Dr. Howard Smith Reports

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/NGDyl9OUX7k   E-cigarettes, touted as being safer than tobacco cigarettes, seem to trigger heart attacks and strokes.   This is the conclusion of research from the University of Kansas that studied nearly 100,000 Americans.   It was presented recently at this year’s meeting of the American College of Cardiology.   Those who vape are 56% more likely to suffer a heart a...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/6YkO3qoOn-M   Obstetricians at Israel’s Ben Gurion University now proclaim that “50 is the new 40 when it comes to childbirth!”   They studied more than 8,000 pregnant women 40 years and above.   The data revealed that complications such as premature birth, gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and a need for c-section were no higher for those in their 50s compar...

    Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/rLcHzGnCbCw   Want to boost your long distance running performance in only 4 days?   Get yourself on the Mediterranean Diet says investigators from St. Louis University.   They studied 11 male and female 5K runners giving each 4 days of the Mediterranean Diet or 4 days of the typical Western Diet before they ran the 5K on a treadmill.   Consuming the Mediterranean D...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/6YdaC5YgAuQ   Raw dog food is becoming quite the rage.   A study just published in the British Medical Journal’s Veterinary Record reveals that raw dog food from 10 different sources contains dangerous levels of E.coli and other fecal bacteria, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Clostridia.   Raw pet food is prepared from miscellaneous body parts and organs that are a byp...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/SL6hU7sJnWQ   Listen up men.   Two chemicals that can damage your sperm and your ability to father a normal child are lurking in and around your home.   A study just published by England’s University of Nottingham shows that the plasticizer DEHP and the industrial chemical PCB153 both reduce the motility and increase the level of DNA damage of sperm exposed to them in...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/Krls1Vigp3E   Using popular mouthwashes may cause your blood pressure to jump up significantly.   Dentists and cardiologists at the University of Texas report that the antibacterial agent in mouthwash, chlorhexidine, prevents the normal oral bacteria from metabolizing ingested nitrates into the nitric oxide that plays a key role in normalizing blood pressure.   The in...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/_DFUFfgGHsc   If a parent constantly corrects an infant, that child’s brain becomes more sensitive to angry vocalizations.   Investigators at Britain’s University of Manchester studied 40 six month old infants and their mothers utilizing the novel neuroimaging technique of Near Infrared Spectroscopy.   This permits the study of a baby’s brain activation by maternal vo...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/6Gp35HxNfKI   If you burn your candle at both ends during the week and think that you can catch up on sleep over the weekend, think again!   A study from the University of Colorado shows that you won’t catch up on sleep and that your irregular sleep pattern will torpedo your glucose metabolism and internal time clock.   The study assigned health young adults to one of t...

  Vidcast:   ttps://youtu.be/mJ67PSiq78Y   Mothers who smoke, vape, or use oral and patch nicotine products may be exposing their unborn children to the risk of attention deficit and hyperactivity issues,ADHD, later in life.   A study from Finland just published in the journal Pediatrics studied over 1,000 children and matched controls born 10 years ago.     The researchers studied serum samples f...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/BnAb8oU9ZdY   Keeping your head, hands, and body busy in middle age pays off big later in life.   The latest pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is that your risk of dementia drops by nearly 35 to more than 50 percent.     This finding comes from Sweden’s University of Gothenburg’s study of 800 women who were followed from their mid-forties well into their nineties.  ...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/SCayESaafFI   Regularly eating breakfasts versus skipping them lifts a teen’s grade average from a C to an A.   The UK’s University of Leeds investigators tabulated the breakfasting habits of 294 16-18 year olds with their scores on standardized tests.   The test scores were converted to letter grades.   Of the participant group, 53% ate breakfasts regularly but 29% nev...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/YYp0nHFGiSo   Omega-3 fatty acid fish oil supplements can significantly improve attention deficit symptoms for children who have deficiencies of this essential contributor to brain development.   This the conclusion of a collaborative British-Chinese double-blind, controlled study of 92 children and adolescents with ADHD.   The children given the EPA fatty acid suppleme...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/mr_Zu297u7g   Forty-one weeks of gestation appears to be the safe upper limit for pregnancies.   This the conclusion of a Swedish multisite study of more than 2700 women with post-mature babies.   Half the group were randomized to be induced at 41 weeks,   The remainder were followed for up to another 7 days with mandatory induction at 42 weeks.   The study was abruptly...

Vidcast:   ttps://youtu.be/r3cfXswib-I   Yoga instruction or individual physical therapy, PT, over a 12 week period leads to better sleep for those plagued by low back pain.   Boston University investigators report this conclusion following their study of   320 adults with back pain.   Those using yoga enjoyed a 12% improvement in sleep while those having physical therapy noted   9% better sleep....

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/lSGFWPkOSJY   American men in a hetero relationship experience the lowest level of stress and anxiety when their female partners contribute 40% to the couple’s combined income.   British psychologists report this finding from their study of just over 6,000 US households.   Male stress peaks when he is the sole income earner, it dips as his partner contributes up to 40%,...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/kwJ05jen3Wc   Eating fruits and veggies and foregoing fatty, sugary foods will reduce chances of hearing loss by up to 30%.   Harvard investigators managing the Nurses’ Health Study looked more than 3100 womens’ hearing as a function of diet over a 20 year period.   Women closely following healthy diets including the DASH, the Mediterranean, and the Alternate Healthy Ea...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/YH4G3xa8_sM   Patients receiving chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and surgery face stresses similar to astronauts blasted into deep space.  Exercise physiologists at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Center now propose NASA-like physical counter measure programs (CMPs).   Cancer patients and astronauts both suffer decreases in muscle mass, cardiac functional ch...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/yIqurbhKfAw   That’s the bottom line of the ISCHEMIA study, an international effort coordinated by cardiologists at Stanford and New York Universities.   Presented last week at the American Heart Association’s meetings, the study had nearly 5200 participants in 37 countries.   Patients with stable coronary blockages do no better with invasive surgery, either angiographi...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/sKbA3LbiCVg   Parents tightly managing their kids’ academic and social paths produce offspring with faulty academic and social skills, poor self-control, and emotional problems.   Family studies researchers at West Virginia University draw these conclusions from surveys of 302 young adults.   The investigators add that the parents who herd their children into the right...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/h0lSb9JaTLA   Cleaning products and disinfectants can increase your risk of developing handicapping chronic obstructive lung disease, COPD, by up to 38%.   Harvard and NIH researchers followed more than 73,000 US nurses occupationally exposed to such toxic chemicals over a 6 year period.   The nurses were using chemicals including bleach, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, amm...

Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/aaIi2jdCaVU   The high fat, low carb diet that is keto triggers activation of special lung T lymphocytes that make mucus webs which sideline   influenza viruses.   This finding is now reported by Yale immunobiologists using a mouse model.   The keto diet facilitates influenza virus death and better experimental animal survival compared with a high carb diet.   A line of...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/jTrtQsWO7y4   Next week’s bingeing on that pie with ice cream and whipped cream piled high could trigger inflammatory bowel disease or worsen the disease you already have.   A mouse study from Canada’s University of Alberta reports that sugar in the gut feeds renegade bacteria like E. coli that trigger inflammation and destructive immune responses.   It only took two...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/zq8SI0miOgg   Manipulating your facial expression to show serious, focused determination, a game face, will actually improve your performance on intellectual challenges.   A University of Tennessee psychology study looked at 62 participants as they solved Mandala puzzles.   Putting on the game face that so many athletic coaches demand of their players did actually spe...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/DSErGGTJmQI   Instrumental music insulates your body’s nervous system from pressures of traffic jams, nasty other drivers, and sudden stops.   This the result of a small Brazilian study just published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine.   The investigators measured the effects of driving an unfamiliar car during a nerve-racking urban rush hour on the hearts of you...

  Vidcast:   https://youtu.be/5JaCIuYeWaw   Taking extra testosterone can double a man’s risk of dangerous leg blood clots, and that risk is tripled if he is younger than 65.   A study just published in JAMA Internal Medicine studied use of the supplement in nearly 40,000 men over a 7 year period.   Leg blood clots can travel up into the lungs and trigger a pulmonary embolism.   This blockage of b...