Effective Acne Medication
A new type of acne medication is effective even when left on the skin for only a short time. Tazarotene gel is a form of vitamin A acid known as a retinoid agent. Retinoids...
Author: Annie
Fruits and Veggies Lower Blood Pressure
Doctors may soon be writing patients prescriptions for five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, if British researchers have their way. In the first long-term study of its kind, researchers found people who...
How big of a problem is prostate cancer?
It’s the most common cancer in men in the United States. Its been about 200,000 cases a year for the last five years or so. That means in the last five years, there are...
The future holds good news for psoriasis patients
Psoriasis affects between 6 million and 7 million Americans, and while it is a condition of the skin, it leaves the patients with emotional issues due to the change in their appearance. The condition...
All Medicine is Not for Women
How much thought do you give the medication you’re taking? Even if it’s safe when used alone, it could suddenly become unsafe when used in combination with another drug. That can be especially true...
What are the downsides of using alternative medicine?
It is important to use the advice of a competent, licensed provider and be certain that all of your providers know everything you are doing There are several important caveats for patients, First, not...
When are alternative treatments better than Western medicine?
A recent survey by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found more than 70 percent of adult cancer patients in Washington used alternative therapies and almost all report substantial improvements in well-being...
What’s Your Nutrition IQ?
We may very well have more variety in the foods we eat than even before. People often eat without knowing much about the nutritional content of food. Even if you are concerned with the...
Women are looking for ways to turn back time
On average, we can expect to enjoy longer lives than our parents, grandparents and their grandparents. As the baby boomer generation approaches middle age and beyond, a growing number of women are looking for...
High Fruit Consumption Increases Risk of Parkinson’s
A new study shows high fruit consumption may increase a person’s risk of Parkinson’s disease. Researchers in Honolulu tested more than 8,000 subjects and recorded the number of diagnosed Parkinson’s cases for a 34-year...
Drug treatment after blood clots
How long should patients take anti-clotting drugs after an episode of venous thromboembolism? That’s the question researchers set out to answer in a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. They reviewed...
Vegetarian Kids
About 2 percent of American kids ages 6 to 17 don’t eat meat. Whether it’s a social issue or they just don’t like the taste — there’s no reason for parents to panic. Mom...
Beating Insomnia Without Medication
We all want sleep, but many of us have trouble getting enough of it! Last year alone, 42 million sleeping pill prescriptions were filled, which means Americans spent more than $3 billion trying to...
Genes could explain the dose of Warfarin
A newly discovered gene involved in blood clotting may make take some of the guesswork out of the complicated dosing issues with the anticoagulant drug warfarin (Coumadin). About 2 million people take warfarin to...
Vitamin D Doesn’t Prevent Bone Loss in Black Women
A new study finds vitamin D supplements don’t seem to prevent bone loss in postmenopausal black women. Although it is known Vitamin D is important for calcium maintenance, researchers have been uncertain on an...
Q and A on Common Pregnancy Complication
What is preeclampsia? Preeclampsia is when a woman develops high blood pressure and starts having swelling and spotting in the urine. A lot of women are more familiar with the term toxemia, an older...
Dangerous Dieting: 10 Great Ways to Loose Weight
Exercise! Find a sport you like, walk to school, or take a bike ride a few times per week. Drink milk, including fat-free or low-fat milk. (Many teens mistakenly think that milk has more...
Antioxidant Supplements may cut the macular degeneration risk
Eating right can cut down on your risk of a leading cause of blindness, reveals a new study from Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. There, researchers tracked the dietary habits of over...
Calcium and Vitamin D: Do They Benefit Women?
Postmenopausal women consistently taking calcium and vitamin D supplements may have the best shot at preserving bone mass and preventing fractures. New research from the calcium and vitamin D supplementation arm of the Women’s...
Indoor Smoking Bans – Creating Unhealthy Outdoors?
More and more public places are banning indoor smoking, but what effect is this having on the air just outside the doors ofrestaurants and bars — where smokers congregate? Researchers from the University of...
Sleep Apnea and the Risks to Your Health
Sleep Apnea Nearly Doubles Risk for Heart Attack, Death Obstructive sleep apnea — a nighttime sleep disorder where the upper airway narrows or collapses and affects 8 million Americans — triggers the body’s “fight...
New Drug to treat Parkinson’s?
Researchers have made a major discovery that could slow — and even stop — the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Researchers from Northwestern University found isradipine (DynaCirc), a drug widely used to treat cardiac hypertension...
Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults
Researchers from Tufts revised their food pyramid to correspond with the one from the USDA – MyPyramid – and it is specifically designed for older adults. It still emphasizes nutrient-dense foods and the importance...
What is intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG?
It is a blood product that contains immune factors that will counteract some of the autoimmune attack that the body puts on its own parts. So it’s actually pooled blood products that get concentrated...
Keep your brain active
Can’t remember where you put your keys? How about the name of the person you met last night at a dinner party? Researchers say memory starts fading around age 30, but there are ways...
Improper cholesterol levels
Cholesterol is a primary concern when addressing heart health, and the standard lipid panel tests of total, LDL, and HDL cholesterol levels are very valid indicators of risks for cardiovascular disease. Believe it or...
Breast Cancer Patients Turn to Supplements
Breast cancer survivors are turning to alternative therapies like supplements and vitamins to ease recovery, but researchers say they may be making uninformed choices. Research funded by the U.S. Department of Defense finds 57...
What Happens When Heart Disease Advances too Far?
For patients with congestive heart failure, treatments are limited to a heart transplant. However, a new heart procedure currently under development shows promise as a future alternative to heart transplant surgery. Autologous skeletal myoblast...
Making Lifestyle Changes to Stop Heart Disease
Scientists have identified the first gene confirmed as a cause of coronary heart disease in humans. The gene, MEF2A, was discovered by studying the genetic makeup of 21 members of an Iowa family that...
Preventing Heart Disease
Heart disease is virtually preventable. It is a disease that develops during the teen years but does not usually present until a person is in his or her 50s, 60s or 70s. There are...