News You Can Live By

As a retired jobs counselor who studied government in college, Mimi Singer's medical credentials might as well have been issued by the Hold-the-Mayo Clinic. But when doctors couldn't explain why an older friend nearly passed out over lunch, it was Singer who advised the woman to drink water during and after meals to avoid a sudden drop in blood pressure. "My friend has drunk water with her food ever since," Singer says, "and she's fine."

Singer's deft diagnosis came courtesy of a medical newsletter, one of a burgeoning arsenal published for consumers. The nation's top 10 consumer health newsletters reach more than 4.4 million subscribers, many of them older, educated women hungry for reliable, understandable sources that sort through the daily onslaught of unevaluated health information. Singer buys Cornell University's Women's Health Advisor, as well as Nutrition Action Healthletter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest and Johns Hopkins Medical Letter, Health After 50. "At my age, your body has all kinds of surprise quirks," explains Singer, 70. "You don't always want to run to the doctor, so it's helpful to know a bit of self-help."

As people live longer, the content of medical newsletters has evolved from basic stories about diseases and diets toward growing emphasis on fitness and prevention. Some try to help readers communicate better with doctors; others try to help readers avoid doctors altogether. Demystifying the latest scientific studies is still a staple, but newsletters increasingly help sort fact from rumor, especially in alternative health. "It's a really wonderful time to be involved," says Dale Ogar, managing editor of the University of California, Berkeley, Wellness Letter, "because so much is changing."

When Nutrition Action began in 1974, jogging was something you did to your memory, and watching what you ate meant making sure your steak didn't burn. The first big medical newsletter, now called Harvard Health Letter, arrived a year later. Today the Oxbridge Directory of Newsletters 2000 lists 40 pages of health and nutrition newsletters, priced generally from $20 to $40 a year.

Why would anyone pay that kind of money when the Internet is chock-full of medical resources? "It's not the information itself," says Alan Rees, author of the Consumer Health Information Source Book, which reviews 47 subscription newsletters. "You can get a superabundance of that on the Internet. People want simple advice. Is it good? Is it bad? Does it apply to me?"

Still, intense competition, higher postal rates and declining subscriptions have prompted many newsletters to examine their own health. They have revamped formats, changed names and identified new markets. Alternative medicine, for example, has such broad appeal that it is the focus of three of the 10 most popular health newsletters and is a frequent topic in the others, including the January issue of the starchy Harvard Health Letter. "Baby boomers, who have defined so many trends as the bulge in the python, are beginning to move along in age," says David Thorne, president of Thorne Communications and publisher of Dr. Andrew Weil's Self Healing, a leading alternative-medicine newsletter. Boomer fitness enthusiast Harvey Mysel, 49, of Glencoe, Ill., grew frustrated by traditional newsletters that always seemed to call for further study. Now he finds confirmation of his diet and health beliefs in Dr. Weil's newsletter and Dr. David Williams' Alternatives for the Health-Conscious Individual. "I'm the choir, and they're preaching to me," says Mysel, "and I feel good about that."

Different newsletters have different bedside manners. An epilepsy story in the Public Citizen Health Research Group's Health Letter reads like a no-nonsense government report. By contrast, a breast story from Dr. Christiane Northrup's dear-friend-style Health Wisdom for Women advises, "Imagine that your perceptions and thoughts are magic wands with which you can transform your life."

For new readers, the healthiest thing to exercise is common sense. "Be wary, because more and more groups are putting out newsletters. Try to stick with those that have a good track record," says Miriam Nelson, founder of StrongWomen.com , author of such books as Strong Women Stay Young and adviser to the board of the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter. "And make sure you read critically. If you've got to eat 6 lbs. of chocolate to boost your immune system, it's not going to work."

Veteran readers have one complaint that medicine can't cure. "I don't have enough time," says Margot Green, 67, a Manhattan businesswoman who reads Harvard Women's Health Watch but has stopped saving back issues. "There's only so much you can consume and just so many hours in a day." With enough useful nuggets, though, devotees like Green look forward to many more busy--and healthy--days ahead.