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Jan 23, 2025 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon |Alzheimer’s disease
Many people would like more information on how to prevent dementia. Perhaps they have taken care of a family member during a long, slow decline. Or maybe they have watched a neighbor or friend gradually lose their ability to think or interact. Luckily, there are several simple steps we can take to stay sharp. Most will not surprise you–regular exercise, healthful diet, avoid toxins and brain injury. But one factor surprised us. Can Controlling the Thermostat Help You Prevent Dementia?
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
Household products, personal care products like body wash and shampoo, even dietary supplements, contain compounds that can mimic our hormones and cause trouble. What can you do about your exposure to endocrine disruptors like these? Where Do the Endocrine Disruptors Come From? To learn more about these insidious compounds, a team of researchers in Nevada asked 140 adults to collect their urine for 24 hours (Environmental Research and Public Health, Jan. 13, 2025).
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
In the winter, when air gets dry, a lot of people have trouble with cracked fingertips. Experts also urge us to wash our hands frequently, which makes fingertips even more vulnerable. Dermatologists frequently recommend a heavy moisturizer, but some readers find that is impractical. Instead, they have found their own ways to soothe cracked fingertips. How Do You Soothe Cracked Fingertips? Q. As a dairy farmer, I have to wash my hands many times daily.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
This week, we hear a first-hand account of what a stroke feels like, from neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. Then we learn from a neurologist, Dr. Matthew Schrag, about the risk factors for such a brain attack. What treatments could be helpful? You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream at 7 am EDT on your computer or smart phone (wunc.org). Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
We sometimes hear from people who like the information we offer, but they wish there were an easier way to access it. There is! We interview leading health researchers and ask them to explain their cutting-edge expertise in everyday terms. Then we put it in a podcast, so you can listen at your own convenience. The People’s Pharmacy podcast is your go-to source for health information you can trust.
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Dec 29, 2024 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
As the days grow shorter and the weather colder, many of us are looking for ways to ward off colds. Some families have strong traditions that they have used to try to avoid sniffles and sneezes. Perhaps your great-grandmother dosed everyone in the family with cod liver oil. Or maybe she insisted on garlic for preventing a cold. Not everyone loves garlic, but one reader found a novel way to dose up. Garlic-Stuffed Olives as a Cold Remedy:Q. You have written about ways to stop a cold.
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
Dietary supplements can go through fads. One year, there is a lot of enthusiasm for the supplement du jour. The next year, you hear nothing about it. Part of that is driven by the research–or lack thereof, more often. More than 15 years ago, we started hearing about the wonders of French maritime pine bark extract. And then, we heard very little. Is there anything to the Pycnogenol hype?
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
A dietary supplement called SAMe, also known as S-Adenosyl Methionine, may be helpful against resistant depression. SAMe is available without prescription and has long been used to relieve arthritis pain and ease depressive symptoms. There was very little research until 2010. What Did Scientists Learn from Studying SAMe? One early study recruited people with major depression who had not gotten better on standard antidepressant medications (American Journal of Psychiatry, Aug. 2010).
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon
Americans have a strong Puritan ethic. They figure that if it hurts or tastes bad it must be good for you–and vice versa. That may partially explain the earnest embrace of prohibitions in our quest for good health. It would come as a shock to discover that chocolate might be good for you. Is chocolate health food? For decades, people in the U.S. were told to cut back on fat and cholesterol. That translated into limitations on eggs, butter, and, of course, treats like chocolate.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
peoplespharmacy.com | Terry Graedon |Alzheimer’s disease
Everyone is aware that we have a microbiome within our digestive tract. It’s a whole ecological system unto itself containing bacteria, viruses and fungi. For decades, medical students learned that the lungs, the brain and other organ systems did NOT harbor such micro-organisms. But now, evidence is mounting that was a misconception. There is clearly a lung microbiome. Scientists are beginning to find evidence of a brain microbiome as well.
