October 3, 2016

Reduce Heart Attacks By Eating Dinner Earlier

Q: Our family tends to eat dinner later in the evening, but a friend who knows our habits told me she heard this increases the chances for a heart attack. Is she right or did she misunderstand something? Theresa Schulte, of O’Fallon A: Eating a major meal within two hours of bedtime could indeed have far worse consequences than a midnight run for the Rolaids, according to a new study recently released at the world’s largest heart conference. Blood pressure usually drops by at least 10 percent when a person goes to sleep, allowing the body to rest. But this […]
September 20, 2016

More Omega-3s in Organic Milk and Meat

Organic milk and meat pack about 50 percent more omega-3s than conventional milk and meat, according to a new study published in British Journal of Nutrition. In the biggest study of its kind, researchers from the U.K.’s Newcastle University systematically analyzed an international collection of 196 papers about milk and 67 papers about meat and found big differences in terms of nutritional components, especially in the fatty acid department. Why the difference? Researchers linked them to the cows’ outdoor grazing and low concentrate feeding, the diet prescribed by organic standards. Chris Seal, Professor of Food and Human Nutrition at Newcastle […]
September 11, 2016

Nanobots Could Be Used For Attacks On Cancer

While chemotherapy can be effective against some cancers, the highly toxic drugs cause damage to healthy tissue and can be the source of significant, occasionally life-threatening side effects in patients — but researchers in Canadamay have a solution to both problems. Nanorobots containing anti-cancer drugs are capable of taking a direct route through the bloodstream to attack tumors at their most vulnerable points, researchers at Polytechnique Montreal, the University of Montreal and McGill University report in a study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. “This innovative use of nanotransporters will have an impact not only on creating more advanced engineering […]
September 4, 2016

Mediterranean Diet May Help Maintain Brain Health

Elderly people who follow a Mediterranean-style diet may benefit from better brain health and a lower risk for cognitive impairment later in life, according to a new US study. “It suggests that a healthy dietary pattern and specific dietary components have impact on biomarkers of brain pathology,” senior researcher Rosebud Roberts of the Mayo Clinic’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota, told Reuters Health by email. A Mediterranean-style diet includes fish, lean meat, legumes, nuts, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats. The diet has been linked to better heart and bone health. Roberts and colleagues analyzed data from […]
August 30, 2016

Does Melatonin Suppress Breast Cancer?

An article published in the May 2016 issue of Genes and Cancer describes how melatonin, a hormone that facilitates sleep, suppresses breast cancer growth. “Cancer stem cells pose a challenge in cancer treatment, as these cells can drive tumor growth and are resistant to chemotherapy,” write Juliana Lopes and colleagues in their introduction. “Melatonin exerts its oncostatic effects through the estrogen receptor (ER) pathway in cancer cells, however its action in cancer stem cells is unclear.” “From studies of cancer stem cells, the transcription factor OCT4, encoded by the POU5F1 gene, was found to be a critical factor for self-renewal and […]
August 23, 2016

Weight Loss Can Lower Cancer Risk

Overweight and obese women who lost weight through diet and exercise lowered the levels of certain proteins in their blood that play a role in angiogenesis, the process of blood vessel growth that can promote the growth and survival of cancer cells (see also Weight Loss). Angiogenesis is a vital function where new blood vessels are formed, for example, during wound healing. Unfortunately, an important part of tumor growth and development is also dependent on having a supply of blood vessels to deliver nutrients and oxygen to allow a tumor to continue to grow. Some researchers have proposed that “angioprevention,” […]
August 8, 2016

The Ten “Super” Foods for a Well-stocked Kitchen

What is a “superfood”? Most doctors and nutritionists will say that there is no scientific definition of “superfood,” that it is a marketing buzzword applied to foods that are good for you. Functional medicine specialist Dr. Marsha Nunley, founder of H.E.A.L. Medical, agrees but says: “While it is true that there is no legal or medical specification for a ‘superfood,’ it is without question that there are foods that are high in healthful nutrients and adding them to your diet may reduce your risk of chronic disease and improve your overall health and well-being.” Superfoods are packed with combinations of […]
August 2, 2016

5 Nutrients to Fight Hearing Loss

Cars, planes, concerts, and fireworks.  What do these all have in common? (No, we’re not talking about traveling and the 4th of July). All of these are examples of things that lead to noise-induced hearing loss. There’s about 10 million U.S adults who suffer from noise-induced hearing loss, with around 40 million that are affected by tinnitus (chronic ringing in the ears). The scary part is that the number of people affected by hearing loss is increasing, and it’s developing at younger and younger ages. One of the reasons for these changes may be due to the rise in the […]
July 30, 2016

5 Foods to Prevent Alzheimer’s

This probably isn’t the first time you’ve seen information regarding foods and nutrients to support brain function. And if you Google this topic, you’re likely to wind up with a large number of suggestions. Are all of them accurate? Probably not. However, there is a common thread between of the types of foods that are recommended. Most suggestions include increasing plant-based foods, berries, and green leafy veggies while limiting animal foods and foods high in saturated fat. Since there are many foods that fall into the above categories, we won’t cover them all here. Instead, we’ll focus on a few […]