Heart attacks and canker sores: why we need to take oral health seriously

Your microbiome begins in your mouth. Why don't we look there more often?

Photo by Carl D. Walsh/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images
  • Eighty percent of patients who've had heart attacks have gum disease, says Dr. Shahrzad Fattahi.
  • Oral health is also implicated in forms of cancer, dementia, canker sores, and more.
  • Fattahi says the future of medicine must also focus on saliva, as a whole new field of salivary diagnostics is emerging.
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Massive New Study Shows How Dogs Boost Human Health

One type of dog in particular is linked with the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease in their human pals.

Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

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Drinking coffee may slow aging and help prevent heart disease in certain adults

Diabetes, certain forms of cancer, and other conditions may also be inhibited. 

People in a coffee bar drinking espresso.

Americans are coffee addicts, and perhaps more so nowadays, now that we're working longer hours and getting less sleep than decades past. 50% of Americans drink at least one cup per day. In the past, the pendulum on coffee, and in particular caffeine, swung back and forth as to whether moderate consumption was healthy or not. At one time, too much was thought bad for the heart.

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Eating Red Hot Chili Peppers Decreases Mortality, Say Researchers

A large new study finds a relationship between consumption of hot red peppers and mortality.

You might consider adding some spice to your diet as researchers found a 13% decrease in the total mortality rate of people who ate hot red chili peppers. That’s right - a Sriracha addiction may pay off. 

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Being optimistic can help you live longer, says Harvard

A Harvard University study of women finds a link between optimism and risks of dying from a number of diseases.

Do you expect good things to happen in your life? Or do you see the world as a glass-mostly-empty kind of slog? You might want to rethink your approach because being an optimistic person may help you live longer. Such is the conclusion of a new study from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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