In the last few weeks two awfully designed studies regarding vitamin supplementation created some negative headlines around choosing to supplement.

One study published in JAMA wrongly concluded that "vitamin E" increases the risk the prostate cancer.  Problem was they weren't using Vitamin E, just a portion of it.  The use of only 1 portion of the Vitamin E class of molecules (in this case alpha-tocopherol) leads to other well documented deleterious consequences.  This study was a faulty design with faulty assumptions whose mistake was made countless times in studies over the past 20 years regarding Vitamin E metabolism.  But for some reason previous data was ignored.  There are additional faults with this study and the hyperbole conclusions spun by the mainstream media 'health writer' pundits is extraordinary.   I'll blog on this soon. Read the rest of this entry

Interesting how chocolate is often associated with 'love' and 'heart' given its known benefit on the cardiovascular system . A review study just presented in Paris - a city that is renowned for its love of food and chocolate - showed that individuals who ate the most chocolate had a 37% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 29% lower risk of stroke compared with individuals who ate the least amount of chocolate. Read the rest of this entry

This abstract below looked at the absorption of Vitamin D as it relates to the type of fats we consume.  It also only studied people 65 and older so we can only conclude this applies to seniors, however we can make an assumption that it may apply to everyone.   The bottom line is that you don't want to take Vitamin D with say just some fish oils.  You need some good fat.   Olive oil, sesame oil, coconut, avocado would be great fats to have with Vitamin D.

This is important to know as I some people will just take a vitamin D with a fish oil in the morning.   The absorption will be much lower this way than taken with a complete meal.

Read the rest of this entry

It has been known that cereals that contain oats, soy, corn are most likely contaminated with pesticides and/or genetically modified if they do not have the USDA Organic label. I typically do not recommend cereals with a lot of grains such as Kashi because of the potential food sensitivity issues.  So many grains eaten at once increase the likelihood of an immune response stemming from a food sensitivity.   But now the Cornucopia Institute has released a new report explaining how 'natural' cereals that are not so natural.   The full text is below and a good read.....or if you do not want to read the 4 minute video is here. Read the rest of this entry

There is so much data about the correlation with milk and chronic diseases. There was a lot of press about A1 vs A2 types of milk and the correlation with heart disease about 7 years ago. Now there was just another study released that correlated milk intake in adolescence with prostate cancer which is what prompted me to write this post.

I am not going to go into much detail here, but there is the no-milk.com website that contains a plethora of references.

I think it is unfortunate that so many people believe that pasteurized homogenized milk that can come from many cows in one carton is healthy.   Perhaps raw milk from organic grass fed cows can be healthy for people that are in a 'deficient' state.  Or milk from goats or other animals not in feedlots (as some 'organic' milk is!).

But we really need to think about drinking milk.  Small amounts are probably OK as the dose can make the poison in most cases.  (except IgE allergies which there are many to milk products).  But drinking a glass of milk is just not a smart idea.

Here is another good article: http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/one-type-of-milk-may-cause-diabetes-the-other-doesnt-which-do-you-drink/

In case you haven't seen Food Matters it is available for free viewing until October 8th.

See:  http://foodmatters.tv/screeningevent2

It is known that diseases of mental health are related to free radical damage (oxidation) of fatty acids in the brain.  For example in Alzheimer’s amyloid plaques in the brain are known to be a result of oxidative damage. A recent randomized double blind placebo controlled study was just released demonstrating that antioxidants can help improve memory scores and in some cases verbal scores. Read the rest of this entry

FDA Calling for Consumer Comments on "Gluten-Free Safety Zone"

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving closer to creating a gluten-free safety zone for consumers of gluten-free products. Until October 2, 2011, the FDA is soliciting comments from consumers about its proposed safety level of not more than 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in foods labeled as “gluten-free.” Read the rest of this entry

During pregnancy there are several supplements that show clear benefit in addition to a healthy non-junk food diet:  Vitamin D, Fish Oils (prefer high DHA) and probiotics.

Here are a few articles posted in the past about the benefits of probiotics during pregnancy:

• Reduce infant dermatitis
• Reduce atopic dermatitis
• Reduces incidences of eczema
• Given to infants it can reduce colic

A recent literature review of probiotics during pregnancy evaluated all the gold standard studies which means they are double-blind, placebo controlled.    What they found was that probiotics given during pregnancy reduced the incidence of eczema in their children from ages 2-7 years old.   What is interested is that it was only for the lactobacillus genus and not other strains such as bifidobacteria or products that contained a mixture of strains. Read the rest of this entry

A review study was recently published that evaluated 13 trials which included 1,986 women and found that acupuncture during labor was associated with:

1. Less intense pain reported
2. More satisfaction with pain relief compared to no treatment
3. A reduced use of pharmacological analgesia
4. Fewer instrumental deliveries

Number 3 above directly leads to number 4 as it has been shown the epidurals can lengthen the duration of labor thereby increasing the likelihood that other interventions such forceps as C-section are needed. Also once the epidural is given often then Pitocin is given to speed up contractions.   Therefore if acupuncture can reduce the amount of pain during labor then fewer interventions would be required.    Not to mention the other health implication with the often unnecessary medical procedures used in birthing. Read the rest of this entry