The People's Pharmacy

In our nationally syndicated radio show we are live this week for the first time in more than two years. First, we speak with biologist Simone Pika about her very interesting observations of chimpanzees treating wounds. Wild chimps at the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project in Gabon have been observed catching insects, mashing them between their lips and applying them to wounds. We don’t know yet exactly wh...

Our nationally syndicated radio show this week (initial broadcast 4/2/22) offers interviews with two guests who have thought deeply about addiction. In the US, this is a serious public health problem. We have been fighting the war on drugs since the early 1970s. However, we haven’t seen much benefit from this effort. More people die from drug overdoses each year than from gunshots, cars or b...

There are at least two pandemics raging through the world at this time. The first is obesity. The second is, of course, COVID-19. Diabetes sits uncomfortably at their intersection. In a vicious cycle, diabetes makes COVID-19 infections more likely and more dangerous. Meanwhile, COVID-19 can trigger diabetes or make it worse. A new study in Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology , March 21, 2020 reinf...

This week on our nationally syndicated radio show, we learn about the most common neurological disease humans suffer. Just in time for the Migraine World Summit, we will discuss new treatments for migraine headaches. Recent advances include methods for prevention as well as relieving symptoms. What Are the New Treatments for Migraine Headaches? For decades, people with migraine headaches had limit...

This week on our nationally syndicated radio show, we learn how heartbreak can have physiological consequences on the heart and other organ systems. Broken Heart Syndrome, also called Takotsubo, is a form of stress cardiomyopathy. The effects of stress hormones due to an emotional blow or a serious illness can weaken the heart muscle. A Personal Account: Nature writer Florence Williams chronicled...

Do you add thyme to your chicken soup? Basil and oregano to your pasta sauce? These herbs are staples in most kitchens, and they help good cooks make their meals extra-tasty. We love using herbs and spices ourselves when we cook. Consequently, we were dismayed to read that some cooking spices are contaminated with heavy metals. The findings were published in Consumer Reports (November 9, 2021 ). T...

For such a small organ, your thyroid gland has an outsize impact. It controls energy utilization throughout every tissue in your body. When the thyroid gland isn’t working well, you may notice changes in your digestion, your heart rate, your skin, hair, muscles and your weight. A faltering thyroid may even have an impact on your mood and cognitive ability. Either an underactive or overactive thyro...

Research over the past few decades has revealed that we humans host a bewildering variety of invisible creatures, our microbiota. We can almost envision the collective genome of all these microbes, the microbiome, as a sort of second genome for human individuals. Unlike our human genome, the microbiome can be altered based on our diet and factors such as whether we have taken antibiotics. The exac...

Have you ever put mushrooms in a salad? Might you add them to an appetizer? Stir-fries and frittatas with mushrooms are no longer surprising. Which mushrooms would you select for those dishes? You can find out in a gorgeous cookbook called The Fantastic Fungi Community Cookbook . Editor Eugenia Bone describes her fascination with fungi and how she came to create a cookbook in collaboration with th...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been dragging on for longer than most people imagined possible. With each new variant, cases surge and people need to make complex risk calculations about school, work and social interactions. Needless to say, all this can create a great deal of anxiety. Health care workers are under enormous strain. So are families who have been faced with serious illness. Our guest, Dr....

We have heard that some people used their time locked down at home during the pandemic to clean out their closets and clear away the clutter. For others, though, we suspect that such projects would have been overwhelming or possibly even undesirable. Perhaps you know someone with hoarding symptoms such as excessive acquiring activities, difficulty discarding things or trouble organizing clutter. W...

More Americans are living to old ages, but frequently their later years are plagued with chronic diseases. Is there a way to stay healthy into the ninth and tenth decade of life? To find out, we take a virtual trip to visit centenarians in a remote village in southern China. Visit to Longevity Village: Dr. John Day, an interventional cardiologist fluent in Mandarin, became concerned about his own...

Can you have too much togetherness? After a year of pandemic restrictions that kept many couples cooped up together for months, some have discovered that minor annoyances loom larger. Couples have had to negotiate their roles and responsibilities more intensely than ever. This has put quite a strain on some relationships. Pre-existing problems have been amplified, but so have the strengths. How ca...

Almost thirty years ago, Laurie Garrett published The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance . In this thorough, carefully researched analysis, she laid out why public health authorities should be watching for new pathogens and how they should respond if that happened. Since then, of course, a number of bacteria and viruses have appeared, including SARS in 2002, Ebola in...

In September, more than 200 top medical journals around the world took the unprecedented step of publishing the same editorial. It was “ Call for Emergency Action to Limit Global Temperature Increases, Restore Biodiversity, and Protect Health .”  In it, editors of various journals identify climate change as the greatest threat to global health. As a consequence, they urge their readers to take urg...

Doctors rarely study spontaneous remissions from serious diseases. Why not? They are unpredictable, for one thing. For another, they are said to be exceedingly rare. Despite this, Dr. Jeffrey Rediger has found that most of his colleagues are aware of at least one case that defies explanation by conventional science. He set out to learn more about the survivors whose extraordinary recoveries might...

Before this pandemic began, a small group of researchers were already paying close attention to coronaviruses and their potential for causing serious illness. Virus experts around the world recognized our guest, Dr. Ralph Baric, as the coronavirus hunter for his outstanding work in this area. In this episode, he joins us to discuss the future of COVID-19. Predicting the Pandemic: When we first spo...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been overwhelming, not only in terms of the huge numbers of people who have gotten sick or died. We have also been engulfed with information about the virus, the infection, the risk factors, what we should do and what we can expect. Much of this information has been contradictory. We turn to a leading expert in digital medicine and technology to find out how we can start...

Everyone gets excited about the idea of medical breakthroughs. Fewer of us, if we are honest, are anxious to be the first one to benefit. After all, if you are the first, you know nothing about the potential harms, and neither does the person offering you the experience. Medical innovation is necessarily fraught with uncertainty. How can we evaluate the benefits and risks of medical breakthroughs?...

Over the last year and a half, while the nation endured a terrible pandemic, patients with COVID-19 were treated even if they couldn’t foot the bills themselves. Will the high cost of COVID break the bank? Now that people will end up paying for treatment out of their own pockets, will more Americans than ever end up bankrupt? Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal, editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News, explains...

How do you decide what you should do in a health crisis? Over the past year and a half, many people have faced this problem. Do you go to the hospital for treatment in the midst of a pandemic? What medications or supplements might be helpful and which are more likely to be harmful? We look at how to make better choices about your health. Weighing Benefits and Risks: To make a decision you feel con...

When the COVID pandemic began, doctors thought that patients either recovered fairly quickly or they died. Before long, though, some patients identified themselves as “long haulers” because they were suffering debilitating symptoms for months after their diagnoses, neither dying nor recovering. There are people who become short of breath just walking up a few steps, while others experience dizzine...

You may have heard that the eyes are the window to the soul. That could be difficult to prove, but scientists have now shown that the eyes offer significant clues to your overall health. Most exciting is the possibility of assessing brain health based on special imaging of the retina. We speak with a leading ophthalmologist about what your eyes reveal. What Your Eyes Reveal About COVID: Researcher...

At a time when opinions about nearly everything are highly polarized, how can you have a civil discussion? What do we do when we encounter a person who is extremely angry? For that matter, how do we handle our own emotions? What works to defuse anger and what sorts of responses just make it worse? We’ll find out how to deal with anger. Can You Listen? Dr. Christian Conte has worked with angr...

In the middle of a pandemic, you probably want to know how well your immune system is functioning. Even more important, what if anything can you do to support it? Scientists have found that the microbes in the digestive tract communicate closely with the brain. What’s more, they now have evidence that the gut microbiome also shapes your immune response. Your Microbiome and Your Health: The microbi...