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5 foods to stock up on in July

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

While the gourds of fall and the grassy green shoots of spring have their charm, it’s the summer produce that often brings the most joy. July is one of the best times to enjoy a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and these are some that dietitians recommend stocking up on.

1. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are an excellent example of summer produce ...Read more

Counting steps is good — is combining steps and heart rate better?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Have you met your step goals today? If so, well done! Monitoring your step count can inspire you to bump up activity over time.

But when it comes to assessing fitness or cardiovascular disease risk, counting steps might not be enough. Combining steps and average heart rate (as measured by a smart device) could be a better way for you to assess ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Diabetes and your eyes

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. My health care professional shared that I’ll need to have regular eye exams in addition to keeping my blood sugar well controlled. How does diabetes affect the eyes, and why are routine eye exams so important?

ANSWER: Diabetes is a prevalent condition worldwide, affecting ...Read more

Thirdhand Smoking Gun

Health Advice / Scott LaFee /

Thirdhand smoke occurs when chemical residues from smoking linger in carpets, furniture and walls long after the cigarette has been extinguished.

Researchers have found that children who inhale these particles by disturbing fabric fibers while playing or ingest them by touching contaminated surfaces and then putting their hands in their ...Read more

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Mayo Clinic's AI tool identifies 9 dementia types, including Alzheimer's, with one scan

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps clinicians identify brain activity patterns linked to nine types of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, using a single, widely available scan — a transformative advance in early, accurate diagnosis.

The tool, StateViewer, helped...Read more

Desiree Rios/KFF Health News/TNS

HHS eliminates CDC staff who made sure birth control is safe for women at risk

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

For Brianna Henderson, birth control isn’t just about preventing pregnancy.

The Texas mother of two was diagnosed with a rare and potentially fatal heart condition after having her second child. In addition to avoiding another pregnancy that could be life-threatening, Henderson has to make sure the contraception she uses doesn’t jeopardize ...Read more

First Liberty Institute/First Liberty Institute/TNS

Feds investigate hospitals over religious exemptions from gender-affirming care

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Trump administration has launched investigations into health care organizations in an effort to allow providers to refuse care for transgender patients on religious or moral grounds.

One of the most recent actions by the Department of Health and Human Services, launched in mid-June, targets the University of Michigan Health system over a ...Read more

Scott Dalton/KFF Health News/TNS

Bill of the Month: Texas boy needed protection from measles. The vaccine cost $1,400

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

In the early days of the West Texas measles outbreak, Thang Nguyen eyed the rising number of cases and worried. His 4-year-old son was at risk because he had received only the first of the vaccine’s two doses.

So, in mid-March, he took his family to a primary care clinic at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

By the end of ...Read more

Finding Out The Fluoride Concentration In Local Water Sites

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: In a recent column, you responded that fluoride is naturally occurring, and places that removed fluoride from drinking water had increased tooth decay. Is fluoride naturally found in well water? I've drunk well water my whole life, and I've only had one cavity. Two of my three kids are the same way. The oldest had too many ...Read more

Mom and Dad: Help yourself to help your children

A National Institutes of Health research alert is sounding an alarm about the estimated number of children who live with parents suffering from a substance use disorder (SUD).

The facts: In 2023, almost 19 million children under age 18 lived with one or more parent with an SUD. That's one-fourth of all kids in the country! Almost half of those ...Read more

University of Minnesota steps up search for disease-spreading threats

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota is stepping up efforts to identify biological threats that could trigger an epidemic, launching an institute to track disease-spreading infectious pathogens at the genetic level and monitor wastewater statewide.

The university’s Institute on Infectious Diseases, UMIID, will be officially unveiled ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Gun suicides in US reached record high in 2023

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

More people in the United States died by gun suicide in 2023 than any year on record — more than by gun homicide, accidental shootings and police shootings combined.

A new report analyzing federal mortality data found that suicides involving firearms made up 58% of all gun deaths in 2023 — the latest year with available data. In total, 27,...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Federal changes could end up 'cutting holes' in HIV safety net, experts say

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Dallen Michael Greene still remembers the fear he felt when he was diagnosed with HIV in 1999.

“My heart literally sank to my knees and to my ankles,” he said.

That fear is what led the 56-year-old resident of Broward County, Florida, to become a mentor and patient guide for the newly diagnosed. He’s a clinical ...Read more

NBC News/NBC News/TNS

'Not accountable to anyone': As insurers issue denials, some patients run out of options

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — By the time Eric Tennant was diagnosed in 2023 with a rare cancer of the bile ducts, the disease had spread to his bones. He weighed 97 pounds and wasn’t expected to survive a year with stage 4 cancer.

Two years later, grueling rounds of chemotherapy have slowed the cancer’s progress, even as it has continued to spread...Read more

Essential lifestyle support when using GLP-1s for weight loss

Around 31 million U.S. adults have taken a GLP-1 (half are still on it) and 12.5 million or more are doing it because they're obese or overweight. And while the medications offer some folks an effective remedy, reducing body weight by 5% to 18%, others find it difficult to lose that much or to withstand the gastro side effects, the nutritional ...Read more

Cardiologist Recommends Aspirin Due To Stenosis And Bridging

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 64-year-old man who has been having periodic shortness of breath for the past six months or so. This happens mostly upon exertion but sometimes occurs when I stand up.

I do have a family history of coronary artery disease. After a CT angiogram (my calcium score was 617) and an echocardiogram (all good), my ...Read more

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Fact check: Thune says health care often 'comes with a job.' The reality's not simple or straightforward

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

“A lot of times, health care comes with a job.”

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), in an interview with KOTA on May 30, 2025

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Millions of people are expected to lose access to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance plans if federal lawmakers approve the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Donald Trump’s domestic ...Read more

Fsstock/Dreamstime/TNS

Ask the Pediatrician: Why you should enroll your children in swim lessons

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As a pediatrician, I’ve counseled countless families about the importance of swim safety. But as a mom, I’ve lived it, from the nervous first splashes to the proud, cannonball “I did it!” moments. Learning to swim isn’t just a childhood milestone — it’s a life-saving skill, a confidence booster, and a path to lifelong health and ...Read more

Mary Katherine Wynn/Dreamstime.com/TNS

Dopamine menus: Give your brain some space

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ROCHESTER, Minn. — You likely are accustomed to encountering a range of menus in daily life, but there is one that may be new to you: a dopamine menu. Dr. Robert Wilfahrt, a family medicine physician at Mayo Clinic and an expert in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, explains.

“A dopamine menu is a rebranding of what ...Read more

Phil Galewitz/KFF Health News/TNS

Too sick to work, some Americans worry Trump's bill will strip their health insurance

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Stephanie Ivory counts on Medicaid to get treated for gastrointestinal conditions and a bulging disc that makes standing or sitting for long periods painful. Her disabilities keep her from working, she said.

Ivory, 58, of Columbus, Ohio, believes she would be exempt from a requirement that adult Medicaid recipients work, but she worries about ...Read more