Living Well

Does Coke hurt your bones?

Here's a great humorous post on what a coke does to you.  It talks about the effects of the sugar, the caffeine and the phophoric acid.  What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now?  But it's not accurate.

Too much phosphorus can cause you to excrete calcium.  However, a can of coke only has 41 milligrams of phosphorus - the daily recommended intake of phosphorus is 700 mg for a woman.  To put it in perspective, a glass of skim milk has 235 milligrams!  For more information, see this Tufts article.  So it's highly unlikely that coke is causing you to lose bone mass unless you are drinking a case a day.

Best Medical Information Site

My favorite site for looking up medical information is a government site from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health called MedlinePlus.  They've changed the search results - their information is always listed under "Medical Encylopedia."  When you search you usually have to scroll down to find the "Medical Encylopedia" section but it's worth it as it's usually concise and very consistent.  The medical encylopedia information always contains the following sections:

• Definition
• Causes and risk factors
• Symptoms, signs and tests
• Treatments

I highly recommend it as a starting point for any medical problem you may be curious about.

USNews.com: Health: In Brief: Nutrition and Diet: Artificial sweeteners (9/15/04)

Drinking diet soda may cause you to eat more because you might underestimate the calories in other sweet things. USNews.com: Health: In Brief: Nutrition and Diet: Artificial sweeteners (9/15/04)

Living in the suburbs increases your chances of being obese

This study found that "the odds of being obese increased by 6 percent for each hour spent in the car every day."

USNews.com: Health: In Brief: Nutrition and Diet: Living in the burbs (8/3/04)

Frustration may make you eat more - especially if you are a woman

A new study links stress and/or frustration with eating in women.

Comfort Food

Health Officials Urge Sharply Lower Cholesterol Levels

The new cholesterol guidelines call for keeping your LDL lower than 70 if you are at high risk for heart disease. For most Americans, that's pretty low!
The New York Times > National > Health Officials Urge Sharply Lower Cholesterol Levels

Tanning Beds May Cause Good Moods

"For frequent tanners, the tanning bed may offer more than a bronzed skin. " It may also relax the tanners.
Wired News: Beer: Hops, Barley … and Biotech?

10 Million Women Who Lack Cervix Get Pap Tests

Women who have had hysterectomies in which the cervix is removed are still getting Pap tests which look for cancer of the cervix. This can lead to false positives.

The New York Times > Health > 10 Million Women Who Lack Cervix Get Pap Tests

Liposuction Doesn't Help Health, Study Finds

Getting rid of fat through Liposuction does not improve your health like losing fat though exercise and dieting does.

The New York Times > Health > Liposuction Doesn't Help Health, Study Finds

Routine Episiotomies Not so Routine Any More

The advantages and disadvantage of episiotomies have been greatly debated, however current thinking is that they have been often administered unnecessarily. The good news is that they are being administred less often now. According to this article,
"during the years 1983 to 2000, the overall episiotomy rate fell from 69.6 percent of all vaginal births in 1983 to 19.4 percent in 2000" at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Routine Episiotomies Not so Routine Any More