According to research appearing in the September, 2000 issue of The Lancet, women who are under stress during the first trimester of their pregnancy are more likely to give birth to a child with birth defects than women who are not under stress. The researchers reviewed the medical records of women and looked for sources Read More …

Pain and stress associated with getting a root canal can lead to short term immune changes and may lead to cold symptoms later on, according to researchers from the University of Florida and the University of Iowa and reported in the Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine (May, 2001). According to the article, those who reported having Read More …

In a study published in the American Journal of Public Health (October 2001; 91:1671-1678), researchers interviewed 6,000 subjects about a number of physical and psychological issues. They interviewed the subjects twice, once when the group was 23 years old and again when they were 33. About 10% of the group experienced low back pain for Read More …

Ads for the artificial sweetener, Splenda, imply that it is a natural product. The line, “Splenda No Calorie Sweetener is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar”, is a point of contention. The Sugar Association characterizes Splenda’s ad campaign as misleading. “Johnson & Johnson is misinforming consumers about the reality of the chlorinated product Read More …

Parents of asthmatic children often overlook important measures, including banning smoking in the house and shutting windows to keep pollen out. About 25% of   parents surveyed said that a smoker lived in the same house as the child with asthma but they had not done anything about it. “80% of parents in this study knew Read More …

According to the article, “Clinical Review of Dietary Therapy For Rheumatoid Arthritis”, published in the British Journal of Rheumatology (1993;32:507-514) changes in diet may benefit patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The authors of the study propose that improving the diet is extremely safe and may improve symptoms and reduce medication needs without any side-effects. One of Read More …

Resistance Exercise Helps Juvenile Arthritis Sufferers Children with juvenile arthritis took part in an eight-week individualized program of resistance exercise at the University at Buffalo. Their ability to function was greatly improved by the exercise. Some improved by as much as 200%, preliminary results of the study have shown. Pain, use of medications and disability Read More …

According to a research paper presented to the American Chemical Society by Theo Clark, a visiting chemistry professor at Truman State University (Kirksville, Mo), oranges that are not organically grown are larger and of deeper color than organically grown oranges. The organically grown oranges contain 30% more vitamin C, even though they were about half Read More …

According to research appearing in the October, 2006 issue of the American Journal of Medicine (2006;119;937-942),  post-menopausal women who exercised regularly for at least one year had a lower incidence of colds than those who did not. The subjects were 115 postmenopausal women who were sedentary and either obese or overweight. They were divided into Read More …

People who sleep less than five hours each night or more than nine hours each night have an increased chance of becoming diabetic, according to research published in Diabetes Care (February, 2003;26:380-4). Researchers kept track of over 70,000 women without diabetes for a 10-year period. Women who slept for five hours or less each night Read More …