The USA Today put out a recent piece discussing the data from the National Center for Health Statistics which showed that for kids,  59% of added-sugar calories come from foods and 41% from beverages.   The sources or “added sugars” they mentioned were table sugar, brown sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, molasses and other caloric sweeteners…

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Guten Morgan! This comes from a reader: If you really want European socialized medicine (you personally no, but the masses in general) then you need to know some more information.  I have lived and worked in Europe (Germany), I speak from experience.  First, you are covered until you are 65 years old, after that you…

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UnitedHealth wants to have at least 50% of its network under value-based contracting by 2015.  How does that sound?  Good for them.  We also have another made-up political term (please see my other blogs about P4P traps) called “value-based contracting”  .   Somehow our leaders believe this is a wonderful thing.   Here was a…

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New warnings are being added to the labels of cholesterol lowering drugs, such as Lipitor and Crestor, to indicate that they may raise levels of blood sugar and now could cause memory loss.  This is getting to be a sticky situation and patients are confused. Hell, so am I.  Statins have been shown to significantly…

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A recent NEJM study showed the benefit of getting screening colonoscopies.   This is a good thing because colon cancer may really be a preventable death.  I still think the cost of the procedure is way too high and so do patients, evidently.   A study in the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology  found that during recession of…

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DrScore.com analyzed 36,000 patient satisfaction surveys submitted to the website in 2011 for its Annual Report Card and found that the way to get a good score is when patients have a short times in the waiting rooms and a longer time in the exam room with the doctor.  See how easy that is?  Okay, I…

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There have been reports that some antipsychotic medications used for dementia patients cause a slightly higher increase chance of mortality.   Looks like there are going to be some stricter guidelines on using these meds but let’s just hope it doesn’t go overboard.   Some demented patients, due to their illness, can be very tough…

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The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.  ~Thomas Edison He was right but, alas, we are not there yet.  Obesity is spreading like wildfire and along with it goes chronic diseases.…

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The CDC is urging primary care physicians to talk to patients about ways to lower their sodium intake by about a quarter teaspoon of salt each day.  Their senior scientist said that this would ” prevent thousands of deaths from cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke a year and save billions in health care dollars”.  This came…

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