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Total 178 results found since Jan 2013.
What to do when blood test results are not quite “normal”
Picture this: you’re reading the results of your recent bloodwork, and you notice some numbers are teetering on the edge of the normal range. Should you be concerned? “It’s tricky, because in some tests, a borderline result makes no difference. In others, it might indicate an important change in health that we need to follow or act on,” says geriatrician Dr. Suzanne Salamon, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
About normal ranges and interpreting the numbers
When you look at a printout of your lab results, you’ll find the normal ranges for each blood test next to your personal results. For example, if ...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 2, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Heidi Godman Tags: Tests and procedures blood test Source Type: news
3 reasons your child shouldn’t go “gluten-free” (unless your doctor says so)
Follow me at @drClaire
There is a puzzling and worrisome new phenomenon that I am seeing as a pediatrician: parents who are putting their children on gluten-free diets.
It’s puzzling because in the vast majority of cases it isn’t necessary — and it’s worrisome because, although parents are doing it because they think it’s healthy, a gluten-free diet can be very unhealthy for children.
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and some other grains. It’s in bread and other baked goods, cereals, pastas — and in many other foods in small amounts. For people with celiac disease, even those small amounts ca...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 7, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Healthy Eating Parenting Source Type: news
Farewell to the fasting cholesterol test?
At a recent meeting I offered a visitor lunch which she declined with obvious regret. She was hungry, and it was noon. But she was headed to her annual physical, and eating beforehand would mean returning another morning for a fasting cholesterol level. Most of us can relate to her annoyance, but thankfully this may soon be a thing of the past.
Doctors have traditionally ordered cholesterol tests to be drawn after an overnight fast. But this requirement causes a significant burden on both sides of the health care equation. Most people hate to fast. Skipping meals is particularly difficult for active people, people with dia...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 16, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Naomi D. L. Fisher, MD Tags: Health Heart Health Prevention Screening Tests and procedures Source Type: news
Your resting heart rate can reflect your current — and future — health
One of the easiest, and maybe most effective, ways to gauge your health can be done in 30 seconds with two fingers. Measuring your resting heart rate (RHR) — the number of heart beats per minute while you’re at rest — is a real-time snapshot of how your heart muscle is functioning.
It’s easy to do. Place your index and middle finger on your wrist just below the thumb, or along either side of your neck, so you can feel your pulse. Use a watch to count the number of beats for 30 seconds and double it to get your beats per minute. Repeat a few times to ensure an accurate reading. An RHR between 60 and 100 beat...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 17, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Solan Tags: Exercise and Fitness Health Heart Health Prevention Source Type: news
Coconut Oil: Why You Should Question the Hype
by Carra Richling
Coconut has become a popular and trendy "super food." Ever since some preliminary research started claiming that it can cure everything from heart disease to Alzheimer's, and even aid in weight loss, coconut products have flooded the market. They include coconut oils, margarines, milks, yogurts and ice cream, and many products are substituting in coconut oil in order to gain market value.
There is, however, still a dearth of validated scientific research on the benefits of coconut, so it remains unclear whether or not the trend is the result of marketing hype. For example, the Alzheimer's Association no...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - June 22, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
A bummer for kids: Nasal flu vaccine not effective
Follow me at @drClaire
Every year, many of my patients have been able to skip the needle — and still get vaccinated against the flu. That was the great thing about the nasal spray version of the flu vaccine, known as the LAIV (live attenuated influenza vaccine): kids scared of needles could get a squirt up each nostril and be all set.
This coming flu season, everyone is getting the shot.
It turns out that the nasal spray just didn’t work that well. Despite studies from the 2002-2003 and 2004-2005 flu seasons that seemed to show that the nasal spray actually worked better than the shot in children ages 2-8 years, over t...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - June 28, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Children's Health Cold and Flu Infectious diseases Parenting Prevention Source Type: news
E-cigarettes: Good news, bad news
Follow me at @JohnRossMD
Americans are confused about electronic cigarettes. A recent poll showed that the public was about evenly split between those who thought that electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, were less harmful than conventional cigarettes, and those who believed that e-cigarettes were as bad as or worse than regular cigarettes.
Unfortunately, there is no long-term safety data about e-cigarettes. What information we do have suggests that e-cigarettes have a complex mix of potential harms and benefits.
E-cigarettes: Less deadly than regular cigarettes
First, the good news: e-cigarettes are almost certainly le...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - July 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Ross, MD, FIDSA Tags: Behavioral Health Cancer Lung disease Prevention Smoking cessation Source Type: news
Tossing flossing?
The burning question in the news last week was this: should you bother flossing?
The answer for decades has been “of course.” And it’s likely you’ve heard something similar from your dentist. I know I have.
But, while the importance of flossing may have been widely accepted, the evidence supporting it turns out to be surprisingly thin. At least that’s the conclusion of health experts who developed the recently released Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015-2020. These guidelines are issued every five years by the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture “…to reflec...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - August 14, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Dental Health Prevention Source Type: news
Women with a history of imigraines are at double the risk of having a stroke
A two-decade study of 115,000 women, by Harvard University researchers, found that those who complained of migraines were 50 per cent more likely to develop major heart problems.
Source: the Mail online | Health - November 16, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Why Diet Soda Could Actually Prevent You From Losing Weight
Reaching for a diet soda may actually hinder weight loss efforts, a new study done in mice suggests.
In experiments, researchers found that the artificial sweetener aspartame, which is found in some diet drinks, may contribute to the development of a condition called “metabolic syndrome,” which involves a cluster of symptoms, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and a large waist size. People with metabolic syndrome face an increased risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
The researchers found how aspartame could be linked with metabolic syndrome: Aspartame may stop a key gut enzyme ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 7, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Optimism may reduce risk of early death in women
Harvard study of 70,000 female nurses over eight years finds those who had an optimistic outlook on life had lower rates of death from cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and infection than women who were less optimistic.
Source: CBC | Health - December 8, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: News/Health Source Type: news
Harvard Study Shows Positive Thinking Can Prolong Your Life
This study only looked at women, but Dr. Kim says based on other studies these findings can probably be applied to men as well.
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - December 8, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Health – CBS Boston Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Syndicated Local Watch Listen Cancer Dr. Mallika Marshall Harvard University Source Type: news
Older Patients With Female Doctors Are Less Likely To Die, Harvard Study Finds
CAMBRIDGE (CBS) – Want to live longer? Having a woman for a doctor instead of a man may help.
A new Harvard University study reveals that older patients are less likely to die or end up back in the hospital if they have female doctors.
The study looked at more than 1 million patients over the age of 65 who were hospitalized for common conditions including pneumonia, stroke and heart attack.
Researchers say women physicians are more likely to practice evidence-based medicine and stick with clinical guidelines.
“The difference in mortality rates surprised us,” said lead study author Yusuke Tsugawa. “The gender of the...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - December 20, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Health – CBS Boston Tags: Health Local News Syndicated Local Harvard University Source Type: news
Migraine sufferers are at high risk of having a stroke during surgery, study finds
Despite being viewed as a benign condition, having a migraine also increases the chances of being readmitted to hospital, a new study by Harvard Medical School discovered.
Source: the Mail online | Health - January 11, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
