Is it the "hygiene hypothesis" or the "old friends" theory that makes the most sense? From this report on recent papers from the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene, it seems like it's just two views from different sides of the same coin.

The hygiene hypothesis says that...

Despite its popularity as one of Dr. Seuss's most popular books, the idea of green eggs and ham has never sounded appealing to me, except when the only other option is salmonella eggs from Iowa. Over the weekend, two farms in Iowa recalled over half a billion eggs after over...

Immediately following the birth of our 25 week-old twins, I was whisked away to the 4th floor of Cedars, while my wife was wheeled to a 3rd floor recovery room following her c-section. In a somewhat numbed state, I entered the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Like Alice, or perhaps more...

As the second day of our stay at Cedars rolled around, my wife's symptoms had slowly subsided. Our substitute OB doctor, Dr. M, made another appearance early on and brought along another colleague, Dr. X, whom he introduced as a specialist in ultrasounds and neonatal care. Yet another ultrasound later,...

There's an old spiritual saying that goes something like, "God will never give you more than you can handle," to which Mother Teresa was quoted responding, "I just wish that he didn't trust me so much." These statements will soon become a core part of our life during this pregnancy....

As we sat with my family at Thanksgiving last year, my wife announced that we were going try to get pregnant. This was happy news for my mother who has been waiting for her 50 year old son to contribute to the family line like my two sisters and brother...

As our country deals with the effects of past deregulation and the current financial crisis, I am struck by how America has also become deregulated in the area of its dietary choices and the resultant health crisis that is developing as a result. Sound dietary practices have been dismantled and...

Some people think that detoxification is a "new age" idea. For me it isn't, but I decided to at least look and see what shows up. First stop, PubMed, an Internet site put out by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. Entering detoxification into their...

Mainstream healthcare in America has been abducted by the pharmaceutical and insurance companies. As profits have moved to the center stage, patient care has become secondary.

We need to make healthcare more affordable for Americans once more. We can start by creating a law that drugs in the U.S....

In today's world and ever changing environment, we are quickly discovering that personal responsibility for our health and finances is the best way to secure a safe and sound future. The recent changes in the financial markets have demonstrated that we cannot hand over our future to others and think...

Somewhere along the primordial way, a bunch of micro-organisms became enclosed by, fewer in number, but larger "tissue" cells and the evolutionary race was on. This co-operative, bi-partisan effort allowed both types of cells to emerge from the primordial goo and the foundation for the human race was set. Through...

The World Health Organization (WHO), since 1948, has defined health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This was later expanded to include intellectual, environmental, and spiritual health. This is a very remarkable statement, considering that it was originally...