I’d wager that everyone has some sort of reaction to the word “cancer”. Most of us probably have some sort of fear, some “bad” or negative response to the word. Very few people get a grin when someone mentions the big “C” word. Even fewer would join the words “cancer” and “laughter”. But, perhaps not surprisingly to those who know anything about the positive benefits of regular, honest laughter, experts in the field of cancer treatment are more and more doing just that: linking cancer and laughter…really.

For hundreds of years, people have used laughter to help deal with problems. It can distract us from pain and help us lessen the “heaviness” of bad situations. After a really good laugh, a belly-whopper, you tend to feel better not just for a little while, but for hours.

Scientific studies have shown that laughter can:

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With all the bravado of youth – and what must be a bit extra in the way of problem-solving – California teen, Angela Zhang, set about answering the question, “Cure cancer…why not?” And, she may have done just that.

This amazingly motivated girl started reading top level papers on bio-engineering when she was just a freshman in high school even though she had no formal training in this very advanced area of medicine. She admits that it was difficult at first, but her plucky perseverance kept her reading, trying to solve the puzzle.

Apparently, through the knowledge she had gathered, and maybe a little bit of charm and chutzpah, she was able to get access to a lab at Stanford University by her sophomore year. By the time she was a junior (in high school, remember), she was conducting her own research.

She has developed an idea that just may, say well-credentialed researchers, lead to a real cure for cancer. (more…)

Feb. 22, 2012, Los Angeles — Health Nuts Media announces the completion of Understanding Diabetes, a seven-part animated video series designed to educate children and their parents about diabetes diagnosis and management. This series adds to the growing library of digital health literacy content Health Nuts Media has made available to hospitals and private practice physicians for their pediatric patients.

Watch the videos at: “Understanding Diabetes”

“Our goal at Health Nuts Media is to create much-needed health education that is not only informative, but fun,” says Health Nuts Media CEO, Tim Jones. “We were surprised that there were so few diabetes resources geared toward kids, despite the growing prevalence of diabetes among children.” (more…)

“You are not alone.” We use that phrase a lot around here at Health Nuts Media. And, if you have type 2 diabetes, it is very, very true.

When it comes to kids, it used to be that people only thought of type 1 diabetes. (That’s how it got the name, which some folks still use, “juvenile-onset diabetes”.) But, unfortunately, that old idea just isn’t true anymore. (more…)

A possible cure for type 1 diabetes? Even years after being diagnosed with the disease? Wow! That could be huge.

Well, that’s the potential based upon the just-published research findings of Professor Bart Roep of the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported on Tuesday, February 21, that Professor Roep had discovered (more…)

Bronchitis, what some people call a “chest cold”, is rarely a serious illness in kids. In fact, most of the time, it is a self-limited illness caused by a virus or exposure to cigarette smoke – or a combination of the two. (“Self-limited” means your body takes care of fighting off the virus without any need for help from medicines like antibiotics.)

Bronchitis comes in two “flavors”: acute and chronic. The chronic kind is when it goes on and on or keeps coming back. It usually occurs more in adults, especially smokers, or in those who have other airway/lung problems, such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, immune deficiencies, etc. (more…)

Hack, cough, hack…sputter…cough, hack, hack.

“Yo, Hal. What’s the deal with all the phlegm, gem?” asked Sal. “You sound like you wanna hock up a lung.”

“I know,” coughed Hal. “I have bronchitis.”

Hal pulled another tissue from the box, blew his nose, and sank back into the couch, looking like the he’d been run over by a semi, run through the washing machine, and then pounded with a baseball bat all in one day. “Man, I am beat up and blue,” he sighed.

“So, how do you know it’s bronchitis, bro?” queried Sal “I mean, you ain’t been to Doc Yan. How’s come you say it’s bronchitis? Maybe you just have a chest cold.”

“Cough…That’s what bronchitis is, goofbone,” said Hal. “Acute bronchitis is usually caused by a cold-type virus that gives you all these chest symptoms, like I have.” (more…)

Literacy: “An individual’s ability to read, write and speak…, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential.”
- National Literacy Act of 1991

Health Literacy: “The degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health (more…)