Home Remedies
How Do You Make These Yummy Lentil Dishes?
We recently spoke with nutrition experts about how to follow a plant-based diet. You can listen to the interview here (Show 1051: How Can Vegetarians Get All the Nutrients They Need?). During that in…
Can You Overdose on Vitamin D?
Doctors generally assume that North Americans are so well nourished that they never need to worry about supplements. In fact, they sometimes fuss that people who take vitamin pills could overdose on …
Will Raisins at Bedtime Reduce Bathroom Visits?
Anyone who has to get up many times during the night to urinate knows these interruptions can disrupt sleep. So when readers started reporting that eating a few raisins before bed could reduce bathr…
How to Stop Hand Cramps with a Bar of Soap
Have you ever suffered from cramps in the muscles of your hand? In addition to hurting like the dickens, such a cramp can make it nearly impossible to use your hand until the muscle contraction is rel…
Overcoming Insomnia with Tart Cherry Juice
Do you often toss and turn for hours? Wouldn't it be great to have a remedy that could help you overcome insomnia, preferably without next-day drowsiness or other undesirable side effects? Some scient…
How to Ease Indigestion Without PPIs
Q. Because of concerns about side effects of PPI acid-suppressing drugs, I have switched to Tums. I rely on two or three of these antacids to control my heartburn. Is that safe? What else could I do? …
Can You Soothe a Burn with Soy Sauce?
What do you do for a kitchen burn? First aid calls for cooling the injured tissue first. Put it in ice water (not plain ice!) or hold it under cold running water from the tap. People have tried many h…
Was Popeye Right to Eat Spinach?
Maybe the cartoon character Popeye who swallowed spinach before flexing his muscles had a good idea. Watch for spinach, kale and beet greens that supply nitrate in the diet to star on sports trainin…
How to Prevent Colds by Taking Cod Liver Oil
With the change in seasons, people are becoming more susceptible to coughs and sneezes. Could taking cod liver oil help them avoid colds or recover more quickly? A History of Cod Liver Oil: Q. I'd li…
How to Lower Blood Pressure with Hibiscus Tea
Blood pressure control is essential to maintain good kidney health and reduce the possibility of a stroke or heart attack. But it can be difficult to find blood pressure medication that does not have …
How to Reduce Inflammation by Nibbling Nuts
Research has suggested that people who eat nuts may be at lower risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks. Could eating nuts reduce inflammation? Does Your Diet Red…
How to Ease the Pain of a Jellyfish Sting
There are many home remedies for a jellyfish sting, but medical authorities are skeptical about most of them. Often, there has been little or no research on the effectiveness of a remedy. Some popular…
How Does A Teaspoon of Mustard Cure Muscle Cramp…
For years people have been insisting that a teaspoon or two of yellow mustard eases the pain of muscle cramps within a minute or two. We have even tried it ourselves with amazing success. But health p…
Did Ginkgo Biloba Keep His Mind Sharp?
Wouldn't you love to know how to keep your mind sharp and your memory intact even as you grow older? Most of us worry about losing our edge. One reader is convinced he has the answer. Indeed he might,…
Is Mail Order Safe for Summertime Supplements?
Ordering medications and supplements by mail is convenient and usually cost effective. In fact, some insurance plans demand that you use a mail-order pharmacy for prescriptions. But is it reasonable t…
How to Use Juniper to Fight Arthritis
There are innumerable home remedies reputed to ease the pain of arthritis. One of the perennial favorites is golden raisins soaked in gin. Nobody knows quite how it works, and people have offered a v…
The Benefits of Smearing Garlic on Your Lips
Cold sores are the visible result of a lurking herpes virus becoming re-activated and causing trouble. The virus, herpes simplex 1 or HSV-1, is extremely widespread. Most of the time, though, it lurk…
Can You Trust Your Multivitamin?
It can be challenging to get all the nutrients you need from food, especially if you are taking medications. That's because many medicines can interfere with vitamin and mineral absorption. Some, like…
How to Soothe Sunburn with Greek Yogurt
In an ideal world, nobody would ever get a sunburn. We would all exercise prudence and slather on sunscreen if we were going to be outside for any length of time. We would stay inside or under cover i…
Which Cinnamon Is Better for Blood Sugar?
In type 2 diabetes, blood sugar and insulin tend to spike after meals. Insulin is often present, sometimes even plentiful, in type 2 diabetes, but it isn't efficient. There is a bewildering array of p…
Will A Banana Peel Ease Inflammation and Itching…
People are sometimes surprised that they can go decades without developing a skin reaction to poison ivy. Then one day out of the blue they develop red, itchy blisters after exposure to this nasty pla…
Will the Gin and Raisin Remedy Help Hip and Knee…
We first heard about eating gin-soaked raisins for arthritis more than 20 years ago. On May 16, 1994 we received this letter: "A neighbor gave my wife a recipe for "arthritis relief" that involves soa…
How Much Tonic Water Is Safe for You?
In the heat of a summer afternoon, a tall cold glass of tonic water can seem very appealing. It may even have health benefits, such as warding off nighttime leg cramps. But if you get carried away and…
Research Vindicates Vicks VapoRub for Foiling Na…
Some people seem oblivious to their gross toenails. They walk around barefoot or in sandals with ugly yellow or even black nails oblivious to bystanders. Their thick, misshapen nails really need help.…
What Is the Economic Benefit of Medical Marijuan…
Medical marijuana may have an unexpected economic benefit in states that have legalized it. An Economic Benefit for Medicare: A new study in the journal Health Affairs shows that in states where medi…
Is Butter Better? Why Butter is Back with a Bull…
For decades and decades we were told that we had to avoid saturated fat. Cream in our coffee, butter on our bread and cream cheese on our bagel were considered sinful because such foods were supposed …
How to Ease a Painful Wasp Sting with Onion
What do you do for a wasp sting? We have heard from many readers who report that putting a freshly cut onion on the sting can ease the pain and swelling. Is there anything to this remedy? The Onion Re…
How to Ease Arthritic Knees with Natural Remedie…
Osteoarthritis puts its victims in a dreadful double bind. The nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that are the standard pain relievers for arthritis, such as diclofenac (Voltaren), ibupro…
Are Americans Spending More on Alternative Healt…
Americans are spending their own money on alternative health care. An analysis from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health reports that in 2012 people spent more than $30 billion…
Should You Take Biotin and Resveratrol for Your …
Psoriasis is a chronic skin problem in which the immune system makes skin cells turn over much faster than normal. The result is frequently red, itchy patches on elbows, knees, scalp or other areas of…
How to Fight Niacin Flush with Apple Pectin
New research suggests that cholesterol may not be the single most important factor leading to heart disease. Nonetheless, it is still relevant in many situations, and doctors will still focus on impro…
How to Choose Whole Grains for a Longer Life
Nutrition experts have long been advising us to eat whole grains, and now epidemiologists have evidence that getting three servings of whole grains daily can reduce the chance of an early death. In fa…
Can You Conquer Heartburn with Coconut Water?
How do you ease heartburn? Millions of people take acid-suppressing drugs every day, but the risks from long-term use of medicines like esomeprazole, lansoprazole or omeprazole have gotten a fair amou…
How to Stop Your Migraine by Eating Ice Cream
Migraine headaches cause a lot of misery. Although there are medications such as almotriptan (Axert), frovatriptan (Frova), rizatriptan (Maxalt), sumatriptan (Imitrex) or zolmitriptan (Zomig) that can…
How to Cure Swamp Rash with Milk of Magnesia
The ingenuity of our readers always impresses us. We recently heard from a reader who recommended an unusual treatment for a friend. She later had an occasion to use this home remedy herself. Who knew…
Why is the FDA So Squirrelly About Nuts?
The Food and Drug Administration once chastised a California walnut growers cooperative for promoting the health benefits of their nuts. In its strange bureaucratic logic the federal agency determined…
Will Fish Oil for the Heart Contribute to Prosta…
For decades health professionals focused primarily on cholesterol (especially LDL cholesterol) as the chief culprit in heart disease. Now, other blood fats are considered important, especially triglyc…
How to Strengthen Your Nails with Gelatin
Brittle fingernails that chip, split or break can be a real nuisance. Having the edge of the fingernail tear off, leaving the quick exposed, is painful. But how can you strengthen your nails? One read…
How to Use a Banana to Cure a Wart
How do you cure a wart? Doctors can burn, freeze or cut them off, although they often come back. There is a dizzying variety of home remedies used against warts, and most of them have several supporte…
How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep with an He…
As people learn about the possible downsides of using sleeping pills for a long time, many are searching for a better, safer way to get a good night's sleep. People with serious, long-standing insomn…