February 9, 2015

Vitamin Protects Kids From Malaria

Vitamin “A” may protect children against the mosquitoborne malaria parasite, a study said. “Our research found that children who received vitamin “A” supplementation were less likely to become infected with malaria,” said study leader MariaGraciela HollmDelgado, postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Khaleej times reported. Vitamin “A” appeared to be more protective under certain circumstances, including when administered during the rainy season, as well as when given to older children and when more time had passed since supplementation. The researchers were looking for possible links between malaria rates and several types of childhood vaccines as well as […]
February 3, 2015

Is Conventional Pomegranate Extract Enough?

An abundance of clinical data has established pomegranate as a broad-spectrum, multi-modal defense against the leading causes of death in the Western world, from atherosclerosis to cancer and diabetes. In the last decade alone, more than seven times as many studies have been published validating pomegranate than in all the preceding years combined. The bulk of this research has focused on the benefits of pomegranate juice and fruit extracts. Now scientists are discovering a novel source of pomegranate’s myriad benefits: the various botanical components of the pomegranate tree, particularly its seeds and flowers. The latest scientific evidence indicates that pomegranate flower extract and seed oil uniquely complement conventional pomegranate fruit extract’s capacity to […]
January 27, 2015

Survey Shows Americans Committing to Vitamins in 2015

Americans are committing to taking vitamins in 2015, according to a new survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN). The survey, conducted in December, asked more than 2,000 U.S. adults to select (all that apply of) health and wellness habits they are committing to in 2015, and “taking vitamins” made the top five (47 percent), along with drinking enough water (72 percent); eating healthy/healthier in general (66 percent); getting more physically active (62 percent); and getting more sleep (49 percent). With research pointing to a real life issue of nutrient shortfalls in Americans’ diets, […]
January 21, 2015

Problems with the Modern Diet

Even if you eat a healthy diet, you may not be absorbing vital fat-soluble nutrients and amino acids needed for optimal health. That’s because with age, we experience a decline in the enzymes our bodies produce to break down foods into absorbable nutrients.
January 21, 2015

Excess Iron Could Accelerate Aging

Research conducted in roundworms, described in the November 2014 issue of the journal Aging, indicates that iron, beyond accumulating with aging, could actually contribute to the condition. Gordon Lithgow, PhD, of the Buck Institute and his associates studied the effects of iron in Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode that has been the subject of numerous experiments in the field of gerontology. The research team discovered that the accumulation of calcium, copper, iron, and manganese increased with age, and that potassium and phosphorus levels tended to decline. Acting on the knowledge of iron’s role in neurodegenerative-associated protein aggregation, they investigated the effects of adding the […]
January 21, 2015

Higher Vitamin D Levels Increase Cancer Survival

The 2015 American Society of Cancer Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium held in San Francisco was the site of a presentation on January 12, 2015 concerning the finding of longer average survival among colorectal cancer patients with higher vitamin D levels in comparison with those whose levels were low. Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute analyzed data from 1,043 patients with colorectal cancer enrolled in a clinical trial that evaluted the effects chemotherapy plus the biologic therapies bevacizumab and/or cetuximab. Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were measured at the beginning of the study and dietary questionnaire responses were analyzed for vitamin D intake from […]
January 13, 2015

Block Absorption of Killer Carbohydrates

If you’re an American over 20 years old, you may already suffer from some form of impaired glucose control. According to 2007 data from the National Institutes of Health, 25% of Americans 20 years and older had abnormally high levels of glucose in the blood—a pre-diabetic state.
January 6, 2015

Autism & Vitamin D

I (John Cannell, MD) recently learned that I have the Broad Autism Phenotype, or what some people call mild autism. Learning about this was like “coming out of the closet.” It explains so much of myself to me, especially my tendency to get obsessed with things.
January 6, 2015

Whey Protein Helps Preserve Muscle During Weight Loss

An article published online on December 17, 2014 in the Journal of Nutrition reports the outcome of a double-blinded trial of overweight and obese men and women which found a protective role for whey protein supplementation against some of the loss of muscle that occurs with dieting. Researchers at Canada’s McMaster University randomized 19 men and 21 women to receive a fourteen day low calorie diet supplemented with 27 grams whey protein or 26 grams soy protein (resulting in the intake of an average of 1.3 grams protein per kilogram per day), or the addition of carbohydrate providing a number of calories equal to […]