Latest Stories

Your vagus nerve runs from your brain to your gut and controls a long list of automatic body functions. It keeps you breathing and keeps your heart beating. There are things you can do to keep this nervous system “superhighway” functioning optimally.

Even with successful cancer treatment, many people suffer toxic damage from the chemotherapy designed to save their lives. But new research has found a diet has the power not only to boost the effectiveness of tumor-shrinking treatments but also to protect cells against the DNA damage caused by chemo…

New research into hypertension recently proved that a condition long considered to be an uncommon cause of high blood pressure is actually quite common. The problem? Doctors weren’t testing for it enough and when they did their technique was highly inaccurate. Could this be the cause behind your BP problems?

Despite its reputation for raising the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, some recent studies show that eating red meat in moderation isn’t that bad for you. But that doesn’t mean you’ve got a free pass to indulge until the cows come home. Red meat does contain a compound that poses harm to your arteries and brain.

Over the past decade, the number of people taking muscle relaxers long-term has skyrocketed. These drugs were never approved for long-term use. But that’s not the worst of it. Here’s what you need to know about the potential dangers of muscle relaxers, plus other options to stop the spasms and the pain…

Putting your feet up at the end of a long day comes naturally. But what if your feet, ankles and legs are swollen and painful? More than an annoyance, this could be a sign of a much more serious condition. Here are a few to check out…

Acupuncture, medical marijuana, cognitive behavioral therapy, curcumin and anti-inflammatory diets are all popular, effective options for pain management. But there’s one more natural pain solution I’m willing to bet you’ve never heard about…

Once you hit middle age, chronic and degenerative diseases become the biggest threat to your health and longevity. Many of these diseases occur when oxidative stress causes free radicals to attack your cells… including Alzheimer’s. But a few potent antioxidants could protect you from the oxidative stress that puts you at risk for debilitating diseases like Alzheimer’s…

According to research, the way most of us shower could increase our risks for eczema and even skin cancer. Here’s what you need to know about getting clean, plus the only three areas you should soap in the shower…

Patients and readers often ask me about the risks of soy: Is there a connection to cancer? Can it help hot flashes? And as a cardiologist, I’m probably asked most often… Is soy really beneficial for heart health? Recently, the evidence really swung in soy’s favor…

Chewing your food thoroughly does more than prevent you from choking. It eases the strain on your digestive system, prevents disease and guarantees that the nutrients in your food will be put to good use and not wasted.

A new study has found a plant compound known as the “sugar destroyer” that’s been used in Ayurvedic medicine, a tradition that goes back three centuries that could help you beat your sweet tooth and put down that chocolate bar…

Everyone loses some bone mass with age, but women going through menopause lose the most by far. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to protect your bone mass during menopause, but, unfortunately, one of the most popular methods for maintaining bone density may not work for menopausal women…

Millions of Americans suffer from chronic knee pain and turn to surgery. But after knee surgery usually comes weeks of physical therapy. If you’re going to have to work to rescue your knees and regain range of motion after surgery, it may be easier and less painful to try these Harvard-backed exercises before going under the knife…

Checkpoint inhibitors are the latest powerful cancer drug. They show promise but come with a price tag… they can cause colitis, a form of irritable bowel disease that can itself lead to colorectal cancer. That’s why researchers are looking to an easily available supplement to not only help prevent cancer, but to also help their therapies work better.

A lot of us are working from home now. If you are, or even if you’re still going into a workplace where you sit for much of the day, you’ll want to develop some new habits now, before your health deteriorates. That’s because yet another study indicates not moving can increase your risk of death by cancer up to 82 percent….

Depending on what microbes you have in your gut, you’re going to end up with different metabolites… and potentially, different diseases. If you want to change these metabolites to support a healthy heart with less cholesterol and arterial plaque, a new study shows exactly what you need to do…

For a long time, red meat has been Public Enemy #1, making us more likely to have high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes. But there’s some good news for meat lovers: New research on red meat consumption calls much of this into question.

Diet is one of the most effective weapons you have in the fight against heart disease. But can you narrow down all the diet advice to what does your heart the most good? Recent research from Harvard did and found these four approaches can lower your heart disease risk by as much as 21 percent…

The symptoms of low thyroid function, or hypothyroidism, can mimic symptoms of many other conditions. But given the right testing, a case of hypothyroidism is hard to miss. The problem is that the “standard” test for thyroid malfunction can actually hide the problem. Here’s what you should know if you suspect hypothyroidism is behind your symptoms.

If you get diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor will advise you to reduce your salt intake. At one point, several large-scale studies conclusively linked high-salt diets to high blood pressure, but we’ve learned that the connection between salt and blood pressure isn’t so cut and dry… and it includes your gut.

Your microbiome goes way beyond your gut. It extends across your whole body, including your most sensitive area. When the bacterial balance gets out of whack down there, you’re left with a nasty infection known as bacterial vaginosis. Luckily, a few specific strains of probiotics can quickly get your vaginal microbiome back on track…

Have you ever heard about the heart-health liver link? Scientists have known for a while that poor liver health can lead to a diseased heart but weren’t sure exactly why. Now they know… and if you want to keep your heart pumping strong, you’ve got to love your liver…

Making a habit of eating close to bedtime can really pack on the pounds. That’s no secret. But beyond weight gain, eating against your circadian rhythm can set you up for one of the most preventable diseases, and that’s just for starters…

Decades of scientific evidence supports the mind-body connection. Still, it’s easy to forget just how closely your mental and emotional state impacts your health. Here’s a good reminder: a new study shows feelings of well-being and happiness could protect you from dangerous intestinal pathogens that cause infection. Here’s how to boost yours…

If you’ve been putting off your trip to the dentist, you may be risking more than just a cavity. In fact, you could be setting yourself up for inflammation of your gut lining. Here’s the connection you’ve probably never heard of between the bacteria in your mouth and your chances of developing inflammatory bowel disease.

If you’re not already taking vitamin D, it’s time to rethink that strategy. Not only can it help you maintain healthy bones and a strong immune system as you age, an exhaustive review of scientific research has found the sunshine vitamin can protect against cancer and even improve prognosis. But it all comes down to your vitamin D status…

There’s a good reason everyone always tells you to eat your greens. They’re chock-full of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that keep you happy and healthy — including one specific vitamin that’s essential to your body’s ability to clot blood, create bone, maintain healthy blood pressure and, now, a new study shows it could help you live longer.

When you’re craving a snack, you have two choices. You can reach for something salty, crunchy and processed (like potato chips) that won’t do your heart health any favors. Or you can reach for something that’s just as satisfying that significantly improves your cholesterol, blood vessel health and cardiovascular disease risk…

Exercise helps keep your heart, blood sugar and metabolism in check. But it doesn’t make it any easier to commit to exercise, especially if you rely on outward signs to show it’s actually doing anything for you. But new science reveals thousands of changes that occur in your body in as little as 10 minutes of exercise…

You’ve been invited to another holiday party, and you know alcohol will be available in many forms and in large quantities. If you are going to imbibe, there are a few things to think about to make sure your evening is fun and safe — and your long-term health is not compromised…

Between the planning, shopping, wrapping, decorating, social engagements and other activities, it’s easy to get exhausted and stressed out. This doesn’t mean you can’t recapture the joy of the winter holidays…

So you want a personal trainer. That’s great news. But before you jump online and do a local search, you need to know who you’re looking for and why it matters. And that starts with questions…

Storage fat is the most difficult type of fat to lose. It’s the bothersome fat located in your neck, underarms, lower abdomen, hips, buttocks, and inner thighs that seems oblivious to all the exercise you may doing to firm it up or get rid of it. To tame these spots…

Most of the year, I consume very little alcohol or chocolate. And any kind of diet restriction becomes a real challenge during the holidays. But you can stay true to yourself and still enjoy festivities and food…

Researchers are increasingly discovering new ways that the health of your mouth affects the health of the rest of your body. And they’ve found that one poor habit you should avoid can double your risk of pneumonia.

Tight hamstrings are a bigger problem than you may realize. Not only do they restrict normal range of motion in the legs, and make your legs weaker, they also cause low back pain and structural issues by tilting the pelvis. It is important for overall wellness…

Most of us get plenty of this in the bedroom. But for those who don’t get enough… life can be a real bummer. Because your health pays the price. Without enough, you’re doing your body some real harm. But there’s another reason to seriously…

Back when humans were fighting for survival, our muscles experienced a full range of motion. Now. too many of us feel tightness and discomfort in our upper back, shoulders and chest. Time to work that out…

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful syndrome, especially when it affects the knees as these help hold and move the load of the body, affecting movement and mobility. The CDC offer up two harrowing statistics…

Conditions like Parkinson’s that hamper the brain can have devastating consequences. But there are nutrients and other natural substances that often may help alleviate some of these difficulties. Here are the most valuable substances and how to use them to nurture your brain.

Winter is rough on your skin, but that’s not all. Your skin, and that includes your scalp, is a large and porous organ. Anything absorbed through it goes directly into your blood stream. This includes personal care products which, taken together, contain thousands of toxic chemicals.

PSA levels can rise for reasons related to the prostate, but there are actually more situations that are not directly related to prostate health that can cause PSA to rise. Here are a few…

If you’re trying to keep a regular fitness routine that includes strength training with weights (to boost metabolism/build muscle), your arthritis pain could hamper your best efforts. This can help…

How can you prevent mischief in your microbiome? It all comes down to your protein-carbohydrate ratio. You need to eat one of these dietary staples in more abundance than the other to maintain microbial balance…

If you’ve ever been scared you were going crazy — thought you saw or heard something that really wasn’t there — don’t worry too much. You’re probably one of the 5 percent of people who, like me, experience hallucination at some point in life.

While researchers and standard doctors try to understand how to treat chronic fatigue with drugs, the integrative medical community has made a ton of progress in helping patients regain their energy and quality of life naturally, with a holistic (whole body) approach.

Any kind of cancer is scary. But an early diagnosis can be a lifesaver in most cases. The trouble lies with a few cancers that are most often not discovered until they have spread. But there’s one thing you can do that could improve your chances of early detection and survival…

If you give in to fast food cravings for those oh-so-good, but oh-so-bad for you burgers, fries and thighs you could be putting your brain at perilous risk of memory-destroying inflammation. And if you’re male, you’re most at risk. Does that mean women can jump to the front of the fried chicken buffet?

Negatives thoughts and feelings can be paralyzing. In fact, psychological distress can increase your odds of death from heart disease. But you can learn to turn off those negative feelings with a simple technique…

Yo-yo dieting can easily become an endless cycle: the more you diet, the more weight you gain in the long run. But that’s not the only thing working against you. Your microbiome begins sabotaging your weight loss efforts too…

If you really, really dislike visits to the dentist you are going to really, really like what I’m about to share with you, so I will just cut to the chase…

I have a confession. I’m a television addict. I don’t even have cable but I still manage to watch too much. Everyone says this is a golden age of television. Too bad it’s killing me. But television itself isn’t inherently dangerous. What’s really going on?

Most adults that I know tend to have too much fat, decreased muscle mass and decreased energy. That adds up to decreased quality of life. The anti-aging hormone could correct some key deficiencies and turn that all around…

“Superfood” may be a modern term, but flaxseeds, which very well may be the world’s first cultivated superfood, have been consumed for 6,000 years. Sometimes called linseeds, these small, brown or golden-colored seeds, have big benefits and a great nutty taste. Here’s how to put them to use…

There’s nothing quite like a steaming mug of hot cocoa on a cold winter’s day. Add a dollop of whipped cream to the top, and it may even be the best guilty pleasure of the winter season. But what if I told you hot cocoa was less of a guilty pleasure and more of a health-boosting heart tonic?

Red flags signaling gluten intolerance include gas, bloating, constipation or diarrhea. But these symptoms can also be due to any number of things. How can you know if gluten is the problem?

Tired? I’d be surprised if you said ‘no.’ These six tips make it easier to boost your energy during exercise and recover better so you’ll be ready to go for your next workout. And remember: the thing about exercise is that the more you do it, the more energy you will have…

Is there something you like to eat that gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling? Physical sensations, like the tastes of foods and the sounds of music, can create certain feelings, and we all have those experiences. But did you know that foods can alter your thinking?

If you forget to take care of yourself and make time for the things you love in life, it won’t take long before you’re feeling listless and depressed. But there’s a simple tactic you can try to quickly transform your downward spiral into the exact opposite…