DEAR DR. ROACH: What is the body’s rate of absorption for calcium? — A. ANSWER: The textbook answer is 20 percent to 40 percent, but in reality, the answer is very complicated, as it depends on total body and intracellular calcium, vitamin D levels, presence of phosphates in food and other factors. The short answer […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 74-year-old female, and I just had a colonoscopy. This is my fourth one in 17 years, and I have never had any kind of problems or polyps. My doctor told me that I do not need any more colonoscopies in the future. There was cancer in my family (my […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Many of our local doctors insist on pre-procedure office visits prior to one-morning outpatient procedures such as rotator cuff surgery, colonoscopy and endoscopy. Since I receive regular checkups from a superb internist, see my cardiologist every six months and tend to schedule my procedures shortly after such checkups, I consider this an […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: A recent column regarding the man with advanced colon cancer after a normal colonoscopy had been done two years prior sent up a red flag for me. You did a column in March of this year about Lynch syndrome, which occurs in 1 of every 5 patients with colon cancer. Sadly, it’s […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I just returned from my annual examination. Right from the start, I should make it clear that if for any reason I am more than 10 minutes late for this appointment with my doctor, I have to make a new appointment. So I start out early and travel more than an hour […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I normally go to the dermatologist once a year to get a skin check and follow up on some moles I had removed. Now the office recommends that I go every three months. What gives? — F.M. ANSWER: I’m guessing your dermatologist is keeping a close eye on something he or she […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Why doesn’t drinking water with meals dilute the digestive acids (saliva, hydrochloric), causing less-efficient digestion (or even “heartburn”)? Did nature intend for the acids to do their work in the duodenum and small intestine? If that were the case, wouldn’t nature have arranged for the acids to be introduced all along the […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: Most health professionals agree that one should follow a “healthy diet,” yet no one ever says exactly what that is. I have low thyroid, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. Some of my meds cause chronic constipation. I and hundreds of others would be most appreciative if you could print a […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 77-year-old woman. For as long as I can remember, my body temperature has been between 97.7 and 98 degrees Fahrenheit. If my temperature were 99, would that be a fever to worry about? My doctor does not seem to worry about it, even when I’m not feeling well at […]

DEAR DR. ROACH: A year ago I lost two family members in a very violent way. Since the event, I’ve been vomiting most mornings. It is never food, just stomach bile and the water I drink when I first wake up. If I don’t drink water, I dry heave until I do drink something, then […]