Health: Interesting Stories from The New York Times

Well: Diet High in Saturated Fats May Be Linked to Dense Breasts
Teenage girls who eat a diet high in saturated fat are at increased risk of developing dense breasts, a risk factor for breast cancer.

Well: Bad News Delivered Badly
Whether a medical judgment is optimistic or pessimistic, poor communication can upset patients who are already anxious.

Well: Why Does the Physical Exam Stop at the Navel?
It’s like our patients are Humpty Dumpty, and the pieces are divvied out between different medical fields.

Well: Learning to Live With a Child’s Allergies
You read every ingredient in everything you buy. You come to know certain products so well that when they get a new ingredient, it’s like a friend getting a haircut.

Well: Skin Problem? Websites May Offer Poor Care
Consulting a dermatologist over the Internet may have serious drawbacks, a new study suggests.

Well: What Should You Pay for a Child’s Guitar (Or Any Musical Instrument)?
We ought to put every object of child desire through its own wants-versus-needs test, one that inevitably ends with a question about how much is enough.

Well: Exercise Tied to Lower Risk for 13 Types of Cancer
The potential cancer-fighting benefits of exercise seem to hold true even if someone is overweight, a comprehensive new study found.

Well: Potatoes Tied to High Blood Pressure Risk
Eating potatoes four or more times a week may increase the risk for hypertension, a large new study has found.

Well: Where Does the Time Go? How to Keep Track
The time-management expert Laura Vanderkam explains how she records what she does all day, in half-hour increments.

Well: Is Your Food ‘Natural’? F.D.A. to Weigh In
Even the most educated consumer can’t know what the food label “all natural” means.

Well: Clumsiness as a Diagnosis
Though parents may be worried, the need for a diagnosis depends on whether the child is actually struggling.

Well: Coloring Your Way Through Grief
After several people close to her died, a grief counselor developed an adult coloring book meant to help people with all kinds of losses.

Well: Ask Well: The Downside of Smoothies
Do I absorb more sugar and calories when I drink fruits and vegetables in a smoothie as opposed to just eating them whole?

Well: The Weekly Health Quiz: Intense Exercise, Diet Soda and Things We Worry About
Test your knowledge of this week’s health news.

Well: Donating an Organ to My Son
As a physician and as a mom, I was used to solving problems. Now I just needed to say a prayer and be available for parts donation.

Well: Giving New Doctors the Tools They Need
They say if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I wonder, then, why my toolbox often seems so inadequate for fixing my patients.

Well: Pesticide Exposure May Increase Risk of A.L.S.
Exposure to pesticides may increase the risk for Lou Gehrig’s disease, a new study has found.

Well: Learning to Walk in My 60s
In 1951, at the height of the polio epidemic, I knew about my limp before I knew much else about myself.

Well: The New Performance Enhancer in High School Sports? Nutrition
More schools are starting to see nutrition as a critical component of athletic training.

Well: Out With the Old
It may be better to give up your bad habits all at once, rather than one at a time.

The Health Issue: When Do You Give Up on Treating a Child With Cancer?
Andrew Levy’s parents knew that the rare and deadly cancer in his blood could not be beaten, so they began to prepare for the worst. Then something mysterious happened.

The Health Issue: An Old Idea, Revived: Starve Cancer to Death
In the early 20th century, the German biochemist Otto Warburg believed that tumors could be treated by disrupting their source of energy. His idea was dismissed for decades — until now.

The Health Issue: The Improvisational Oncologist
In an era of rapidly proliferating, precisely targeted treatments, every cancer case has to be played by ear.

The Health Issue: Learning From the Lazarus Effect
Most clinical trials for cancer drugs are failures. But for a handful of patients, a drug proves to be nearly a cure. What can science learn from these “exceptional responders”?

Well: Heavier People Don’t Die Young
People with a body mass index of 27 have the lowest risk of dying early, according to a new report.

Well: Diet Soda in Pregnancy Is Linked to Overweight Babies
Drinking one can of diet soda a day doubled the risk of having an overweight 1-year-old.

Well: Picking Up an Infection in the Hospital
Like most people, I had long heard about the dangers of contracting infections in hospitals. But I never took them seriously until I entered the world of the sick.

Well: Talking With Teenagers About Marijuana
Adults can use the evolving laws as a jumping-off point to talk with teenagers about how they’ll approach any number of dicey decisions.

Well: Can High-Intensity Exercise Help Me Lose Weight? And Other Questions, Answered
Which is better: high-intensity exercise or moderate endurance exercise? Do you have to cycle to get the benefits? Answers to your questions about the one-minute workout.

Well: Three Ways for Children to Try Meditation at Home
There are many apps, classes and books to guide children in meditation, but it is easy (and free) to start at home.

Well: The Mindful Child
New research shows the benefits of meditation for the elementary school set.

Well: Mother’s Day: The Aftermath
Brunch, flowers and hugs, and then it’s back to reality.

Well: Worried? You’re Not Alone
Two out of five Americans are worried about something every day. Sometimes worrying can help solve your problems — and sometimes it just leads to more worry.

The New Health Care: Why Science Can’t Help You Much in Deciding on Circumcision
Research points to both advantages and disadvantages. In the end, it’s a personal choice.

Well: Dehydration: Risks and Myths
For most healthy people, thirst is a reliable signal that more water is needed. But there are exceptions.

Well: Parents, Stop Feeling That Everything You Do Is Wrong
In lighthouse parenting, the goal is to balance keeping kids off the rocks with preparing them to ride the waves.

Well: Swaddling May Increase the Risk of SIDS
Advice to place infants on their backs for sleep is even more important if parents choose to swaddle them.

Well: Think Like a Doctor: Sick at the Wedding Solved!
What was wrong with a man who suddenly became ill at his brother’s wedding? More than 400 of you offered your diagnoses, but no one got it completely right.

Well: The Weekly Health Quiz: Prince, Food Labels and ‘The Biggest Loser’
Test your knowledge of this week’s health news.

Well: Ask Well: Taking a Daily Aspirin
Adults ages 50 to 69 who are at high risk for heart attack or stroke should take a daily low-dose aspirin to prevent both heart attacks and strokes as well colorectal cancer.

Well: The Family That Runs Together
As my family members sniped at one another on our way to the marathon, I couldn’t help asking myself: Why didn’t I just run this marathon alone?

Well: A Mother’s Lesson: When Memory Fails, Delight in the Moment
My mother wrote about her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease in this paper decades ago. And then it came for her.

Well: Yoga for the Showoff. Namaste.
Handstand classes are in demand, thanks at least in part to Instagram.