Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here.
Evan Sung for The New York Times
Farmers and gardeners who grow asparagus certainly understand this concept. It can take up to three years for an asparagus plant to yield more than a few stalks.
Once established, though, an asparagus bed will continue to produce for 20 years or more. When the tips start poking through the ground, you’ll need to be vigilant. Expect to be picking every day for several weeks. A three-inch shoot can rapidly grow a foot long while your back is turned.
Cooks and diners worldwide have long been happy to await the year’s new crop, knowing that their patience will be rewarded. In Europe, restaurants advertise springtime asparagus just the way soft shell crabs are peddled here during their fleeting season. They’re back! Get ’em while they last.
For the best texture, peeling the stalks really makes a difference.
Try this stir-fry to see how well the sweetness of asparagus and spicy bold flavors go together.
Have them as a first course or alongside fried eggs for a more substantial meal.
A Decades-Old Study, Rediscovered, Challenges Advice on Saturated Fat
A four-decades-old study — recently discovered in a dusty basement — has raised new questions about longstanding dietary advice and the perils of saturated fat in the American diet.
The research, known as the Minnesota Coronary Experiment, was a major controlled clinical trial conducted from 1968 to 1973, which studied the diets of more than 9,000 people at state mental hospitals and a nursing home.
Health Officials Split Over Advice on Pregnancy in Zika Areas
As the Zika virus bears down on the United States, federal health officials are divided over a politically and ethically charged question: Should they advise American women to delay pregnancy in areas where the virus is circulating?
Some infectious disease experts are arguing that avoiding conception is the only sure way to prevent the births of deformed babies, according to outside researchers who serve on various advisory panels.
WHO calls for healthier diets to combat alarming surge in diabetes
Governments around the world must act to ensure people can make healthier food choices, the World Health Organisation has said in a report (pdf) revealing a fourfold increase in global diabetes cases since 1980.
There are 422 million adults living with diabetes globally, most of them in poorer countries with limited access to treatment although the numbers are rising everywhere, says the report released for World Health Day on Thursday. That is 8.5% of the global adult population. In 1980, there were 108 million, which was 4.7%.
Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer Tied to Depression
Hormone therapy for prostate cancer may increase the risk for depression, a new analysis has found.
Hormone therapy, or androgen deprivation therapy, a widely used prostate cancer treatment, aims to reduce levels of testosterone and other male hormones, which helps limit the spread of prostate cancer cells.
Doctors Unsure About How To Talk With Patients About End-Of-Life Care
Doctors know it’s important to talk with their patients about end-of-life care.
But they’re finding it tough to start those conversations. When they do, they’re not sure what to say, according to a national poll released Thursday.