The Checkup - Health and Wellness Blog - October 4, 2009

Is That Right? Bologna Beats PB&J

In response to my Tuesday blog about donating healthful food to shelters for the homeless, a reader reported feeling ill at ease with his or her church's long-standing practice of donating bologna sandwiches to the homeless. That got me wondering about bologna's nutrition profile. (It also got me craving a...

Virus Associated With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Scientists have found evidence that a virus may play a role in chronic fatigue syndrome. Vincent C. Lombardi of the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, Nev., and scientists elsewhere studied 101 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, a baffling, debilitating and controversial condition that affects an estimated 17 million people worldwide....

Added Bonus from Seasonal Flu Shots?

If you've gotten or plan to get the regular seasonal flu shot this year, there may be an added bonus: It may also provide some protection against the new H1N1 virus that is causing the swine flu pandemic. Jose Luis Valdespino-Gomez of the Biological Laboratories Reagents of Mexico and other...

Using the Web to Diagnose Swine Flu

Are you wondering whether you or your kid is sick enough to see a doctor to get treated for swine flu? There are two web sites available to help you out -- one from the federal government and one developed by Microsoft Corp. and doctors at Emory University. If you...

First Look: Calories on Fast-Food Menus Don't Change Choices

Oops. Remember how requiring fast-food chain restaurants to post calorie counts for food items on their menu boards was supposed to help people make better food choices? If the results of the first study to measure the impact of that initiative are any indication, we might want to rethink the...

Food for Homeless People

What's better to bring to the homeless shelter, a bag of apples or a tray of lasagna? Probably the apples. But the good-hearted, well-meaning folks who donate food to shelters often choose otherwise. So says Juliette Tahar, founder of the nonprofit organization Healthy Living, Inc. and the subject of this...

About One in 100 Kids On Autism Spectrum

When actor John Travolta recently revealed in court, apparently for the first time in public, that his late son Jett had been autistic, he confirmed what many had speculated even before the 16-year-old's untimely death in January. Travolta may have preferred to keep his son's condition private, but researchers rely...