ArcaMax

New research shows that hair can capture a chemical record of human exposure across days, week and even months. Writing in the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, scientists at the University of Texas analyzed snippets of hair and found that for at least one chemical -- a class of common endocrine-disrupting plasticizer called phthalates ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am 78 and dislike the short gray days of winter. I know that light therapy is used for seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and I would like to try it. How do I know which light box or lamp is a good choice? (Does it block ultraviolet rays, provide the right amount of light, etc.?) -- K.J.

ANSWER: SAD is a subcategory of major...Read more

For decades, I've been sharing all available information about achieving a younger ActualAge -- especially when it comes to your brain power. The full range of self-care that protects your cognition includes high-quality nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, having a posse and sense of purpose and enjoying speed-of-processing ...Read more

You're stuck under cold, gray skies, dreaming of lying on a beach somewhere feeling the sun's warming rays. But in lieu of that, you figure why not get an indoor tan from a salon? Well, here's why not.

According to a study in Science Advances, tanning bed users develop twice as many genetic mutations (alternations in their DNA) as folks who don...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: Why aren't meningococcal vaccines recommended for people over the age of 23? Are they assuming (wrongly) that most people have already received them or that most won't (again, probably wrongly) be exposed?

When I worked in the emergency room long ago before there was a vaccine, we had two patients in a row die from ...Read more

About 70% of emergency department visits for sports and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and concussions are among children ages 17 and younger! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the sports with the most concussions are (ranked 1-10): boys tackle football, girls soccer, boys lacrosse, boys ice hockey, ...Read more

DEAR DR ROACH: In a recent column, you wrote that hormone replacement therapy should be considered in elderly women to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs) by stopping bacteria from getting into the bladder in the first place. How does this work? Which is better: pills or vaginal creams? Isn't hormone replacement in postmenopausal women ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a generally healthy 70-year-old man, and I like to drink orange juice -- the kind that is freshly squeezed with no additives but is pasteurized. I also like to eat strawberries almost every day. My recent A1C and glucose levels were 6% and 110 mg/dL, respectively. My prior year readings were 5.5% and 100 mg/dL.

I've read ...Read more

Almost 64% of Americans are at risk for cardiovascular disease -- and many more are headed in that direction. Overall, around 35% of folks are living with one risk factor, such as high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, Type 2 diabetes, inactivity, overweight or obesity, poor nutrition, and excessive alcohol intake. And another 29% have two or ...Read more

There's a reason "health" and "wealth" rhyme. They may be the same thing.

The personal finance company WalletHub issued its latest survey of cities where people spend the most and least on health care. The company analyzed prices of five key health care components -- average cost of a doctor, dentist and optometrist visits, plus price of ...Read more

When men and women are given exercise routines to reduce coronary heart disease risk, one group does better. It's not men.

Women had a 22% lower risk of coronary heart disease if they logged 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous exercise. Men doing the same amount of exercise had a 17% lower risk.

The caveat: As in previous similar ...Read more

Researchers are now advising folks who get a flu shot to consider refraining from taking a pain reliever like aspirin, Advil or Aleve after inoculation because it can dampen production of necessary antibodies that protect against viral illness.

Many over-the-counter pain and fever reducers are classified as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,...Read more

Even with modern medicine, vaccines and artificial intelligence helping to diagnose diseases early, the risk of dying before age 70 -- called probability of premature death, or PPD -- still varies widely around the world.

In 2019, 12% of people in the world's healthiest countries died before age 70. In sub-Saharan Africa, that number was 52%;...Read more

The so-called "California sober" trend involves swapping alcohol in favor of cannabis consumption in the belief that it's less harmful to the body and reduces the danger of using more potent drugs like opioids, cocaine and methamphetamine.

A small published study suggests the approach actually does reduce alcohol consumption, at least in the ...Read more

Let's look at some converging lines of population numbers. The United States appears to be trending toward a new club of nations: those in which annual deaths routinely outnumber births. Some countries in Europe and Asia, such as Japan, Italy, South Korea and Germany, already have more deaths each year than births.

The biggest driver appears ...Read more

Apart from their widely celebrated effect at weight loss and diabetes management, GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy might also reduce alcohol use.

In a pilot study published in Scientific Reports, researchers found that GLP-1 agonists (which mimic the effects of GLP-1 compounds) slowed the speed at which alcohol enters the bloodstream, ...Read more