“Without bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms, there wouldn’t be life on earth, and we wouldn’t be here,” says Lita Proctor. “Every kind of living thing is dependent on communities of microbes we call microbiomes, and that includes humans.”
Proctor is director of the Human Microbiome Project, an eight-year research mission of the National Institutes of Health to explore the role of the microbiome in human health and disease. Here’s some of what we know so far...and what we still need to find out.
Age takes a toll on your ears. A quarter of people in their 60s, and two-thirds of those aged 70 and up, have trouble hearing. That works out to 30 million of us...and counting.
But hearing loss isn’t inevitable. Here’s what may protect your hearing ...and what new devices can help when it’s hard to hear.
Lead-poisoned drinking water in Flint, Michigan shocked the nation, is likely to lower the IQs of thousands of the city’s children, and will cost taxpayers nationwide hundreds of millions of dollars. But our problems with drinking water aren’t limited to lead or to Flint. What should you be paying attention to in the water where you live?
One out of ten adults have chronic kidney disease. Most don’t know it because early on, kidney disease has no symptoms. And because the risk rises as you age, roughly one out of two people aged 30 to 64 are likely to get the disease during their lives. Here’s how to find out if your kidneys are healthy...and how to keep them that way.
What’s the most common reason why people buy gluten-free foods?“No reason at all,” says one survey.
The respondents’ other reasons: they see gluten-free foods as a “healthier option,” good for “digestive health” or “weight loss,” or they “enjoy the taste.” Those reasons were all more common than “gluten sensitivity,” which was cited by only 8 percent.
But in a recent study, even GI symptoms like diarrhea or bloating weren’t a reliable sign of celiac disease, the autoimmune disorder that makes people unable to tolerate gluten, the protein in wheat, barley, rye, and some other grains.
“Our study asked about abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, weight loss, irritable bowel syndrome, dyspepsia, GERD, difficulty swallowing, bloating, and distention,” says Joseph Murray, a gastroenterologist and celiac expert at the Mayo Clinic.“None were significantly associated with having celiac disease.”
How many calories do you get when you eat out? Researchers analyzed main dishes at independent and small-chain restaurants in Boston to find out. The average entrée (with sides) had roughly 1,300 calories, says Susan Roberts, director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. “And that’s with no drink, appetizer, or dessert."
A front-page Washington Post article claims that the animal fat in milk and cheese may not be bad for your heart, after all. “Repeated research on milk, not funded by the industry but by public institutions, has provided evidence that the fats in milk are, for some reason, different,” the newspaper said.
Foods that are high in saturated fat are making headlines. Is that because new research shows that they’re harmless? Or because those headlines grab eyeballs...and the meat industry is fighting new advice to eat less beef and pork?
What causes a heart attack in women? Pretty much the same things that cause a heart attack in men. Smoking, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, inactivity, excess weight, diabetes, and a family history top the list. But what signals that a woman may be having a heart attack can be quite different.
