ArcaMax

When you think of yeast, you may imagine the microorganisms that make bread dough rise (there are more than 200 billion in a packet of dry yeast). But there are other forms that live in the human body, helping your digestive and immune systems function and assisting in the absorption of vitamins and minerals from your food. Sometimes they get ...Read more

"There are always two sides to every story" is a famous saying that American philosopher-theologian Jonathan Edwards coined in his 1738 sermon "Charity & Its Fruits." Recent news about the lack of effectiveness of aspirin in preventing "major cardiovascular events" for folks with a specific risk factor called non-obstructive coronary artery ...Read more

In the 1975 movie "Pumping Iron," Arnold Schwarzenegger declared, "Milk is for babies." Although he actually did use dairy in his regimen when he was young (he is, by his own reckoning, 80% vegan now), he was right on, according to a study in the Journal of Nutrition.

When researchers looked at the muscle-building benefits of whole milk versus ...Read more

During the brutal wildfire season last year, California's Dixie fire laid waste to more than 192,000 acres. The Bootleg/Log fire in Oregon was even larger, covering more than 400,000 acres. Like those wildfires, inflammation in your body can spread, leaving scorched (well, damaged) tissue behind, say researchers in a new study in the journal ...Read more

You may think of a cat nap as a short snooze, but cats are actually super-sleepers, often slumbering for 12 to 18 hours a day. That's healthy for them, but for humans, sleeping more than an hour while the sun shines can be a sign of developing liver problems, according to a study in BMC Gastroenterology. It found that compared with folks who don...Read more

In 1974, when Mac Davis sang "Stop and Smell the Roses," he crooned: "There's a whole lot more to life than work and worry," and he was right. But half of folks age 65 to 80 and 80% of those over 80 can't smell the roses or much of anything else. That turns out to stink.

Loss of sense of smell is associated with neurogenerative conditions like ...Read more

"Once I drink the water, I feel it immediately," says Cameron Diaz. "I go from being a wilted plant to one that has been rejuvenated by the rain." Cindy Crawford agrees: "Your body is so happy when you drink water." Well, your cardiologist is happy, too!

Researchers from the Laboratory of Vascular and Matrix Genetics at the National Heart Lung...Read more

The news is good, bad and downright stupid when it comes to the COVID-19 Test-to-Treat Program that was launched in March.

Good: antiviral medications. Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck's Lagevrio, when taken within five days of developing your first COVID-19 symptoms, can prevent severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths, especially among ...Read more

"You're only one workout away from a good mood." That may sound like a T-shirt slogan, but a new study confirms what we have long suspected: Regular physical activity is a great way to reduce the risk of depression and to improve your mood if you are feeling down. A study in JAMA Psychiatry looked at 15 studies with more than 190,000 ...Read more

In the late 1990s, National Geographic fell for a big bone scam. A fossil they declared was a missing link between dinosaurs and birds turned out to be a glued-together combo of bone bits from various species. The use of QCT (quantitative computed tomography) for bone scans, instead of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) screening technology,...Read more

Former "60 Minutes" host Andy Rooney once said, "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone." Well, a new study may make you feel that getting old is a great reward for a long, healthy life.

The research, published in The BMJ, reveals that if you stick with a ...Read more

Although Adele (estimated net worth $182 million) might have a pretty good financial cushion to land on if she should get ill, it turns out the songstress did more for her health by quitting smoking than by having a series of moneymaking superhits. A new study shows that while money can buy you health care, it comes in second to the benefits ...Read more

"Star Trek" knows about transporter inhibitors: Lieutenant Commander Data used one while on a Federation mission scout ship to prevent himself from being beamed away by a USS Enterprise-E shuttlecraft. Sodium-glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors may provide similarly effective protection from medical woes for people with heart failure.

Known as ...Read more

When Maya Angelou wrote "Life loves the liver of it," and William James said, "Is life worth living? It all depends on the liver," they weren't referring to the 3-pound, cone shaped, reddish-brown organ that performs more than 500 vital functions designed to help regulate bodily chemicals. But they could have been, since the liver is so ...Read more

The teen years are tough for many youngsters, and depression and anxiety became even more widespread among teens during the pandemic. According to a new study in JAMA Pediatrics, depression and anxiety symptoms during the first year of COVID-19 doubled among adolescents, and as the COVID-19 crisis dragged on, the rates became even higher, ...Read more

"To sleep, perchance to dream." Wouldn't that be lovely? Unfortunately, about half of you -- 55% of women and 46% of men -- say you're light sleepers. Well, light sleeping problems, such as waking up many times a night, may be precisely that: sleep disturbances caused by excess light in your bedroom.

If you're one of the 70% of people with ...Read more

A recent note from an 89-year-old asked, "What's you recommendation for steps per day for people in my age group? My minimum step number is 3,000 (I usually exceed that), and gardening and yardwork (my favorite form of exercise) tops out at 7,000 to 10,000 a day."

The short answer -- as much as you can do, as often as possible. But keep in mind...Read more

Shaquille O'Neal's weight hit 415 during the height of the pandemic -- up from the 345 he says he weighed while playing for the Lakers. He's not alone. According to the Health eHeart Study, overall folks gained 1.5 pound a month, and another study showed that many folks who were already obese gained 4 or more pounds monthly.

Researchers at the ...Read more

The stereotype of a dumb jock pops up in movies like "Revenge of the Nerds" where the Alpha Beta fraternity boys don't seem to know their ABCs. But studies show that it's not true that athletes are dimwitted -- like former Wimbledon champ Marion Bartoli with an IQ of 175, which is higher than Einstein's and Stephen Hawking's.

Now a study in ...Read more

Drew Barrymore -- an effervescent mom of two and popular talk-show host -- was a huge star by age 7 and in rehab at age 13. Zac Efron faced much the same struggles, going to rehab for cocaine addiction twice before overcoming the habit. They're both great examples of how people can rebound from mental illness and substance-abuse disorders and go...Read more