FeldMed

07/11/2025

Wildfires can "burn" you over months

We are back in the haze. Wildfires in Canada are wafting smoke into our area. You see it in the haze, the reddish hues around the sun, especially around sunrise and sunset. And air quality alerts are on the media outlets.
Turns out that elevated levels of these particles carry risks. It’s been known for decades that air pollution (small particulates) raise the risk of lung diseases, heart attacks, even strokes. Now there’s an article that shows that the wildfire smoke doesn’t just raise your risk in the short term, but that risk carries forward for at least 3 months.
If you are one of the “sensitive” groups – lung problems, heart problems – then try to stay inside and keep the windows closed when there’s an air quality alert. It might just save your life.

www.feldmed.com/blog-2/wildfires-can-burn-you-over-months

05/14/2025

More Floss, Less Strokes (not talking teeth)

If you go to feldmed.com, you’ll see a gnarly picture of a guy brushing his teeth. We talk about how poor oral health leads to heart attacks. Well, here’s another variation on the theme – regular Flossing reduces Strokes. A regular flosser was someone who reported flossing once a week or more. I suppose not surprisingly, flosser had somewhat lower risks of hypertension and diabetes. They also had better gums, but their good cholesterol levels were higher, too,

What was a little surprising was that strokes were lower, but it seemed that the association was tied to less atrial fibrillation, which is an increasingly prevalent condition. More flossing also meant a greater reduction.

While not definitive, seems like I could include flossing in a routine…

www.feldmed.com/blog-2/more-floss-less-strokes-not-talking-teeth

05/07/2025

If you wait, the kids will get bigger.... And so will their problems

This study falls under the “Really, Sherlock?” category. Sometimes proving something for the sake of proving seems wasteful to me, and I’m being kind.

If an obese kid is given obesity treatment… wait for it…. And they respond well, they will have a reduced risk of obesity-related events as young adults. That means if you can get kids to lose weight, their risks of diabetes, high cholesterol, needing bariatric surgery, high blood pressure or even dying will be cut in half or better. Is anyone surprised by this??

I guess the point was that spending the money early actually paid for itself – it is, after all, all about the money.

www.feldmed.com/blog-2/if-you-wait-the-kids-will-get-bigger-and-so-will-their-problems

04/16/2025

The Neuroscience of Bubbles -- they do more than tickle your nose

Gabriel Lepousez is a neuroscientist working in perception and memory and asked the question” “Why does your brain love bubbles?”

Sparkling drinks have long been popular. I did not know, for example, that 12 liters of CO2 is dissolved in a pressurized bottle of champagne. He talks about the smell of the product being increased 10 fold from the microexplosions as the bubbles pop. There’s reference to the mustard receptor that suggests there’s a pain response. Taste is made acidic by the production of hydrogen ions. Ultimately, the “bubbly” engages all five senses, and that’s what grabs us! Salud! Cin Cin! L’Chiam!

www.feldmed.com/blog-2/the-neuroscience-of-bubbles-they-do-more-than-tickle-your-nose

04/09/2025

Slow Alzheimer's? You got it -- Get MOVING!

Here’s a quick take on a study from France and Monaco. Folks over 70 were recruited from “memory centers” with complaints of memory issues, slow walking speed and issues with activities of daily living. They were excluded if they were more restricted, or had dementia. P-tau181, a known marker for Alzheimer’s was measured over time, as well as assessing physical activity and cognitive scores. Even low levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity showed slower increases in the biomarker, though if the patients started with higher levels of p-tau181 there was no clear association.

Don’t wait until things start going south – GET MOVING NOW!

www.feldmed.com/blog-2/slow-alzheimers-you-got-it-get-moving

04/02/2025

Are We Going to Talk about Coffee Again? Yup!

I’m virtually certain you heard about this one – morning coffee saves lives, but not in the afternoon – or something like that!

It’s been up and down for coffee, but really it’s a solid yes for everyone who doesn’t hate it or have a negative reaction to it. So what’s new with this one? Honestly, not much. Years ago I wrote about how the more coffee you drank the longer you lived (ok, there’s a bit more to it than that), so long as you didn’t have an addictive personality. That’s kind of what this says – if you drink coffee all day, you’re probably doing other things that will kill you sooner, so the coffee is “diluted”.

Recommendation --- 1 to 3 cups in the morning is fine. Realize that the benefits come from the flavonoids and phytochemicals, not from caffeine. Essentially, if you start pushing your caffeine into the afternoon, you might be looking for trouble, effecting sleep quality. If you avoid that, knock yourself out.

I personally like a decaf espresso at lunch (I know, it seems like you’re defeating the purpose, but at least it’s not like grandma’s decaf!)

Alla Salute!

https://buff.ly/40O0y1r

I’m virtually certain you heard about this one – morning coffee saves lives, but not in the afternoon – or something like that!   It’s been up and down for coffee, but really it’s a solid yes for everyone who doesn’t hate it or have a negative reaction to it.  So what

03/19/2025

Insulin Pumps and the World Traveler - Public Service Announcement

More and more people are becoming diabetic, and consequently more people are ending up using insulin pumps. The technology is now fantastic and even type 1 diabetics whose sugars have been all over the place are now controlled. But those people have realized that traveling wreaks havoc with glucose control. Now we know why – BUBBLES! For most people it’s not a big deal, but for some, it can be.

Please forward this to anyone you know who uses an insulin pump. They’ll find it useful.

https://buff.ly/40RDzmt

More and more people are becoming diabetic, and consequently more people are ending up using insulin pumps.  The technology is now fantastic and even type 1 diabetics whose sugars have been all over the place are now controlled.  But those people have realized that traveling wreaks

03/12/2025

Depression and Ice Cream

Headlines often conflate associations into causation, essentially as click-bait. What does that mean?

My favorite example is “Ice Cream Causes Drowning”. No – I don’t mean the kids went swimming too soon after eating (that’s a myth, too, by the way). Drowning increases when more people go swimming. More people go swimming when it’s hot; more people eat ice cream when it’s hot, ergo – ice cream causes drowning. Duh --- NO! Association is not causation.

Here we have more steps equals less depression. But how do we know that the more depressed on is, the less likely they are to walk lots of steps? Meta-analyses group together lots of studies that may look at different questions, but have data that can be examined from a different angle. Opportunities to point to causation is extremely limited. Most of the articles these days are in this category, so be careful in the conclusions you draw.

What can we say? If you walk more, you’re less likely to be depressed. Does walking more decrease depressive symptoms? The answer to that is YES – just not from this meta-analysis.

https://buff.ly/4hbVry7

Headlines often conflate associations into causation, essentially as click-bait.  What does that mean?   My favorite example is “Ice Cream Causes Drowning”.  No – I don’t mean the kids went swimming too soon after eating (that’s a myth, too, by the way).&

03/05/2025

Women WIN -- when it comes to a Little Exercise

Surprise – we’re talking about exercise again!

And the good news only applies to women, and we don’t know why, but we think it’s related to intensity.

Anyway – If women can get even less than 2 minutes of vigorous exercise a day had a reduction in MACE (major adverse cardiovascular events), heart attack and heart failure. As the vigorous exercise went up, the rate of events went down. For men the benefits were not statistically significant (men didn’t get their heart rate up as high with their activity seems to be the reason).

So, again, time to get moving. But you have to work hard – for 20 or 30 seconds at a time, a few times a day – is that so bad? Come on! Let’s go!

https://buff.ly/4aH59pO

Surprise – we’re talking about exercise again! And the good news only applies to women, and we don’t know why, but we think it’s related to intensity. Anyway – If women can get even less than 2 minutes of vigorous exercise a day had a reduction in MACE (major adverse cardiovascular events)

02/19/2025

Another Chocolate Story -- it's back to Dark!

Wait long enough, and there will be another study on chocolate to talk about. This time is back to Dark as the winner! Studies go back and forth – it’s pretty much always good news –chocolate lowers mortality, certain diseases, etc, but while dark seems to always benefit, milk doesn’t always. Well, it’s like that again today.

Eating dark chocolate 5 or more servings a week drops the risk of type 2 diabetes by 21%, where eating milk chocolate doesn’t do anything – well, not entirely true. Eating more milk chocolate IS associated with weight gain! Milk chocolate actually has more sugar than cocoa, and, as a consequence, has less of the good stuff (flavanols).

Of course it’s never that simple – intake of dark chocolate also coincides with better food choices… so is it really the chocolate?

https://buff.ly/4awMsoH

Wait long enough, and there will be another study on chocolate to talk about.  This time is back to Dark as the winner!  Studies go back and forth – it’s pretty much always good news –chocolate lowers mortality, certain diseases, etc, but while dark seems to always benefit, milk do

02/12/2025

Pooping makes you Faster...and Smarter!

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about a gut-brain connection, but is this taking things a little too far?

Turns out, no, there’s actually data supporting the idea that not only are the bowels and the brain connected, but if you want to be faster and smarter – use the toilet!

If you empty your bowels prior to a triathlon, you’ll perform better. In this case, they gave athletes a magnesium oxide laxative to ensure “performance” prior to the race. Each one also improved they race “performance” and cognitive test result. Even 69% of the athletes who did not get the laxative saw Stroop test improvement, confirming the rectal-brain connection.

I’m sure there’s a joke in there, but I just can’t seem to….oh, never mind.

https://buff.ly/3EoBchV

Recently there’s been a lot of talk about a gut-brain connection, but is this taking things a little too far? Turns out, no, there’s actually data supporting the idea that not only are the bowels and the brain connected, but if you want to be faster and smarter – use the toilet! If you emp

02/05/2025

"There's a great future in plastics"... In Us?!?

In 1967, “The Graduate” reported that there was a great future in plastics. I doubt they meant that the future of plastics was “in us”. But that’s what it’s looking like. Back several years ago there was an article that said people were eating the equivalent of a credit card in microplastics every week. Turns out that was wrong – we only eat a credit card every year. But it never goes away….

Those microplastics range from 5 ½ microns up to 26 microns (a human hair averages around 70 microns) and have now been found in the olfactory bulb (your nose smell center – part of your brain).

But it’s not just them being there – we can’t break them down and excrete them – they can degrade and potentially spread through the body and, since those substance are known to be toxic, potentially make who knows what kind of mess!

The real question I ask is not IF you are toxic, but rather, how TOXIC are you? If you have stuff that doesn’t fit the usual scenarios, this might be the very question you need to answer.

https://buff.ly/3WafJzh

In 1967, “The Graduate” reported that there was a great future in plastics.  I doubt they meant that the future of plastics was “in us”.  But that’s what it’s looking like.  Back several years ago there was an article that said people were eating the equivalent of a credit