Category Health/Medical

A simple oral rinse could provide early detection of gastric cancer, the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, according to a study scheduled for presentation at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024.

“In the cancer world, if you find patients after they’ve developed cancer, it’s a little too late,” said Shruthi Reddy Perati, MD, author and general surgery resident at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. “The ideal time to try to prevent cancer is when it’s just about to turn into cancer. We were able to identify people who had precancerous conditions. As a screening and prevention tool, this has enormous potential.”

Researchers analyzed bacteria samples from the mouths of 98 patients scheduled for endoscopy, including 30 known...

Nine of 10 American adults are in the early, middle or late stages of a syndrome that leads to heart disease, a new report finds, and almost 10% have the disease already.

“Poor cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic health is widespread among the U.S. population,” concludes a team led by Dr. Muthiah Vaduganathan of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Researchers looked specifically at rates of what the American Heart Association has dubbed cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic (CKM) syndrome—interrelated factors that progress with time and, if left unchecked lead to heart disease.

CKM syndrome is divided into four stages:

Stage 1: Excess fat buildup in the body (a risk factor for poor health)
Stage 2: Emergence of other metabolic risk factors ...

All the parts of our bodies share an inherent connectivity. This goes much further than “the foot bone’s connected to the … leg bone.” For instance, both hands and feet are connected to a constantly flowing bloodstream, and a nerve network that makes their muscles kick.

So what about the connection recently proposed by some news outlets regarding a simple test involving your palm and thumb? Could it really help diagnose a silent, yet potentially serious problem?

An aneurysm is what we’re referring to here. This is a ballooned segment of an artery—the vessels that supply oxygenated blood to your body tissues. Aneurysms may cause no problems, but if they grow larger, they can weaken, burst and bleed...

Inulin, a type of fiber found in certain plant-based foods and fiber supplements, causes inflammation in the gut and exacerbates inflammatory bowel disease in a preclinical model, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The surprising findings could pave the way for therapeutic diets that may help ease symptoms and promote gut health.

The study, published March 20 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that inulin, which is found in foods such as garlic, leeks and sunchoke, as well as commonly used fiber supplements and foods with added fiber, stimulates microbes in the gut to release bile acids that increase the...