News — Health & Healing

13 natural insect repellents and insecticides

Yogurt may prevent and treat digestive diseases

Bacteria are more than just bad bugs lurking on doorknobs waiting to make you sick. Some fight on the side of good.

Right now, billions of bacteria are living in your intestines helping digest food and protecting you from harmful germs. Unfortunately, a round of antibiotics or a poor diet can kill off the good bugs. Without them, bad bacteria invade and take over, triggering all sorts of digestive problems. Eating yogurt restores your system’s natural balance by keeping unfriendly bacteria at bay.

Dark-roasted decaf coffee eases heartburn

You enjoy drinking coffee, but not the heartburn that follows. Switching to a dark-roasted coffee could help. Researchers discovered that dark-roasted coffee contains a compound that helps reduce stomach acid. Called N-methylpyridinium (NMP), this compound is generated only with roasting. So dark-roasted coffee contains more of it — up to twice as much as light-roasted varieties. 

Lower blood pressure and cholesterol with everyday fruit

Grapes are a handy, lip-smacking snack you can buy pretty much year-round. And you’ll want to do just that, not only for their mouth appeal, but because adding them to your diet can help you lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

Hiatal hernia — How to handle the hidden cause of heartburn

You have a 60-percent chance of having a hiatal hernia if you’re over age 60. The good news is, even if you have a hiatal hernia — no matter what your age — it’s probably not a problem. You may not even know you have one. That’s because most hiatal hernias are small and don’t cause any symptoms.