There are many different schools of thought regarding the best way to raise a child. Many approaches are cultural; some concepts change every few years with a popular new book. One major debate regards conditional versus unconditional parenting. Now, as a fascinating New York Times article discusses, there is new research that shows how conditional …

Today, Septemer 28th, is World Rabies Day. It’s an international event designed to increase awareness about rabies. I’ve mentioned rabies in a few posts, including one about a great new website for children to teach them about rabies. I also had a post about the rabies vaccine , which includes an excellent PDF file from Beijing’s International …

I discussed in an earlier post that parents may want to consider ibuprofen (Motrin) as the first line medicine over acetaminophen (Tylenol) for their child’s pains and fevers. Now, there’s a new study comparing ibuprofen to a Tylenol-codeine combo for pain, and ibuprofen was just as effective. Here’s the comment from JournalWatch: These findings should …

Here’s a warning shot across the bow for those workaholics and students who are chronically sleep deprived. I’ve mentioned in my slide show about the common cold, as well as my accompanying article, that there are a lot of preventive things you can do to fight off colds and flu viruses. And it may seem …

Our sister city, Shanghai, is currently going through their own Olympic-style effort to clean the environment in preparation for next year’s Expo. And similarly with Beijing, these mega-events really are helping to clean things up. For example, here’s the executive summary from the recently published UNEP Shanghai Expo Assessment: Air Quality: Shanghai’s rapid development in …

Now that we are in the midst of flu season, there’s a lot of anxiety about vaccines and treatments. So it’s always good to be reminded of good old common sense practices to prevent infection in the first place. This week, esteemed British Medical Journal has published an excellent review article (link at bottom) which looks …

The WHO (World Health Organization) is an invaluable public health resource. Their Food Safety group has a special program called “Five Keys To Safer Food”, a collection of posters and manuals in 50 languages that underly their global campaign to educate people all over the world about proper food handling. As we know very well …

Beijing has just started to vaccinate people with the newly available H1N1 vaccine. Two days ago, thousands of students participating in the upcoming parade were given the vaccine, and no serious side effects were reported (see article link below). There’s no reason to presume that there would be any unusual side effects with this new …

Confused about all those green labels on your Chinese foods? No longer. First, take this easy 3-question quiz to learn more:

The flu season has arrived; mostly H1N1 now, we should soon start to see more seasonal flu as well. There are a lot of healthy approaches to fight this infection. I have made a link below to an article from the Natural Medicines Database, an outstanding physician-oriented website. This article reviews evidence-based research as to …

Wow, this Hong Kong public health site I just discovered over the weekend, the Centre for Food Safety, is just a treasure trove of high-yield and reader-friendly material! It’s the best government-run information I’ve seen which can materially help all China expats make healthy food decisions. There are literally dozens of useful PDFs and pages …

It’s definitely the start of a new wave of H1N1 flu right now; and in a few weeks we will also start to see the “regular” seasonal flu as well. Many people recommend wearing a mask. A new study (review below) suggests that the cheaper surgical mask is not effective in stopping the flu virus. …