ArcaMax

Americans are (unfortunately) crazy for sweet-tasting beverages. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 63% of adults down at least one sugar-sweetened soda, sweetened fruit drinks, sports/energy drink, or sweetened coffee/tea drink a day.

Every year, around 610,000 folks have their first stroke.

What do these two facts have ...Read more

When you get your high blood pressure under control, the pressure is off. You can relax a bit about increased cardiovascular risks associated with a blood pressure (BP) reading of more than 110/75 and an increased risk for dementia that's related to a reading of 125/85 or higher. But the pressure can be off in another way -- because of your arm ...Read more

Gambling is a $40 billion-a-year business in the U.S., and that doesn't include the $50 billion that was spent last year on weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.

Those drugs are a gamble, too. It's not because they don't work, they do! But because when you go off them, to cut expenses, avoid side effects, or you think, "Mission ...Read more

Social media -- with all the positives it provides for community, exchange of info and plain ol' fun -- can turn into an instrument of profound harm, fueling poor self-image and depression, and encouraging potentially lethal activities such as the recent "Chroming Challenge" that has killed kids who are huffing toxic fumes. Well, it turns out ...Read more

It's been more than a decade since Flint, Michigan's battle to get "the powers that be" to acknowledge lead contamination in their water supply, but we still hear alarms about risks across the nation. A 2023 Environmental Protection Agency report says half of the 9.2 million pipes that contain lead in this country are found in Florida, Illinois,...Read more

"Your guess is as good as mine." (Probably both wrong.) "This is as good as it gets." (You want a lot better.) Doesn't look smart to settle for just "as good as" in many situations, and we suggest that's especially true with exercise.

A new study in Circulation says that being a weekend warrior and getting 150 minutes of exercise on Saturday ...Read more

Odd couples -- from TV's Felix (Tony Randall) and Oscar (Jack Klugman) to the 1968 movie with Jack Lemmon (as Felix) and Walter Matthau (as Oscar) -- are fan favorites. And we have another favorite odd couple to introduce you to: kombucha (a fizzy, fermented tea) and berries, especially blackberries. These two foods are loaded with flavonoids, ...Read more

According to a Cleveland Clinic survey, Gen Z men born between 1997 and 2005 have some 'splaining to do about their health care. While they say healthy living is important, 40% don't have a primary care doctor. And many guys aren't sure if they've ever had their blood pressure, cholesterol or weight checked. Only around a third of them have an ...Read more

iTunes, or should we say "eye-tunes," like "Doctor My Eyes" (Jackson Browne) and "Double Vision" (Foreigner), express how quality of life is affected by what you can and cannot see. That's why it's so alarming to hear that by 2030, over 30% of young kids and 40% of teens will be nearsighted. And globally, in the next 25 years, there will be 740 ...Read more

A stroke hits almost 800,000 folks a year in the U.S. That means someone, somewhere in America, has a stroke every 40 seconds, and every four minutes someone dies from it.

Why is stroke so prevalent -- and can you do anything to reduce your risk? The prevalence, according to research published in The Lancet Neurology, comes from the epidemics ...Read more

The Brits once advised school kids to look to their "As and Bs, and Ps and Qs." And eventually, on both sides of the pond, minding your Ps and Qs came to mean, "watch your behavior." That fits perfectly with new research that finds minding your peas and quinoa -- along with other good-for-you foods -- is exactly how to behave if you want to ...Read more

In the old days, some folks advocated washing your mouth out with soap if you said something they thought was "dirty." While that's been abandoned as a popular tool of discipline, no one should ever give up on the idea of keeping their mouth clean and healthy.

When food gets lodged between teeth, plaque builds up around the gums and you can ...Read more

There are more than 200 types of headaches, but migraine is one of the most life-altering and difficult to treat. This neurologically caused condition may begin with an aura and then move into four to 72 hours of unrelenting pain, nausea and sensitivity to light, as pain-producing, inflammatory substances are released around nerves and blood ...Read more

You know the phrase, "You are what you eat." Well, for a pregnant woman, her newborn becomes what she eats! A study of pregnant baboons shows that when a mom-to-be eats a high-fat, calorie-loaded diet, her offspring ends up with faulty heart development. The child is also likely to be born insulin-resistant, upping the risk for Type 2 diabetes. ...Read more