Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
If it’s in the health news today, I’ll be writing about it as soon as I read the research, both old and new. With my email Health Memos, you’ll know more about making lifestyle choices that will help you get and keep good health. These free, concise updates on health are emailed to subscribers twice a week. Subscribe today and get a free MP3, in English or Spanish, of Dr. Chet’s Top Ten Tips—Small Changes for a Healthier Life.
Why Do Statins Fight with Grapefruit?
One of the most complicated medication-food interactions is grapefruit and statins, the popular cholesterol-lowering drug. The goal of this Memo is to make sense of the research to date by answering a couple of questions. Before I begin, let me briefly explain how a statin works. One of the many enzymes required to produce cholesterol […]
Interaction Between Food and Blood Thinners
Blood thinners are the second most common medication that can interact with food and supplements. Blood thinners such as warfarin are used to prevent blood clots in people with atrial fibrillation, artificial heart valves, and deep vein thrombosis. When a blood thinner is prescribed, people are given a list of foods and supplements to avoid. […]
Food-Medication Interactions
One of the questions I got after Saturday’s Memo was about how to take thyroid medication to maximize effectiveness. It was of those smack-your -forehead moments—how could I forget that? This week’s Memos will cover food interactions with the three most common medications. Your physician and pharmacist should handle the medication-to-medication interactions; I’ll stick to […]
Treating an Underactive Thyroid
The treatment for an underactive thyroid is pretty simple. Levothyroxine is a prescription medication that will work for most people. It takes time to get the dosing adjusted to get the thyroxin blood levels into a normal range. After that, it’s monitored over time and the dose is adjusted when needed. It’s a simple process, […]
Do You Have an Underactive Thyroid?
The weather in Grand Rapids has taken a turn to winter: from 61 degrees on Tuesday to freezing today. It’s bone chilling with winds at 20 mph and can leave you feeling cold most of the day. But what if you were cold most of the time regardless of the outdoor temperature? That’s just one […]
What Your Thyroid Does
A common question: “I’ve just been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. What can I do? I don’t want to take medication. I want a natural solution.” Usually, there’s a spicy descriptor that precedes the word medication. In response, the Memos this week are about the thyroid: What does it do? What happens if it doesn’t […]
Guidelines for Lowering Your Blood Pressure
When guidelines for any condition are changed, especially one as common as high blood pressure (HBP), it raises several questions. One question would be: is this is just a way for the medical and pharmaceutical businesses to promote and sell more drugs? Another would be: will this throw more people into the pre-existing condition category […]
Blood Pressure: Getting It Right
The change in the clinical guidelines for diagnosing high blood pressure, as described in Tuesday’s memo, requires that your BP reading is done correctly. That could be a problem. In a JAMA Medical News report published in August, medical students were asked to take the BP of volunteers. Only one out of 159 got all […]
Do You Have High Blood Pressure?
On Monday November 13, you may have awakened with normal blood pressure, and by that afternoon, you may have joined the ranks of those with high blood pressure (HBP). That’s when the American Heart Association (AHA) released their new HBP clinical practice guidelines at their national conference. With the new guidelines, close to half of […]
Thanksgiving Wishes
I got a few questions about the safety of microwaving after my Memos on nutrients in broccoli. In doing the research, I saw no evidence that there were any changes to the chemical composition of the vegetables. The science clearly demonstrates that the phytonutrients were not altered nor decreased. I know the Internet says crazy […]
