Dear Pharmacist,

I take medications for blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis, five drugs in all.  My doctor is happy with my progress but my wife is urging me to take fish oils to lower my blood pressure. I am not a vitamin type of person, but I don’t like some of the side effects I’m experiencing on the medications. What should I do?  

--G.S. Tampa, Florida

Confused about what “good nutrition” is?

You shouldn’t be – we now know what works and what doesn’t.

In a moment, I will share 5 simple tips to help you optimize your nutrition and achieve vibrant health, but first let me clear up a few misconceptions...

“I didn’t know how bad I was feeling until I started feeling better.” 

That is what my patients tell me every day.  They go from being ill or just okay to experiencing UltraWellness.

Most people don’t know how poorly they feel until they feel better.  In fact, most of us don’t recognize that fatigue, digestive problems, aches and pains, allergies, headaches, and more aren’t just annoying symptoms. They are early clues to impending diseases that can disable and kill us.

"To Nuke or Not to Nuke"

The verb itself suggests the unleashing of atomic destruction, but we wondered, “Is there a grain of truth behind the slang?” What’s the real story behind these boxes of convenience sitting in so many of our kitchens? Are microwaves a benign bastion of modern handiness or, as some claim, a sinister contributor to our physiological (at least nutritional) undoing?

Dear Pharmacist,

You mentioned “spirulina” in a recent column as a supplement to help boost thyroid hormone.  I’ve never heard of this, is it a vitamin?  What else is it good for?

--T.E. Chicago, Illinois

When patients come to the Tahoma Clinic with symptoms of weak thyroid function, we start by getting their complete medical history and doing a thorough physical exam. But we also run a complete set of blood tests. I stress the word “complete” because, unfortunately, many thyroid function tests leave out at one or more important markers. In order to get a full picture of your thyroid health, though, a comprehensive test should include the following eight measurements:

The safety of BPA has been questioned for decades. In fact its toxicity was first discovered in 1930 when it was initially found to mimic estrogen, leading to various cancers. But nonetheless, a decade later its use was ubiquitous in plastics, cans and tins used for foods. Although manufactures knew of its health impacts, they were not required to prove its safety. Until more recently, BPA’s toxicity has been ignored by governmental regulatory organizations, despite mounting evidence for the contrary.

The Chinese word for crisis is comprised of two separate words, “danger” and “opportunity”—and this describes the exact situation we face with the healthcare crisis in our country.

As a nation we are at the precipice of change for our healthcare system.

But if we make the wrong choices and simply provide universal coverage to an outdated 19th and 20th century model of medicine, this crisis will lead us into danger.

However, there are different choices we can make now that will lead to profound opportunity—one that may provide real solutions to our healthcare crisis.

Inflammation plays a key role in the development of chronic diseases, and once a disease is underway, inflammation helps keep it going.

But you might significantly curb inflammation and help reduce your risk of disease by the choices you make every time you scan a menu, according to a new study.

I was actually a little surprised that we hadn’t already done a Definitive Guide to fish oil when it was suggested it to me. We’ve mentioned it enough, and it’s a hot enough topic that I just assumed we’d done a big comprehensive guide to the stuff. But, as my staff so eagerly likes to inform me, I was completely, utterly wrong (enjoy it now, cause it won’t happen again anytime soon!).