776 articles
Plumpy'nut
Plumpy'nut is the first ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), a peanut-based fortified paste created in 1996 by Nutriset and André Briend to treat severe acute malnutrition in children at home, with 500 kcal per 92 g sachet.
Plyometrics
Plyometrics: jump and shock training using the stretch-shortening cycle, coined by Fred Wilt in 1975 from Verkhoshansky's methods; improves jump, sprint, and power performance and is safe in older adults when programmed properly.
Pocari Sweat (ポカリスエット)
Pocari Sweat (ポカリスエット) is a Japanese rehydration beverage made by Otsuka Pharmaceutical and launched in 1980, formulated with water, sugar, and electrolytes to replace fluids lost through sweating.
Pomegranate extract
Pomegranate extract (Punica granatum), a punicalagin- and polyphenol-rich preparation from whole fruit or peel; GRAS as whole fruit extract (GRN 1064, FDA no questions, 2023); used in supplements and as natural food preservative.
Pompoir
Pompoir (Brazilian Portuguese: pompoarismo), also called kabazza or the Singapore kiss, is a sexual practice of training voluntary vaginal and pelvic floor muscle control for pleasure and orgasm, distinct from medical Kegel exercises and contraindicated in vaginismus.
Poor personal hygiene
Poor personal hygiene is a failure or refusal to keep oneself clean, such as not washing, classified by the WHO in ICD-11 as a behavioral sign, code MB23.J.
Post-Exercise Recovery Techniques
Post-exercise recovery techniques (cold-water immersion, massage, compression, active recovery, stretching) aim to reduce soreness, fatigue, and muscle damage markers; evidence shows small soreness benefits but no consistently superior strategy.
Postmenopause
Postmenopause: the life stage after menopause, dated 12 months after the final menstrual period, typically from about age 51, marked by estrogen loss, bone loss, and differing hormone therapy risk profiles.
Postpartum period
Postpartum period (puerperium, fourth trimester): the weeks after childbirth when the mother recovers physiologically. WHO defines six weeks; ACOG 12 weeks; includes postpartum depression, LAM contraception, and postpartum care visits.
Potato starch
Potato starch, starch extracted from Solanum tuberosum tubers; third-largest starch after maize and wheat. Raw form is type II resistant starch (B-type polymorph); used in food, paper, textiles, pharma.
Power Balance
Power Balance is an American brand of hologram-embedded silicone wristbands founded in 2007 by Troy and Josh Rodarmel, claiming to improve balance, strength, and flexibility; controlled trials found no effect and regulators forced corrective advertising.
Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994
Indian law, Act No. 57 of 1994, also called the PCPNDT Act, banning foetal sex determination and sex selection before or after conception; regulates ultrasound clinics, sets penalties up to 5 years, and is enforced by Appropriate Authorities rather than police.
Preconception Care
Preconception care (prepregnancy care) is organized health care before conception that assesses risks, promotes health, and intervenes to improve pregnancy outcomes. Key elements: folic acid, vaccinations, chronic disease optimization, substance-use counseling; 40% of pregnancies are unplanned.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy (gestation, prenatal period): the roughly 40-week period in which a fetus develops in the womb, divided into trimesters; zygote, embryo, then fetus; includes prenatal care, complications, and maternal mortality.
Pregnancy Outcome
Pregnancy outcome (MeSH D011256) is the result of conception and ensuing pregnancy: live birth, stillbirth, spontaneous abortion, or induced abortion, including outcomes after assisted reproduction; a standardized endpoint in obstetric research and surveillance.
Premenstrual syndrome
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS): cyclic physical, psychological, and behavioral symptoms in the luteal phase, resolving at menstruation. Affects about 40% of women; severe form is PMDD. SSRIs are the best-evidenced drug treatment.
Progressive overload
Progressive overload: the exercise principle of gradually increasing training stress (load, volume, frequency) as the body adapts, from Milo of Croton and DeLorme's 1948 Progressive Resistance Exercise to ACSM's 2–10% load-increase rules.
Prolonged first stage of labour
Prolonged first stage of labour (ICD-11 JB03.0), also called protracted or long first stage, is slow cervical dilation in labor, under 1 cm per hour for at least 4 hours, a leading indication for intrapartum cesarean section.
PROMISE trial (NCT06416215)
PROMISE (NCT06416215, PROMISE_BO_2024) is a University of Bologna randomized pilot trial testing a Well-Being Therapy-based group intervention plus nutrition education versus basic nutritional intervention for weight loss in adults with obesity; 50 participants, completed December 2024.
Protandim
Protandim is LifeVantage's five-herb Nrf2-activating dietary supplement (675 mg daily), sold via multi-level marketing; it received a 2017 FDA warning letter for disease claims, and small trials show a TBARS marker reduction but no clinical benefit.
Protein (nutrient)
Protein (nutrient): dietary macronutrient of amino acid chains needed for cell repair and growth; essential amino acids must come from food; US guidance moved from 0.8 to 1.2–1.6 g/kg/day in 2026.
Protein deficiency
Protein deficiency: inadequate dietary protein causing impaired growth, immunity, and albumin synthesis; ICD-11 code 5B71. Severe form in children is kwashiorkor (edema, fatty liver), contrasted with marasmus; 42.8 million under-5s wasted in 2024.
Protein–energy malnutrition
Protein–energy malnutrition (PEM), or protein-energy undernutrition, is insufficient protein and energy intake to meet metabolic demand, spanning marasmus and kwashiorkor; childhood mortality 5–40%, treatable with therapeutic feeding and RUTF.
Psychological Well-Being
Psychological well-being (PWB) is a construct describing positive psychological functioning, studied through hedonic pleasure and eudaimonic meaning, with Ryff's six dimensions its most widely used model and better health its key correlate.
Pyridoxine
Pyridoxine, one of the six vitamin B6 vitamers, is the common supplement and medicinal form of vitamin B6, a coenzyme in over 100 enzyme reactions; high doses cause sensory neuropathy, and US and EU upper limits differ sharply.
Qigong (气功)
Qigong (气功), also known as chi kung, is a traditional Chinese mind-body practice developed in China that combines gentle movement, controlled breathing, and mental focus to improve and maintain health and well-being.
Quadruplet pregnancy
Quadruplet pregnancy, a higher-order multiple gestation with four fetuses (ICD-11 JA80.2, ICD-10 O30.2), occurs naturally about 1 in 700,000 conceptions and carries high risks of preterm delivery, maternal complications, and neonatal loss.
Ramdev (रामदेव)
Ramdev (रामदेव), also Baba Ramdev, born Ram Kisan Yadav in 1965, is an Indian yoga guru who popularized yoga via Aastha TV and co-founded Patanjali Ayurved, later facing Supreme Court action over misleading medicine ads.
Raw foodism
Raw foodism (rawism) is eating only or mostly uncooked, unprocessed food, typically nothing heated above 118°F (48°C); mostly raw vegan, with documented risks of B12 deficiency, weight loss, and foodborne illness.
RDNS trial
RDNS (Rang-Din Nutrition Study, NCT01715038): cluster-randomized effectiveness trial in northwest Bangladesh, 4,011 pregnant women, 64 clusters, testing LNS and MNP home fortification during the first 1,000 days; LNS improved growth, development, and iron status.