You walk into your doctor's office. Rather than a white coat, he is wearing flowing sorcerer's robes, crouched over a crystal ball attempting to divine your future.
Ever happen to you? I hope not.
Then why do we rely on our doctors to divine our heart health futures? It's no different than reading tea leaves or charting the... Read more
While the world frets over the possibility of a swine flu pandemic, is there anything you can do to further protect yourself?
Yes: Take vitamin D.
I say this from experience. Since I began having patients supplement vitamin D to achieve normal blood levels (we aim for 60-70 ng/ml), viral and bacterial infections have become a... Read more
Well-intentioned health practices can inadvertently lead us down the path of booby - traps - unexpected pitfalls in health that impair health, rather than enhance it.
I encounter these health booby traps every day in my experiences with patients. Let me list some of the most common.
Reduce salt
Public health messages urge us to... Read more
Many people older than 50 years still remember the days of goiters, enlarged thyroid glands that developed due to iodine deficiency. Up to a third of the population in many parts of the U.S. were affected with goiters, an unsightly bulge in the neck. With goiter comes thyroid dysfunction of a variety of types, usually low thyroid... Read more
What nutritional supplement increases "good" HDL cholesterol 10-20 mg/dl, reduces triglycerides, reduces small LDL particles (the number one cause for heart disease in the U.S.), even reduces risk for heart attack substantially with no side-effects? It doesn't even require a prescription.
If we believed the advertising claims, that bill... Read more