Trying to understand the United States’ current managed care system can be a little bit like deciphering alphabet soup: EOB, HMO, PPO, HSA*. How did it get so complicated? Athena du Pre explains in her text, Communicating About Health , that in the early 1980s, healthcare shifted to managed care organizations, which coordinate the cost and delivery of health services. While the goal of managed care was originally to make healthcare more standardized, efficient and affordable, many patients today

Comedian Jim Gaffigan observed, "Kale is a superfood . And its special power is tasting bad." Have you heard about the superfoods you should be eating? What is a superfood ? The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "A nutrient-rich food considered to be especially beneficial for health and well-being." Mirriam-Webster goes further, describing it as "a super nutrient-dense food, loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and/or phytonutrients ." The European Food Information Council

2-4-6-8 Who do we appreciate? Maybe not the cheerleaders. Many of them are often told that cheering is not a real sport. In 2016, The International Olympic Committee gave cheerleading provisional recognition and a new breed of competitive cheerleading, called STUNT, has been created as part of the NCAA’s emerging sports initiative. If those governing bodies’ acknowledgements of the sport don’t convince you, maybe the fact the rates of severe injuries from cheerleading are similar to other high

St. Louis College of Pharmacy has been hosting events with three of its faculty members who share their knowledge and research. KRCU's Brooke Hildebrand Clubbs, host of To Your Health , had the chance to talk with one of them, Dr. Amy Tiemeier, Pharm. D., BCPS, associate professor of pharmacy practice, about how healthcare providers are fighting the opioid epidemic in Missouri. Extended Interview - "Going Public Overtime"

Is gun violence a health issue? Epidemiologists like Nancy Krieger, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, say yes. In 2015 she told NPR, “We in public health count dead people. And we count them in order to understand how to prevent preventable deaths.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not been able to study gun violence in order to prevent deaths since 1996 when congress passed an amendment, forbidding the use of federal money for research to “advocate or promote

That time of the month. A visit from your friend. The curse. Aunt Flo. There are so many euphemisms for menstruation that sometimes women and girls get the message they really shouldn’t mention it. Perhaps that’s why one of the mottos of the Endometriosis Association is “Let’s Talk About It.” March is National Endometriosis Awareness Month. The condition gets its name from the word endometrium, the tissue that normally lines the uterus or womb. Endometriosis happens when this tissue grows

Despite the fact that it’s almost entirely preventable, tooth decay is the most common chronic disease in children according to The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. February is Children’s Dental Health month. The American Dental Association advises that a balanced diet, limiting snacks, brushing and flossing each day and regular dental check-ups are the keys to a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums. The ADA suggests consuming sugary foods and drinks with meals because

The British comedian Jo Brand once remarked, “anything is good if it is made of chocolate.” But can anything made of chocolate also be good for you? Would you like to feel less guilty about the chocolates you ate on Valentine’s Day? Chocolate can be good for you, or at least the plant compounds called cocoa flavonoids can be, but there are just as many caveats as health benefits. The chocolate needs to be dark and processed in such a way that doesn’t diminish the power of its flavenols, which

It’s been 52 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a War on Poverty – part of his Great Society vision, which brought us such programs as Medicare, Medicaid and Head Start. And there is still so much work to do. “Socioeconomic status is the most powerful predictor of disease, disorder, injury and mortality we have,” says Dr. Tom Boyce, chief of the University of California San Francisco’s Division of Developmental Medicine. The Center for Vulnerable Population reports, “Chronic

You might see a lot of people wearing red tomorrow, and they aren’t just getting a jump on Valentine’s Day. Because heart disease was considered “a man’s disease” but killing over half a million American women a year, in 2004 the American Heart Association created Go Red For Women. The goal is to dispel the myths and raise awareness of heart disease & stroke as the number one killer of women. Go Red also wants action to save more lives and was designed to empower women to take charge of