Latest Stories

Latest Stories

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Sleep impacts microvascular complications in T2D

If you’re living with type 2 diabetes, you know the importance of taking steps to keep your arteries healthy. But if your doctor hasn’t discussed your sleep habits, you could be missing a crucial factor in guarding against microvascular damage.

Carolyn Gretton

1 change in 17 risk factors reduces risk of stroke, dementia and depression

Health conditions start popping up like a game of Whac-a-Mole as we age. Smash one down, and another pops up. That makes prevention our best bet. What better odds than making one change to beat three diseases of the brain?

Joyce Hollman

Phthalates & placenta: The danger that breaches the womb

The placenta was thought to act as a shield protecting a developing baby from harmful substances. But a modern scourge has found a way to get in and wreak havoc. Here’s what moms-to-be need to know…

Carolyn Gretton

Dopamine receptors link pathways from ADHD to Parkinson’s and more

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter linked to pleasure and the brain’s reward center. New findings about it could lead to new treatments for disorders, including ADHD, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Why the fight against colon cancer might start in your mouth

In my work, I see the data regularly and know that colon cancer has been on the rise for several years. As more and more research is being carried out to get to the root causes and slow the tide, a disturbing revelation may have just been found in a surprising place — the mouth.

Joyce Hollman

The common condition accelerating Alzheimer’s

More than a blood sugar problem, T2D can set you on the road to cognitive decline by kickstarting mild cognitive impairment, a transitional phase from cognitive changes in normal aging to those typically found in dementia.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Need an excuse to clean your tongue? Try these alarming conditions

You brush and floss, but do you scrape your tongue? One reason for this practice is to get rid of smelly bacteria that cause bad breath. Another is to keep ahead of conditions that steal your health.

Margaret Cantwell

Cordyceps: Superfood or brain-hijacking ‘zombie’ fungus

Mushrooms are potent botanicals. And at the moment, one fungus in particular is trending: Cordyceps. You should know about its history with (hopefully, not the last of) us, and the fungus that’s made the jump from soil to humans…

Joyce Hollman

What vitamin C can do for pancreatic cancer

Some cancers are especially cruel, like pancreatic cancer. It’s hard to detect and can progress rapidly. But a treatment added to standard chemotherapy, could double the life expectancy for those facing this challenge…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The warning men get 10 years before their brain shrinks

While we all face risk factors that could steal our brain health, men need to start paying attention to them an entire decade earlier than women. For one brain threat, in particular, men’s vulnerability is greater, begins sooner and lasts longer…

Joyce Hollman

The snack swap that takes cholesterol down

Eating lots of fiber and doing lots of exercise can help lower cholesterol — an important measure to avoid metabolic syndrome, stroke and heart attack. But a simple nutty snack swap could work just as well…

Joyce Hollman

The condition you won’t find in a long-lived family tree

Do you get leg cramps when you walk even a short distance? Do your legs feel heavy, numb, or weak? Don’t write these symptoms off as arthritis or “getting older.” It could be the reason your family gets short-changed when it comes to longevity.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The longlasting harm of brief glyphosate exposure

Glyphosate, the herbicide made famous by Roundup®, opened up a Pandora’s Box. It’s not in the news much, but it’s still a threat. That’s because even when exposed to a little, research shows it hangs around harming the brain…

Joyce Hollman

Sugary drinks linked to rising rates of oral cancer

Research has found clear links between sugary drinks and accelerated aging, diabetes and heart disease. Now, the popular drinks look to be outpacing smoking and alcohol in contributing to oral cancer…

Carolyn Gretton

The overlooked menopause symptom stealing your energy

During menopause, most women experience a new level of fatigue. There are a lot of reasons why, including hot flashes, sleep problems, pain and depression, to name a few. But a common culprit is often overlooked…

Joyce Hollman

Balance this organ to balance your stress response

Sleep is only one process your body clock handles. Stress response is another. If your stress response feels out of control, research has discovered how you can balance it by doing the same with an organ critical for regulating stress hormone secretion…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Are plant-based milks all they’re cracked up to be?

Plant-based diets are linked to better health, longevity and healthier body weight. But a close look at the nutritional value of plant-based milk and the process of making it that may bring cancer into the mix, begs this question…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Sleep apnea’s dementia double threat for women

Two conditions that seem to have nothing in common may team up to increase dementia in women. They both steal sleep and starve the brain of oxygen. But 90% of women with one of the conditions go undiagnosed. Bet you can guess which one…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

4 nutraceuticals for natural migraine relief

Most of my life I’ve been one of the 40% that suffer from migraines. Some medications have helped, but often with difficult side effects. It’s good to know there are other choices…

Carolyn Gretton

Is your brain care score enough to beat dementia and stroke?

Lifestyle habits impact brain health. And now, that impact can be measured with a simple online test. But here’s the real question: if you’re genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s, stroke or depression, can you change your brain care score to beat it?

Virginia Tims-Lawson

Got 5 minutes? Lower your blood pressure

Managing blood pressure has its ups and downs. But when research tested this option on 14,700 volunteers, they had great news. If you’ve got 5 minutes a day you could have an easier time keeping those numbers down…

Carolyn Gretton

The fruity swap that beats back insulin resistance

Insulin resistance is a slow but steady road to chronic illness, starting with type 2 diabetes. You can sit back and do nothing or reach for the tasty fruit that beats back blood sugar trouble…

Joyce Hollman

The best processed foods for weight loss

If you find it hard to follow a whole foods diet, abhor frequent trips to the market for fresh produce and enjoy the convenience of processed food, I’ve found a deal for you: Processed foods that make the weight fall off…

Carolyn Gretton

Medications that can increase your skin cancer risk

I learned at a young age that my pale skin burns fast. So I have an arsenal of all the “right ways” to protect it. Imagine my dismay at discovering all the medications that could sabotage my efforts…

Carolyn Gretton

The answer to reversing Alzheimer’s may already be on the pharmacy shelf

One reason Alzheimer’s disease is such a dreaded diagnosis is there’s no effective treatment to halt its progression. But one research team has found potential in medications that have been used for years to treat other conditions that appear to reverse it. But is the answer in the medications or the conditions themselves?

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

This one thing reduces Alzheimer’s plaques by 76%

Research shows it can beat back heart disease, stroke and cancer, and even slow brain aging and reverse age-related brain shrinkage. So, should we even be surprised it significantly reduces amyloid plaques?

Virginia Tims-Lawson

Wearable devices help predict IBD flare-ups

Unpredictability might be the worst thing about an inflammatory bowel condition. There are times when pain and diarrhea are more than inconvenient. What if you could predict your next flare-up weeks in advance?

Joyce Hollman

Art by the numbers boosts seniors’ mental health

Older adults are at higher risk for depression. They can also fall victim to anxiety. You may have heard of paint by the numbers, but it’s art by the numbers that can give them the mental health boost they need…

Carolyn Gretton

What women should know about pelvic organ prolapse and UTI

Pelvic organ prolapse affects roughly half of all women to some degree. Surgery can relieve its impact on quality of life, but surgery alone may not be the answer to the frequent UTIs…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The heavy metal making your allergies worse

Living with allergies, you might think your miserable symptoms are something you’re stuck with. Hold on to your socks. If you’ve noticed they’re worse, it’s not your typical trigger…

Jenny Smiechowski

Does the sea hold the solution to your food allergies?

In this day and age, it seems like nearly everyone has some type of food allergy — gluten, dairy, soy, wheat, peanuts, shellfish, tree nuts. Chances are you’re avoiding one (if not more) of these allergens.

Joyce Hollman

Joint supplement ingredient fights MS better than approved therapy

Multiple sclerosis is a debilitating autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system. As more people are diagnosed, the current therapy isn’t cutting it. But research into a common supplement ingredient shows it may be possible to restore function in some patients…

Carolyn Gretton

Yoga: Heart protective enough even for heart failure

Yoga has many proven benefits. But what if your heart is failing? Research has shown a short course of yoga to be helpful in receiving some heart failure symptoms. But what you really want to know is whether it can help your heart function over the long term…

Carolyn Gretton

7 things happy people do that reduce depression by 57%

The factors influencing depression are very complex. But researchers keep digging into why some experience it more than others and they’ve discovered seven things that, if you follow, could take depression down, even if genetics is a factor…

Virginia Tims-Lawson

Blood pressure management: Why winter can derail it

If you’ve managed to keep your blood pressure under control despite all the factors working against you, I’ll bet you never imagined the weather could throw a big kink into your readings…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Study finds exercise has ‘mind-blowing’ effect on genetic cancer risk

Study after study has already proven exercise to be one of the most valuable weapons in the battle against cancer. But what about people who are genetically predisposed and carry much greater odds? To quote one researcher, it was mind-blowing…

Joyce Hollman

Why late nights lead to blood sugar trouble

Can avoiding diabetes really be as simple as switching from a night owl to a morning person? The science says the difference can be substantial. But if your circadian rhythm or job makes that hard, you’re not doomed…

Jedha Dening

5 reasons you need more folate over 50

The health problems certainly seem to stack-up on us as we age… And one reason is because of changes in the body that affect nutrient absorption. In mature adults, more commonly known deficiencies include vitamin D and B12. But folate is one nutrient that’s equally important and often forgotten. Here are 5 ways it can help you age better…

Joyce Hollman

How a fat-burning hormone could keep Alzheimer’s away

Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease for which there still isn’t an effective treatment. Experts say the newest drugs carry risks far higher than any noticeable benefit. Wouldn’t it be nice to have another way to slow Alzheimer’s, one much less likely to cause a brain bleed that may already be supporting your health?

Carolyn Gretton

The supplement that may soon fight tooth decay

Dental caries, or tooth decay, is one of the oldest and most common diseases known to man. Yes, it’s a disease and its damage goes far beyond your mouth. So we brush and floss and try to avoid the sugar that kicks it off. But a powerful phytonutrient just may make caring for our teeth easier…

Carolyn Gretton

How fitness influences Afib and stroke risk

The most dangerous outcome of atrial fibrillation is stroke. People with this heart rhythm disorder have five times the stroke risk of their peers. How can you avoid being one of the 40 million worldwide with Afib? Research says a low level of fitness should do the trick…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Fast-working over-the-counter ED gel gets FDA approval

The famous little blue pill helped men with ED discover they no longer had to suffer in shame or silence. In just 30 minutes you could get your sexy back. But thanks to a newly approved gel, spontaneous romance is back, and coming to a pharmacy near you.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The little-known drug danger people with obesity face

Over the years, we’ve learned that obesity carries higher levels of health risks. But a shocking and little-known obesity-related danger comes from a surprising source: medication that’s rendered ineffective or unsafe by increased body fat…

Joyce Hollman

6 ways to bake heart-healthy holiday sweets

Holiday baking is going into full swing. That means lots of butter and sugar, right? If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know that it isn’t the butter that will kill you. It’s the sugar. Here are seven ways to enjoy holiday sweets without heart attack danger…

Easy Health Options Staff

Halloween horror diet scares away calories

Sitting through a horror movie can make you scream and sweat. Even better, it activates metabolic activity that can burn calories from dipping into the bowl of candy you got for the trick-or-treaters! Here are the top 10 calorie-burning horror movies…

Virginia Tims-Lawson

The weird connection between constipation and blood pressure

Having constipation can be uncomfortable. But its effects on the body don’t just impact the gut. Constipatiion and hypertension are two conditions where the conditions and their treatments can team up to make matters much worse…

Carolyn Gretton

Ignoring these bathroom symptoms can cut your life short

If you’re a man in your 50s or older, you may have experienced frequent urination and problems emptying your bladder. You may think it’s just a part of aging you have to put up with. But research shows the consequences of ignoring lower urinary tract symptoms can be dire…

Jenny Smiechowski

Tis the season for high risk heart trouble on Christmas Eve

You’re just about to tackle the last of the of unwrapped presents when you feel tightness in your chest. A heart attack? On Christmas Eve? It’s more common than you think. So if you experience pent-up emotions this time of year, or plain old stress, time to manage them…

Joyce Hollman

Mistletoe: From Christmas tradition to cancer treatment

Hanging mistletoe is a popular holiday tradition. But mistletoe extract has gotten the attention of researchers as a potent anticancer agent. It’s already shown promise in treatment resistance cancer, so what’s next?

Carolyn Gretton

Blood pressure: The one thing you should take lying down

You may think your high blood pressure is managed well. Better yet, your readings may indicate you’re in the clear. But did you try measuring your blood pressure lying down? It’s taken 25 years to get the data, but this is going to change the way we monitor our blood pressure, for good reason.

Joyce Hollman

What giving up fats and carbs does to your life expectancy

Which is more important: a perfect body or a long and healthy life? That’s the kind of question that can make you go hmmm, because we think they’re one and the same. Healthy weight, healthy body, healthy life, right? Not if you’re going to extremes to get there.

Joyce Hollman

Why glaucoma may be the sneakiest sight stealer

You probably get a yearly checkup. But when was the last time you had your eyes examined? As we age, several conditions can degrade our eyesight. Glaucoma is one of them. And new research has found you could be suffering that damage right now — without any obvious telltale signs.

Carolyn Gretton

The natural ingredient that resists fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease can be a setup for severe liver disease, diabetes and heart disease. There’s no treatment, so exercise and diet changes are recommended. But it just got a lot easier to resist a fatty liver and improve metabolism…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Women and the long-term effects of chronic fatigue syndrome

Certain diseases affect women disproportionately, like chronic fatigue syndrome. Though the medical establishment recognizes the condition, they can offer little help. But the world’s largest study of the disease reveals why it’s important to try to manage your symptoms better now than later…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

6 odd signs of heart disease

We’re conditioned to think of high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and even shortness of breath when it comes to heart disease. But, there are outward signs, too. Here are the six signs you should look for…

Carolyn Gretton

How your smartwatch or fitness tracker can make you sick

These days, a lot of folks are wearing smartwatches and fitness trackers to get healthy. These electronics monitor heart rate and blood pressure or help us meet step goals. But, surprisingly, there’s a dark side about them that can actually make you sick…

Joyce Hollman

7 habits proven to reduce breast cancer recurrence

For a breast cancer survivor, the emotional repercussions are twofold: on the one hand, there’s relief. On the other hand, there’s the fear it can reappear at any time and without warning. These 7 habits can put your mind at ease…

Joyce Hollman

Blue legs syndrome: The latest long COVID symptom

Long-haulers are people previously infected with COVID-19 who continue to live with symptoms like fatigue, headaches, brain fog and shortness of breath. But COVID isn’t the only virus that can affect the body in strange ways, and blue legs don’t get much stranger…

Carolyn Gretton

How naked mole rats may help us live longer and cancer-free

Nake mole rats live nearly 10 times longer than other rodents of similar size and have shown resistance to age-related diseases including cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease and arthritis. And their secret may help us do the same…

Joyce Hollman

Flavanols: Heart health support that’s ‘official’

Guidelines have long been established for vitamins to help us avoid deficiencies. But bioactive compounds, nutrients that go beyond basic nutrition and are studied for their potential to prevent disease, are different. And flavanols have just become official…

«SPONSORED»