Who gets to decide when a 14-year-old wants to change gender? The child, the hospital, the battling parents?

In many ways, Max is a typical 14-year-old. He eschews soft music in favour of rock and heavy metal, likes to wear hoodies, giggles when he’s nervous and has a flair for drawing animals. He can be opinionated and sarcastic one moment, shy and withdrawn the next. His insecurities, however, run deeper than run-of-the-mill teenaged… Read More »

What to know about hypokalemia

Hypokalemia describes a person having too little potassium in their blood. If it is severe, it can lead to muscle weakness, which can have many health consequences. The cause is usually a person’s body excreting too much potassium. Hypokalemia is always a symptom of another illness or a side effect of a medication. It is… Read More »

Got milk? Not so much. Health Canada’s new food guide drops ‘milk and alternatives’ and favours plant-based protein

At a technical briefing in advance of today’s release of Canada’s updated food guide, Dr. Hasan Hutchinson was asked why anything dairy appeared to be largely absent from the composite plate and snapshots of “healthy eating.” “Certainly in the picture of the composite plate you’ve got, ah, yogurt — that’s right there in the protein… Read More »