More September Nutrition News: Fish Eating and Alzheimer’s Disease; Potassium Rich Foods and the Reduced Risk of Stroke…
*Fish Eating and the Reduced Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease:* **Over the past several years, the medical and general news has been filled with warnings about the increasing incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease and attempts to treat, or better yet, prevent this condition. Many predict that before too long, there will be up to 80 million Americans…
Don’t Believe Everything You Read!
Recently after bootcamp some of us were discussing the speed with which conflicting data is presented to us and to our patients — lo carb diet is better than lo fat – or vice versa. Vitamin A is an anti-oxidant so it must reduce health risks – no, it increases cancer. Estrogen is good for…
A Physician’s Personal Weight Management Journey
I was an overweight adolescent and young adult. By age 10 I was dieting and I continue to have to focus on managing my weight to this day, over 40 years later. I’m only 5’2” tall and never had a growth spurt, so while others were eating to their heart’s content and growing, I was…
September Health News: The Costs of Hot Flashes, Birth Control Pills and Acne Treatment, WHO and E-Cigarettes…
1. Untreated Hot Flashes Could Cost the Economy Hundreds of Millions of Dollars. The Wall Street Journal, in the August 27 issue, reported a new study in the Menopause journal showing how untreated hot flashes can cost the economy a lot of money! Dr. Philip Sarrel, one of the study’s authors and professor emeritus in the Department of…
Futuristic Diabetes Technology in the News
‘Bionic Pancreas’, ‘Google Contact Lens’, and ‘Inhaled Insulin’ are just some of the futuristic-sounding diabetes technology that has filled the news recently. Below is information about them: Bionic Pancreas This is truly exciting. Not only in an I’m-An-Endocrinologist exciting way, but for everyone who has diabetes or who knows someone with diabetes. Almost everyone reading…
You’re Never Too Old To Get Your Shots
Some time soon, when the evening air starts to chill, a few leaves start to drift to earth and the smell of wood smoke is in the air you’ll know fall is just around the corner. That means it is flu shot season. Actually, there are a number of other immunizations recommended for adults. Let…
HPV Vaccine Update and Influenza (Flu) Vaccine in Pregnant Women
HPV vaccine rate of injection not greatly improved. Recently, New York City Council speaker Melissa Mark announced through her Twitter that she has high risk HPV infection but not cervical cancer. High risk HPV strains are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer in women. In men, high risk HPV infection is responsible for as high…
That Little Black Dress and the Importance of the 5-10 Percent Goal
Weight loss is often driven by the desire to fit into “that little black dress”, a pair of designer jeans or to look sleek and toned in in your new athletic ware. Many may have aspirations that range from having a BMI of 17 (average BMI of a runway model), or looking like a young…
Oh Deer! A Tick Bite!
Although deer are beautiful animals, they bring to mind deer ticks … and Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne illness, first described in Lyme, Connecticut. The infection (technically a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi) is carried by backlegged ticks, including the famous deer ticks which are common in New England, down to Maryland and in the northern…
August Health News: PALB2 and Breast Cancer Risk; NSAIDS and Recurrent Breast Cancer Risk; “Gluten-Free” and FDA Regulation
1. *PALB2 Mutations Increase Risk of Breast Cancer.* For years, it has been known that those who carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have a much higher risk of breast cancer. Recently, PALB2 genotype was found to also increase risk of breast cancer. In a study recently released in the New England Journal of…