ArcaMax

DEAR DR. ROACH: I recently had a blood and urine checkup. Most everything was within normal range (doing well), except that I am low on vitamin D, at 24. The doctor recommended supplements, but said to be careful not to overdo. How much is too much? Is one a week OK? -- Y.C.

ANSWER: There are several ways to replace vitamin D, but the most ...Read more

The fear of family separation is nothing new for many immigrants already living in the U.S. In fact, that fear, heightened in recent weeks, has been forcing a tough decision for a while. Advocates say a growing number of American children are dropping out of Medicaid and other government programs because their parents are not citizens.

Marlene ...Read more

In Rachel Khong's 2017 novel "Goodbye, Vitamin," the protagonist, Ruth, records what her aging father does: "Today you held your open hand out and I shook out the pills into it, same as every day. Fish oil. Magnesium. Vitamins D and C and A. Gingko Biloba. 'Hello, water,' you said, holding the glass against the moonlight and shaking the pills ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband had pacemaker surgery in December following a diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Three weeks later, he developed edema in his lower legs. He was treated by his doctor with a diuretic. At his six-week pacemaker checkup, we brought it up to the cardiac physician assistant that the swelling was still there and that...Read more

I'm anxiously waiting to enjoy an array of garden fresh vegetables offered by my green thumb friends and neighbors this time of year. (I pay them back in the fall, when I get to share an abundance of apples from my two prolific trees.)

Besides the fact that right-out-of-the-garden fruit and vegetables are astoundingly delicious, we also know ...Read more

When an unarmed black American dies at the hands of police, the emotional impact reverberates so widely that black Americans who don't even know the victim report distress, anxiety and depression, creating a national mental health burden nearly comparable to the stress caused by a chronic illness like diabetes, a new study has found.

...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Self-reported quality of life among patients diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma can predict overall survival and event-free survival, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The results were presented at the 56th American Society of Hematology annual meeting, in San Francisco.

"We studied a large sample of patients with aggressive ...Read more

PHOENIX -- While surgical outcomes have improved nationally over time, surgical outcome reporting does not necessarily lead to better outcomes, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Systems that capture, analyze, and report surgical outcomes are an increasingly important part of the ...Read more

It's advice parents have been giving their children for generations.

"When I was growing up, I remember my mother telling me, you know, not to go in the pool until it was 30 to 60 minutes after I had my last meal," says Dr. Michael Boniface, a Mayo Clinic emergency medicine physician.

He says the motherly advice had serious origins but may not...Read more

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A new study has found that a condition that threatens the lives of some pregnant women and the fetus may continue to put the mother at risk later in life.

Mayo Clinic researchers found that women with a history of pre-eclampsia are more likely to face atherosclerosis -- hardening and narrowing of the arteries -- decades ...Read more

The Trump administration approved new insurance rules this week that will make it easier for people to buy skimpy health plans -- and possibly wind up with insurance that falls short of their expectations.

Under the federal health-care law, all plans sold to individuals and small businesses were required to cover a list of basic benefits, ...Read more

Vitamin D and Breast Cancer

Almost one-third of us don't get enough vitamin D, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And if you're over 50, you probably need to be taking a supplement. Not enough vitamin D can lead to brittle, soft bones, resulting in rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

Now a new study, published in the ...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 71-year-old Type 2 diabetic woman, but I find the glucose monitoring systems requiring blood samples so painful to use that I don't test. At present, I get along by taking a 500-mg metformin tablet three times a day and having bloodwork done about twice a year. My last fasting glucose test result (1/19/18) was 134 mg/dL, ...Read more

The Olympics allow us to witness the human body's peak abilities. But as major cities get more polluted, air quality can interfere with performance. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, six fewer outdoor world records were set than in 2004 in Athens, a fact many attributed to poor air quality.

But you don't need to be an Olympic athlete for ...Read more

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer can develop elevated blood sugar levels up to three years before their cancer diagnosis, according to the results of a study by Mayo Clinic researchers published the journal Gastroenterology.

"Pancreatic cancer is rapidly fatal after its diagnosis, with average survival of six months...Read more

A sunny day at the beach or pool can take a dark turn in seconds.

"Drowning in this country remains one of the leading causes of accidental death in children and affects adults, as well," says Dr. Michael Boniface, a Mayo Clinic emergency medicine physician.

But Boniface says drowning usually doesn't look how people expect it to.

According to...Read more

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am an 84-year-old female. Luckily for me, I have never been ill with chickenpox, measles or mumps. My family doctor thought that I should still get the shingles vaccine, even though a blood test proved that, indeed, I'd never had chickenpox. So I did. I read in the paper that there is a new shingles vaccine available and that ...Read more

When European missionaries headed into the jungles of West Papua in Indonesia in 1974, they discovered a tribe of cannibalistic people living in trees (different "floors" were designated depending on how well various members of the group got along). That contact is thought to be the first time the Korowai became aware that other humans existed. ...Read more

Marilyn Bartlett, the director administrator of Montana's Health Care and Benefits Division, recalls thinking "holy cow" when she got an urgent directive from state legislators in late 2014: "You have to get these costs under control, or else."

Increasing health care costs in the state workers' health plan were helping hold down workers' wages....Read more