Welcome to Health Hack (formerly Pimp My Health)! Each week we make over one of your favorite things with a healthier version. This week we're tackling pasta sauce--because woman cannot live on jar sauce alone. We also shouldn't live on fat- and calorie-loaded cream sauces to cover our noodles...
A major three-year trial led by researchers at UCL, in partnership with the Health Protection Agency, has shown that giving one-to-one feedback to healthcare workers makes them twice as likely to clean their hands or use soap. The Feedback Intervention Trial (FIT) is the first such trial to be...
Collective violence attributed to organized crime and poverty are adversely affecting the mental health of children living near the Texas-Mexico border, according to a poster presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans. In the study...
Grilled cheese has to be one of the best comfort foods around, especially on a chilly fall day--all warm and gooey and delicious. Yum. But it can also be pretty unhealthy, if you're not careful. Some grilled cheeses, as comforting as they are, can be loaded with fat and calories. To help you...
An African-American or Mexican-American senior living in a community where many neighbors share their background is less likely to have cancer or heart disease than their counterpart in a more mixed neighborhood. Results of the new study by Kimberly Alvarez, a PhD student at Columbia...
More people still die from cardiovascular disease than any other illness. Dubbed the number one killer and the silent killer, modern medicine has been researching and incorporating complementary and alternative approaches to help treat and in some cases reverse and hopefully prevent this health...
There's a few weeks left until Halloween, but if you're stumped on what to be, why not draw come costume inspiration from health and fitness? Say goodbye to sexy cat, sexy firefighter and sexy nurse: We've come up with a few ideas for healthy Halloween costumes. You can make most of these...
When the Affordable Care Act passed, we all rejoiced over what Obamacare would mean for women: Free birth control? Free annual doctor's visits? Free maternal health care? Hell, yes. Only...if you're already on insurance, figuring out how to take advantage of the new mandates is confusing, and...
Who doesn't love mac & cheese? Especially this time of year. It's some of the best comfort food around that tastes totally delish on a cool fall evening. But that cheesy meal may not be so comforting after all if it's loaded with fat and calories. So this week on “Pimp My Health“, we’re going to...
A new study by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, provides compelling evidence that electronic health records (EHRs) enhance the quality of patient care in a community-based setting with multiple payers, which is representative of...
Happiness and mental health are highest among people who eat seven portions of fruit and vegetables a day, according to a new report. Economists and public health researchers from the University of Warwick studied the eating habits of 80,000 people in Britain. They found mental wellbeing...
Having healthy breasts starts with healthy habits--things that can keep them looking and feeling great, while also helping to prevent breast cancer. Given that it's breast cancer awareness month, why not take the time to give your breasts a little extra attention? So this week on Pimp My Health...
Mothers who experience economic and psychological abuse during the first year of a relationship with their child's father are more likely to become depressed and spank the child in year five, researchers from the Rutgers School of Social Work have found. The Rutgers team, which studied the...
Survey results reveal that an overwhelming majority of clinicians believe that the electronic exchange of health information will have a positive impact on improving the quality of patient care, coordinating care, meeting the demands of new care models, and participating in third-party reporting...
Despite a shared Latino heritage, there are significant differences in the overall health and the use of health-care services among Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Puerto Rican-Americans - even between men and women in the same subgroup - according to two recently published studies by...
Crafting public health messages about a disease may create stigmas that influence how likely people are to endorse certain interventions, such as isolating infected persons, forcing treatment on them and mapping their location, according to a Penn State researcher. Rachel Smith, associate...
Baked potatoes are a good source of fiber and vitamin C. But if you're not careful, they can also be a good source of fat and calories--think about the butter, sour cream and cheese that often top these. So this week on Pimp My Health, we're going to pimp your baked potato. Take a look at these...
Mitt Romney has gone in all kinds of directions when asked about his position on health care, but we weren't aware that he was campaigning so hard against Lyme Disease. Apparently, that's his campaign's tactic for winning over concerned moms in suburban Virginia, where deer and other wildlife...
Functional somatic symptoms (FSS) are physical complaints, such as headaches, pain, fatigue, and dizziness, that cannot be explained medically. These symptoms affect 10-30% of children and adolescents and account for 2-4% of all pediatric doctor visits. A new study scheduled for publication in...