Home Remedies
How Can You Use Beets for Better Blood Pressure?
With concerns about contaminated antihypertensive medications, many people are interested in ways to lower their blood pressure without drugs. There is a wide range of options: exercise, weight loss, …
Do Statins Lower CoQ10 Levels? Can Supplements C…
Doctors prescribe the cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins as an essential step in treating heart disease. Many physicians also prescribe them for prevention. While many people take these medicin…
Why Don’t Vitamin D Supplements Work as Ex…
If you are taking big doses of vitamin D in the hopes that it will ward off all sorts of health problems, you may be disappointed. Most research has not demonstrated that taking high doses of vitamin …
Coconut Macaroon Cookies Are a Favorite Home Rem…
We love it when readers share home remedies that work for common health concerns. One of our all-time favorites is coconut for the runs. A reader recently wrote that the effects of a colonoscopy prepa…
Will a Potassium Salt Substitute Lower Your Bloo…
When epidemiologists and cardiologists give advice about hypertension, they often recommend that we cut back on salt (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Oct. 11, 2016). Strict salt restric…
Does Prevagen Help to Improve Memory?
The Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General filed a consumer protection complaint against the maker of Prevagen in January, 2017. They charged the marketers of Prevagen with making…
Does Red Yeast Rice for Lowering Cholesterol Hav…
Has your doctor told you that your blood pressure is rising or your cholesterol is too high? Many people prefer to treat such conditions naturally if possible. But just because a treatment is natural …
What Are the Health Benefits of Nattokinase?
No one is surprised that pharmaceutical firms span the globe. With research and marketing, they can present their products as familiar and desirable, no matter where they were originally developed. Na…
What Can You Do for a Kitchen Burn?
A kitchen burn or other minor household burn is painful. They usually cause redness and sometimes blistering. Cold water is the standard first aid recommendation. In fact, cold tap water is just the r…
What Is the Risk of Red Yeast Rice?
One of the pillars of heart disease prevention is keeping blood fats, especially cholesterol, under control. But doctors don't always agree on the best way to achieve this goal. Most recommend a healt…
Pickle Relish Will Do in a Pinch Against Leg Cra…
Over the years, we have collected quite a number of home remedies for sudden painful muscle cramps. Often these are leg cramps, but occasionally muscles in the hands or arms cramp as well. One favorit…
Can Red Light LED Therapy Help Ease Arthritis Pa…
Far too many people suffer pain from arthritis. Whether the doctor has diagnosed osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, patients may have trouble controlling the pain. Some take …
You Can Make Your Own Natural Cough Syrup with T…
Wouldn't it be great to know how to make your own simple medicines? You could easily make a natural cough syrup. Some readers are as enthusiastic as we are about using thyme for a respiratory infectio…
What Is the Story on Calcium Supplements?
When medical experts change their minds, the rest of us may become confused. One such flip-flop that has puzzled a lot of people concerns calcium supplements. For years, doctors urged their older pati…
Will Vitamin Supplements Prevent Heart Problems?
Does it make sense to take vitamin pills? Keep reading to learn more about a systematic review from several years ago. First, though, we want to address some very confusing recent research that implie…
Can Magnesium Pills Counteract Recurrent Headach…
People who suffer recurrent headaches may find themselves in a bind. Taking medication day after day can actually lead to rebound headaches if the dose is missed. No wonder people would like to know h…
Show 1378: Rediscovering the Power of Medicinal …
This week, two guests describe their work with the healing power of medicinal herbs. They draw upon family histories of herbalism along with their own studies of how to use botanical medicines. You ma…
Could a Daily Multivitamin Help You Stay Sharp?
A common multivitamin may provide some protection against cognitive decline as we age. Findings from the COSMOS study were published last year in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia. This year th…
How Can You Remove Warts With Duct Tape?
If you've ever tried to remove warts from your own skin or from a child's, you know that they can be capricious. Sometimes they will disappear quickly after you apply salicylic acid. That's the standa…
Can Science Explain Why Vicks on the Feet Calms …
Around the year 2000 a nurse called into our syndicated radio show to tell us that she calmed nighttime coughs by applying Vicks VapoRub to the soles of her children's feet. She then put socks on the …
Soy Sauce Experiment Beats Burn
Readers sometimes perform their own n of 1 clinical trials. That is what happened to this reader of our newspaper column. He participated in an unplanned soy sauce experiment to determine how well thi…
Embrace Cocoa Flavanols for National Nutrition M…
March is National Nutrition Month! By now, you may have heard the prominent news around the benefits of flavanols. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), the world's largest organization of nut…
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…
Sauerkraut Juice Heals Canker Sores
If you have ever been troubled with canker sores, you know how miserable they can make you. Doctors rarely have much to offer, although some may prescribe "magic mouthwash." What if sauerkraut juice w…
Sore Throat Remedy Is Hot Stuff
A sore throat is a common symptom of a respiratory infection. Colds, flu, COVID-19–any of them could make it uncomfortable to swallow or sometimes even to speak. Readers have shared a number of reme…
Doctor Says Vicks on the Feet Calms Night Cough:…
We have no idea why someone first experimented with Vicks VapoRub on the soles of the feet. We do know that whenever we publish a story about putting Vicks on the feet for a nighttime cough we hear fr…
Is It Safe to Take Red Yeast Rice for High Chole…
Statisticians have shown that people with elevated levels of LDL cholesterol are more likely to develop clogged arteries and coronary artery disease (Heart, Lung & Circulation, March 2018). If sen…
Milk of Magnesia for Odd Underarm Odor
Have you ever heard of using the laxative Milk of Magnesia (MoM) as a topical application for the armpits? Many readers have tried it and told us that they have found this an innovative way to manage …
Acupuncture Offers Relief from Post-Traumatic St…
Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD is difficult to treat. In past centuries, soldiers who witnessed unspeakable violence or experienced terrible trauma were said to be suffering "soldier's heart,"…
Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Relieved With Soap!
There are some medical conditions that are surprisingly common but quite mysterious. You have probably heard of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Doctors now call it myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). The …
Will Saffron Delay Age-Related Macular Degenerat…
As people grow older, the retina of the eye may deteriorate. In particular, the central part of the retina, known as the macula, is very vulnerable. Age-related macular degeneration causes visual impa…
Salt Substitute Can Cut the Risk of High Blood P…
Americans love salt (and we are not the only ones who do). However, doctors warn us sternly that sodium chloride (aka salt) raises blood pressure. Public health officials frequently advise cutting sal…
Will Taking Ashwagandha Help You Fall Asleep?
giveLots of people have trouble sleeping. They may take medications to overcome insomnia but worry about the potential side effects. For the last few years, anxiety about infection or job insecurity h…
Is There a Treatment for Ridged Fingernails?
Do you bite your fingernails? Are they long and strong, or do they split or break? Fingernails draw our attention, although only a few nail conditions actually seem to interest dermatologists as indic…
Can You Avoid Cold Sores by Taking L-Lysine?
Cold sores, which are sometimes called fever blisters, crop up on the lips or on the face near the mouth. In addition to being painful, they are unsightly. Cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex …
Could Exercise Save Your Brain?
There are a couple of health problems that everyone dreads. A diagnosis of cancer is most unwelcome. Neurological conditions run a close second, though. If a doctor diagnoses Parkinson's disease or AL…
Will You Make a Condiment to Fend Off Colds?
Every so often, a reader shares a remedy that gets a lot of attention. Last month, we heard from a person whose special sauce helps her family fend off colds. Wendi wrote: “I have been making a hot …
Home Remedies Offer Relief from Hiccups
Hiccups are generally considered a minor annoyance. Almost everyone has experienced this involuntary spasm of the diaphragm. As air rushes in, the glottis in the voice box is pulled closed and creates…
Will Elderberry Extract Help You Recover from Fl…
Natural approaches to healing are getting extra attention right now, as people try hard to stay out of doctors' offices if they can. After all, if you don't have COVID-19, you don't want to go anywher…
Warning–Don’t Use Bleach to Treat Athlet…
People are aware that bleach (sodium hypochlorite) has powerful cleaning power. They use this familiar household product to remove stains from sheets, towels and white clothes. Some also use diluted b…