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Breath & MouthExplainer
A fruity, nail-polish-remover smell on your breath is usually acetone, made when your body burns fat. On a low-carb diet it rises to about 40 parts per million. In diabetic ketoacidosis it can reach 1,250. Your nose can't tell the two apart, so here is what the smell means, what comes with it, and when it's an emergency.
Breath & MouthEvidence check
Brushing after a garlicky lunch helps for a while, then the smell comes back. A 1999 study found why: three hours after garlic, the main sulfur gas on the breath was coming from the gut and lungs, not the mouth. Food lab tests found that milk, raw apple, lettuce and mint leaves cut garlic gases on the breath. Here is what each test measured.
Bloating & DigestionEvidence check
Gas, bloating, rumbling and burping are almost universal. In a representative French survey of 936 adults, only 7% reported no gas symptoms at all, and nearly 30% said the symptoms had a big impact on their quality of life. Women and younger adults were more bothered, and people who ate more fruit and vegetables and less sugar reported fewer symptoms. Here is what that means and practical ways to cope.
SkinQ&A
Leave medical glue and the scab alone, and follow the aftercare instructions for your wound.
Bloating & DigestionEvidence check
Many people feel better off wheat without having celiac disease. In blinded trials, where people didn't know what they were eating, gluten often caused no more symptoms than a placebo. In a 2018 trial of 59 people, fructans, a carbohydrate in wheat, caused the most bloating. Across 10 trials, only 16% showed symptoms specific to gluten. Here is what that means and the order to test things in.
Sleep & NighttimeExplainer
Sleep inertia can temporarily slow thinking and reaction time after waking. What a nap study measured, how alarm time differs from sleep time, and when to ask for help.
Breath & MouthMyth buster
You may hear that treating gum disease prevents heart attacks. The American Heart Association found that gum disease and hardened arteries are linked, but not proven to cause each other, and that gum treatment hasn't been shown to prevent heart disease. A later evidence review found too few trials to say. Here is what to take from that.
HairEvidence check
Hair shedding is one of the most common surprises after bariatric surgery. Pooling 41 studies of 7,044 patients, a 2025 review found 47% had hair loss, more after gastric bypass than sleeve surgery. An earlier review found it was more common in younger women and in people with low zinc, folate or ferritin, and that it eased with time. Here is what the studies show and what to check.
HairEvidence check
Trichotillomania, repeatedly pulling out your own hair, is treatable, though many people feel clinicians know little about it. A review of 24 trials with 857 people found behavioral therapy built on habit reversal training had the largest benefit. Among medicines, N-acetylcysteine, an amino acid, helped 56% of people in one trial against 16% on placebo. Here is what the evidence shows.
HairEvidence check
Handfuls of hair a couple of months after COVID or a bad fever can be frightening. A review of 465 people with shedding after COVID found it began a mean of 74 days after symptoms, and most people recovered. A larger review found this kind of shed was almost always new, set off by the infection. Here is the timeline and the signs that point to something else.
HairEvidence check
Most sheds settle within months. When shedding runs on for half a year or more with no clear cause, the label is often chronic telogen effluvium. A 1996 study of 355 patients described it in women aged 30 to 60, and a small follow-up found no visible loss of density after 7 years. But a 2023 review of 1,628 cases warned that many may be early pattern thinning or a missed trigger. Here is what the research shows.
HairEvidence check
If your ponytail feels thinner and your hair behaves differently than it did at 40, the measurements back you up. In a study of more than 1,400 women, strands grew thicker until about 40 to 45 and then got finer, while the number of hairs fell from the 20s on. Here is what changes, how common pattern thinning is after menopause, and which changes need a dermatologist.
