August 1-7, 2010 - Original Health Articles

It sounds so perfect: a libido-boosting pill for women that would magically erase all the cares, exhaustion and worries of the day and put her in the mood for sex. But while hopes ran high for a female version of Viagra, it appears that such a medication is not yet ready for prime time.

While most people "of a certain age" are healthy and living full, productive lives, growing older often comes with a few aches and pains. Not surprisingly, as we age and change, the small pains grow into larger, more difficult to manage ones. Here, the 4 most common pains we experience as we age and how to treat them.

When men think about menopause, thoughts of wives' hot flashes, mood swings, and under-chin peach fuzz usually come to mind. But could it be that, around a certain age, men experience something that resembles the same hormonal changes that women do? It's a fact that, as men age, levels of testosterone—the "male hormone"—begin to diminish.

Nutritionally speaking, eggs are a near-perfect food, naturally rich in high-quality protein and containing almost every vitamin and mineral known to be essential for human health. Still, eggs enriched with extra vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids are available in just about every supermarket.

Here's one more reason to maintain good blood sugar control: it helps keep your pearly whites healthy. When your blood sugar is high, the chances of getting gum disease are significantly higher, too. Diabetics in poor control have a higher than average chance of getting gingivitis, the start of gum disease.

Got mold in your home? If exposure to mold triggers your asthma symptoms, you'll need to heed these important steps to evict this unwanted guest. Mold Allergies Household mold can grow on a range of surfaces, including walls, cabinets, garbage pails, houseplants, paper, and food.

Although the recommended testing procedure for prostate cancer is controversial, the truth is that prostate health should be of top priority for men ages 45 and older.  In order to prevent the development of prostate cancer, it is recommended that men undergo one of two tests: the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test or the digital rectal exam (DRE).

Since eggs are a common ingredient in many recipes, if you're allergic to eggs, eating can be quite challenging. Here are some common symptoms of egg allergies: Hives, itching Stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting Runny nose Wheezing Research Findings If these symptoms sound familiar, you may be interested in the research findings published in the August 2010 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JCAI).

With all the talk in the media about teenagers and substance abuse, it's easy to overlook the fact that people of all ages can abuse drugs and alcohol. In fact, the surprising truth is that substance abuse among baby boomers has been increasing in recent years.

Middle-age adults with excess belly fat now have yet another reason to reduce their waist circumference. Research shows that abdominal obesity nearly triples their risk for dementia. Belly fat is already a known risk factor for diabetes, stroke, hypertension, hyperlipidemia (elevation of lipids such as cholesterol), and heart disease.

Gonorrhea might strike you as one of those diseases that antibiotics have all but vanquished, right? Wrong. The sexually transmitted disease, the second most commonly reported one in the U.S., is actually an alarming health problem because it's becoming drug-resistant, and before too long, it may exist in a form that no antibiotic, however potent, can kill.

Short bowel syndrome refers to a group of problems associated with the poor absorption of nutrients that usually occurs in people who have had half or more of their small intestine surgically removed. Patients are usually considered to have short bowel syndrome when less than 100 to 150 centimeters-three to five feet-of functioning bowel remains following surgery, less than one-quarter of normal.

Swelling is one of the unwelcome symptoms of arthritis, along with pain and stiffness. It's caused by inflammation and can come after a long day of activity, after eating or drinking certain substances, or even just because the weather is cold and rainy.

The dog days of summer are officially here. And while steamy hot days can be difficult for anyone to endure, very warm temperatures pose particular dangers to the elderly. For senior citizens, it's important to take special precautions when temperatures soar past the point of comfort.

What can you do to relieve your headache besides hit the medicine bottle? Here, four natural headache remedies that will knock out your headaches right now and help prevent them in the future. There are many different types of headaches and treatment sometimes depends on knowing what's causing them.

The oft-cited but confusing statistic that 1 out of 8 women will develop breast cancer during her lifetime creates a lot of understandable anxiety among women. The fear of finding a lump, even if it's not cancerous, just adds to the stress. Here are a few of the common myths about breast lumps.

Your kids have finally figured out how to keep themselves busy during those long, lazy afternoons and you haven't had enough of those leisurely nights without homework. It seems like just when you've all gotten used to the laid back pace of summer, the hectic school year returns.

Multiple finger pricks are all part of the daily routine for people with type 1 diabetes, who must keep a close watch over their blood sugar. The consequences of having the blood sugar drop too low are dangerous, even life threatening, and the downside of having high blood sugars are life-threatening complications down the line.

So you have a sore throat, itchy eyes, and a runny nose. Is this the beginning of a cold or could it be an allergy? Many people find it difficult to tell the difference. Yet if you know what to look for, there are some simple clues to help you know which ailment is to blame for making you feel so miserable.

Now is the perfect time to take advantage of the bounty of seasonal produce available at your local farmers' market or green grocer. Not only are the fruits and vegetables now in the marketplace good for lowering inflammation and cholesterol, both important for cardiovascular health, the nutrients they provide can also slow down age-related changes that can lead to a variety of chronic diseases, improve your skin and help you maintain a healthy weight.

Fat-melting injections, a.k.a lipotherapy or lipodissolve treatments, have become increasingly popular in the beauty and weight-loss world. These injections are reported to be a non-invasive alternative to liposuction and consist of virtually painless injections that dissolve fat.

That's the question a team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) are trying to answer. If it proves accurate, a simple urine test to diagnose colon cancer may provide a cheaper, less invasive alternative to colonoscopy-currently the gold standard for effective early screening of colon cancer.

What color is the food you eat? If you suffer from asthma, it could really matter. That's why researchers stress that asthmatics steer clear of starchy white foods, which may make asthma symptoms worse over time. Although, it's probably not for the reasons you'd expect.

Babies inevitably fall learning to walk. Unsteady toddlers, in a hurry to explore their world, trip over (or bump into) whatever's in their way. Preschoolers climb where they shouldn't. Older kids collide on soccer fields and fall off bikes. And, despite your best attempts to keep them safe, accidents happen too.

A natural sugar by any other name is still just another form of sugar. What's so great about this one? Agave nectar is a sweet, sticky syrup made from the sap of a large, spiky-leafed Mexican succulent plant that is sometimes also used to make tequila.

If you have arthritis, you probably already know that walking and swimming both are great exercise options for you. They allow you to get your heart rate up while going easy on your joints and keeping pain at bay. But did you know that you actually can combine both pursuits for a different kind of workout? Water walking, which started more than two decades ago, has really caught on in popularity.

It's the question every man dreads to answer and every woman seems to ask: "Do I look fat?" On first thought, you may feel that a simple "No, honey. You look beautiful." would suffice; and in many situations, it might. However, a person's body image, in certain circumstances, has been found to negatively effect one's health.

Although most people think of hospitals as a place to get better when they're sick, the unfortunate truth is that tens of thousands of people pick up nasty infections when they're in the hospital. In fact, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), about 80,000 patients get infections in hospitals every year, and about 30,000 of them die.

You've probably heard of anorexia and bulimia, two widely recognized eating disorders. However, binge eating disorder is far more prevalent. It affects roughly 3.5 percent of American women and 2 percent of men, and occurs more frequently in minorities.