April 30, 2019

How To Achieve Your Fitness Goals

You can have all the strategies in the world to reach your health and fitness goals, but without two key elements, attaining those goals will be difficult, if not impossible. The missing pieces of the puzzle? Inspiration and motivation. The two words get used interchangeably and although they’re connected, the two are different. “Inspiration is the match that lights you up, while motivation is the fuel that keeps the flame going,” says Amy Charland, wellness coach with the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program in Rochester, Minnesota. Take, for instance, Charly Laura Rok (left), 51, a publicist in New York City. […]
April 16, 2019

Counting Calories Could Prevent Diseases

Research presented on February 11, 2019 at FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) Week London supports the potential for calorie restriction to protect against several diseases. The studies were conducted under the auspices of the Center for Research on Redox Processes in Biomedicine, which is funded by FAPESP. “We are looking at how changes to the diet affect metabolism and how that ends up changing the odds of having diseases associated with aging,” commented researcher Alicia Kowaltowski, of the University of São Paulo. In one experiment, a group of mice was allowed to consume as much food as they desired, and the number […]
April 16, 2019

Can Fasting Fight Cardiovascular Disease?

Despite being largely preventable, heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other relate conditions caused 2.2 million hospitalizations in 2016, resulting in $32.7 billion in costs and 415,000 deaths, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Many of these events were in adults ages 35-64, with over 775,000 hospitalizations and 75,000 deaths occurring within this group in 2016. If every state reduced these life-changing events by six percent every year, one million cardiac events could be prevented by 2022. But how can we do that? “Heart disease and stroke deaths are hitting middle-aged adults in record numbers,” says Joel Kahn, […]
April 16, 2019

Six of the Best Foods To Fight Illness

The weather has changed again and like a magic carpet, it seems to always bring illness with it.  So, you’ll want to do everything you can to avoid getting sick.  Luckily, Nature gave us a multitude of foods that really can boost your immune system and keep you well.  Here are 6 of them… Six of The Best Foods Nature Gave Us To Fight Illness A strong and healthy immune system is your #1 defense against viral and bacterial illnesses that are so common when the seasons change.  People are more apt to get upper respiratory infections (URI) in the […]
April 15, 2019

Catnip Helps People Sleep, Fight Colds

Catnip is an herb that’s not just for cats any longer. In fact, it has a long history of use in folk medicine and some interesting health properties for humans. Native to Europe, Asia and Africa, catnip was brought to the U.S. by early settlers. In traditional medicine, it is used for its sedative and calming properties. It is also widely studied for use as an insect repellant or insecticide. It is often found in tea or as a tincture. Though it drives cats crazy, there are some interesting potential uses as well as warnings and considerations for its use […]
April 2, 2019

Stop Counting Calories! What To Eat When

LOS ANGELES (February 5, 2019)–What if eating two cups of blueberries a day could prevent cancer? If drinking a kale-infused smoothie could counteract missing an hour’s worth of sleep? When is the right time of day to eat that chocolate chip cookie? And would you actually drink that glass of water if it meant skipping the gym? Now, a revolutionary guide reveals how to use food to enhance our personal and professional lives–and increase longevity to boot. What to Eat When: A Strategic Plan to Improve Your Health & Life Through Food is not a diet book. Instead, acclaimed internist […]
April 2, 2019

Vitamin C Supplements Shorten ICU Stays

The April 2019 issue of Nutrients published the findings of a meta-analysis which concluded that the administration of vitamin C to intensive care unit (ICU) patients shortened the patients’ stay by an average of 7.8%. Dr Harri Hemilä of the University of Helsinki, Finland, and Dr Elizabeth Chalker of the University of Sydney, Australia, selected 12 controlled trials that included a total of 2,004 patients for their analysis. While subjects who received orally administered vitamin C had an ICU stay that was 7.8% shorter than that of patients who did not receive the vitamin, patients in six trials who received an average […]
April 2, 2019

Scientists Identify ‘Origin’ of Cancer Spread

Scientists at the University of Salford said they have identified a cancer cell from which all cancer growth starts in the body. The ‘cell of origin’ thought to trigger all types of cancer and allow the disease to spread has been found, scientists claim. Salford University researchers have described their discovery as being like managing to find the proverbial ‘needle in a haystack’. But the findings, hoped to rewrite medical textbooks on the growth of cancer, could be a blow to existing treatments, such as chemotherapy. Professor Michael Lisanti, study author, said: ‘We may have to press the reset button on how we treat […]
April 2, 2019

EWG’s Tap Water Database Drives Research

Since 2005, Environmental Working Group’s Tap Water Database has been the authoritative source for consumers, journalists and researchers who want to know about contaminants in the nation’s drinking water. The latest peer-reviewed study using the database, conducted by the Silent Spring Institute and EWG, found that Hispanic communities are disproportionately exposed to the fertilizer chemical nitrate in their drinking water. EWG’s database shows that nitrate contaminates the public water supplies of almost 1,700 communities at levels that could increase the risk of cancer and harm fetal development. Research by the National Cancer Institute and European studies show that the risk of colorectal cancer is elevated for […]
March 19, 2019

Zinc Deficiency Linked to Hypertension

An article appearing on January 16, 2019 in the American Journal of Physiology–Renal Physiology  reported that deficient zinc levels may contribute to high blood pressure by promoting sodium re-absorption by the kidneys. Zinc deficiency is common in many chronic diseases and can worsen hypertension. However, it had not been known whether zinc deficiency alone could impact blood pressure. In the current study, the researchers fed 20 mice diets that contained adequate amounts of zinc for two weeks, after which 15 animals were given zinc deficient diets for five to six weeks. Five of these deficient animals were subsequently returned to diets that provided […]