Gassiness: It's embarrassing, bothersome and -- yes, smelly. Sometimes, changing diet can clear the air.Temporarily avoiding certain foods can help identify causes of gassiness. The January issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter lists foods that sometimes are the culprit

We've all heard of the mayo clinic diet, the cookie diet and the lemonade diet. But do these really work? And do they pose any health risks? Dieting may be necessary for some but controlling weight is something we can do on a day to day basis through exercise and eating right.

When it comes to boosting antioxidant intake, recent research indicates there’s little benefit from taking diet supplements. A better way, according to a report in the September issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter, is eating a diet rich in antioxidant-containing foods.

Adding fish to your diet can help get you in the swim of things when it comes to better cardiovascular health, but experts at the Mayo Clinic also warn there are some contaminants -- most notably mercury -- to watch out for in fish, as well. Fish is lower in saturated fat, total fat and calories than comparable portions of meat or poultry, the ex

Mayo Clinic is an internationally renowned medical practice based in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, integrated with hospital facilities and a medical school. The first and largest facilities of Mayo Clinic are located in Rochester, but it also runs additional hospitals and physician practices in Jacksonville, Florida, and Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. In addition, Mayo Clinic operates a number of smaller clinics and hospitals in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, known as the "Mayo Health System". Mayo Clinic was ranked the second best hospital in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report in 2007 and 2006, and is consistently ranked by other sources as one of the best hospitals in the United States. The Mayo integrated group practice is recognized throughout the world.The term "clinic" in the Mayo Clinic's name normally implies a single small outpatient facility. The Mayo Clinic did begin as such, but it is now a comprehensive health care system in its home region of southern Minnesota and neighboring states (the Mayo Health System) and provides a full range of inpatient and outpatient care through its hospitals and clinics. It is also a medical research organization of nationwide scope and global reputation, including both schools of graduate education and the medical school, a part of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Historically, the Mayo Clinic was the first educational institution to train physician residents, pioneering the current model of post graduate medical education.The primary value at the Mayo Clinic is, "The needs of the patient come first." The mission is, "Mayo will provide the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education, and research."In terms of revenue, Mayo Clinic is the state's second-largest non-profit organization, after health insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association of Minnesota. In 2004, the organization took in US$5.6 billion. In terms of nonprofit funding the Mayo Clinic is the largest in Minnesota, with a 2006 income from donations of 266 million dollars. The education and research activities of the Clinic are funded in part by the net revenues of the clinical practice.Statistics for 2006: 521,000 unique patients, 2.2 million outpatient visits, 135,000 hospital admissions, 619,000 hospital days of patient care, 3,313 staff physicians, medical scientists, and clinical researchers, 2,221 residents, fellows and post-doctoral students, 46,656 nurses and other allied health staff, 5,234 million dollars in revenue from patient care, 186 million dollars in research funding, and 4,076 million dollars in assets.Mayo Clinic is significant in the way the medical physicians are paid. In most health care systems, medical doctors are paid based on the number of patients that they see. The more patients seen, the more a doctor gets paid. At Mayo Clinic, medical doctors are paid a salary that is unaffected by patient volume. Salaries are determined instead by the marketplace salaries for physicians in comparable large group practices. This allows the doctors to spend time with their patients and not worry so much about time constraints. Thus, the problem of financial incentives that normally exist for physicians and surgeons to do more procedures and operations is greatly reduced by this system.