Food & Drink Remedies
Thousands of years ago, Hippocrates said Let food be your medicine. Foods and beverages provide relief from an amazing number of common ailments.
Will a Mediterranean Diet Help Your Psoriasis?
Following a Mediterranean style diet with lots of vegetables, extra-virgin olive oil, whole grains and fruit is good for your heart and your metabolism. Now a French study suggests this way of eating …
How to Prepare No-Gas Beans
You may have heard about the benefits of dietary fiber, but such diets have one drawback: flatulence. That's why our readers get excited about no-gas beans. How Fiber Helps the Heart: People who consu…
Will Extra Vegetables Protect You Against Breast…
Your mother was right when she urged you to eat your vegetables. And if she took her own advice and consumed extra vegetables, she was lowering her own risk of breast cancer. What Is the Value of Extr…
Can You Use Almonds to Stop Heartburn?
Heartburn may seem like a recent problem, but in fact, people have been struggling with indigestion for as far back as medical history reaches and probably beyond. Hippocrates wrote about it more than…
Try Olive Oil for Your Dry Mouth
Dry mouth is not a life-threatening condition, but it certainly can make you miserable. Quite a few medications can cause this irritating symptom. If your prescriber writes it off as a "minor" side ef…
What Health Benefits Can You Get from Spices?
You may be well aware that vegetables and fruits are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Perhaps you've even heard about additional compounds we call phytonutrients. These may not be considered essenti…
Will Eating Walnuts Lower Your Cholesterol?
Could eating walnuts lower your cholesterol? A few decades ago, people were warned to avoid walnuts as well as other types of tree nuts because of their high fat content. Experts expected this to lead…
Rediscovering How Hot Water for Itches Works for…
We love it when people discover a home remedy on their own. It’s doubly sweet when renowned experts support the treatment. It’s triply sweet when we have an explanation for why hot water for itche…
Better Diet for Poor Americans Is Not a SNAP
Poor diet may underly a wide range of undesirable health problems, from obesity to diabetes and heart disease. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was designed to help very low-income…
Will Raisins in the Evening Help You Stay in Bed…
Have you ever had to get up at night to urinate? Most of us have. Going once or even twice in the course of the night may not be much of a problem, but having to trek to the bathroom multiple times ca…
How Much Beet Juice Will Lower Your Blood Pressu…
People with high blood pressure are more likely to experience heart attacks and strokes. That is why doctors emphasize blood pressure control. They often prescribe medication to achieve this goal. Som…
Make Sure Your Vegetarian Diet Is High Quality
A vegetarian diet can be beneficial, but even vegetarians need to pay attention to the quality of the food they eat. Harvard researchers who have tracked the dietary habits and health of more than 125…
Should You Try Yogurt to Combat Constipation?
Anyone who has suffered from constipation would be grateful for advice on preventing this troublesome problem. Avoiding medications such as opioid pain relievers or even supplements like calcium that …
Is Stevia a Safe Sugar Substitute?
Artificial sweeteners have been controversial for decades. In the 1960s, when the idea of low-calorie substitutes for sugar was still fairly new, animal studies suggested that saccharine and cyclamate…
High Protein Diet Is Linked to Heart Failure Ris…
Many people striving to lose weight turn to a low-carb diet to try to jump-start the process. Instead, they try to get most of their energy from fat or protein sources. But does this increase their he…
Will an Elimination Diet Help You Avoid Migraine…
News that the FDA has just approved a new medication (Aimovig, generic name erenumab) to prevent migraine headaches has attention focused on prevention. While some patients will doubtless welcome this…
Why Papaya for Heartburn Is Surprisingly Helpful
Papaya was once considered an exotic fruit. You had to visit a tropical country to find it. Now, fresh papaya can be found in most food markets. You can purchase papaya enzymes in tablet form in healt…
How Can You Reduce the Impact of Air Pollution?
Air pollution is harmful to health, with bad effects on the lungs, heart and cardiovascular system. But even if you can’t completely avoid air pollution, you can soften its impact. Lowering the Impa…
Is Cooked Oatmeal Better for You Than Instant Oa…
Oats have been a dietary staple for many centuries, and they have a reputation as a healthy whole grain. Eating cooked oatmeal on a regular basis (daily or several times a week) can help control chole…
Can You Improve Blood Sugar Control by Cutting C…
A century ago, before insulin was discovered in 1921, the way people with diabetes controlled their blood sugar was by not eating carbohydrate-rich foods. Could cutting carbs help improve your blood s…
What Is the Best Time to Eat?
A small study shows that the timing of meals can have a profound impact on blood sugar, insulin secretion and blood pressure. But what is the best time to eat? Finding the Best Time to Eat: Many Ameri…
Will Spices Help Protect Your Memory?
Dementia is as frightening to most people as the prospect of heart disease or cancer. You probably know that to avoid heart disease you want to control your weight, eat a healthful high-vegetable diet…
Diabetes Diet Smackdown | Richard Bernstein, MD …
Dr. Richard Bernstein has had type 1 diabetes since he was a kid. That was a long time ago. He will soon be 84. Because people with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) can’t make insulin they have to in…
Can People with Diabetes Really Eat Eggs?
For decades, Americans were warned not to eat eggs for fear that their blood cholesterol levels would rise. After all, egg yolks are high in cholesterol. Even after data showed that there was no link …
Can You Lower Your Blood Pressure with Food?
When the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association collaborated on new blood pressure guidelines in 2017, the cut-off numbers for hypertension got lower. That means a lot more …
Will a Mediterranean Diet Fight Frailty?
Is a Mediterranean diet the secret to longevity in Italy and Greece? We don’t actually know, but doctors are collecting evidence that a Mediterranean diet can help older Americans avoid frailty (Voe…
Will Dark Chocolate Help You See Better?
The cocoa flavanols in dark chocolate have been credited with lowering blood pressure, increasing blood flow and improving mood and memory. Studies have suggested that they may reduce the risk of stro…
Pectin and Grape Juice to Ease Sore Joints
People with arthritis usually rely on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen or naproxen for pain relief, but these medicines can cause trouble if a person takes them for a lo…
Will Nuts Protect You from Afib?
Nut lovers are less prone to the heart rhythm abnormality known as atrial fibrillation. In this condition, the upper chambers of the heart don’t pump blood rhythmically and efficiently. As a result,…
How to Control Your Blood Sugar Without Drugs
How is your blood sugar? According to the CDC, 84 million American adults have prediabetes, a condition in which blood sugar is elevated but doesn't reach the threshold for a diagnosis of diabetes (12…
Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen in the Produce Bin
Most health experts emphasize the importance of eating lots of vegetables, but which ones have the least pesticide residue? If you want to avoid pesticides as much as possible, but can't afford to buy…
Why Grandma Was Right about Vegetables
Your grandmother may have told you to eat your vegetables. Ours certainly urged us to do so. Was Grandma following her own advice? She should have. A new study from Australia reinforces the benefits o…
Why You Should Eat the Mediterranean Way
The Mediterranean diet has been associated with a number of health benefits. We have written previously about studies showing that a Mediterranean-style eating plan can protect the brain, reduce arthr…
How Much Gluten Is in a Gluten-Free Diet?
People with celiac disease react badly when they consume gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley or rye. Their immune systems go into overdrive and attack the lining of the intestine, resulting in da…
Have You Tried Onion Syrup to Calm a Cough?
The 2017-2018 flu season might have set some records for being long-lasting and rough. But even after the flu fades from memory, respiratory tract infections will cause coughs and sniffles, sore throa…
What Are the Health Benefits of Hibiscus Tea?
Many traditional remedies may appear more like food than medicine. In many parts of the world, people attribute wonderful properties to a tart red tea made from hibiscus flowers. Are there really heal…
Can Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) Blow A Hole…
People have been using a natural antacid (sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda) for a very long time. It is cheap and surprisingly effective for easing symptoms of indigestion. But too much of a good t…
Will Garlic Really Lower Your Blood Pressure?
Humans love variety in their food, and have found numerous ways to enliven it. Spices of various sorts have been used to give food an interesting flavor. Many of these additives have also been used me…
Should You Drink Cranberry Juice to Avoid Cystit…
Sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether simple approaches often dismissed as "old wives' tales" are helpful or useless. New scientific findings often tend to support such wisdom as "eat you…
Stop Leg Cramps and Muscle Spasms Fast With a Si…
Have you ever been awakened in the middle of the night with a leg cramp? One minute you are fast asleep and the next you are in agony with muscle spasms. When a muscle cramps up it can take a long tim…