Diet & Weight Loss Archive

Ask the doctors

Q. My partner says I've been snoring lately. Are there any home remedies I can use to help me stop?

A. Snoring occurs when muscles in your airway relax during sleep, narrowing the airway and making your breath sounds louder as the air forces its way through. There are a number of strategies that can help. Try sleeping on your side instead of your back, which pushes your tongue to the back of your mouth. Clear nasal congestion resulting from allergies or a stuffy nose. Avoid alcohol (which may act as a sedative) and sleep medications known as benzodiazepines, which may cause your airway tissues to relax, making snoring worse. Losing weight can also help, because surplus tissue, caused by weight gain, can put pressure on and compress the airway, making snoring worse. However, if your snoring does not improve, your partner notices that you have periods during the night where your breathing ­appears to stop, or you regularly feel drowsy during the day, it may be time to pay a visit to your doctor. You could have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea, which may require treatment.

In the journals

Scientists continue to explore the right balance of carbohydrates and fat in people's diets. But for overweight or obese older adults, a recent study found that a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet might offer special health benefits. The results were published online Aug. 12, 2020, by Nutrition and Metabolism.

Researchers asked 40 obese adults, ages 60 to 75, to follow an eight-week diet in which 10% of calories came from carbs, 25% from protein, and 65% from fat. Carb sources included leafy greens, non-starchy vegetables, some fruit, and high-fiber grains. Protein intake consisted of eggs, fish, pork, and poultry. Fat-containing foods included olive oil, coconut oil, nut oils, nut butter, cheese, coconut milk, and avocados.

Eating more than you should since the start of the pandemic, especially unhealthy, highly processed snack foods? If you’re looking for advice on how to break your snacking habits and form new, better habits with healthier snacks, try these tips.

Growing evidence shows that intermittent fasting leads to significant weight loss. A recent study contradicted these findings, but the way this study was designed and implemented raises some questions about its conclusions.

Excess weight carries health risks. But how much is too much?

 Image: © FredFroese/Getty Images

The idea that someone can be "fat and fit" — that is, overweight but still healthy — has been around for some time. But don't be fooled.

"The latest science is quite clear that excess weight can carry considerable health risks, including a higher risk for heart attack and stroke," says Dr. Jorge Plutzky, director of preventive cardiology at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. "While there is no one-size-fits-all number when it comes to a person's ideal weight, men should not ignore significant weight gain and the implications it has for their future health."

Put the focus on food quality and healthy lifestyle practices to attain a healthy weight.

Most people have been taught that losing weight is a matter of simple math. Cut calories — specifically 3,500 calories, and you'll lose a pound. But as it turns out, experts are learning that this decades-old strategy is actually pretty misguided.

"This idea of 'a calorie in and a calorie out' when it comes to weight loss is not only antiquated, it's just wrong," says Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an obesity specialist and assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) medications are relatively safe and work for most men, but they aren’t right for every man. Here are six proven strategies that can help –– and offer added benefits on overall health and quality of life.

Studies of drugs, diets, and devices all come with their own unique set of challenges.

The best way to know if a new medical treatment truly works is with a randomized controlled trial — the "gold standard" of research studies, also known simply as a clinical trial. Volunteers are randomly assigned to receive either the new treatment or the comparison, which may be a placebo (an inactive therapy) or a treatment that's already available.

As the nation's top cause of death, cardiovascular disease has been at the leading edge of evidence generation, says Dr. Robert Yeh, director of the Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "We probably have more evidence for cardiovascular treatments than for any other field of medicine," he says. Among the studies with the greatest impact were the clinical trials that heralded new therapies to treat heart attacks. These include clot-dissolving drugs in the 1980s, followed in the 1990s by artery-opening angioplasty procedures, which remain the standard of care today. Stents, the tiny mesh tubes used in these procedures, have also been extensively studied in clinical trials (see "Testing devices: Different dilemmas").

Ask the doctors

Q. I'm hoping to prevent urinary incontinence. Is there anything I can do?

A. Nearly half of all women experience some type of urinary incontinence during the course of their lives. It may not be possible to prevent all of these cases, which can be caused by pregnancy, childbirth, or hormonal shifts that occur around the time of menopause. Here are some strategies that may help to reduce your risk.

Many lifestyle factors can influence the development of atrial fibrillation, and doctors now better understand the importance of these factors in treating afib. Those who are at risk of developing afib can take action to improve their health, and in some cases they may be able to reduce their symptoms.