September 23, 2014

Warning: Gut Bacteria Can Cause Dangerous Heart Disease

For a long time, it was believed that too-high cholesterol was the cause of dangerous, artery-narrowing plaques.  So, giving cholesterol-lowering statin-drugs were thought key in reducing these plaques. It was soon realized that people with low cholesterol levels were also having heart attacks.  Clearly, something else was contributing to heart disease besides cholesterol. That’s when we learned that inflammation played a big role in why plaques develop as well. In the last year, cardiac researchers have pinned down another key piece of the heart disease puzzle. You’ll want to know more about it and how you can reduce your risk of heart […]
September 16, 2014

Ashwagandha: Mysterious Ancient Herb

Ashwagandha, an exotic Indian herb, has remarkable stress-relieving properties comparable to those of powerful drugs used to treat depression and anxiety. In addition to its excellent protective effects on the nervous system, ashwagandha may be a promising alternative treatment for a variety of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Ashwagandha has powerful antioxidant properties that seek and destroy the free radicals that have been implicated in aging and numerous disease states. Even more remarkable, emerging evidence suggests that ashwagandha has anti-cancer benefits as well. Powerful Protective Effects on the Nervous System Stress, environmental toxins, and poor nutrition all have […]
September 16, 2014

All About Chromium

Chromium is a mineral whose name derives from the Greek word chroma, meaning colored, referring to the red compounds the mineral is found in. The intense red color that defines rubies is, in fact, due to their chromium content. While the dangers of hexavalent chromium became widely known with the film Erin Brockovich, the version found in food (trivalent chromium) is safe and healthy. Trace amounts of chromium are helpful in maintaining normal blood sugar levels in diabetics and people who have hypoglycemia. Chromium Prolongs Life Chromium’s effect on glucose might be a reason for its ability to extend life. Using diabetic rats, […]
September 9, 2014

Higher Potassium Intake: Lower Risk of Stroke

The finding of a reduced risk of stroke and premature mortality among women with a higher intake of potassium was reported in an article published on September 4, 2014 in the AHA journal Stroke. “Previous studies have shown that potassium consumption may lower blood pressure,” commented senior author Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, PhD, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. But whether potassium intake could prevent stroke or death wasn’t clear.” The current investigation utilized data from 90,137 postmenopausal women who had no history of stroke upon enrollment in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. Dietary questionnaire responses were analyzed for potassium […]
September 9, 2014

Can’t Lose That Ugly Belly Fat? Put Your Ears To Work

I recently attended an integrative medicine conference.  For those of you who don’t know what integrative medicine is, it’s “integrating” traditional medicine with alternative medicine practices to get the best of both worlds as treatment for your patients. At the conference, I met many interesting healthcare professionals. One of them was a naturopathic doctor from California who specialized in Traditional Chinese Medicine.  In his practice, he used a combination of herbs that have been used by Chinese doctors for centuries in the treatment of various health problems. But, this doctor also was a licensed acupuncturist and made use of the […]
August 26, 2014

Hypoglycemia: How To Manage Low Blood Sugar

I frequently see patients complaining that they can get “spacey”, i.e., unable to concentrate, words a little jumbled, headachy, or a little dizzy and irritable if they haven’t eaten for several hours. These are the basic symptoms caused by blood sugar falling a little low, or hypoglycemia, and it occurs from having gone too long without eating. Low blood sugar is a condition that can be remedied quickly with some orange juice, or raisins, right away, and then making sure you follow that with a more balanced nutritious meal. I’d like to share more detail about this condition with you, […]
August 26, 2014

The Real Spice of Life

The modest ginger root, curcumin, is demonstrating in the lab exactly why traditional healers have used it for thousands of years. Curcumin, an ancient spice in the ginger family, also known as turmeric root, is gaining plenty of attention for its positive impact on a number of ailments. It is shining as an antioxidant, for example, as well as for its beneficial effects in prohibiting tumors, for its anti-inflammatory properties, and even for its ability to retard some of the progress of the virus that causes AIDS. This sounds like a lot of claims for a seemingly unpretentious kitchen spice. But, […]
August 26, 2014

Pomegranate Promising for Inflammatory Conditions

Researchers at England’s University of Huddersfield and the University of Freiburg in Germany report that punicalagin, a polyphenol compound occurring in pomegranate, inhibits damaging neuroinflammation activated by brain’s microglia:  central nervous system immune cells that play a role in Alzheimer’s disease. The findings, which could be utilized in the treatment of other types of inflammation, including that which occurs in Parkinson’s disease, were described in an article published on July 28, 2014 in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. In a series of experiments, pretreatment with varying concentrations of punicalagin significantly inhibited the production of the inflammatory compounds tumor necrosis factor […]