In medical school, future doctors are taught that obesity is simply an imbalance of calories consumed and calories burned. In other words, if we don’t burn the same or more calories than we consume, the better becomes our chances of gaining weight. If this imbalance continues for a long time, we may become obese. This […]
It comes as no surprise that air pollution is a source of toxic exposure that can lead to ill health. In fact, it’s estimated that 5.5 million people die of diseases attributed to breathing polluted air. I grew up in Los Angeles, California in the 50’s and 60’s when the quality of air in Southern […]
We have all heard the expression: “We are what we eat.” In my physiology and nutrition classes I teach at the university, I have, over the years, changed this to “We are what we don’t eat.” This is because the standard American diet is so poor due to our lifestyles, we do not get the […]
With all of the different beauty care products on the market and less than optimal regulation of what is put into these products, you should carefully select the skincare products you place on your body. Your skin is your body’s largest organ and it will absorb chemicals you place on it. It is not uncommon […]
Recently, researchers published their work in which they found higher concentrations of parabens (preservatives found in many products, especially beauty products) in the upper quadrants of the breast and axillary area, where antiperspirants are usually applied. This highly suggests that parabens may contribute to the development of breast cancer. One or more paraben esters were […]
I grew up in Los Angeles, California. Fortunately, I lived a couple of miles away from some of the nicer beaches in Southern California. What I mean by this is the the daily sea breezes would blow the smog back into Center City and away from the beaches. Since we had no air conditioning (didn’t […]
Aging is not just the way we look… Your skin is your largest organ in the body. We look at aging differently if we are consumers or physicians. If we get wrinkles, or aching joints or grey hair, it’s easy to think or feel that we are getting older. But your skin is just at […]
What is Skin? It’s Not Just Our Outside! A friend of mine was once asked by a male patient who came to his clinic as to whether or not women who use skincare products on a daily basis really have better or healthier skin than those who do not use any supplementary products? […]
Drinking wine is one of mankind’s oldest pastimes. It’s even mentioned early in the Old Testament. But what if it made you ill from toxic metals and pesticides? It might change your mind about having your daily glass of wine, in spite of the fact that wine contains special antioxidants called polyphenols. These polyphenols help […]
Recently, I posed a question on the last day of class to my nursing students. After teaching all quarter about each organ system and its diseases, I asked them to name the things that were important to life. They came up with four things they felt were important ingredients for life. They were (1) proper […]