Every time a drug company researches a medicine, they need to demonstrate that their pills work better than a “placebo” pill — a dummy pill with no chemicals, usually just a sugar pill. The fascinating issue is that even that placebo pill shows some positive benefit for patients — 30% or more patients report improved …

Heart attacks and stroke combined are the #1 killers in most countries, including China. But there are a lot of lifestyle factors that play into this. In fact, about 90% of your risk for heart attacks and strokes can be modified by your conscious, everyday activities! This should really be an empowering figure for everyone. …

Wulingshan (雾灵山) is another of the many mountain daytrip options, this one in the north eastern direction past Miyun reservoir, about 2 hours drive using the relaxing and wonderfully empty Jingcheng Gaosu (“highway”). Wulingshan is nice to drive to when Beijing is very hot; the mountain top is quite a few degrees cooler, and the …

Food quality is a constant issue in Beijing — or it should be! There are quite a few chemicals and pesticides that slip through here, so it’s very important to be aware of your foods’ supply chains. One way is to go organic, and the Yahoo group Beijing Organic Consumers has good resources, including a …

Aspirin, that wonder drug for over 100 years, can do many things besides pain relief. It can dramatically reduce a high risk person’s risk of heart attacks and strokes; there’s growing evidence that healthy persons over 40 who take a baby aspirin a day (81mg size) may decrease their long-term risk of heart disease. (But do not …

Baicaopan is a spectacular mountaintop view, and definitely worth checking out – but only in the summer season, and when highway 108 is finished in late 2009. Otherwise, do not go now! It took us over 4 tortuous hours to get there; once the road is done, it should be about 3 hours. So, here’s …

I am in America for a very quick and happy week, as my older brother is (finally!) getting married. I just had a nice jetlagged jog at 6am through the rolling hills of the Catskills, a beautiful quick retreat from Beijing. More next week!

A lab team in Shanghai has announced positive results from testing on 1,600 subjects, with no major side effects noted. And it looks like only one shot, and not two, will be enough. Still no details on when it will be available or who would get it first. But again, it’s fortunate that the disease …

» Blog Archive » Food Safety– Can’t let your guard down . From the best food blog (and book!) in Beijing, eileeneats.com, is the above link to her good review of food safety. It’s a good review of recent press on food safety in Beijing. I also have a few posts regarding food safety.

China Daily: New program will lower drug costs. China is rapidly pulling ahead of my homeland, the US, with their attempts for universal health coverage. Today they announced the final stages of a national drug formulary, which covers about 300 medicines which all public hospitals and clinics are required to provide — with 0% markup, which …

Website: AMFIC – Air Quality Bulletin – 空气质量公告. Beijing’s air pollution has definitely improved over the past year, but there is still a long way to go before they meet WHO criteria for healthy air. The usual standard is to measure particulates in the air; China usually reports the larger size PM10 numbers, while the …

Chinese schools ordered to ramp up flu prevention measures ahead of new semester_English_Xinhua . Last Friday the Ministry of Health announced fairly strict H1N1 rules on schools, especially the fact that students who have close contact with an H1N1 patient are required to be quarantined at home for seven days. Fortunately, the H1N1 virus is …