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Could Meds Be The Cause Of Mom's Dizziness?
DEAR DR. ROACH: My 86-year-old mother wears hearing aids, has tinnitus and is constantly dizzy. She also has atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure and some anxiety issues. She has had several urinary tract infections in the past few years. We have been to a neurologist, EN&T specialist, physical therapist and a chiropractor, and have had...Read more
Breakthrough in slashing elevated LDL cholesterol to save lives
More than 92 million Americans take statins, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and you can bet all of them are hoping that will protect them from having what doctors like to call "an adverse cardiovascular event" (aka heart attack, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease or A-fib) and prevent death from such conditions. But for folks...Read more
A two-step way to a longer life for older women
According to Mayo Clinic Proceedings, women gain around 1.5 pounds a year while going through menopause. That may not sound like a lot, but if your hormone shift takes 10 years, that's 15 pounds. So, it adds up -- 75% of women age 60 and older are overweight, increasing their risk for lower quality of life, more chronic disease, dementia, hip ...Read more
Unusual Cause Of Chronic Cough And Throat Clearing
DEAR DR. ROACH: Ten to 15 years ago, I had to constantly clear my throat and it was driving me and everybody around me nuts. You had written a column about chronic throat-clearing. In the article, you talked about how after all the serious things had been eliminated there was an expensive test to check out the throat or you could just ...Read more
Improve your surgical outcome with psychological therapy
Back in 1979, I designed a two-week habit-changing program that could be followed pre-operatively to make your RealAge 10 years younger than your calendar age and improve pre -- and post-surgical experiences. Now it's being expanded and is proving (once again) to be tremendously beneficial.
That's great news for the folks undergoing the 40-50 ...Read more
Are Screening Centers Worth The Money?
DEAR DR. ROACH: I see screening tests advertised often. For $160 I can get screened for conditions that might cause stroke, heart disease, aneurysms, etc. My partner and I are in our early and mid-60s. Should we get these done? -- K.S.
ANSWER: Sometimes, screening tests make a great deal of sense; other times, they don't. It all depends on ...Read more

On Nutrition: Good news about eggs
Why do we associate eggs with Easter? In ancient times, eggs were a sign of new life and rebirth. Christians eventually came to adopt the egg as a symbol of the Easter story when Jesus miraculously rose from the tomb.
Makes sense. Some experts have called eggs “a miracle of nature.” And lest I go down a rabbit trail of why Easter bunnies ...Read more
More Black Donors Are Needed For Recipients With Sickle Cell
DEAR DR. ROACH: I was recently at the American Red Cross to donate blood and was given interesting material on the need for Black blood donors for sickle cell anemia patients. The booklet described how antigens work in red blood cells to improve patients' health. I didn't know until then that race can make a difference for blood donors with ...Read more
Here comes the sun (we hope)
Every year, about 100 million Americans get a sunburn -- and it's often associated with doing outdoor activities (as opposed to intentionally trying to get a tan), binge drinking and using sunless tanning products (your skin is "tanned" and you don't notice the burn that's happening). If that happens year after year, you're at a hugely increased...Read more
Clarifying When Certain Supplements Actually Provide A Benefit
DEAR DR. ROACH: I read in your column and elsewhere that vitamin supplements have no realized benefit. I've mostly read about how it doesn't hurt, but there is no evidence that they help. Does this include fish oil (omega-3) supplements? I also take an iron supplement. Both of these had a net positive impact on my blood work. Could you expound...Read more
Breakthrough in identifying Crohn's disease risk
Wouldn't it be wonderful if around age 18 you could have a blood test that accurately predicted which chronic diseases you would get 10 to 60 years later? And what if docs then could put in a fix that prevented you from getting those conditions? That now may be possible for at least one disease.
Around 1 million Americans contend with Crohn's ...Read more
Global Suicide
According to the Global Burden of Disease, approximately 746,000 people died by suicide worldwide in 2021. That's a grim number but also encouraging, as it reflects an ongoing downward trend, from almost 15 deaths per 100,000 in 1990 to nine per 100,000 in 2021.
While the overall suicide mortality rate has decreased over the last three ...Read more

On Nutrition: Beef tallow
In a recent column on seed oils, I concluded that we need to continue to follow the research and that it pays to keep up with the science. I then received a letter from Mike C. in Nebraska who reminded me of certain social media influencers who are strongly against seed oils.
“Seed oils are highly processed, while beef tallow is not,” he ...Read more
Give Your Doc a Hug
If case you were sick and missed it, March 30 was National Doctors' Day.
WalletHub, a personal finance company, took note by reporting on the best and worst states for practicing medicine, based on metrics such as average annual wage, number of hospitals per capita and quality of the public health system.
The top 10 in descending order were ...Read more

On Nutrition: Corny food jokes, 2025 edition
No joke, I look forward to this column every year. And I cherish the contributions from you readers.
Terry W. from St. Louis writes: “I so enjoyed your column about corny jokes. My mom loved puns and would use them as often as she could. One that has to be heard instead of read is ‘I thought it was an oyster but it’s not!”
Lori M. in ...Read more
An Afternoon Cup of No
A new study suggests that coffee drinkers who limit their consumption to the morning have a lower risk of dying of heart disease and a lower overall mortality risk than those who drink coffee throughout the day.
"Research so far suggests that drinking coffee doesn't raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, and it seems to lower the risk of ...Read more

On Nutrition: All y'all in Texas
While visiting an eating establishment during our recent visit to Texas, I noticed a framed map of the United States on the wall. It showed two areas. The most noticeable was an embellished boundary of this 28th state identified as TEXAS. The rest of the map was simply “Not Texas.”
I can see what makes the people of this state so proud. ...Read more
Heir Pollution
Researchers report that both maternal and paternal exposures to outdoor air pollution can negatively affect human embryo development in in vitro fertilization cycles. In other words, air pollution may make it harder to get pregnant.
The study in Environment International presented a new approach to understanding the associations between air ...Read more

Diabetes Quick Fix: Onion, Pepper and Mushroom Pizza
Here's a quick pizza dinner that takes less time than sending out for one. Swiss cheese, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and onions top this thin crust base. You can also, substitute any leftover vegetables you may have on hand.
Look for thin crust, whole wheat pizza bases.
The order makes a difference in how fast the pizza cooks. I place the ...Read more

On Nutrition: Celebrate the green
I like the theme “Food Connects Us” for this month’s celebration of National Nutrition Month, sponsored each March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. And this month also coincides with another observance — Saint Patrick’s Day.
This particular holiday began in Ireland to commemorate Saint Patrick, a priest and missionary in ...Read more
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