Vitamin D and calcium are essential for bone health and normal bodily metabolism. Parts of the medical community got overly enthusiastic in the last decade and suggested unnecessarily and possibly harmfully large intake of both nutrients. Sensible daily intake from diet and supplements is 1000 mg calcium and 1000 IU of vitamin D for most adults.
Be Well Body Scan announced its pricing for DEXA body composition studies, all under $100 per study. I think it is worthwhile to consider.
How much salt should I eat? Why does salt matter? What foods contain the most salt? Can I do anything to reduce my salt intake while still having tasty food?
A DEXA body composition scan can accurately and safely determine how much muscle and fat you have in your body and how the muscle and fat are distributed. Be Well Body Scan can do this test quickly and inexpensively.
Chest CT scans on an annual basis have been shown to find lung cancers in former long-term smokers early enough to reduce mortality by 20%. We should consider starting annual chest CTs for all current and former serious smokers.
An Op-Ed Commentary in the Lincoln Journal on March 7 reminded me that the forces of darkness and ignorance are alive and strong even in our communities. The writer proposed to remove fluoridation from our water despite almost seven decades of clearly beneficial results. I had to respond.
The British Medical Journal (www.bmj.com) just reported that a review of studies of egg consumption determined that there was no increase in heart attacks or strokes related to regular eating of eggs.
Immunizations are effective, safe and a bulwark of good preventive medicine against really bad diseases. Influenza, tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis, and herpes zoster vaccines are particularly important for everyone. Get your flu shot this week if you didn’t already do so!
There is a world of interesting, tasty and filling snacks that are healthy and really low-calorie. Get to a good supermarket and really look around for what you like, and keep it on hand.
We all need a health care agent to speak for us if we are incapacitated while critical decisions must be made about our care, for example, in an ICU. Your doctor discusses some of the many issues surrounding health care agents and provides a standard health care proxy form used to appoint the agent.