Healthcare News

3 Rules for Eating Well with Diabetes If you have diabetes, it can be confusing to know which foods to eat. Are all carbohydrates bad for you, or is it just sugar? Do you need to count your carbs? Is fruit OK or not? All the different headlines on “good” and “bad” foods are enough [...]

Tests to Expect When Managing Diabetes If you’ve been recently diagnosed with diabetes, you’re probably wondering what to expect. Your doctor may recommend certain new tests to help monitor your condition. Here’s what you need to know about these exams—what they are, what they detect, and how they help keep your diabetes under control. Foot [...]

Diabetes Control: What Older Americans Should Know Adults in their golden years may have special needs when it comes to diabetes care. Only 35 percent of older adults with diabetes are managing the condition well, according to a recent study. In general, diabetes management goals should be similar between older and younger adults. But there [...]

Tobacco smoking has devastating effects on health. The smoke damages the lungs, resulting in a diminished ability of oxygen to enter the body. Smoke long enough and eventually you will get emphysema. Various chemicals in smoke enhance the development of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), leading to strokes and heart attacks. One of tobacco's chemicals, nicotine, acts [...]

1 in 10 U.S. adults* has kidney disease. If you have it, you're not alone. Kidney Smart Classes Learn from expert educators about how your kidneys function and the best ways to manage your diet and health - at no cost to you. In class, you will learn: How kidneys function and the causes of [...]

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) refers to a group of diseases that cause airflow blockage and breathing-related problems. It includes emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and in some cases asthma. What Causes COPD? In the United States, tobacco smoke is a key factor in the development and progression of COPD1, although exposure to air pollutants in the [...]

8. Follow-up ultrasounds for small ovarian cysts Many women receive repeated ultrasounds to verify that ovarian cysts have not become cancerous, but current research says that these tests aren't necessary. For one thing, premenopausal women have harmless ovarian cysts regularly. For another, about 20 percent of postmenopausal women also develop harmless cysts. "The likelihood of [...]

4. PET scan to diagnose Alzheimer's disease Until recently, the only way to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's was during an autopsy. In the last few years, doctors have begun using PET scans with a radioactive dye to look for beta-amyloid protein that is found in the brains of people with the disease. Although this test has [...]

Doctors are warning that some of the common medical tests routinely taken by Americans do more harm than good, waste billions of health care dollars annually and could endanger your health or even your life. Among the tests targeted by prestigious panels of doctors as overused were annual Pap smears, regular PSA tests, regular EKGs [...]