Circumcision has always had a lot of cultural and religious baggage around it, and the last few years saw more of a medical trend against the procedure. I personally didn’t feel that there was much benefit more than fitting a cultural norm, and since the harm and pain outweighed the benefits, I tended not to …

Everyone could tell from the moment we woke up today; today is a pea-soup day here in Beijing. People should know that the current pollution is above 500 (the level of fine particulates under 2.5 micron, considered the most unhealthy pollutant); anything over 300 is considered hazardous for everyone outside, not just those with illnesses. …

Well, this hasn’t been the most fun winter here, has it? Most snow in 50 years; coldest temperatures in 60 years; Avatar sold out again. Shall I go on? Yes, you have every reason to get the winter blues; many people are very prone to this. The western world even has a name for it: …

It’s the new year, and many of you have made your annual pledge “to exercise more”. Well, before you break the promise yet again, here’s an inspiring list of the benefits that exercise can do for you — much more than just helping you to lose weight.

Those of you with high cholesterol will be happy to learn that there are some legitimate options to your statin pills. Many people cannot tolerate the extremely popular statin pills, especially from side effects of muscle aches. But there’s now some very strong evidence that herbal medicines, including red yeast rice, can be at least …

(This is part 2 of new contributor Dr Alan Mease‘s 5-part series on Integrative Holistic Medicine. Part 1 is here.) What makes man unique is his consciousness, which exists even in infants and can be simply understood as the realms of waking, dreaming and deep sleeping. Central to the unifying theory of integrative holistic medicine …

There’s a fascinating article in the New York Times called Exploring a Low-Acid Regimen for Bone Health, which may interest many readers. It discusses the research as to how thinning bones (osteoporosis) may in part be caused by a high-acid diet. The intriguing research was spurred by questions: …Why, for example, are osteoporotic fractures relatively rare …

Local Beijing expat and holistic nutrition coach Olivia Lee has recently set up her own blog at nutritioneer.net. She has occasional classes for nutrition information, and I wanted to pass along information on her next class: Introducing Solid Foods to Babies. The class is on Saturday, January 23rd. You can find out more on this …

In the spirit of end of year lists, I thought people would be interested to see the most popular pages of 2009. As you can see, by far the most popular subject was air pollution. But there’s an overall common theme of Beijing-specific content that really caught on, including tips for ayis and the dreaded …

A lot of money is spent every year on multivitamins, but how much evidence is there for them? In other words, do they really improve your overall health and cut down on diseases? The best studies show that, unfortunately, no, a typical daily multivitamin does not help…

Do you or a loved one suffer from arthritis pains? Arthritis is common for many people, especially as we get older and add wear and tear to our joints. Elderly people are also at higher risk of falls. So anything to help decrease pain and fall risk, as well as help your quality of life, …

It’s always hard to find good research on herbs and vitamin supplements; one website I recommend is the Mayo Clinic (Drugs and Supplements – MayoClinic.com.) They have a nice collection of the top few dozen treatments. The same good folks at Mayo Clinic also have a nice, free weekly e-newsletter called “Housecall”, which you can subscribe …