Cancer patients worldwide rely on this iconic cookbook that shows them what to eat so as to maintain strength and appetite during treatment. Eating Well Through Cancer: Easy Recipes & Tips to Guide You Through Cancer Prevention by best-selling national cookbook author, Holly Clegg, and successful cancer researcher and oncologist, Dr. Gerald Miletello, is now celebrating its 15th anniversary with a special expanded and revised edition. The groundbreaking 15-years anniversary edition…

Children born by cesarean delivery appear to have higher odds of developing obesity than their peers who experienced vaginal births, a U.S. study suggests. Women who had surgical deliveries known as C-sections were also more likely to be overweight, or to develop complications like diabetes and high blood pressure during pregnancy, than women who had vaginal births, the study found.

Dr. Holly Thacker explains the role hormones play in abdominal bloating.

When conservative measures fail to improve urinary leakage in women with urge incontinence, pelvic stimulation should be the next step. “The vast majority of women find pelvic stimulation effective. It can be life-changing,” says Holly L. Thacker, MD, Professor and Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Specialized Women’s Health. The American College of Physicians recommends physical therapy (PT) as a first-line treatment for urge incontinence, often referred to as “overactive bladder.”…

Millions of Americans are missing out on a chance to avoid debilitating fractures from weakened bones, researchers say, because they are terrified of exceedingly rare side effects from drugs that can help them. Reports of the drugs’ causing jawbones to rot and thighbones to snap in two have shaken many osteoporosis patients so much that they say they would rather take their chances with the disease. Use of the most commonly prescribed osteoporosis drugs fell by 50 percent from 2008 to 2012,…

Since the August 2015 approval of flibanserin for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder in premenopausal women, the drug has been under a cloud of controversy. At the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, physicians debated the merits of flibanserin as a treatment option and whether the condition of hypoactive sexual desire disorder has been needlessly medicalized. Dr. Holly L. Thacker, director of the Center for Specialized Women’s Health at…

A new study found that medicines taken by millions for depression, asthma, allergies, and other conditions may raise the risk of getting dementia. The drugs involved in the study are known as anticholinergics. They work by blocking a brain chemical called acetylcholine, which is crucial for memory. Although this isn’t the first time researchers have looked at this link, the new study looked at about 100 over-the-counter and prescription drugs that work in this way, ranging from the…

Misinformation and bias threaten to deprive women of the first FDA-approved treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Here are the facts about Flibanserin from Dr. Holly L. Thacker.

A review of eight clinical trials testing flibanserin (Addyi), the first and only drug on the market to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in women, concluded the drug performed on the low end of the clinical efficacy range used to gain FDA approval. However, women's health experts argue that the drug earned its approval and should remain in the treatment arsenal.

February 2016 - Surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic have performed the first uterus transplant in the United States. The operation, which took nine hours, was performed using a uterus from a deceased organ donor. The recipient, 26, is not being identified to protect her privacy. The procedure’s purpose is to enable women born without a uterus, or who had theirs removed, to become pregnant and give birth. The patient will have to wait a year before trying to become pregnant, letting her heal and…

Investigators continue to study the link between the virus and microcephaly, and how the virus is transmitted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising obstetricians and other health-care professionals who care for pregnant women to test them for Zika infection if they show symptoms after visiting more than a dozen countries and territories where local transmission of the virus has occurred.The interim CDC guidelines focus on pregnant women who have fever, rash, muscle aches or conjunctivitis (pink eye) during or within two weeks of their travel to any of those locations. A positive…

January 2016 -- Dr. Holly Thacker joins The Dr. Drew show to discuss women’s health, specifically with regards to women going through menopause.

Dense breasts are not a strong independent risk factor for breast cancer, according to a study of more than 52,000 mammograms.

What to do when there's more hair in the drain and less on your head. Hair loss is a natural but unloved part of aging. If you're concerned about thinning hair, here's what Dr. Holly L. Thacker and other experts say about prevention, effective treatments and realistic goals. HAIR LOSS IS A NATURAL but unloved part of aging. But sometimes bald spots or thin patches are signs of a medical condition or dietary deficiency. The first step in seeking a remedy is finding out the cause. Male or…

Arising from concerns raised during the Town Hall at the 2013 Annual Meeting of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), Dr. JoAnn Manson spearheaded a Working Group that determined that current labeling for low-dose vaginal estrogen used for vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA) indications was not evidence based, overstated risks through extrapolation of findings from trials of oral systemic hormone therapy, and did not accurately reflect the safety profile of low-dose vaginal estrogen. Under her…

To know Holly Thacker, MD, is to quickly discover the passion and work she accomplishes on behalf of women – especially those navigating their way through midlife.The nationally recognized leader in women’s health, who has a lengthy accomplishments list that includes serving as professor at Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and prior leadership roles for the North American Menopause Society and the National Osteoporosis Foundation, views such responsibilities as…

The withdrawal of postmenopausal hormone therapy can raise the risks for cardiovascular mortality and stroke, particularly in the first year after discontinuation and in recently menopausal women, according to research in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.“Our findings question the safety of annual discontinuation practice to evaluate whether a woman could manage without HT,” Tomi S. Mikkola, MD, PhD, of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Helsinki University…

Dianne Dunkelman, founder of the National Speaking of Women’s Health Foundation, has been named the new Chief Strategist of Speaking of Women’s Health.

Cervical cancer, which still kills about 4,000 American women every year, is almost entirely preventable. Proper screening can catch early warning signs that could lead to cancer without the right treatment. But how often women should get screened and which tests should be used has been hotly debated by women, doctors and medical researchers for the past decade.On Thursday, the American College of Physicians weighed in with guidelines, endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and…