It never ceases to amaze me how often doctors use needlessly complex and unintelligible language, when plain English would do just as well. A good example of such medicalese is the term ‘essential hypertension’. Hypertension is just doctors’ parlance for high blood pressure. However, the word ‘essential’ in this context it refers to high blood […]

Of the dozens of vitamins and minerals that are essential to life, only a few have managed to gain widespread renown and acceptance. When a nutrient makes the transition from chemical obscurity to trusted remedy, it usually does so on the basis of some specific action or effect. Vitamin A, for instance, is famous for […]