“Do you take vitamins?” “No,” I answer my patients. “Why not? Aren’t they good for you?” The nuanced answer to that remains no. A truthful answer might be “when it’s been shown you need them.” Most Americans are not vitamin deficient. There is evidence that vitamins can be harmful, not helpful. And what generally gets […]
How Exercise Works
Teaching Your Body Feel exhorted, cajoled, pushed and nagged into “exercise?” Most folks know it’s good for you, but so are vegetables (though not recent Romaine from Yuma.) They just don’t really know how exercise works. Witness a recent study in Circulation, demonstrating that in people at high and low genetic risk of heart disease, relatively moderate […]
Time to Think Before You Drink
Lots of people drink. Most think they “don’t drink too much.” They “only drink socially.” Or “just a couple of drinks a few nights of the week.” But when it comes to health, how much is enough? A new study looking a national guidelines has come up with surprising results. The short answer is “less is […]
Can Watching TV Be Healthy For You?
Is TV watching healthy? For years studies have argued more TV time decrees a higher risk of death. Most of that risk has been ascribed to sitting, rather than frustration and anger at what is programmed. A new study has added a wrinkle: watch more TV and you get more deep venous clots. Plus there’s a new rub: if […]
How Much Booze is Best?
Is moderate drinking good for you? Does consistent imbibing of a glass a day prevent Alzheimer’s? Heart disease and stroke? Or is drinking booze more akin to radiation, where there is not yet a clear “safe” dose? Recent research has begun moving against the consensus of decades. Booze on the Brain For example, take a recent study in […]