Here’s some good news for everyone: being healthy can lower your risk of coronary heart disease! Yes, this seems obvious that exercising, not smoking, and staying thin will help, but did you know it will reduce your risk 59-77%? Pretty impressive, no? Read on… Coronary heart disease basically means disease leading to heart attacks. This …

OK, this has nothing to do with medicine — but, it’s a shame not to get free stuff, and many of your points expire in 2 days with the new year! Anyone that has a China Mobile phone accrues points, which you can use for free gifts on their website (in chinese only) at jf.chinamobile.com. …

We all sense that China’s current economic frenzy has led to many people — expats as well as locals — to work extremely long hours and face huge amounts of stress in their jobs. Well, it’s no secret that stress, poor sleep and poor diets can adversely affect your health, but a disturbing new report …

Have you ever wondered just how healthy is a morning Chinese breakfast of zhou (congee, in Hong Kong)? What about most noodle and rice dishes? Yet again, the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety has given us the data…

Happy Holidays from MyHealthBeijing! I’ll be taking a few days off these next couple weeks. I wish you all a wonderful time and hope we all take advantage of these days to remember that our loved ones always come first…

I’m sure most China expats and locals remember — and often quote — last month’s “news” that four Chinese people had died after getting the H1N1 vaccine. I felt that initial story was very misleading, as it provided zero evidence of a connection and stoked nationwide fears when most likely the deaths were coincidental, not …

Last week I posted a very popular piece discussing the nutrition levels in dim sum. This week we will discuss yet another very useful study from the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety, this time reviewing asian fruits and vegetables (Centre for Food Safety – Risk Assessment Studies – Nutrient Values of Fruit and Vegetables) I …

Beijing this week passed a big milestone, adding the 4 millionth car to the roads. As this graph shows, the rate of additions have skyrocketed. I’ve collected some good press releases, as well as more scholarly data for air quality junkies to delve into.

Sure, everyone instinctively knows that watching hours of TV most likely isn’t too healthy for you.  But exactly how bad is it? Well, there’s some interesting research, for both kids and adults, that may stir up some interesting family discussions — hopefully not over a TV dinner. Read on…

I love dim sum, and although it’s too bad that Beijing doesn’t serve it in the charming style of wheeling around carts, it still is a great tasting weekend brunch. I’ve always wondered about the oil content and feel a bit too heavy if I don’t also drink tea. So, how healthy (or unhealthy) is …

Last week, I discussed Chinese herbs and the flu, and the difficulties I had in finding excellent studies either for or against their effectiveness. After that post, I was introduced to Dr Greg Livingston, an American doctor trained in Chinese Medicine and practicing in Hangzhou. We’ve had a fascinating discussion via email that I wanted …

Many people are planning their tropical adventures over the Christmas and New Years holidays, and we are getting a lot of questions regarding which malaria medicines to take. There’s an excellent recent review by the Cochrane Collaboration which helps to clarify this.