Be proactive and know the signs of a bile duct blockage

When we talk, read or think about our health, how often do “bile ducts” come up? Probably not often, if ever. We're so used to seeing PSAs, pretty posters, tote bags and keychains for heart disease, diabetes and breast cancer, but we don't hear that much about the bile ducts. However, a bile duct blockage can be painful and life-threatening!

Be proactive about your joint pain

Joint pain occurs inside or around a single joint connecting two bones, and it can have a multitude of causes. For kids and young adults, joint pain typically comes from injuries (such as falls, sports trauma or accidents), which usually heal after a few weeks. However, joint pain in the middle and later years of life is often related to wear and tear or inflammation, and tends to be more chronic. Statistically, 1/3 of the population has arthritis in one or more joints by the age of 65. With age, joint pain tends to increase, but it does not have to be inevitable.

Reasons why you can’t lose weight

Many people are convinced that they are doing the “right stuff,” like eating salad and exercising, but they're still not getting rid of that extra weight. If this sounds like you, you're probably on the right track but you're just missing that one key element that will unlock your weight loss potential. There may be something holding you back, whether mentally or physically.

Too much radiation from CT scans?

CT scans and X-rays expose patients to radiation every day. But how much is too much? Should patients be worried about how quickly they get referred to the scanner during an office or urgent care visit? Most radiation exposure occurs from CT scans. One abdominal CT equals 400 X-rays when it comes to radiation. Since the rate of CT scan ordering has grown by 50-600 percent over the last few years, some researchers estimate that 2 percent of all future cancers in the U.S. will be attributable to CTs.

Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week!

Did you know California has the highest rate of breastfeeding in the entire country? This is great news for us here in the Golden State, with 92.8 percent of babies having been breastfed in 2014. But why aren't all babies being breastfed? Science has shown there are so many benefits to breastfeeding (and downsides to formula) that breast is nearly always best.

Your Summer Heart Check-Up: Catch early warning signs before they become serious problems

Summer is a good time to think about heart health. Fresh produce is abundant, providing a bounty of antioxidants. And you can enjoy more time outdoors, soaking up some vitamin D from the sun. Perhaps you're more active, taking advantage of the weather and going for a nice bike ride. Or you just got back from a family vacation, where you finally got that much needed rest and relaxation.

The Kale Controversy!

No less a magazine than Mother Jones recently published an account of an alternative medicine researcher claiming the truly horrifying: kale might be bad for you. His patients, otherwise healthy, started presenting with digestive problems, fatigue, and skin and hair problems. He found that a lot of them had elevated thallium levels — and that a lot of them ate significant amounts of brassicas, the plant family that includes kale and cabbage. When he had some patients remove these foods from their diet, their thallium levels dropped and their symptoms improved.

Get your beauty sleep or you may be upping your risk for hypertension, diabetes, premature aging & more

Sleep deficiency and poor sleep quality are widely underestimated as major causes of health problems and mortality. They are not only related to daytime sleepiness, poor memory and decreased ability to concentrate, but to more serious outcomes as well, such as increased car crashes (1.2 million car crashes in the U.S. each year are related to drowsiness), and a multitude of permanent adverse health effects such as increased heart problems, degenerative effects on brain function, premature aging and weight gain. Statistics show that at least 50-70 million people in the U.S. have a sleep disorder. A Gallup poll suggests that as much as 40 percent of Americans get less than the recommended sleep time. Sleep times averaged 7.9 hours in 1942. This number has steadily decreased to 6.8 hours in the 1990s and 2000s.

Be proactive about stents!

There are many people, mostly over the age of 50, walking around with foreign objects in their chests. These objects are called stents, and they have been reported to be lifesavers to innumerable people with coronary artery disease. In the past, even people who didn't have a heart attack, but who did have partial heart blockages (i.e. coronary artery disease), would get stents. But recent medical literature questions whether everyone with heart disease needs a stent.

Watch out, vampires! We can’t get enough of garlic’s health benefits

Garlic has been in use at least since the beginning of recorded history. It’s been found in ancient Egyptian pyramids and Greek temples. Ancient medicinal texts show beneficial uses in Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and India. The Greek physician Hippocrates prescribed garlic for a number of conditions. Garlic was fed to Greek soldiers to give them courage for war and Olympic athletes to increase their performance. In ancient China and Japan, it was used as an aid for digestion and respiration and as a food preservative. In India, it was used for digestive diseases, parasites, arthritis and heart disease. In Europe in the Middle Ages, it was used as a treatment for the plague.

See a bright future! Protect your eyes from sun damage

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun or tanning bed is notorious for skin damage. You often hear about the sun’s “harmful UV rays” and how sunscreen products can help you avert premature aging or even skin cancer. But did you know ultraviolet radiation can also damage your eyes?

Could periodic fasting improve your blood sugar and weight?

Fasting has been a part of many religions’ traditions for a long time, but some people are fasting for health reasons. Since at least the 1970s, researchers have studied the effects of occasional or "periodic" fasting, or reduction in daily caloric intake, on animals and humans. Now we know that fasting may increase antioxidant activity and help to lower blood sugar and insulin levels. The consensus on the topic is growing, and indicates that fasting can have many health benefits.

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