Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/o5aew8kkWGM Take out meals, just like sit-down restaurant offerings, are way too large with way too many calories.   A British fish n’ chip wholesale supplier cooperated with academic nutritionists at Newcastle University to design what they call the Lite-BITE® box carry out box as part of a UK national campaign to fight obesity. The usual fish and chip take out meal cloc...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/wG0PHbEeh70 Eyeing that 10 layer chocolate cake or mile high apple pie before you select your main and side dishes will help you make a   more nutritious choice.   So says a study from the University of Arizona’s marketing department just published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology:Applied . Dining subjects   were presented with either a luscious lemon cheesecake...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/DMRmeoFeVUg We know all about the dangers of second-hand smoke, those clouds of toxic fumes emanating from cigarettes, cigars, and pipe bowls.   Now a study from the University of Cincinatti and the Cincinatti Children’s Hospital hone in on the vapors that waft up from those yellow stains on walls, ceilings, carpets, upholstery and, yes, the fingers of smokers themselves....

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/fM3zWSu7ZAA Alcohol abuse is rampant in teens and young adults, and hospitals are reporting an epidemic of premature chronic liver disease and failure in millenials.   A new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics now shows that binge drinking prevents development of normal connections in the developing brain’s amygdal...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/0CezKXdha_o Electronic cigarette use is on the upswing, and their makers trumpet the latest studies showing that e-cigs help current tobacco smokers kick the habit.   In actuality, as older smokers quit more teens use e-cigs and move on to the nasty and dangerous habit that is tobacco cigarette smoking. Besides the addicting nicotine, the e-cigs vaporize and spew a raft o...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/VyMYFtxNodM First we had tennis elbow, more recently football CTE dementia, and now we have golfer’s wrenched back.   The latest study in the Joural of Neurosurgery:Spine sounds an alarm for golfers to ease up on their swings a bit. Over the past 40 years, competitive pressure has driven the golf swing to become more and more powerful.   Golfers now seek strength training...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/Q0cF8rNJvN0 Those compounded creams and gels you buy to rub on your aching muscles and joints may be worthless to you for relieving pain.   They are worth gold to the hucksters who manufacture and market them to the tune of at least 6 million dollars a day. Pain specialists at Johns Hopkins and the Walter Reed Hospital studied nearly 400 subjects with 3 types of pain: 1....

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/anJEys3Soc8 I’ve presented many studies proving that fruits and vegetables in your diet will keep you strong, fit, and physically healthy.   Now, new data from Great Britain’s University of Leeds shows that these key dietary components also boost your mental capacities. The researchers studied some 40,000 persons and report that those consuming more fruits and vegetables...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/CA0GVw_xvUI No one likes the prospect of surgery.   If you’ve been diagnosed with an ovarian cyst and your doctors have recommended removal, a new study suggests that an operation may not be necessary for every cyst. Ovarian cysts are little balloon-like bumps that arise on the surface of the ovaries.   They are discovered with ultrasound scans when abdominal pain or bloa...

Howard G. Smith, MD, PENTA Medical Network, reports from NYC with the Health News Roundup for the SECOND week of FEBRUARY, 2019. Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/BMHHclF3DPo This is Health News You Should Use, the latest medical discoveries that you can use in a practical way to keep yourself and your family healthy. Besides that, there are two stories about Health Crap You Should Scrap: some non-prescr...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/_dGkTXmj3Y0 Good news is good for your soul, and here’s a feel-good saga from my favorite good news website, goodnewsnetwork.org .   Twelve years ago during cool weather John Sumner, saw a pathetic seagull with an obviously broken leg attempting to land and get food.   He and his dog had come to the beach for a walk, and John offered the seagull some of his pet’s dog bisc...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/X6ZxecLbkxI Medical marijuana is now legal in 33 of 50 states, and most users look to weed as medicine in order to relieve chronic pain.   Investigators from the University of Michigan reviewed data from state registries and found that more than 800,000 persons are licensed medical cannabis users.   This number likely underestimates the actual number of users. Cannabis is...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/zOaEiNnJBCY Driven entrepreneurs and students often steal needed hours of sleep to find extra time.   A collaborative study by business researchers coordinated by Oregon State University shows that, when sleep is limited, mindfulness can come to the rescue and turbocharge your ailing brain.   Studying more than sleep-deprived 400 entrepreneurs across the US, the researche...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/cpb2nP4vYF0 An unexpected observation during a patient’s awake neurosurgery confirms that laughter leads to a sense of calm and happiness.   Surgeons at Emory University in Atlanta relate this fascinating, whimsical tale. A young patient with difficult to control epilepsy was undergoing awake neurosurgery to pinpoint the seizure focus.   During the surgery, the surgeons i...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/3vsdF9Re_g8 Another thumbs up for aerobic exercise comes from the University of Buffalo’s Concussion Management Clinic.   They check in with the first randomized study of recovery from adolescent sport-related concussions comparing carefully calibrated exercise with the usually recommended near total rest or slow stretching. The investigators studied 103 athletes, 13 to 1...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/0e6_N7YbgPg Thousands of young women are having unnecessary radiation exposure via mammograms prior to surgery to right-size their breasts.   A just published University of Michigan study of more than 52,000 women candidates for this surgery shows that one-third of them had mammography prior to the procedure. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons stated 5 years ago tha...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/z_dp6Ogts8c An effective but reversible male contraceptive has been an elusive goal for the past century since Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger coined the term “birth control.”   Chinese bioengineers using the latest nanotechnology report a unique sperm tube blocking parfait that may just do the trick.   They tested the concept in a rat model. To prevent sperm f...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/gnwupAEH4h8   A new Brazilian study shows that Vitamin D is key in promoting insulin sensitivity and lowering blood glucose.   Normal blood sugar levels prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes, the type controllable by diet and medication rather than insulin.   Now here’s the “rest of the story” as the great Paul Harvey once intoned.   Although the US Preventive Services cou...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/OPm5-Fb5wRU Exercising regularly not only tones your muscles but also the executive control center in your brain.   This is the conclusion of a study by Columbia University neurologists. They studied 132 couch potatos of all ages and split them into two groups each with an identical age profile, gender distribution, educational background, and test scores on cognitive exa...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/V0dPokY1Bxs If you get a rotten night’s sleep, your brain will be primed for a painful day after.   Neuroscientists from UC-Berkeley now prove this fact with two studies: one in the laboratory with sophisticated studies of the next day’s brain electrical activity and the other via crowdsourcing with subjects reporting their feelings after a restless night. In the first st...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/3nvp1LiIzso Looking for a little warmth this winter.   Finnish and British scientists urge you to spend some time in the sauna and not only warm up but enjoy substantial health benefits. Their report in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings demonstrates that regular sauna use reduces your blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease, improves lung function, energizes your immu...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/KU4orDr9WjM The time is here when many are toning their bodies looking ahead to those warm summer days on the beach. When you join a group to lose weight, know that the information you receive about how your group is doing can encourage or discourage your efforts. Yale and McGill University psychologists studied data from an anonymous US-based weight loss company with clo...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/qleohPgM234 If you smoked or ate some weed over the weekend, will you flunk that pop drug test your boss springs on you Monday morning?   The answer depends on how much you consumed and the type of test you must take.   Either way, be forewarned that marijuana’s psychoactive agent, THC, is fat-soluble and definitely hangs around in your body longer than alcohol. Smoking o...

Vidcast: https://youtu.be/LmzLL69mBUI Repetition is the key to controlling your brain, forming positive habits, and erasing self-destructive behaviors.   Psychologists from Britain’s University of Warwick collaborated with colleagues at Princeton and Brown Universities to create and study a digital mouse model that reveals the secrets of our brains’ habitual and goal-directed controllers. In the e...

Health News RoundUp-1st Week of February, 2019 2/7/19 Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/YpmA6bS43IM   I’m Dr. Howard Smith, PENTA Medical Network,   reporting from NYC with the Health News Roundup for the FIRST week of FEBRUARY, 2019.   This is Health News You Should Use, the latest medical discoveries that you can use in a practical way to keep yourself and your family healthy.     Here are the headline...