Health Advice
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Reduce your child's exposure to plastics for a healthier tomorrow
Plastics are everywhere -- in our brains, bloodstream, and lungs and in pregnant women's placenta, where they can cause long-term damage to a child's cognition, heart health and fertility. They're also suspected of causing childhood asthma and leading to hormone disruption, chronic inflammation, IQ loss and neurodevelopmental issues such as ...Read more

Major insurers scale back Medicare Advantage and Part D plans for 2026
CVS Health, Humana, and UnitedHealth Group have announced that they will pull back on Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D prescription drug plans next year. These changes are a response to financial pressures, including changes to government funding and rising healthcare costs. This has led insurance carriers to scale back their offerings in less...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: Take and bake pizza
Frozen pizza ... is there an easier, more convenient comfort food out there?
I doubt it. But pizza often gets a bad rap from a healthy eating perspective. With loads of cheese and fatty meats, it’s not hard to understand why. That doesn’t mean, however, that pizza can’t still be part of a healthy eating plan. Taking a few extra minutes to...Read more

5 long-lasting vegetables that stay fresh for weeks
Have you ever opened the fridge in hopes of using some of the fresh produce you recently picked up, only to find those veggies already rotting? Fruits and vegetables are some of the hardest foods to keep fresh for long periods of time, yet many of us are too busy to consume these products before they expire.
“Due to the delicateness of some ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Understanding colorectal cancer
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I recently read that more and more young people are getting diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I’m in my 30s, am I at risk? What does colorectal mean?
ANSWER: The term colorectal cancer combines colon and rectal cancer, two parts of the intestine. The first part of the large intestine is called the colon, and the last part ...Read more
It's High Time
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, in children seems anomalous. Indeed, it's relatively rare but not unheard of. In the U.S. roughly one in seven children and teens may have high blood pressure or be trending toward it.
That does not bode well for their future health. A new analysis of 37,000 people found that high blood pressure at age 7 ...Read more

Cops on ketamine? Largely unregulated mental health treatment faces hurdles
If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting “988.”
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ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A few months ago, Waynesville Police Sgt. Paige Shell was about to give up hope of getting better. The daily drip of violence, death, and misery from almost 20 years in law...Read more

Nursing shortage is getting worse. Front-line workers blame management
TURLOCK, Calif. — California, like much of the nation, is not producing enough nurses working at bedsides to meet the needs of an aging and diverse population, fueling a workforce crunch that risks endangering quality patient care. Nearly 60% of California counties, stretching between the borders with Mexico and Oregon, face a nursing shortage...Read more
Benefit Of Glucosamine/Chondroitin For Joint Pain Is Uncertain
DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 66-year-old male who often experiences achiness in my lower joints (hip arthritis and occasional knee pain). A good friend of mine who is also a doctor recommended that I consider taking a daily supplement of glucosamine and chondroitin.
Do you recommend it for the purpose of reducing inflammation and joint pain? Does ...Read more
Getting a leg(ume) up on better health
Just 12% of the U.S. population is eating 50% of the beef that's consumed in a day -- and according to a study in Nutrients, a vast majority of those folks are teen and adult men. That may help explain why men generally develop heart disease seven to 10 years earlier than women (whose risk increases after menopause and then may exceed men's).
...Read more

The key health bills California Gov. Newsom signed this week focused on how technology is impacting kids
New laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom aim to make the artificial intelligence and social media landscape in California safer, especially for minors.
Senate Bill 243, sponsored by state Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista) will require AI companies to incorporate guardrails that prevent so-called "companion" chatbots from talking to users of any ...Read more

Michigan state board rejects 'misinformation' on controversial health, sex education plans
A State Board of Education resolution to spike new health education standards failed in a 5-2 Tuesday evening vote along party lines, shutting down an effort by conservatives to halt certain subjects in sex education from being offered in Michigan classrooms.
The resolution by the board's two Republican members sought to stop the proposed new ...Read more

California's health insurance marketplace braces for chaos as shutdown persists
California this week plans to notify Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees that their costs could rise sharply next year unless Congress extends subsidies to help people buy health insurance.
Health care analysts say the nation’s uninsured population will rise significantly if federal lawmakers do not agree to renew covid-era tax credits,...Read more

Senators press Deloitte, other contractors on errors in Medicaid eligibility systems
Senators have launched an inquiry into companies paid billions in taxpayer dollars to build eligibility systems for Medicaid, expressing concern that error-riddled technology and looming work requirements “will cause Americans to lose Medicaid coverage to this bureaucratic maze.”
The letters, dated Oct. 10, were sent to four companies and ...Read more

Shutdown forces Medicare patients off popular telehealth and hospital-at-home programs
The federal government shutdown is forcing a reckoning for two remote health care programs because they automatically expired Oct. 1.
The telehealth and in-home hospital care programs were both temporary — but increasingly popular — options for Medicare recipients. They allowed doctors and hospitals to bill Medicare for telehealth ...Read more

Trump claims Democrats want to use federal funds to give undocumented residents health care. That's misleading
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Though raging thousands of miles to the east, the entrenched stalemate in Washington over federal spending and the ensuing government shutdown has thrust California’s expansive health care policies into the center of the pitched, partisan debate.
The Trump administration and the Republican leaders in Congress continue ...Read more

'Outer space science' procedure has rejuvenated over 700 lives
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- After having her head shaved by nurses at Novant Health Mint Hill Medical Center, patient Catherine Klie’s right hand shook as she tried to trace spiral circles and straight lines with a marker.
It didn’t look good, with scribbly markings on the test paper.
Tremors run in her family and began affecting her in her 20s. ...Read more
Blame it on the munchies
The legalization of cannabis has made it hard to walk down the street in some urban centers without inhaling a good dose of smoke from weed, and chewables are everywhere. As of April 2025, 39 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia allow cannabis use for medical conditions, and 24 states, two territories, and the District of ...Read more
Man Weighs Whether To Continue Getting Repeat Colonoscopies
DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 78-year-old male with a history of high blood pressure, and I had a bovine aortic valve replacement in 2009. I had a negative colonoscopy in 2003, but in 2013, my colonoscopy required a polypectomy of a 3-mm tubular adenoma. In 2019, my colonoscopy was negative again. I'm concerned with the risks involved in repeat ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Minute: MRI for dense breasts -- what to know
Nearly half of all women who have had a mammogram to screen for breast cancer have been identified as having dense breasts. This makes it more challenging to detect breast cancer because dense tissue and tumors both appear white on a mammogram. That's one reason why it's recommended to have an additional screening done. But which one?
Dr. ...Read more
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