Medical trends concerning diagnosis, treatment and prevention are constantly transforming, often reversing, as medical science learns more about healthy living through controlled studies. What this means to the patient is that you must feel your body and not override it with the mind, get to know when you are out of balance, your tipping point, and recognize that pills and procedures are big business. You have to partner your own healing and well-being. In other words, what’s old is new again.

The latest medical trends:

• Antioxidants used to be hailed as the cure-all, the big missile against free radicals the root cause for various diseases, especially cancer. The latest research, for example, the Harvard school of Public Health points out antioxidants can actually fuel tumor growth and cause an aggressive cancer to overtake your body. At the same time abundant evidence suggests that eating whole fruits, vegetables, and whole grains rich in antioxidants provides protection against many diseases which usually accompany aging.
  
• Multi-vitamins used to promise longevity. Recent studies like the Iowa Women’s Health Study from the University of Minnesota show they might even shorten your life as manufacturers empty your wallet. Exercise, eat right and love what you have while you learn to be happy with less and you will live a more vital, joyous life.
  
• Calcium supplements were considered the direct route to bone health. However, currently doctors caution regarding taking a calcium supplement as it could lead to calcification of the arteries! Then Vitamin D became the miracle pill to take to bolster bone health and the immune system and you were urged to take it with calcium. Well, the best way to get Vitamin D is from the sun on your exposed skin (about 20 mins). So to fortify bones lift weights to strengthen your skeletal frame and build bone mass. Eat foods rich in calcium and Vitamin D.
  
• Muscle relaxants and opioids were considered helpful for lower back pain. New guidelines claim they are useless according to author of the study, Dr. Benjamin W. Friedman of Montefiore Medical Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. And regarding back surgery for lower back pain – forget about it according to orthopedic surgeons as published in their own journals. Ease back into movement, give up that sedentary lifestyle by getting up and walking; then strengthen your core to protect your back and make sure to stretch regularly.
  
• So far regarding Alzheimer’s disease, the best chance you have to ward off or postpone it is through the old-fashioned combination of exercise and healthy eating which currently favors a Mediterranean diet. You build new neurons in the brain and enhance synaptic connections with exercise.
  
• Superfoods are so over. Too much of a good thing like kale could make you sick. Here is the kale-thyroid connection from the Oregon State University Micronutrient Information site: High consumption of kale has been found to cause hypothyroidism (insufficient thyroid hormone). Also, understand that variety rules concerning food, as being obsessed with a couple of foods could mean exposure to more manmade pesticides and natural toxins in the soil. Think rice and its natural association with arsenic in the soil.
  
• Note mammogram guidelines have changed – 45 years is the new baseline and PSA tests are not part of a regular physical – to avoid aggressive, expensive and unnecessary overtreatment! Even annual physicals have changed for many – every other year. The new theme is to keep it simple and basic. It’s not rocket science, but the art of medicine.

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