According to new research, vitamin D supplements may not only help your bones, they may help protect your heart. A new review of research on vitamin D and calcium supplements shows that people who take moderate to high doses of vitamin D have a lower risk of heart disease — while calcium supplements seemed to have [...]

Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin because when sunlight hits skin, the body produces this vitamin, essential for strong, healthy bones. However, a mountain of new evidence suggests that the vitamin may have a more versatile role than previously thought, particularly when it comes to maintaining a healthy immune system and boosting mood. Low levels [...]

I’ve posted a number of blogs about the fact that vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency (low levels of serum vitamin D) is associated with a number of types of cancer, as well as diabetes and asthma, but now new research also shows that vitamin D can kill human cancer cells. The results of this new research fall [...]

Children in recent New Zealand studies who spent a lot of time watching television and using computer games had less attachment to family and peers. The more time teens spend watching television and using computers, the less likely they are to develop close relationships with parents and peers, a study of two New Zealand teen [...]

A new study shows that children who watched language-building DVDs over a six-week period did NOT have better linguistic skills than those who didn’t watch. Furthermore, the younger a child was the first time he or she viewed such language-aquisition DVDs, the lower his or her language scores. Finally, infants don’t learn a great deal from language-acquisition [...]

An article in USA Today discusses a new review of 130 studies which “strongly suggests” playing violent video games increases aggressive thoughts and behavior and decreases empathy. The results hold “regardless of research design, gender, age or culture,” says lead researcher Craig Anderson, who directs the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State [...]

TV watching in early adulthood is linked to increase in risk factors for heart disease, researchers have just announced. They studied more than 5,600 men and women who were asked about their viewing habits at age 23 and then again at age 44.
Their findings were that that people who watched more television were more likely [...]

In a large, population-based study out of Europe, researchers found that an increased positive affect (happiness) was protective against a 10-year incidence of coronary heart disease. The researchers are suggesting that preventive strategies may be enhanced not only by reducing sadness and depressive symptoms, but also by increasing positive affect and happiness.
Bloomberg News reports that “people [...]

So, be honest: Is you life glass half-full or half-empty? I tend to be the former, and based upon the research I’m glad I have a optimistic disposition. But, how about you? Which are you? And, if you’re more pessimistic, what can you do to become more highly healthy?
After reading this blog, if you feel [...]

Can you really be bored to death? According to a report in USA Today, in a commentary to be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in April, experts will write that there’s a possibility that the more bored you are, the more likely you are to die early. After reading this report, if you feel you [...]

Loneliness, like happiness, can be contagious, says recent research showing how feeling lonely can make others lonely, too. Below are the details from a report in USA Today. But, if you’d like to have a free measure of your health, including your physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual health, I’ve designed some assessment tools you can [...]

Here are the contents of this month’s Family Newsletter:

Family Update
Publication Update
Broadcast Update
Events of the last month
Upcoming Events

Family Update
Barb, Kate, Scott, and I took one of the most difficult steps we have ever taken as a family. We decided to publically talk about the sexual abuse that Kate and Scott experienced when they were young [...]

Do you have chronic abdominal symptoms that have never been diagnosed? Or, have you self-diagnosed your recurrent abdominal pain as lactose intolerance or irritable bowel syndrome? If so, you may want to consider this report on Celiac disease.
The New York Times “Reporter’s File” notes, “It takes the average patient 10 years to receive a diagnosis,” [...]

Do you think you are lactose intolerant? Think again — at least according to a draft consensus statement a panel of experts at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
USA Today reports, “Many Americans avoid dairy products … because they mistakenly think they’re lactose intolerant, a panel of experts concluded Wednesday at a National Institutes of Health [...]

In a front-page story, the New York Times reported, “Hundreds of people taking Avandia [rosiglitazone], a controversial diabetes medicine, needlessly suffer heart attacks and heart failure each month, according to confidential government reports.”
A Senate Finance Committee review cites internal FDA documents that highlight a dispute among regulators that “has been brewing for years but has been [...]

Low back pain in pregnancy is extremely common and manipulative therapy has been shown in a number of studies to be very helpful — especially for a condition called sacroiliac subluxation. Now, comes a story from Reuters Health confirming that gentle manipulation from an osteopathic doctor may relieve late-pregnancy back pain that frequently hinders bending, [...]

The AP had a report carried in USA Today that I thought you parents of girls might find helpful. Basically, not only do I not recommend heels for girls, I don’t recommend them for women. You can read more about this in my blog, “Do you want more back and foot pain? Wear heels!” Now, [...]

In my Amazon.com best-selling book, SuperSized Kids: How to protect your child from the obesity threat, I predicted that if we did not stem the epidemic of childhood obesity, that our children could become the first generation in American history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
Now, the New York Times is reporting [...]

The Washington Post reports that “one out of every five US teenagers has a cholesterol level that increases the risk of heart disease,” according to a new study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
For “the study … researchers analyzed data collected from 3,125 youths through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.” The [...]

Reuters is reporting that severely (morbidly) obese teens who had surgery to limit what they could eat lost more weight and enjoyed more health benefits than those who did an intensive lifestyle program.
Researchers announced that 21 of 25 severely obese teens aged 14 to 18 who underwent a form of gastric banding lost more than half [...]