School vacation coming up? Wondering how to spend that time? Given how tiring holidays can be — especially for parents who are working — it’s understandable why children are often allowed to spend hours with the TV, tablet, or video games. After all, happy, quiet kids make for happy parents who can finally get stuff done —…
Pop quiz: what is Salmonella? If you’ve ever had a run-in with this bacteria, you know it can cause a food-borne illness called salmonellosis, a form of food poisoning. But you may not know that Salmonella bacteria sicken an estimated 1.35 million people every year in the United States. What’s more, it’s the leading cause…
Everything is connected. You’ve probably heard that before, but it bears repeating. Below are five ways to boost both your individual health and the health of our planet — a combination that environmentalists call co-benefits. How your health and planetary health intersect Back in 1970, Earth Day was founded as a day of awareness about…
Not such good news for butter lovers like myself: seesawing research on how healthy or unhealthy butter might be received a firm push from a recent Harvard study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Drawing on decades of data gathered through long-term observational studies, the researchers investigated whether butter and plant oils affect mortality. One basic…
An F may mean failure in school, but the letter earns high marks in your diet. The two biggest dietary Fs — fiber and fermented foods — are top priorities to help maintain healthy digestion, and they potentially offer much more. How can you fit these nutrients into meals? Can this help your overall health…
Marketed as a natural remedy for an enlarged prostate, saw palmetto is a top-selling dietary supplement. It’s extracted from berries that grow on saw palmetto palm trees, which are native to the southeastern United States. By one estimate, more than a third of all US adults who take supplements use saw palmetto specifically. Some evidence…
National guidelines on prostate cancer screening with the PSA test are set by the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). This independent panel of experts in preventive and primary care recommends against screening for prostate cancer in men older than 70. Why? Prostate cancer tends to be slow-growing. Men in this age group are more…
Prostatitis, or inflammation of the prostate, is more common than you might think — it accounts for roughly two million doctor visits every year. The troubling symptoms include burning or painful urination, an urgent need to go (especially at night), painful ejaculations, and also pain in the lower back and perineum (the space between the…