More than half of MyHealth Beijing’s readers are from outside China, and I get a lot of emails from people who are planning to move to Beijing. Most people have the same concerns: is the air really that bad? Will my kids be safe? Can I find a good doctor? etc etc … So, I’ve …

I’ve made so many posts regarding pollution in Beijing that I’ve created a new category to make it easier for everyone to find. Now, at the top of the website is a new link to “POLLUTION”, which lists the top articles about what I feel are the four major categories of pollution in Beijing: Outdoor …

This is just a quick note to tell people that I’ve created a small widget, which you can see on the bottom right panel of each website page, which automatically streams the invaluable Air Quality Index from the U.S. Embassy’s pollution station. They provide hourly updates on PM2.5 and now ozone (which peaks right now, …

Last year I wrote a piece about the excellent review article from the Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety, discussing the  Nutrient Values of Fruit and Vegetables. I think it’s such a great, practical real-life study that I wanted to review some more data with you. For example, do you know which fruits and veggies have the …

I see a lot of patients with headaches, and when I delve deeper it often is due to muscle strains in the back of the head (the occiput). Some people also have eye fatigue, or numbness and tingling in the fingers. Fortunately, this is usually fairly straightforward and is often simply a problem of poor …

Here’s a fun article from Miller-McCune reviewing some medical literature showing how large spectator sports events like the World Cup can cause spikes of heart attacks in some countries, where other countries like France reported less risk. It’s an interesting read for you football fans (Is the World Cup Bad for Your Health? | Miller-McCune …

A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in …

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about how some physical exam centers may be doing a disservice to their patients by focusing more on lab tests than a simple history and physical. Here’s a new example from the literature highlighting what I mean: A recently published report in JAMA discussed the promising use …

I’m done. I just finished my sixth and final written exam, thus ending year one of my Masters of Science in Public Health. I’m officially an expert — on eye strain and multitasking. But I discovered a wonderful thing along the way — I really like the subject matter. I’ve immersed myself in a new …

Next week is Dragon Boat Festival (duanwu 端午), and the big dish is the very tasty rice dumpling wrapped in banana leaf. Known as zongzi (粽子), these come in both savory and sweet flavors. It’s a great tradition, and probably your Chinese friends and relatives are passing them around as gifts — but there can …

How many of you take a daily pill for chronic heartburn? Many Americans are bombarded with TV ads showing “the purple pills” such as Prilosec and Protonix, a couple of which are now OTC. These once-a-day stomach acid-suppressing proton pump inhibitors (“PPI” for short; generic names omeprazole, lansoprazole and other –azoles) really do work very …