Migraine is a disease that has a number of symptoms (症状), including head pain that can stick around from four hours to several days. While migraines can happen partly because of genetic (基因的) problems, attacks may happen by chance, set off by a cause in the environment.

One common cause is food, and some common dietary causes include alcohol, salt, sugar, chocolate, and caffeine. But there are many others, and scientists continue to identify more. Last year, for example, a Brazilian study found that watermelons brought on a headache within minutes in about 30 percent of the participants.

Some new researches are looking at which foods and what kinds of diets can prevent or lessen migraines. A new study published last year by a team of researchers found that a diet higher in fish oils rather than vegetable oils helped people ease their headaches. In the study, those on a diet lower in vegetable oil and higher in fatty fish had a 30 to 40 percent reduction in total headache hours per day, serious headache hours per day, and overall headache days per month compared to the control group.

Tanya Kamka had suffered weekly migraines for most of her life. Then, in her 50s, she joined the NIH diet experiment and increased her intake of fish. After only a few months, “I haven’t had a migraine, not even a mild one, in over two years.” she says.

For others, the solution comes from plants, not fish. A 60-year-old man joined a study on the food-migraine link and turned to a diet, which includes a lot of dark, leafy greens. After two months he was experiencing only one migraine a month instead of the 18 to 24 a month he’d suffered before.

Clearly, people with migraines react to food in very different ways. What works for one person may not work for another.

New research linked outdoor air pollution to an increased risk of diabetes (糖尿病) globally, according to a study from Washington University in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs (VA) St. Louis Health Care System. The findings raised the possibility that reducing pollution might lead to a drop in diabetes cases.

“Our research shows a significant link between air pollution and diabetes globally,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, a professor at Washington University. “We found an increased risk, even at low levels of air pollution currently considered safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). This is important because many industry groups argue that current levels are too strict. Evidence shows that current levels are still not sufficiently safe and need tightening.” The findings were published on June 29 in The Lancet Planetary Health.

To evaluate outdoor air pollution, the researchers looked at small pieces of dust, smoke and liquid droplets. In diabetes, pollution was thought to reduce insulin (胰岛素) production and prevent the body from changing blood glucose (葡萄糖) into energy that the body needed to maintain health.

The researchers also found that poverty-stricken countries faced a higher diabetes-pollution risk including Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Guyana, while richer countries such as France, Finland and Iceland experienced a lower risk. The US experienced a middle risk of pollution-related diabetes.

In the US, the EPA’s pollution limit was 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air, the highest level of air pollution considered safe for the public, as was set by the Clean Air Act of 1990 and was updated in 2012. However, using mathematical models, Al-Aly’s team set an increased diabetes risk at 2.4 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Based on VA data, among a sample of citizens exposed to pollution at a level of between 5 to 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air, about 21 percent developed diabetes.

“The team in St. Louis is doing important research to firm up links between pollution and health conditions such as diabetes,” said commission member Philip J. Landrigan, MD, a pediatrician and epidemiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “I believe their research will have a significant global effect.”

Reading Your Medicine Label

Each time you take over-the-counter(OTC) medicine or a prescription (处方), take time to read your medicine label. Learn about the elements of OTC medicine labels, including uses, warnings, conditions and directions.

Uses

Temporarily relieves minor aches and pains due to: the common cold, headache, backache, minor pain of arthritis (关节炎), toothache.

Warnings

Liver warning: This product contains acetaminophen. Severe liver damage may occur if you take:

Allergy alert: acetaminophen may cause severe skin reactions. Symptoms may include:

If a skin reaction occurs, stop use and seek medical help right away.

Conditions

Stop use and ask a doctor if:

These could be signs of a serious condition.

Directions

Adults and children 12 years and over: take 2 caplets every 4 to 6 hours while symptoms last, and do not take more than 12 caplets in 24 hours, unless:

Children under 12 years: ask a doctor.