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How to find affordable vision care after 50

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Turning 50 often brings shifting eyesight and rising healthcare expenses, yet original Medicare leaves older Americans completely on their own for routine vision care, glasses and contact lenses.

In a recent Retirement Coaches Association survey of 115 professional retirement coaches conducted in partnership with VSP Individual Vision Plans, 96...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: Go plant-forward for the holidays

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

There’s nothing like the festive spread of beloved holiday meals to heighten the season’s celebratory gatherings. If you’re looking to enhance this year’s menu, try increasing the number of plant-based foods. Including more plant foods, like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils and whole grains, is a great way to make a meal ...Read more

AI in healthcare: Can a chatbot answer your medical questions?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Ask ChatGPT, Gemini or another artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot a medical question, and you may be amazed at how fast it comes up with a detailed answer. Depending on the prompts you give it, the answer can be tailored for your needs. But be careful if you want to put this technology to use.

Can AI answer medical questions?

While AI in ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: New therapies for advanced shoulder issues

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: A friend just underwent a rotator cuff repair and is recovering well. But I was wondering, what if you get to a point where repairing the tear is no longer an option? Is there anything else that can help with pain and improve shoulder function? And what about stem cells or this platelet-rich plasma I hear about?

ANSWER: ...Read more

Weight Loss Adds Up

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, have become wildly popular. A recent Gallup poll says 11% of U.S. adults are currently taking a GLP-1 medication to lose weight, up from 3% two years ago.

But at what cost? A new study suggests that the more expensive the drugs become, the more likely patients are to stop using them or ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Steak vs. soy: Research flips the script on 'manly' proteins

Health Advice / Health Advice /

Red meat may not give the “High-T” dietary fix some people assume, as new research suggests that “soy boy” vegans may top their meat-eating peers in terms of testosterone.

A Finnish study of more than 2,500 men found higher animal-protein diets associated with lower blood testosterone, while those who got their protein from plant ...Read more

Patient Wishes To Educate Pa On An Incorrect Diagnosis

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I recently had an experience that brought out the desire in me to help educate health care providers in real time. I had an unexplained swelling of just one ankle. My primary care physician is on leave, so I was referred to urgent care. I was seen by a physician assistant. They asked me a series of questions that they read off ...Read more

Is obesity linked to a lower risk of dementia-associated mortality?

The thing about medical studies is that they're often looking at just one issue from one point of view -- and when you include more variables, different sorts of folks or ask different questions, you can end up with conflicting opinions.

Nothing is a clearer example of that than the recent study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease that found ...Read more

Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald/TNS

Gov. Healey looks to close Massachusetts healthcare shortage with veteran military medics

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Veteran military medics could soon administer medications to patients at certain Massachusetts hospitals under a proposal by Gov. Maura Healey.

On the eve of Veterans Day, the governor revealed plans to advance new regulations to create a pathway for military medics to work in civilian healthcare settings, applying their training and experience...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

US set to lose measles-free status this week

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The U.S. is expected to lose its measles-free status this week as the Pan American Health Organization meets to review measles outbreaks in the Western Hemisphere.

Measles elimination means a country has not had a continuous, locally transmitted outbreak for at least 12 months. The United States is experiencing multiple measles outbreaks, ...Read more

Your hemoglobin (or Hb for short) A1c level is a biomarker for diabetes.
              MarioGuti/iStock via Getty Images Plus

What are biomarkers? A biologist explains how doctors measure your health – and how combining cells from different people can find new markers

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A family of five is exposed to the flu virus, but only two of them get sick. A lifelong chain-smoker lives 100 years, while a professional athlete in their prime dies of an unexpected heart attack. A drug fails a clinical trial due to harmful side effects in a subset of patients despite showing good results in others.

Could any of ...Read more

An October 2026 policy allows the FDA to expand access to six peptides, including BPC-157. martin-dm/E+ via Getty Images

RFK Jr. loosens access to unapproved peptides: A health law scholar explains what consumers need to know

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Unregulated peptides for weight loss, muscle building, longevity and more are a roaring wellness fad – even though these substances have not been proved safe and effective and have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Until now, consumers were getting wellness peptides online through the so-called gray market,...Read more

Oona Zenda/KFF Health News/TNS

Expecting a baby? 5 tips to help you prepare for pregnancy costs

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

“This whole experience has me wondering (keeping me up at night, actually): Can we ever afford to have another child?”

— Grace Griffin, Calumet, Michigan

____

Grace and Daniel Griffin, both 26, knew money would be tight once they had their first child. So, even before the Calumet, Michigan, couple tried to conceive, they began crunching...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

States push short-term insurance as healthcare costs climb

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Earlier this year, Madison Harden-Stein and her colleagues at the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms posed as consumers interested in buying insurance as part of a secret shopper study.

They found that insurance brokers and sales representatives often pushed short-term health insurance plans with limited coverage, and used...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Mayo Clinic Minute: Surgical advances help preserve function after stomach cancer treatment

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Stomach cancer, also called gastric cancer, begins when cells grow abnormally in the stomach. More than 30,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with stomach cancer each year.

When stomach cancer is found early and has not spread, treatment can sometimes cure it. For cancer that has grown through the stomach wall or spread to other parts of the ...Read more

Halloween is over, so why do you have masked blood pressure?

You may feel happy that your blood pressure (BP) was healthy at your last doctor's appointment, but that could be misleading. For more than 10% of folks over age 50, that's not a good measure of their BP as they go about their day's activities. Apparently, being seated in a quiet examining room can mask their actual BP. But working, worrying, ...Read more

Diverticulosis Causes A Bleeding Episode In 70-Year-Old Man

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I'm a 70-year-old male who's active and healthy, and I eat a varied diet. I take the minimum dosages of levothyroxine and atorvastatin. Recently, I had a gastrointestinal bleed that was located in my ascending colon due to diverticulosis. There wasn't an infection or any pain at all. Just out of the blue, I had explosive, ...Read more

Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images North America/TNS

Four superbugs are 'urgent' threats, CDC says. Here's how patients can help slow them

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Center for Disease Control released its yearly Antimicrobial Threats Report in October, detailing illnesses that are becoming resistant to treatment. It listed four drug-resistant illnesses as urgent public health threats.

Candida auris, Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter and Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales are urgent public health ...Read more

Veterans with mild traumatic brain injury often experience increased stress and irritability in response to everyday challenges. Viktor Cvetkovic/E+ via Getty Images

For veterans with mild traumatic brain injury, a restaurant or other noisy environment can feel like a battlefield

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Imagine sitting down with your family at a restaurant. Conversations at your table overlap with those of patrons seated nearby. Utensils clink on plates. Waitstaff weave between tables. Music plays overhead.

Many people might find the bustle of such a scene a bit annoying. However, for veterans with chronic mild traumatic brain injury...Read more

A tiny amount of molecules containing sulfur is enough to stink up the gas bubbles that come out your bum. borchee/iStock via Getty Images

Why do farts smell so bad? A microbiologist explains the odors brewing in your gut

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

Why do farts smell so bad? – Daisy, age 7, New York, New York

A healthy person farts about 14 to 20 times each day. All together, that’s enough gas to fill a super stinky...Read more