People's Pharmacy (Health)

Americans have grown accustomed to hearing about acupuncture and herbs such as ginkgo from traditional Chinese medicine. But most have never heard of another ancient healing tradition, Ayurveda. Ayurvedic medicine comes from India, where its history stretches back thousands of...

Your skin is the largest organ of your body. A lot can go wrong, but at least you can see it. How can you tell what's a minor problem and what deserves expert medical attention? One dermatologist offers pictures online...

Menopause used to be spoken about in whispers, if at all. Women dreaded The Change, and many men did as well. Now, with many thousands of baby boomers going through menopause every week, women are changing their attitudes. Menopause doesn't...

Each foot has 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 tendons, ligaments and muscles, so the human foot is something of a masterpiece. Our feet carry us thousands of miles in the course of a lifetime, and when they hurt, we are miserable. We'll find out what to do for common foot problems such as plantar fasciitis, corns or bunions and take live calls from our audience. Guests: Bryan C. Markinson, DPM, Chief of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery at the Leni and Peter W. May Department of...

Although doctors pride themselves on practicing evidence-based medicine, not everything that happens in a hospital or clinic is supported by science. Do health care providers always act based on logic? We Americans imagine that we are (usually) rational and make decisions based on analysis and thoughtful consideration. But behavioral economics suggests we are swayed by many factors that are (usually) out of our awareness and sometimes not in our best interests. Dr. Dan Ariely got...

Veins get no respect. Millions of Americans worry about heart attacks, which occur when arteries are blocked by a blood clot. But blood clots in veins get very little attention, although they can also be life threatening. Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a blood clot lodges deep within the veins of the legs. When such a clot breaks loose, it can go to the lungs and become a pulmonary embolism. These can be lethal. How can DVT be prevented?Guest: Thomas L. Ortel, MD, PhD, is Professor...

Symptoms such as severe fatigue or irritable bowel syndrome are sometimes diagnosed as psychosomatic disorders. But intolerance to gluten, called celiac disease, can cause malabsorption that could trigger these symptoms along with others, such as anemia, migraines, osteoporosis, dermatitis, infertility or peripheral neuropathy. Although celiac disease was once considered rare, studies now show it occurs in 1 of 100 Americans. People with certain other conditions such as type 1 diabetes have...

Molds and pollen from grasses and trees trigger allergies that cause a lot of misery. Red, itchy eyes and runny noses are often accompanied by cognitive fogginess. Judgment may be affected. But the common treatments, especially OTC antihistamines, may not make driving any safer. Asthma triggered by allergies may pose a more serious health threat. How can it be treated so that serious attacks are avoided? Guest: Beth Eve Corn, MD, is assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of...

Our ancestors survived without supermarkets, by growing and preparing their own food. Some of their traditional ways of cooking, that involve fermenting foods like sauerkraut or sourdough bread, are sliding into oblivion. Our guest, Sally Fallon, has been bucking the nutrition establishment to suggest that the old ways of eating have very real and important benefits. She advocates including saturated fats like butter or coconut oil in the diet for good health and she opposes the widespread...

Everyone needs health care at some point, and in today’s complex health-care system, patients are at risk for errors. Some people with chronic illnesses who have logged a lot of time in hospitals have thought hard about how patients can help providers give them the best possible care. We talk with two expert patients and get their recommendations for communicating with health care providers and coping with a complicated health care system. An amazingly uplifting show. Guests: Tiffany...

We’ve always heard that you are what you eat. Research shows that diet can have an impact on heart health. Can we improve our brain function by paying attention to nutrition? Dr. James Joseph and his colleagues have investigated the effects of antioxidant and flavonoid rich foods such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and spinach. In rodents, supplementing the diet with such foods can reverse some of the mental decline associated with aging. How well will they work in humans? Instead...

Over the last several decades, the American waistline has been expanding relentlessly. But obesity is not only a problem in our country; it has now spread around the world. We explore the causes and possible cures for global obesity. Nutrition scientists have been debating the best diet for weight loss for decades, but there have been little data to help determine which approach is best. Researchers pitted low-fat and low-protein approaches in a well-controlled two-year study and found that...

The very medicines many people take to relieve pain may actually be causing their headaches. A vicious cycle of pain relievers is behind too many cases of chronic headache. How can you break out of this insidious cycle? Guest: Joel Saper, M.D., FACP, FAAN, is founder and director of The Michigan Head-Pain and Neurological Institute. He is past president of the American Association for the Study of Headache, past chairman of the American Council for Headache Education. Dr. Saper is professor...

Next time on the People’s Pharmacy, We talk with Dr. Tieraona Low Dog about getting our lives back in balance. Grandmothers all over the world have some common sense recommendations about sleep, exercise, diet and social support. What does science have to say about these old wives’ tales? Find out what the country’s leading expert on the science behind alternative medicine recommends for good health on the next People’s Pharmacy. In stressful times, people often take short cuts that may...

Exercise has a reputation for improving health. Just how much does it take to improve your quality of life? People are often told to lose weight or quit smoking, but they have trouble following through. Do financial incentives help? Some doctors worry about giving their patients false hope. Do they worry enough about making sure that patients do have hope when they leave the office? We talk with two prominent physicians about their essay on the power of hope in the Journal of the American...