Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
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Research Update: Fish Oil and Heart Disease
The prescription fish oil Vascepa has been approved since December of last year. The fish oil medication was originally intended for those who had a family history of high triglycerides of 500 mg/dl or greater. In the approval process, the recommendation was lowered to those whose triglycerides were at least 150 mg/dl and who were […]
Mental Health 2020: Take Control
In the last Memo I said that there are no simple rules to be made whether we talk about the pandemic or politics. These are complicated issues no matter how much we wish they were not. There are no absolute answers, and that results in a loss of control. We appear to have lost control […]
Mental Health 2020: The Stats
At this point, there have been no substantive studies of mental health resulting from either the pandemic or the political climate in the U.S. There are metrics that have been tracked via online survey since April; the surveys added modified questions that ask about factors related to the pandemic. The results for symptoms of anxiety […]
Mental Health Update: Fall 2020
As I write this, I just got back from working out. I went to my gym for the first time since it opened last Wednesday after closing in March. Everyone wore masks. Everyone cleaned up their equipment, but that’s the standard anyway so that wasn’t surprising. Nobody fainted from lack of oxygen. Everybody just worked […]
By Any Means Necessary
Riley has finished his first week of in-classroom school. He seems to have adapted quite well, which is no surprise—he is the most social child I’ve ever known and makes friends with everyone. Much like me, he’s not much of a morning eater. Occasionally I’ll eat breakfast but for the most part, it’s not going […]
Why Riley Went to School This Week
Tuesday was Riley’s first day of kindergarten in the classroom. One of the reasons I haven’t written memos for two weeks is because Paula and I were attending online kindergarten with Riley four times a day; that gave Jamie some time to spend with her sister, who has a serious illness (and we’d appreciate your […]
Phytonutrients: Diet or Supplements?
The study that we looked at this week demonstrated that flavonoid intake is related to socioeconomic status. It also demonstrated that most of that difference comes from the consumption of tea. All well and good. What stood out to me was the lack of phytonutrient intake. While there were some small differences in the other […]
Flavonoid Intake Varies by Demographic
Besides the flavonoid intake, another purpose of this study was to find out if there were any socioeconomic differences between high and low flavonoid intake. Before I get to that, here are some of the results of this study. The age group with the highest flavonoid intake was adults 51–70 with 293 mg/day. As education […]
Getting Acquainted with Flavonoids
Every vegetable, fruit, and spice we consume in the foods we eat and many substances that we drink contain phytonutrients. Just to make the subject even more complicated, there are different categories of phytonutrients including flavonoids, which are the most prevalent in our diet. Flavonoid intake is linked to reduction of diseases such as cardiovascular […]
Exercise vs. Meditation? The Winner Is…
As a trained exercise physiologist, if I were asked the question, “Which would prevent acute respiratory tract infections?” I would have picked exercise over meditation every time. The only reason I would choose meditation is that nagging voice in the back of my brain that says, “If they’re asking the question, maybe there were surprise […]
