Diabetes
How to Eat for Better Blood Glucose Control
When public health experts point out that nearly one-third of American adults have prediabetes, we figure that we could all benefit from an appropriate diet for better blood glucose control. After all…
What’s the Story on Metformin for Diabetes?
Metformin has become the go-to drug for type 2 diabetes. It's easy to understand why. The drug works to control blood sugar and it is incredibly inexpensive compared to many of the newer diabetes drug…
What Are Pros and Cons of Cinnamon for Blood Sug…
Millions of American adults have prediabetes. The CDC defines this as having fasting blood sugar over 100 but less than 126 mg/dL, the cut-off for a diagnosis of diabetes. Learning that you have predi…
Rosuvastatin Linked to High Blood Sugar
Statin medications lower cholesterol; doctors prescribe them to lower the risk for a heart attack. While people likely to suffer a heart attack generally welcome the protection, others may weigh the c…
Show 1453: From Lizard Spit to Ozempic: Rethinki…
Diabetes is a serious metabolic disorder that affects close to 40 million Americans. Most of them have type 2 diabetes, which means their bodies produce insulin, but their cells are not very responsiv…
Better Diet for Poor Americans Is Not a SNAP
Poor diet may underly a wide range of undesirable health problems, from obesity to diabetes and heart disease. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was designed to help very low-income…
Could Step Counters Help Us Ward Off Dementia?
Do you wear a FitBit or a fancy watch? What about a lower-tech pedometer? Step counters are popular because they give us feedback on how many steps we have taken in a day. Even if the common goal of 1…
Can GLP-1 Agonists Fix What Ails You — and War…
Popular drugs approved for diabetes control and weight loss produce many other effects in the body as well. Drugs like semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) have helped some people cut back on alcohol consump…
How to Improve Your Health with Chocolate
Could you improve your health with chocolate? Despite widespread skepticism that chocolate could have health benefits, researchers keep uncovering additional evidence. We summarize some of that below.…
What Is the Outcome of Prediabetes?
Doctors are increasingly diagnosing people with prediabetes. These individuals have slightly elevated blood sugar levels that don’t yet meet the criteria for frank diabetes. Some studies have used f…
Forget Steps! Just Walk at Least 15 Minutes at a…
Over the many decades that we have been hosting a nationally syndicated show on public radio, we have interviewed thousands of health experts. They often disagree about drugs, diets and treatments. Bu…
Does Berberine Protect Against Diabetes and Pros…
Berberine is a fascinating compound. It is one of the key constituents of the Oregon grape holly plant (Mahonia aquifolium). Traditionally, this natural compound was used to treat digestive disorders …
Ever Heard of CKM? Chances Are Good You Have It!
I would be willing to bet a week's salary that you have never heard of CKM. A lot of healthcare professionals probably don't know much about it either. CKM stands for cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic s…
Is Gum Disease a Culprit Leading to Heart Diseas…
If you ask most healthcare professionals how to avoid heart disease, chances are they will tell you to exercise, eat a healthy diet and lower your LDL cholesterol (with a statin if needed). At last co…
Ketogenic Diet Advantages and Disadvantages
Although the ketogenic diet is now in vogue, it is by no means a new phenomenon. Doctors began prescribing ketogenic diets containing few if any carbohydrates in the early 1920s. At that time, they ha…
Using Multiple Tactics to Achieve Weight Loss
Excess weight has been linked to a wide range of undesirable health conditions, including hypertension, high cholesterol and prediabetes, which might become type 2 diabetes. Doctors frequently exhort …
How Not to Die of a Heart Attack
No one wants to die of a heart attack, but too many Americans still do. Nearly 1,000 people suffer sudden cardiac arrest each day in the United States. That totals more than 350,000 a year. When the h…
Can You Manage Your Blood Sugar Naturally?
Metformin is a first-line medication for people with type 2 diabetes. Although doctors also prescribe it for different disorders, from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) to prostate cancer, the majori…
Do You Need a Continuous Glucose Monitor Without…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 84 million American adults have prediabetes. That means one-third of us have blood sugar that is somewhat higher than it should be–above …
Show 1444: The Food Fight Over Fat: Keto and Car…
For the last several decades, nutrition scientists have been debating the pros and cons of various dietary approaches. The Mediterranean diet has a lot of proponents, and we have interviewed some of t…
Sick of Prescription Drug Ads? FULL WARNINGS Cou…
Based on informal polling, most of our readers hate prescription drug ads! We often discover that many health professionals, including physicians, pharmacists and nurses, also despise drug commercials…
What Are the Health Benefits of Coffee and Choco…
Americans have a puritanical streak. This way of thinking suggests that if something hurts or tastes bad, it must be good for you. Conversely, if it tastes good, you might conclude it's bad for you. T…
Does Time-Restricted Eating Help With Weight Los…
Intermittent fasting has become a popular approach for weight control. Some people see this as fasting for a few days a week and eating on the others. Another approach, however, is to practice time-re…
The Unexpected Risks of French Fries
French fries may be tempting, but giving in to temptation might be dangerous. New research reinforces previous findings that French fries are associated with undesirable health outcomes, including typ…
Post-Covid Symptoms Are Debilitating
Many people insist that more than 99% of the people who catch COVID-19 recover. They maintain that it’s just not that big a deal, even though more than 100 million people have caught the coronavirus…
Rising Rate of Diabetes in Kids Is Challenging
Type 2 diabetes, characterized by insulin resistance, used to be called adult-onset diabetes. Unfortunately, the condition is becoming increasingly common in children and teens. With increasing number…
How Are Home Tests and Devices Revolutionizing H…
The FDA announced on March 5, 2024 that it approved "...the first over-the-counter (OTC) continuous glucose monitor (CGM)." Many people with type 2 diabetes already use such devices, but they require …
Mad MD Maintains HCTZ is SAFE! Ignores Low Sodiu…
Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) is one of the most prescribed drugs in the US. It is a diuretic that helps lower blood pressure. At last count, over 10 million people swallow this pill daily. But HCTZ is a…
Make Sure Your Vegetarian Diet Is High Quality
A vegetarian diet can be beneficial, but the quality of the diet matters. A meta-analysis of 25 randomized controlled trials covering more than 3.5 million participants found that there can be a big d…
Deprescribing: Can You Ever Stop Taking So Many …
How many pills do you swallow every day? There was a time, not that long ago, when people took medicines only when they needed them. That included a week or two of antibiotics to cure an infection, op…
Insulin Resistance Raises the Risk for Alzheimer…
What do you know about your chance of developing dementia as you grow older? When it comes to the risk for Alzheimer disease, many people focus on genetic factors. People who have the e4 variant of th…
Master Your Metabolism by Using a CGM (Continuou…
Have you ever broken the law? Almost everyone has at one time or another. Sometimes it’s a little infraction, like driving 40 mph in a 35 mph zone. Or perhaps you crossed a street outside of the des…
If Statins Cause Diabetes, Why Should ALL Diabet…
The guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology are crystal clear. Middle-aged people with diabetes (both type 1 and type 2) should be on a statin-type choles…
Will Nopal Cactus Control Blood Sugar?
We love it when scientific research reveals that a home remedy actually works. One that seems quite improbable is eating nopal cactus pads to help with blood sugar control. A few readers have tried th…
Is Inexpensive Food Undermining Public Health?
Are US government agricultural subsidies undermining public health? A study several years ago suggested that people who eat a lot of processed foods made from subsidized crops such as corn, soybeans, …
Can You Lower Blood Sugar with Cinnamon?
You've no doubt heard that type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic levels in this country and many others. That means that millions more people have pre-diabetes. That means their blood sugar is headed i…
Psyllium Fiber Is Versatile Remedy
Psyllium fiber has become a household name, especially in the brand name formulations where it is found: Konsyl, Metamucil, Nature's Way Psyllium, and dozens more. From the 1930s to the 1960s a produc…
Are Hair Loss or Colitis Side Effects of Wegovy …
The hottest drugs in weight control these days continue to be semaglutide (Wegovy and Ozempic). Ozempic does not have FDA approval for weight loss, but this injectable diabetes drug contains the exact…
Show 1427: Dr. Mark Hyman’s Secrets for Li…
In this week’s episode, a functional medicine expert will describe how to adjust your lifestyle to achieve the longest healthiest life possible. Is your biological age greater or less than your chro…
Why You Should Eat the Mediterranean Way
The Mediterranean diet has been associated with a number of health benefits. We have written previously about studies showing that a Mediterranean-style eating plan can protect the brain, reduce arthr…