healthy, fatty fish, like salmon.) And women in the U.S. only get around 11% of their protein from fruits and vegetables, including legumes as well ...Read more

The ABCs of PPIs and CVD

If you're post-menopausal, you're two to three times more likely to develop GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) than you were before -- and you're probably taking a PPI (protein pump inhibitor) to quell the fire. Around 50 million folks in the U.S. take the meds, even though there's concern that the risks of long-term use may outweigh the ...Read more

Knee'd to know: alternatives to total knee replacement

Almost 800,000 total knee replacements (TKRs) are done in the U.S. every year, offering many folks a chance to reclaim total mobility. But the surgery is complex, recovery demanding, and it can pose difficulties for people with severe obesity and some heart and lung problems.

Fortunately, there are now a couple of possible alternatives that are...Read more

 

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