The American Heart Association (AHA) continues to recommend eating two 3.5-ounce (100 grams) servings of cooked fish each week to reduce cardiovascular disease risk. But is mercury a concern, and what should you do if you don't...

While low-fat diets were once all the rage, they are no longer considered a heart-healthy choice. In fact, when you cut saturated fat, such as that in meat and butter, out of your diet, you should replace it with the healthier...

Researchers have found that sugar impacts heart health in several key areas. Here's a sprinkling of recent research.

Some adults ages 75 and older wait far too long before seeking medical help for heart attack symptoms. Here's why the delay could put their health—and life—in jeopardy.

People with Alzheimer's can improve with treatment just as any other person who develops depression. And many things can be done in the caregiver-patient relationship to help.

Humans have long wondered why we dream and whether it serves a purpose. The truth is that nobody knows for sure, but studies suggest that dreams may help people consolidate and reorganize memories so that they can perform...

Taking care of a close family member with a chronic illness is deeply stressful, not least on an emotional level. Yet, too often, the everyday physical and practical demands of caregiving can push that psychological distress...

Depression is unusually common among people with Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, depression rates are elevated among people who have other types of dementia, as well as among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a...

Salt therapy has been around for centuries in Eastern Europe and Russia, where people have long flocked to natural salt caves in hopes of easing symptoms of asthma, bronchitis, colds, and sinus infections. Today, artificial...

Common causes of lingering shortness of breath (a month or more) or recurrent episodes of breathlessness include COPD, heart failure, ILD, asthma, physical deconditioning, obesity and anemia. Once your doctor has diagnosed the...

Unlike the temporary breathlessness you may feel after engaging in strenuous exercise or traveling to a high altitude, unexplained shortness of breath (dyspnea) is a symptom that's usually caused by an acute or chronic medical...

Sleep apnea—a disorder that repeatedly interrupts your breathing throughout the night—can leave you groggy the next day. These disruptions also pose serious risks to your heart. Some research has suggested that using a...

Individual psychotherapy, including mindfulness-based therapy, can be effective. But one-on-one counseling is expensive and may not be available to many people suffering from depression or anxiety. Can group therapy deliver the...

Foods can improve mood in some people, but can diet really affect depression? Last year, the first controlled clinical trial on the link between diet quality and depression gave stronger support to this connection.

The "golden years" come with concerns that can often lead to depression: financial worries in retirement, loss of independence, illness, fears of mortality. Depression in older adults sometimes has such obvious causes but, as...

A small percentage of individuals who have been exposed to a natural disaster may develop a trauma- or stressor-related disorder. Severe or overwhelming symptoms can begin in the days and weeks after the disaster. If symptoms...

Men with advanced prostate cancer are at increased risk for developing osteoporosis. Here's why--and what they should do to detect the condition and help prevent it.

If the results from a man's digital rectal exam (DRE), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, or both suggest prostate cancer may be present, a transrectal ultrasound with a prostate biopsy is typically the next step.

Some men will need to undergo a bone scan to determine whether their prostate cancer has spread to the bones. Here's a look at when the test is likely to be ordered.

Guidelines from professional groups, including the American Cancer Society (ACS), the American Urological Association, and the United States Preventive Services Task Force advise men to discuss the pros and cons of...

The claim: Following an anti-inflammatory diet can lower the risk of developing osteoporosis. But what does the evidence show?

Although weight-loss surgery clearly provides health benefits, it also has some risks—including an increased risk of bone loss and fracture.

About 10 prescription drugs have been approved to prevent or treat osteoporosis. Experts are still debating about who should take the drugs besides people with osteoporosis. After some of the drugs were also approved for...

Humans need calcium and vitamin D to build strong bones. And drinking milk that's fortified with vitamin D is an easy way to get those nutrients. But does that mean drinking milk will help prevent osteoporosis-related...

About 12 percent of retirees temporarily increase their alcohol consumption to unhealthy levels around the time they leave their full-time jobs, according to a 2017 Finnish study in the journal Addiction. Here's a...

As you plan your next airplane trip, your priority is probably to find the best price and schedule. Have you ever thought to compare airlines on the healthfulness of the food they serve?

As soda sales decline, newfangled waters have been taking their place on supermarket shelves—among them, a crop of so-called "plant waters," made from extracts of fruits, vegetables, grains, grasses, and various other plant...

If you're a food labels reader, you've probably seen the additive trisodium phosphate listed as an ingredient in some breakfast cereals. Despite what some websites would have you believe, there is nothing unique about trisodium...

For people with glaucoma, regular monitoring of intraocular pressure (IOP) is important for making sure that their treatment is effective. But testing involves going to the eye doctor, which can be a burden, especially for...

Following a Mediterranean-style diet—with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy oils such as olive oil, and only very modest portions of red meat and refined foods—has been shown to reduce the risk of...

Researchers examined the medical data of more than 74,000 women ages 65 and older who had cataracts. For reasons not clear to the researchers, the women who had surgery to replace their clouded lenses were more likely to live...

The most common test for vision loss from glaucoma is standard automated perimetry (SAP). A recent report has found that mild cognitive decline associated with aging can impair the ability of individuals to perform the test—and...

Treatment decisions for BPH are based on the severity of symptoms as assessed by the International Prostate Symptom Score questionnaire, the extent of urinary tract damage, and the man's age and overall health.

Some reports indicate that as many as 30 percent of men who undergo surgery for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) have symptoms that were caused by something other than an enlarged prostate. A medical history helps doctors...

The American Urological Association (AUA) recently updated its guidelines on commonly used surgical procedures and minimally invasive surgical treatments. Following is the group's latest advice on which to consider—and which to...

Some men who take medication for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) that belongs to a class of drugs known as 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) have reported developing depression and suicidal thoughts, but this risk...

Dairy foods, including full-fat types, are not associated with increased body fat or other metabolic risk factors, according to a 2017 study in the journal Nutrition & Diabetes, which included more than 1,000 healthy...

Gluten has gotten a bad rap in recent years. But in the absence of celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, there is no evidence that avoiding gluten will benefit your health, and it may even cause harm.

To increase the likelihood of successful long-term weight loss, this twist on a calorie-restricted diet may be worth trying: Alternate two weeks on the diet with two weeks off.

These six tips can help you make between-meal snacking a sensible part of your weight management efforts.

Patients with persistent joint pain and other symptoms of Lyme disease are often offered unproven treatments that can cause serious and even life-threatening adverse effects, according to a report from the Centers for Disease...

The advantages of a bilateral knee replacement—when both knees are replaced at the same time—might seem obvious. But most experts agree that this controversial practice has its downsides. Here's what you should know.

A small, but significant, portion of patients who receive prescriptions for opioid pain killers after undergoing joint replacement surgery will begin using the drugs long term, according to a study published online last year in...

For many people, hand strength declines with age, especially if arthritis sets in, making it hard to go about daily tasks. Hand exercises may bring some symptom relief.

A 2017 review in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology offers an evidence-based, multi-faceted approach to preventing heart disease in people with type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is an "epidemic" in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). What's more, of the 84 million adults who have prediabetes (elevated blood sugar but below the cutoff for diabetes), only...

You may be more tempted to ditch your healthy eating habits when you're traveling and not follow your normal diet, but don't do it. On the contrary, try to be extra aware of what you're eating and how it affects your blood...

Some people with type 2 diabetes who lose weight and keep it off may be able to reverse the disease, according to a British study in the Lancet.

If you snack impulsively, eat at unusual times, or chow down before going to bed, chew on this: Irregular eating can increase your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

Long-term stroke survivors may benefit from either music or horseback-riding therapy, a Swedish study suggests.

Suddenly stopping aspirin therapy appears to raise the risk of a stroke or a heart attack, according to a report in Circulation.

Statin therapy is a standard treatment for the first three months after a stroke. There hasn't been much research into longer-term statin treatment, but a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests...

If you are taking anti-TNF agents to control inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and you still have evidence of active disease, here's what the American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) recommends.

If you have a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) and you test positive, you will need to undergo a follow-up colonoscopy. Based on the findings of a new study, don't delay.

People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often view their gastroenterologist as their primary care provider, and tend not to see a primary care provider very often. A recent clinical guideline from the American College of...

Are you a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy? A 2017 study in the journal GUT suggests that men who regularly eat red meat—beef, pork, lamb, particularly in unprocessed forms (as opposed to deli meats and sausages)—have an...

A recent study adds to the growing body of evidence that long-term use of opioids to treat chronic non-cancer pain, including back pain, should be the exception rather than the rule.

If you suffer from back pain and have been taking opioids for pain relief, you may be thinking of trying kratom. This product has been reported to help relieve pain and ease opioid withdrawal symptoms. But the U.S. Food and...

Yoga has been shown to improve neck, back, and knee pain, but about 10 percent of participants in a recent study reported that yoga caused pain, and 20 percent who already had pain said that the practice exacerbated it.

For people who have sciatica—searing or stabbing pain radiating from the back or buttocks into the leg—driving a car can be especially uncomfortable and painful. If driving makes your sciatica act up, these tips might help make...