It seems as if you can’t go anywhere today without encountering the words “gluten-free.” Every grocery store, restaurant, food package and friend seems to be boasting about all the gluten-free possibilities that exist. This latest food trend may be everywhere, but before you think of jumping on the GF bandwagon, I urge you to read on.
Sleep apnea is a nighttime event during which a person will repeatedly stop and start breathing while asleep, causing the level of oxygen in the blood to drop, as well as waking the body and disturbing healthy sleep. Severity of the condition varies from mild to severe, depending on how many times and how low the oxygen level goes down.
This post was written by Gerald Bernstein, MD, Director of the Friedman Diabetes Institute at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
One of today’s greatest public health issues is the growing number of people with diabetes mellitus, most commonly type 2 and most often (but not always) associated with excess weight. To appreciate the scope of the problem, it is important to understand the true nature of the disease. (more…)
Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes, are responsible for seven out of every 10 deaths among Americans each year, and many of the risk factors that contribute to the development of these diseases are preventable. Healthy People 2020, an initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), aims to improve the health of all Americans by providing science-based, 10-year national objectives. (more…)
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Here are the most common myths about this disease that I hear from my patients.
“I feel fine, I have no pain or feel any lumps- there is no way for me to have colon cancer”
Most patients who underwent screening colonoscopy and a colon cancer were found did NOT have any symptoms. Most importantly, those are the cases that are curable! By the time symptoms developed, unfortunately it is often already too late. 91% of patients with cancer that were detected early are alive and well 5 years after diagnosis. But only 37% of all colorectal cancer are diagnosed at this stage- we can do better, this is the most preventable cancer with screening.
For centuries before becoming the sweet treat we know today, chocolate, the product of fermented cacao beans, was used as medicine. Early Aztec cultures concocted remedies using cocoa from the “chocolate tree” to ease intestinal complaints and upset stomach, control diarrhea, reduce fevers, and boost strength before military conquests. Later eras linked chocolate to other properties, such as a cure for “chocolatomania” cravings in the mid-1900s, which were believed to occur in young women.