Lifestyle changes can lower cancer risk, even for people at higher risk due to a family history of the disease. A team of international researchers, including some from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), reached that conclusion after reviewing more than 7,000 studies on cancer. The researchers reported that eating a mostly plant-based diet, maintaining a healthy weight in adulthood, and exercising regularly can dramatically reduce a person’s chance of developing the disease.

“We can prevent about one-third of cancers with these changes,” says Karen Collins, a registered dietitian and AICR nutrition adviser. Additional changes to prevent use of tobacco—which causes about 30 percent of cancers—would mean that more than half of today’s cancers could be prevented.

Collins stresses that these recommendations aren’t an “all or nothing” proposition.

“Some people feel, ‘I’m so far away from a healthy weight that I’ll never get there, so why try?’ ” she says. “But every drop toward a healthy weight is a good move, and it’s worth it.”

If you have a family history of any type of cancer, the experts say, you should make sure your doctor knows. Ask if tests are available to assess your risk of developing that type of cancer.

As many as 30 percent of healthy children and up to 50 percent of children with chronic diseases are being treated with some kind of alternative or complementary therapy. Recent studies indicate these alternatives to standard care can be safe and effective as long as parents follow their physicians’ advice.

“There is a huge place for complementary and alternative medicine in pediatrics,” says Dolores Mendelow, M.D., clinical assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.

Alternative therapies that are generally safe for children include acupuncture and dietary supplementation, such as probiotics used to treat antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

Women suffer from migraines more often than men, and three out of four migraine sufferers are women.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than half of migraines in women occur right before, during, or just after a woman has her menstrual period, providing one trigger for the condition.

A recent study found women with a history of migraines may be less likely to develop breast cancer than other women. This may be true because breast cancer has been linked to higher lifetime exposure to estrogen, and migraines are more common when there is a drop in estrogen.

There is no cure for migraines, but the symptoms can be managed with prescription medications and lifestyle changes.

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