2082 results found for: GUT HEALTH

Higher Vitamin C Levels Linked To Lower Risk of Stroke

A presentation at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting, held in Philadelphia from April 26 to May 3, 2014, revealed a protective effect for high plasma levels of vitamin C against the risk of hemorrhagic stroke. Hemorrhagic stroke is characterized by bleeding in the brain and, although less common than ischemic stroke, is associated with a greater risk of mortality. “Scurvy is caused by vitamin C deficiency, specifically a plasma vitamin C concentration of less than 11 micromoles per liter, and may have hemorrhagic manifestations,” write authors Stéphane Vannier, MD, of Pontchaillou University Hospital in Rennes, France and colleagues. […]

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

  In Cooked, author and activist Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth—to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink.  Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan’s effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. Cooking—of whatever kind, everyday or extreme—situates us in the world […]

Cinnamon Improves Liver Enzymes

The February 2014 issue of the journal Nutrition Research described the outcome of a trial conducted by Iranian researchers which revealed a benefit for cinnamon in men and women with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease includes steatosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and can result in death if left untreated. The trial included fifty men and women between the ages of 20 and 65 years with NAFLD. Participants were randomized to receive two 750 milligram capsules of cinnamon or a placebo daily for twelve weeks. Blood samples collected before and after the treatment period were analyzed for […]

How vitamin D works against MS

A report published on December 9, 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explains how vitamin D, long suspected to play a role in the prevention of multiple sclerosis (MS), works to protect against the disease. Acting on the finding of previous research of a preventive benefit for vitamin D in a mouse model of MS, Anne R. Gocke, PhD, and her associates at Johns Hopkins University tested the effects of the bioactive form of vitamin D known as 1,25-dihyroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] and found that administration of the vitamin prevented the animals from showing symptoms. They observed that immune system cells […]

Increased Focus on Men’s Eating Disorders

Food was cathartic for Max Sala, something that held his life together and at the same time tore it apart. As a child he ate for comfort, arriving for his freshman year of high school, as he put it, “significantly overweight.” Then Sala, now 19 and a student at the University of California at Davis, started losing weight and couldn’t stop. Sometimes he would go days without eating. Other days he would ravage his family kitchen in the middle of the night, gorging himself, and then purge. Purging, he said, was “like a breath of fresh air.” To this day, […]