Three cheers for the new organic vegetable garden on the White House South Lawn. Maybe four! Now the question is, will that delicious Garden of Eatin' seed others just like it, in window boxes, backyards and community plots all across the country? Lettuce hope. There is nothing more satisfying than eating your own sweet, juicy tomato. It's a kind of miracle. Food you grow tastes better, costs less and has greater nutritional value , and ... [full story]

Tip of the Week: Never train on a full stomach, or an empty one. This may sound like a paradox, but really it's just about making sure you do a minimal amount of planning your meals with respect to your workouts. Obviously, you don't want to train shortly after eating. This leads to both ineffective digestion and ineffective workout, as your blood is partially shunted from its role in aiding digestion to assisting taxed muscle ... [full story]

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Older adults who worry about their health engage in less physical activity, and those who participate in less activity are more likely to report having difficulty walking, according to a new study. The research, featured in the current issue of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, was conducted by lead author Kin-Kit Li of The University of Hong Kong when he was a doctoral student at Oregon State University, and coauthored by ... [full story]

Disease Experts Raise Alarm Amid Concerns Global Health Funding Will Be Shortchanged WASHINGTON—The World Health Organization released staggering new data about the threat of tuberculosis and the toll it takes on people with HIV/AIDS today, in recognition of World TB Day. The TB-HIV co-infection crisis is twice as big as previously thought, the new WHO figures show. In 2007, there were at least 1.37 million cases of HIV-positive TB—or nearly 15 percent of the total ... [full story]

Finally, some good news for gout sufferers. Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new prescription drug that may help reduce painful flare-ups.   Sold under the brand name Uloric, the once-daily oral medication is the first new treatment option for gout in more than 40 years. Gout is a type of arthritis that occurs when a compound known as uric acid accumulates in the joints and forms long, needle-like crystals. These ... [full story]

Forget the notion that older folks are smarter drinkers. When it comes to knowing whether you're alcohol-impaired, younger imbibers appear to know better. University of Florida researchers conducted an experiment with 42 adults, half between the ages of 50 and 74, the other half ages 25 to 35. The participants were given either a carefully calibrated alcoholic drink (roughly the equivalent of a couple of glasses of wine) or a similar tasting placebo. Then they ... [full story]

Recently, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine compared coronary artery bypass graft surgery with angioplasty in patients with severe coronary artery disease. This included patients who had blockage of the left main coronary artery, or the "widow-maker," as well as patients with blockage of multiple coronary arteries, also known as multivessel disease. A quick read of the bottom line and the conclusion would lead one to believe that bypass is the ... [full story]

In 2002, hormone replacement therapy was dealt a major blow. Researchers from the Women's Health Initiative released information that hormone replacement therapy with estrogen and progesterone increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, migraines, blood clots in the legs and, most importantly, breast cancer. The risks outweigh the benefits, and as a consequence of this study, thousands of women stopped taking the hormones. Within a year, there was a substantial decrease in the incidence of ... [full story]

Springtime is the perfect time to celebrate fresh starts and new beginnings. Flowers bloom, trees blossom, birds rejoice, and all of nature awakens to new growth, new possibilities, new ways of being by the summer of 2009, when the wearing of revealing bathing suits often leads to depression. But wait! You are part of nature, don't forget, and you, too, are wired for change and new growth in spring. But what? And how? As your ... [full story]

Tip of the Week: Stretching isn't supposed to hurt. Over the years, I've seen any number of bodybuilders grimacing in pain as they stretch out before, during and after workouts. While stretching isn't always easy, especially if you're doing it right, it should never cause you intense pain. The reasons for stretching are many: increased flexibility, improved range of motion, increased blood flow into muscles and even relief of the stress associated with tight muscles. ... [full story]

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A recent study in Oregon suggests that drugs designed for treating the most severe mental illnesses are often prescribed at inappropriately low doses and at considerable expense, for use in conditions where their benefit has not been established. In this case, prescription drugs that might cost as much as $20 to $25 a day were being widely used to treat problems for which they were not FDA-approved. Some of those problems could ... [full story]

Osteoporosis is not a normal part of aging and, in many cases, is entirely preventable. If you're determined to protect the health of your bones, you may be taking a calcium supplement. That's definitely a step in the right direction, but recent research suggests that optimum bone health depends on a number of factors in addition to boosting calcium intake. One of those factors is vitamin D. In the absence of this nutrient, only about ... [full story]

It's not the cure for the common cold. It's a catalog. Nonetheless, some researchers at the University of Maryland say their successful decoding of the genomes of 99 strains of the common cold virus represents a big step toward eventually coming up with the proverbial cure. By mapping the genomes, says Stephen Liggett, an asthma expert, science has revealed a list of the virus' vulnerabilities. "We are now quite certain that we see the Achilles' ... [full story]