Latest Stories

Latest Stories

Joyce Hollman

The ‘hereditary’ toxicity of chemotherapy

The effectiveness of chemotherapy could be debated all day. But if you weigh surviving cancer against the toxicity of the therapy, you can see why so many go through with it. And why so many look for alternative therapies. But there’s a new consideration for cancer patients who want to be parents…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

8 vitamins for supple summer skin

Between fluctuating hormone levels, falling collagen levels, oxidative stress and the summer sun, your skin could probably use some help repairing itself these days. That’s where these eight skin-saving vitamins come in…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Two big reasons you need more vitamin C this summer

Summer is here and that means fun in the sun. Taking vitamins might not be at the top of your list when it comes to summer must-haves, but there are two big reasons vitamin C should be, and one of them is sunburn protection…

Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby

The vitamin everyone needs (especially diabetics) for kidney protection

Protecting your kidneys is critical to health. But did you know one of the most dangerous and prevalent side effects of type 2 diabetes is kidney damage? So in addition to properly managing diabetes, it’s vitally important to be sure you’re not deficient in this one very important vitamin…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Why summer heat is hard on your heart and how to keep cool

If you have heart problems, it’s important to understand how heat can compound your risks. When your body tries to cool down, the process stresses the heart in several ways, But you can still enjoy summer, keep your cool and stay safe with these tips…

Joyce Hollman

5 serious conditions that can make you really thirsty

Excessive thirst can be a sign of dehydration or overheating. But it can also signal a much more serious health problem. If you’re finding yourself more thirsty than usual, it may have absolutely nothing to do with the summer heat, and everything to do with an underlying condition, like one of these…

Carolyn Gretton

Matcha tea: Nature’s antidepressant in a cup

It’s not uncommon to feel down on occasion. But persistent feelings of sadness that impact daily life could indicate depression. Even with treatment, up to a third feel left out in the cold. With those odds, it’s helpful to know a warm cup of the right tea could help.

Jenny Smiechowski

5 reasons mosquitoes love you and how to turn them off

Are you a mosquito magnet? Do you wonder why everyone else can enjoy a great summer cookout while you get swarmed by disease-carrying, welt-inducing, blood-sucking insects? Well, it turns out, there are several potential reasons why you could top the mosquitoes’ most desirable list…

Joyce Hollman

Taurine: The anti-aging amino acid

Imagine turning up the switch on a natural substance your body produces to avoid the ailments of aging. Wishful thinking? Not with this amino acid’s potential to suppress weight gain, increase bone mass, muscle strength and endurance, reduce depression, insulin resistance, DNA damage and more…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Watermelon for better blood pressure and blood sugar

Research published in the journal Current Atherosclerosis Reports took into account decades of data on the health effects of watermelon. What did they find? Eating watermelon could be one of the best things you do for your blood pressure and blood sugar…

Joyce Hollman

Why alcohol and summer heat is a recipe for heat stroke

While warmer weather makes us want those refreshing-looking cocktails, especially the ones with those adorable little umbrellas, there are some definite hazards to drinking alcohol during the hot summer months. The combination of heat and alcohol in your system has some very dangerous effects on your body.

Jenny Smiechowski

The ingredient sunscreen and cheese have in common

Titanium dioxide as an ingredient in sunscreen. But it’s a food additive as well. A food grade version is found in everything from chewing gum to cheese to chocolate to condiments. In fact, it is in so many everyday foods, you should know how it’s fueling poor health and chronic disease…

Joyce Hollman

Why defeating Alzheimer’s starts in your bedroom

Since specific foods offer brain protection, you could say defeating Alzheimer’s starts in the kitchen. But there’s another room where you’re likely doing something that increases your sensitivity to oxidative stress and invites damaging plaques and tangles to take up in your brain…

Craig Cooper

Vitamin may solve problem of the little blue pill

The list of possible causes of erectile dysfunction is long, yet one option is often overlooked, and it’s a simple fix. The results of numerous studies have indicated that a common vitamin deficiency can have a significant impact on a man’s sex life…

Joyce Hollman

Is a wheat sensitivity causing your crushing fatigue?

If you live with daily, crushing fatigue that sleep doesn’t fix, you could have chronic fatigue syndrome. There’s a good chance the cause is food related. That’s because research has revealed a link between two hard-to-diagnose conditions, so you can begin to get to the bottom of things.

Camille Johnson

Taking charge after a cancer diagnosis

Being told you have cancer can be an overwhelming experience. It can be easy to let others lead, however, it is important to advocate for yourself and be an active participant in decisions that involve your care and treatment. These tips can help you take control…

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas MD, FACC

Men: Keeping your heart health in midlife

When I was in medical school, a heart attack in a 40-year-old man was rare. Not anymore. We used to think heart disease happened primarily to older adults. But two risk factors hitting all-time high rates among men between the ages of 35 and 64 means it’s time to double down…

Jenny Smiechowski

6 supplements that lift lagging energy levels

Some people have plenty of energy. They’re out at Fleetwood Mac concerts. Cooking boeuf bourguignon for the family. Keeping a house so clean and well-decorated it would make Martha Stewart jealous. But if you’re not one of them, these six supplements can help you get your energy and your life back!

Joyce Hollman

The vitamin that halves the risk of melanoma

The common wisdom has been that, other than avoiding the sun and monitoring changes in your skin, there wasn’t much you could do to prevent melanoma, especially if you were at high risk. A vitamin study just changed everything about that…

Carolyn Gretton

Protecting pets from toxins linked to canine lymphoma

Cancer is difficult enough for humans. But when it comes to our dogs, it can be heartbreaking for us. Lymphoma in dogs is similar in many ways to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans, including concerns linking exposure to the herbicide glyphosate to the development of cancer.

Carolyn Gretton

Identical twins reveal exercise changes gene expression

We all know the drill: get more exercise, have better health. But one thing many of us don’t know is how deep the impact of exercise goes. There’s evidence it may not only influence cellular behavior but whether or not genes define your health destiny..

Joyce Hollman

How leaky gut leads to weight gain

Digestive troubles are so common, we pay them little mind. But the condition that allows bacterial toxins to leak into the bloodstream causes bigger problems: A cycle of weight gain and the inability to lose weight, by changing how the body metabolizes fat.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The secret to reducing stroke and heart attack with fewer steps

It’s exciting that health improvements can be measured by the number of steps we take. But for many of us, taking 10,000 steps every day seems impossible. Well, for cardiovascular health you may not have too, as long as you make these incremental steps…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The drink that protects against kidney damage

Acute kidney injury is a sudden episode of kidney failure or kidney damage that happens within a few hours or a few days. When it does, things can go downhill fast. Age, diabetes and heart or kidney problems increase your risk. But there’s one drink that can bring it down…

Carolyn Gretton

Alcohol and aging add up to accelerated muscle loss

There’s a lot of conflicting information as to whether moderate drinking can impact health in a good way or not. But one thing most researchers agree on is that crossing the line can lead to heart problems, dementia, cancer and this scourge of aging…

Joyce Hollman

How junk food interferes with brain-cleaning deep sleep

Have you gone to bed too soon after a slice of pizza, only to toss and turn with indigestion? Junk food can do far worse. It appears to be a culprit in altering slow-wave brain activity essential to the deep restorative sleep that “cleans” toxins from your brain…

Jenny Smiechowski

AGEs: Why diabetes is bad for your bones

Diabetes comes with a long list of complications that affect many parts of the body including the brain, heart, eyes, feet and kidneys. But less known is the skyrocketing risk of bone fractures, especially hip fractures, that diabetics face. Here’s why and how to reduce your risk of a life-changing break…

Carolyn Gretton

Remove cancer-causing toxins from your home with plants

Did you know the air within your home and building you work in can be more polluted than outdoor air even in a large city? That includes cancer-causing airborne toxins, unless you have a housefull of plants. Science says they can detox your air in a shockingly short amount of time…

Joyce Hollman

Alzheimer’s drug’s accelerated approval leads to deadly stroke

Ever hear the expression, “out of the frying pan, into the fire”? In healthcare, that expression could apply when a drug meant to treat a disease carries side effects far worse than the disease itself. That’s exactly the case with a newly approved drug for Alzheimer’s…

Carolyn Gretton

Eating grapes leads to subtle gut changes for major benefits

More than 1,600 phytochemical compounds have been identified in grapes, all of which affect different processes in the body. So benefits from lowering cholesterol to protecting the brain are not surprising. Now we have a better understanding of how they work, starting in the gut…

Virginia Tims-Lawson

Meeting the brain’s energy needs connected to slower aging

The mitochondria found in our cells generate about 95 percent of the body’s energy. As we age, that energy declines. Research has found a connection between the brain’s ability to pull in glucose and the level of energy produced by mitochondria — one that could hold the link to living longer and healthier.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

How cocoa lessens the risk of fatty liver

A fatty liver increases risk for liver damage, liver cancer, liver failure and even death. But there may be a surprisingly pleasant way to halt the progression of fatty liver and improve the health of this vital organ.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Nutrient combo combats pain and symptoms of uterine fibroids

Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous tumors that develop from the muscle in the uterus, typically in women of child-bearing age. The condition usually stabilizes, and symptoms lessen or go away on their own once a woman goes through menopause when her hormones decline. But till then?

Joyce Hollman

Harnessing the brain’s cleaning mechanism may reverse Alzheimer’s

Past research has shown the brain’s cellular cleaning mechanism can help take out the trash that leads to Alzheimer’s, and there are ways to naturally encourage the process. But what happens when, despite everything, this cleaning system breaks down? An experimental drug may have the answer to reversing it…

Carolyn Gretton

Sleepy in the daytime? It could affect this key marker of aging

Aging is directly connected to the shrinking of your telomeres, compounds that protect your chromosomes from damage. But there are several other factors that could shorten your telomeres and potentially accelerate the aging process — for instance, finding yourself constantly in need of an afternoon nap…

Carolyn Gretton

The veggies diabetics should be eating for kidney health

Diabetic nephropathy can strike one out of four people with diabetes, leading to loss of kidney function and the need for dialysis. While there is no cure yet for this condition, researchers are exploring options — and may have found one in a certain group of vegetables…

Joyce Hollman

The exercise sweet spot that keeps blood pressure in check

Three decades of research have further validated the role of exercise for healthy blood pressure. But it’s also shown that the “long game” matters. But if you haven’t stuck to your exercise routine, it’s not too late…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Air pollution: What you should know about this silent threat

Air pollution has not only been associated with asthma and lung diseases but also diabetes and heart attack. Research shows that in the U.S. alone 50,000 people will die this year due to one particular type of air pollution, a silent killer known as PM2.5. Here’s how to protect yourself…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Probiotics may keep respiratory infections away

As they say, prevention is the best medicine. And one of the most promising ways to avoid illness is to shore up your immune system by promoting a healthy and balanced gut microbiome.

Joyce Hollman

The once-a-day nutrient that eats away anxiety

When feelings of intense fear and dread become overwhelming and prevent us from doing everyday activities, an anxiety disorder may be the cause. Anxiety can be brought under control with medications, but at a cost. Don’t let it eat at you when you can eat it away…

Carolyn Gretton

Three times in life when your aging gets ramped up

Most of us perceive aging as a straight line on a steady decline. But the truth is our aging process is more like a straight line that’s interrupted by dips and bumps at certain points. And scientists have been able to identify three precise points in a person’s life when the most dramatic shifts in physiological aging occur.

Virginia Tims-Lawson

Black cumin: 7 modern benefits of an ancient seed oil

King Tut, Cleopatra, and Hippocrates relied on black cumin seed for an array of conditions, including malaise, weakness, coughing and skincare. When something is carried down over the years as a “remedy,” especially as long as black cumin seed, there’s got to be something to it. But when the research agrees, it’s even better.

Carolyn Gretton

10 essential ingredients for healthy, vibrant skin

Healthy skin isn’t just something you’re born with — it takes some work. And while fancy creams and serums may help keep your skin radiant, you need to go deeper than the products you put on the surface to help your skin stand the tests of time. That’s where skin nutrition comes into play…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Being active may help you hold onto your hearing

You’ve probably heard plenty about the dangers of not being active, including heart disease, stroke and various cancers. But are you aware of the auditory dangers of a sedentary lifestyle? It’s time to listen up and get up to save your hearing…

Joyce Hollman

Hungry all the time? It’s your blood sugar, not your appetite

Are you hungry all the time? Do you find yourself eating just an hour or two after a big meal? If you’ve had trouble with your weight as a result, stop beating yourself up over your lack of appetite control. You may be a big dipper. That means changes in your blood sugar levels affect how soon you feel hungry again.

Joyce Hollman

Not eating your greens? A greens powder could help

Less than ten percent of us eat enough leafy greens, and it’s making us sick. We either don’t like the taste, find them expensive and don’t like that they may cause gas and bloating. If you want to make healthier choices about what goes in your crisper — but have an easy option as well, here are the healthiest greens and what to look for in a greens powder.

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas MD, FACC

High blood pressure: What I tell my patients

High blood pressure is extremely common. What’s worse is that only about 1 in 4 adults with hypertension have it under control. That’s because there are many causes. Put too many straws on the camel’s back and it falls over. Take a few straws away, the camel can stand back up. You can bring your numbers down the same way.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

5 ways exercise helps battle breast cancer

Although it may seem like exercising would be a difficult task for anyone undergoing treatment for breast cancer, according to doctors at Johns Hopkins, it’s one of the best things to do. Not only does it lessen the side effects of treatment, research shows it has a direct impact on treatment outcomes.

Carolyn Gretton

One ‘must-have’ for a healthy liver and healthy living

Poor diet and lack of activity can lead to a lot of health problems, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The traditional way to treat fatty liver has been through significant weight loss. But researchers are finding that you may not need to lose as much weight to keep your liver healthy if you do this…

Joyce Hollman

9 health and body changes that happen in your 70s

Your body doesn’t come with a user’s manual. So, as you age, some changes may take you by surprise, but you can be prepared. Here are some things you might expect and some advice to keep enjoying life no matter your age.

Carolyn Gretton

How breastfeeding makes women’s hearts healthier

Maybe you’re a soon-to-be new mom deciding whether to breastfeed or not, or a mom who breastfed years ago. In either case you may excited to learn mothers benefit just as much from breastfeeding as their babies do. It turns out breastfeeding may lower the risk of certain diseases over the long term for moms, including cardiovascular disease…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

How the gut may activate Alzheimer’s genes

One of the fastest-growing areas proving gut health is whole-body health is Alzheimer’s research. Study after study has linked the gut microbiome with either Alzheimer’s risk or protection. Now, a ground-breaking study has found that the genes that trigger Alzheimer’s may be turned on by the gut.

Joyce Hollman

Depression’s DNA links to accelerated aging

We’ve all had the blues. But major depressive disorder is something entirely different. People with MDD have higher rates of incidence and mortality from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimers, but the medical community hasn’t understood why, until now.

Carolyn Gretton

Treating sleep apnea helps both your mind and body

A good night’s sleep is essential for optimal health. But there are disorders like sleep apnea that can make it difficult to get steady, restful sleep. That’s why it’s so important to treat sleep apnea — particularly when it comes to your cognitive health…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Is your back pain killing you?

Living with back pain can feel like torture. People who deal with pain day in and day out may even feel like it’s killing them. But can it? Past studies have made that connection. And the newest saw a correlation with premature death and back pain possibly involving a cardiovascular component.

Joyce Hollman

The vitamin that stands up to age-related muscle loss

Mitochondria are the “energy factories” of our cells. They process energy from the food we eat and make it available for our bodies to use. But even mighty mitochondria can’t provide your muscle with sufficient energy to avoid age-related muscle loss without this simple vitamin…

Joyce Hollman

The nutty reason a calorie isn’t always a calorie

In spite of all their health benefits, nuts like almonds still get “bad press.” You’ll often hear that snacking on them leads to weight gain, because of the calories that come from their fat content. What if we told you that when you eat that handful of almonds, you’re really not absorbing all those calories?

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Giving in to wanderlust may be what you need right now

After a year of lockdowns, things are finally loosening up. If you’ve been suppressing your wanderlust, now may be a good time to give in. Not just because it could be safer, but because of some measurable wellness benefits that could impact your well-being.

Carolyn Gretton

From hemorrhoids to heart trouble: Why you shouldn’t strain to ‘go’

We don’t like to talk about it, but the truth is, constipation is a common problem. When you’re constipated, you may have to strain to pass your stools. And if you strain too hard, it can lead to complications much more serious than hemorrhoids…

Joyce Hollman

Brain fog: How chronic sinus problems may change your brain

If you suffer from chronic sinusitis or rhinosinusitis, you know how it can interrupt your daily life. And it’s not even the runny nose or sinus pressure that’s the most disruptive. The inability to concentrate can make everyday tasks almost impossible for some. Now you can feel validated: Science shows sinus inflammation affects your brain’s connections.

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