Step into summer in the best shape of your life with these reports from Harvard Medical School.
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Warmer weather is on the way and it's not too late to get in shape for the summer. These 3 reports can help you enjoy outdoor activities in the best shape of your life:

May Harvard Health Letter features Q&As from Harvard doctors

Every month, members of Harvard Health Letter’s editorial board — and occasionally other Harvard-affiliated doctors — answer questions from readers in its back-page “By the Way, Doctor…” feature. These Q&As sometimes zoom in on the devils-in the-details (particular drug interactions, subtypes of vitamins). Other times, the Harvard doctors impart big-picture wisdom (the real meaning of a recent study, the true benefits of a new medication).

Either way, the Q&As are among the best-read articles in the newsletter. So the editors of the Health Letter have devoted the entire May issue to the “By the way, doctor…” Q&As. Dr. Anthony Komaroff, editor in chief, describes the issue as an experiment in giving readers “more of a good thing.”

The doctors address these questions:

  • What is burning mouth syndrome?
  • Should I choose a minimally invasive knee replacement or a traditional one?
  • Are aromatase inhibitors better than tamoxifen for breast cancer treatment?
  • Does cooking with a microwave take nutrients out of food?
  • Do birth control pills disguise menopause?
  • Should I get the cervical cancer vaccine?
  • How much migraine medicine is too much?
  • Does Celebrex raise my risk for stroke?
  • Do calcium supplements raise heart attack risk?
  • Why don’t we ever hear about cancer of the small intestine?
  • Can human growth hormone help after surgery?
  • Do I need to go to the hospital after fainting?
  • Is it okay to take a stool softener long-term?
  • Why does skin wrinkle after being underwater?
  • Are the guidelines for taking statins different for women?

Also in this issue of the Harvard Health Letter

  • Editor's note
  • By the way, doctor: Microwave cooking and nutrition
  • By the way, doctor: What is burning mouth syndrome?
  • By the way, doctor: How much Imitrex is too much?
  • By the way, doctor: Should I get the cervical cancer vaccine?
  • By the way, doctor: Do birth control pills disguise menopause?
  • By the way, doctor: Are the guidelines for taking statins different for women?
  • By the way, doctor: Why does skin wrinkle after being underwater?
  • By the way, doctor: Is it okay to take a stool softener long-term?
  • By the way, doctor: HGH after surgery
  • By the way, doctor: Minimally invasive knee replacement
  • By the way, doctor: Do I need to go to the ER after fainting?
  • By the way, doctor: Cancer of the small intestine
  • By the way, doctor: Tamoxifen versus aromatase inhibitors
  • By the way, doctor: Calcium supplements and heart attack risk
  • By the way, doctor: Celebrex and bleeding

More Harvard Health News »


About Harvard Health Publications

Harvard Health Publications publishes four monthly newsletters--Harvard Health Letter, Harvard Women's Health Watch, Harvard Men's Health Watch, and Harvard Heart Letter--as well as more than 50 special health reports and books drawing on the expertise of the 8,000 faculty physicians at Harvard Medical School and its world-famous affiliated hospitals.