by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

I must admit that I have a bias against the low-carb Atkins diet. It just doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t want to try it. I have written off past studies that conclude these diets do, in fact, lower cholesterol and weight by reasoning that the study is too short, or some other flaw. However, I am being worn down with facts.

Still, the devil is in the details.

The latest is a two-year study in the July 17 New England Journal of Medicine pitting the low-carbohydrate, non-restricted-calorie diet against the Mediterranean-style and low-fat diets, both restricted-calorie. Who won? It depends on how you look at it–and there are lots of numbers.

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

You can now eat any type of domestically grown tomatoes so says the FDA .  They are still investigating serrano and jalapeno peppers.  The episode seems to be coming to an end with no answers and a lot of mad tomato farmers.

by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

By age 15, the majority of teens don’t meet the 60 minutes of daily exercise the Department of Health and Human Services recommends, says a new study the July 16 Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Lack of physical activity in childhood raises the risk for obesity and its attendant health problems later in life,” said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), in an NIH press release. “Helping American children maintain appropriate activity levels is a major public health goal requiring immediate action.”

With all the recent publicity regarding the “obesity epidemic” in children, their risk of diabetes, heart disease and the recommendation of cholesterol lowering medicine in some, Dr. Alexander’s statement seems timely. But what can parents do? Read the rest of this entry »

by Jill Weisenberger, M.S., R.D., C.D.E.

I recently read that Americans are trying to save money by dining out less often. Rising gas prices and runaway food costs are putting us back in the kitchen. Seventy percent of those cutting costs are saving money by eating out less frequently rather than choosing cheaper restaurants or less expensive meals.

Well that’s one side effect of a slumping economy I can celebrate. When you’re in your own kitchen, you have so much more control over what you eat. You can control cooking methods, types of food, seasonings, portions and more. I have to admit that it makes me very sad how few people cook these days. Mac and cheese out of a box doesn’t count.

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by Jill Weisenberger, M.S., R.D., C.D.E.

I always ask my weight-loss patients to keep a food diary. It’s not for me. It’s their tool. Sure, it helps me guide my patients’ choices, but it’s for their own accountability and education.

Earlier this month, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research announced that in their weight loss study, the most successful losers kept the most food diaries and spent the most time exercising. Of course, this didn’t surprise me at all. I’ve read studies like this before, and I see it every week in my office. In the Kaiser Permanente study, those who recorded their intake daily lost twice as much weight as those who never kept records.
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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

Could all those tomatoes have been salmonella-free?

In their list of possible causes for the salmonella outbreak (now over 1,000 people), the FDA has added cilantro and jalapeno peppers to red plum, red roma and red round tomatoes. I have been racking my old brain to find some positive advice to give regarding this. So here goes.

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

Periodically, people come to my office because they’ve looked in the back of their mouth, for whatever reason, and seen large bumps. Freaked out and thinking they have some awful disease, they come to await the dire diagnosis. So what do I tell them?

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

I quit playing competitive basketball in my late 30s because I had seen several weekend warriors near my age who had torn their Achilles. It would just happen out of the blue. To me, it did not seem to be worth the risk. Tendon tears are very painful and sometimes require surgery, and you might have to wear a splint or cast for six weeks to three months.

The FDA has issued a strong warning about an increased risk of tendinitis (inflammation) or tendon rupture (tear) with flouroquinolone antibiotics (such as Avalox, Cipro, Factive, Floxin, Levaquin, Noroxin and Proquin XR).

The warning will be in a “black box” in the package insert. Doctors widely prescribe flouroquinolones for wound, ear, urinary tract, prostate and other infections. They’re usually well tolerated.

So, what is a person to do?

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

Judy Rodman is a successful professional singer, teacher and writer.  Her blog series on stage fright is insightful, in-depth and well-written.  If you want or need to learn how to cope with stage fright, or just tips to alleviate your fear of getting up in public, see her posts at http://www.judyrodman.com/blog.htm.

by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

When you go for your periodic physical exam, you may not need to a urinalysis if you have no urinary tract infection symptoms such as burning or frequent urination, fever, lower back or abdominal pain. So says the new recommendation by the United States Preventive Services Task Force , a federal agency composed of experts who look over all available data and studies to determine whether or not to recommend a procedure or test. Pregnant women have a different set of recommendations. But what if your doctor does one anyway? Read the rest of this entry »