A to Z of Women's Health

An alphabet's worth of info to keep you in the pink of health.

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Alcohol A little alcohol can protect your heart, keep your mind sharp and possibly even reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes, but excessive drinking can be dangerous. What’s more, recent research shows that women’s bodies are more vulnerable to the ill effects of alcohol than men’s are. To get the pluses without the minuses, stick to the Center for Disease Control guidelines for women: No more than one drink per day, no exceptions!

Brittle Bones Each year in the United States, osteoporosis, which causes brittle bones, leads to more than 1.5 million bone breaks. Calcium, vitamin D and weight-bearing exercise (like walking and weight-lifting) are vital for bone health (especially for women over age 60), says Kathleen Cody, executive director of the Foundation for Osteoporosis Research and Education. There’s growing evidence that fruit and vegetables—at least seven portions a day—may also be protective.

Cervical Cancer Nearly half of adults are infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer. But there’s good news: The FDA recently approved, for females ages 9 to 26, a vaccine that protects against the two most harmful types of HPV. To make sure you’re covered, ask for an HPV test when you have your annual pap test, says Philadelphia-based internal medicine physician Marie Savard.

Diabetes This has been described as a public health time bomb for a good reason: About a third of people in the U.S. with the condition are currently undiagnosed, and increasing instances of obesity are poised to send already-high type 2 diabetes levels soaring. For women, the consequences are particularly serious: According to the American Diabetes Association, if you have diabetes, odds are you’ll have a heart attack at a younger age than a woman without the condition would. Symptoms include excessive thirst, frequent urination and fatigue. If this sounds like you, ask your doctor for a test.

Endometriosis As many as 5 million American women live with endometriosis, a chronic condition in which tissue from the uterine lining grows outside the uterus, causing inflammation, pain and scar tissue (which can wreak havoc on your ability to get pregnant). A recent study from the University of Milan suggests that consuming a lot of red meat increases the risk of endometriosis, while eating plenty of fruits and vegetables offers some protection against the condition.

Folic Acid You may already know that it’s important for women to get folic acid (the B vitamin found in dark-green leafy veggies, dried beans and peas) before and during pregnancy—the vitamin helps prevent birth defects. New research from Italy now shows that it may also prevent throat cancer. Doctors found that precancerous lesions in the larynx did not turn into cancer in patients who were taking folic acid supplements; in some cases, the lesions actually disappeared. The vitamin may protect against stroke as well: Earlier this year, the CDC reported that the incidence of stroke death declined in the U.S. after manufacturers began fortifying flour and other enriched grain products with the vitamin.

Gallstones Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from gallstones. Your risk increases as you get older. You’re also more likely to develop them if you are overweight, have diabetes, take cholesterol-lowering drugs or have high estrogen levels because of pregnancy, hormone replacement therapy or the pill. While gallstones don’t usually cause symptoms, some unfortunate people experience severe abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to surgically remove the gallbladder.

HER2 To improve treatment of breast cancer, all women diagnosed with the disease will now be tested for HER2—a protein found on the surface of some cancer cells that stimulates them to get bigger. About one in five women with breast cancer has HER2-positive tumors, which grow more quickly than other types of cancer but, fortunately, respond well to Herceptin, a drug that has been used to treat advanced breast cancer since 1998. Promising new research shows that the medicine may help certain women with early stages of the disease as well.

Insomnia Talk-therapy sessions are more effective for treating victims of long-lasting insomnia than sleeping pills are, according to new research from the University of Bergen, in Norway. After six weeks of treatment, study participants who were shown how to change behaviors and thought patterns that interfere with sleep reported a 10 percent reduction in the amount of time they spent awake in bed each night— while the patients who were just taking sleeping pills reported no change in their night’s rest.

Joint Pain Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, can relieve symptoms of arthritis (which afflicts more women than men). Fish oils containing omega-3 fats may also help relieve joint pain and prevent the problem from becoming worse—experts recommend a 3g to 5g supplement daily.

Kidney Stones Nearly 5 percent of women (usually in their late 40s or 50s) are affected by kidney stones. Recent research from the Harvard Medical School shows that obesity or recent weight gain can seriously increase your risk for the condition, which can cause pain in the side of the abdomen and blood in the urine. While most stones pass out of