Latest Stories

Frailty is a syndrome that leads to a greater risk of falls, fractures, disability, hospitalization and mortality. In other words, it can take your independence and make life a lot less fun. Here are 5 signs it could be creeping up and maybe the easiest way to avoid it…

Enlarged prostate is typically a benign condition that significantly impacts a man’s health and lifestyle. It can be both uncomfortable and inconvenient, making you feel you can’t be as spontaneous and active as you once were. A remedy with ancient roots and scientific clout could be just what you need…

A common class of blood pressure drugs has come under scrutiny. They’re designed to keep calcium from stiffening the vascular smooth muscle cells so blood flows freely and BP stays in the healthy range. But research is showing they may actually cause damage that can make your BP worse…

There’s a long list of things that can trigger AFib, a heart arrhythmia that causes the heart’s upper chambers to beat irregularly and rapidly and increases stroke risk. Most people don’t know how close type 2 diabetes is to the top of that list…

Heart trouble isn’t just a man’s problem. We’ve learned that for women, heart attack can be doubly deadly. If you want to slash your risk for coronary artery disease, consider the meal that boosts your heart health the most…

Few of us give our gallbladders any thought until trouble starts. As a result, gallbladder removal is one of the most common procedures in the United States. So no big deal, right? Wrong. New insights into what happens after the tiny organ is gone highlight a very high risk for kidney cancer.

A cure for Parkinson’s has been elusive. But one thing’s for sure: the death of dopamine-producing neurons is a hallmark of the disease. Research has identified 10 commonly used pesticides toxic to those neurons linked directly to Parkinson’s development.

High cholesterol can affect our health in some surprising ways. And relying on statins has its downsides too. You might be excited to know a fruit that tastes like a cross between all-natural bubble gum (if there were such a thing) and watermelon is surprisingly effective…

Nothing can stop the march of time. But there are plenty of ways to slow it down and avoid age-related decline. If you follow certain lifestyle habits, you’ve got the recipe for living your senior years long and healthy. But there’s one thing that’s like the icing on the cake…

Happiness and laughter do more than make us feel good. These emotions affect our blood vessels and directly impact hypertension risk and heart health. Need proof? See what these studies found out about the emotional connection to these serious health issues…

Your body needs cholesterol to make hormones and vitamin D, help you digest your food — not to mention it’s like brain food. But once your body has enough cholesterol to do what it needs to do, the rest is just superfluous. This is where HDL comes in…

37 million people in our country are living with chronic kidney disease, mostly due to high blood pressure and diabetes. And most don’t even know it. Luckily, a review of multiple studies is offering up an easy way to help make sure you don’t become one of them…

When it comes to heart attack, the gender gap is real. In past studies, women were found to be 20 percent more likely than men to die within five years of their first severe heart attack. Now, research indicates the odds of survival may be worse than that…

When you don’t turn off all the bedroom lights, processes in your body that normally shut down after dark keep going. And when they’re running overtime, they impair glucose and cardiovascular regulation — risk factors for a metabolic nightmare…

Do you often wake up in a puddle of drool? Is your mouth drier than the Mojave desert in the morning? These are annoying signs of a common issue that can impact your health far more seriously than you ever dreamed. From bad teeth to low oxygen, mouth breathing takes a toll…

Blood sugar spikes chip away at your body’s sensitivity to insulin. Make a habit of them and they’ll lead straight to insulin resistance, putting type 2 diabetes just a hop and a skip away. But there’s a tiny food that can help… and curb your appetite, without any side effects…

How does eating a salad with a tasty dressing that includes salty ingredients and sugar lower blood pressure? Your doctor would roll his eyes, but the research validates the numbers went down. And the secret’s in the vinegar…

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a disorder that causes a person to stop breathing multiple times during the night. It often goes untreated in people at high risk for cardiovascular disease, although up to 80 percent of people with heart disease also have OSA. Here’s everything you should know about this serious health threat…

No matter the cancer type, when it comes to treatment, chemo brain, pain and poor sleep are along for the ride. And even though some doctors are supportive of alternatives like CBD, they don’t know what to tell their patients. A doctor with cancer believes her research can…

It’s no secret that a high-fat high-cholesterol diet is bad for the heart. But understanding why it’s worse for some people is another story. Until you understand the gut is a window to the body capable of turning the thermostat up on atherosclerosis…

I remember my first new car. It was exhilarating driving it around. And that new-car smell? Funny how we thought of it almost like a status symbol. But now we’re learning that new-car smell is a byproduct of a chemical process known as off-gassing, and the cancer threat stinks more than you know…

Can statins hurt your kidneys? My answer is a bit complicated. As a doctor, I could provide three observations right now, not necessarily pointing in the same direction. But let’s start with diabetics, those with established heart or vascular disease and those with familial hypercholesterolemia…

Summer is here, and the mercury is rising in parts of the country. Being outside in hot weather doesn’t just put you at risk of heatstroke and sunburn. If you have any of these 5 conditions, it could exacerbate your symptoms…

Broccoli is a superfood for many reasons, including protecting against diabetes and age-related ailments. But that’s not all. While further exploring broccoli’s health impacts, researchers discovered another molecule that closes the door on a frequent gateway to disease…

Being diagnosed with osteoarthritis can feel like a prison sentence. You might think your sporting days are over, but golfing has been proven to be one of the best activities for those with this condition. Here are the benefits and reasons why you should be golfing…

Dizzy whenever you stand up too quickly? You may have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, a circulation disorder of the autonomic nervous system. Here’s what you should know about the condition and how to get help…

It’s hard to give up snacking. But what if you could snack and still meet your weight goal, all the while increasing your willpower? It sounds too good to be true. But just in time to help you hold on to your New Year’s resolution, I’m here to tell you it’s not…

The research shows exercise is crucial, from fighting cancer to turning back biological age. If you’re not doing it, you have no one to blame but yourself. Luckily, that research is honing in on findings that can help you make the most of it when you do…

If you’re not already eating blueberries daily, let me remind you: They have a solid superfood reputation for not just one good reason, but several. If you need convincing, I’ll lay out multiple ways this one tiny fruit is the best thing you can eat for a healthy heart…

For years now, researchers have noticed curious links between a handful of viruses and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. A new look into a staggering number of health records indicates even though the link may not be causal, it warrants serious attention…

According to the CDC, 88 million Americans are now living with prediabetes and are on the path to a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis in the coming years. Yet, as scary as that number is, it can also be looked at as 88 million cases of diabetes that are preventable with the right steps. And those steps are exactly what a brand-new study published in the international journal JAMA Internal Medicine has given us…

Eggs have had a bad rap. Many people stay away from them, to avoid high cholesterol and heart disease — and the newest research says eating eggs may lead to diabetes. But as it turns out, eggs could be one of the best things to include in your diet to stabilize your blood sugar — with one caveat…

If you have a dog, they’re part of your family. And you want to do whatever it takes to protect their health and well-being. Good nutrition is an important part of that equation, and it turns out the timing of a good diet needs to be precise to protect your dog from a particularly irritating health problem…

For years, doctors and researchers have seen a tantalizing connection between vitamin D and cancer. Yet, that connection has always been just out of reach. Now, a brand-new look at that VITAL study data has once again delved into the connection between vitamin D and cancer and found good news for us all — an up to 38 percent reduction of metastatic or fatal cancers.

Semi-volatile organic compounds hang in the air and dust of your home, and they’re changing the composition of your gut microbiome. That’s a big deal considering your gut is command central for your immune system and helps fight off not only bacteria and viruses, but also myriad diseases. This danger may be invisible, but the threat to you and your family is not…

The damage caused by stroke can range from mild to life-threatening, depending on the severity and how quickly health care professionals intervene to stop it. Researchers are working overtime to find ways to combat stroke damage… One new way focuses on calcium’s confusing relationship with ischemic stroke.

Light is connected to migraine in more ways than one. Anyone who suffers from them knows that during an attack light is like salt on a wound. Light hurts and makes a migraine worse. But light can also be a trigger. When I changed the light in my life, I also changed how migraine affected my life.

There has been considerable scientific interest in recent microbiome studies related to diabetes. But what exactly do the bacteria in your gut have to do with type 2 diabetes? Your gut microbiota can form a molecule that can lead to the progression of type 2 diabetes…

The prospect of anti-cancer properties is just one of the many researched benefits of curcumin. So why not add more curcumin to your life? Here are a few fun and easy ways you can…

Sugar offers little to nothing but calories. But we really like it, except when it leads to weight gain. A new study, however, may change the way you think about it. You know the saying — “the hair of the dog” — used often when someone suffering a hangover needs a little of what got them that way to get over it? It turns out that sugar could be the key to eating less over the holidays…

It’s no secret that a sedentary lifestyle can wreak havoc with your health. But sometimes it can seem impossible to work even 30 minutes of exercise into your busy life. Luckily, experts are finding more evidence that smaller stints of exercise can be just as powerful, yielding significant benefits you can’t afford to pass up.

Functional pain refers to pain that occurs without injury. Migraines and fibromyalgia fall into this category. Turns out more women suffer this kind of pain and now we know why. For starters, a female hormone acts on sensory pain receptors and may ramp up that stimuli. To make matters worse, certain pain treatments can kick it into high gear.

When inflammation goes unchecked for too long, the nervous system becomes damaged and can lead to diseases like Alzheimer’s or multiple sclerosis. That’s just one example of why inflammation is often called the root of all disease. But researchers have found a peptide in the beetroot that could make all that a thing of the past…

Walnuts are known to have numerous health benefits, many of which involve the heart — I’ve lost count of how many I mention in this one post! And now, the largest and longest study to date exploring the benefits of walnuts has discovered how they can help protect you from one of the most destructive processes in the human body…

A new study shows that people doing hard physical work have a higher risk of developing dementia than those doing sedentary work — 55 percent higher. Why? There’s a difference between hard labor and exercise. One of them hurts the blood supply to the brain and the other boosts it…

It’s time to stop thinking of menopause as something perfectly normal. While the menopause symptoms women experience may seem annoying, the truth is they can actually be a harbinger of things to come for your heart. So, what turns a menopause symptom into a heart disease trigger? The number of them you might suffer carries more weight, even if they’re moderate to severe…

2020 has been a very unpredictable year, and levels of anxiety and depression have skyrocketed. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. Even the thought of how to shake it seems like an insurmountable task. But what if all it took was just one thing… one step… one new habit to ditch what’s bringing your down and feel like your old self again? Not to mention the added benefits…

Vitamin D builds strong bones and teeth and prevents osteoporosis. It also helps control the overactive immune response. Now, research has shown that a lack of vitamin D in pregnant women could predict future cognitive deficits for their unborn children.

Why do some people gravitate toward chili peppers and enjoy the burn while others can’t stand it? Perhaps they sense something that more and more research is revealing: that chili peppers may help you live longer. So, if you’re not traditionally a fan of spicy foods, it may be time to change your ways…

Men need to be watchful for any signs of testicular cancer, especially if they are at higher risk for the disease because of age, race, family history or medical condition. Recently, a study turned up another risk factor for testicular cancer — a medical procedure that can be difficult to avoid but could raise the risk almost 60 percent…

When you live with inflammatory bowel disease, you have a lot to watch out for. There’s the chronic inflammation of your digestive tract, the weight loss and diarrhea and the increased risk of colon cancer. But IBD also triples the risk of a life-threatening blood clot. For 1 in 7 IBD patients, it could be even higher…

The Endocrine Society has spent over 14 years researching our exposure to environmental toxins that are present in the air, water, soil and our homes. They interfere, imitate or alter pathways of hormones in the body that lead to disease. And now there’s proof that our exposure can lead to diabetes that we can pass onto our children.

You’ve probably heard that if you want to lose weight, you should eat your biggest meals early in the day. The theory is you drop weight faster by taking in most of the calories you plan to eat in a day several hours before bedtime (when your metabolism naturally slows). The idea of not worrying over what to eat so much as when seemed easy enough. But, we’re learning it may have sounded too good to be true…

While it’s normal and healthy for blood pressure to fluctuate throughout the day, when your blood pressure stays elevated, it can lead to many health problems. Many people require medications to control their blood pressure. However, there are several things you can do that will help to make it easier to manage your readings…

It’s been long understood that when you have a heart attack, it’s because somehow blood flow to your heart has become cut off, either due to a blockage or a narrowing of your coronary arteries. Blood clots can detach and float off to block those arteries. But finding immune cells are the mechanism behind those clots came as a surprise to researchers recently…

More than a year ago now, I experienced a life-changing event that wreaked havoc with my balance, my ability to swallow liquids and my memory. I got hlep in that “golden hour,” and I know many do not. But a new treatment may make that possible for more stroke sufferers.

The number of people in the U.S. over the age of 65 has grown by over a third in the past decade alone. And with the increase in life expectancy, that means we need to make changes now to stay healthier later. The largest randomized double-blind study on aging has some advice with that in mind: two supplements that may go further for you than your retirement account…

Experts have long believed diet can influence the development of cancer, but data showing exactly why has been scarce. However, a new study has found why meat leads to cancer. It comes down to a meat molecule we build antibodies against — defining a molecular connection between cancer and a diet of animal-based products…

Stroke can occur unexpectedly and at any age. In fact, stroke is on the rise among younger adults under the age of 45, and it turns out many don’t know the signs that could save a life or how to keep from becoming a victim of stroke in the first place. Time for Stroke 101…

Even in these strange pandemic times, there’s a real downside to washing your body every day. So, if sheltering in place has changed your hygiene habits, don’t worry. Experts are telling us that what we’re really doing in our daily shower is throwing our microbiome out of balance, and here’s why that is not a good thing…