Archive for March, 2008
The risk of fadang in dementia
Saturday, March 29th, 2008 The natives of Guam use fadang — the seed of the false sago palm (a cycad) (photo) — as an ingredient in their traditional medicine and food.
According to Marjorie Whiting, a nutritionist/anthropologist who lived with the native Guamanians, “Everybody knows that the fadang is toxic… The people go to a lot of trouble to process it in order to detoxify it.”
Now, we’re learning about the risk factors for toxicity they missed. (more…)
Zero trans fat is not the same as no trans fat
Friday, March 28th, 2008 Federal regulations allow food labels to say there are zero grams of trans fat as long as there’s less than a half-gram per serving, according to this AP story.
“The problem is that often people eat a lot more than one serving,” says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard School of Public Health. (more…)
Comparing treatments for insomnia
Friday, March 28th, 2008The need for vitamin D in people with epilepsy
Friday, March 28th, 2008 During the First North American Regional Epilepsy Congress, researchers from the University of Texas reported that men with epilepsy who take enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have lower levels of vitamin D and calcium, plus higher parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels.
The AEDs involved included the following.
Mediterranean diet for Alzheimer’s disease?
Thursday, March 27th, 2008Is physical therapy cost-effective care for sciatica?
Thursday, March 27th, 2008Consumer alert: Blue Steel and Hero products
Thursday, March 27th, 2008 In the ongoing game of catch me if you can, these products have been caught. (more…)
Reconsidering the effect of folate on breast cancer risk
Thursday, March 27th, 2008 A published (and widely circulated in the lay press) study by researchers at Lund University in Sweden reported that high folate intake by women 50 years and older was associated with a lower incidence of postmenopausal breast cancer.
Of greater interest is an editorial by Dr. Cornelia Ulrich from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. (more…)
Can homeopathic products contain active substances not in homeopathic dilutions?
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008Stress-management for radical prostatectomy patients
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008Peri-menopausal symptoms treated with pycnogenol
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 This is apparently the first study of pycnogenol (French maritime pine bark extract) to treat peri-menopausal symptoms. (more…)
Dietary supplements, allopathic, and homeopathic medicines
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 An article published by John Borneman and Robert Field on the Hyland’s website (and here) provides insight to the regulatory differences between these drug categories in the US.
It’s instructive to appreciate the similarities and differences. The authors believe the guidelines for homeopathic medicine could serves as a model for approval and postmarketing oversight of dietary supplements. (more…)
Fewer calories or more exercise: Which is best for weight loss?
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 A study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reveals that dieting alone is as effective at reducing weigh and fat as a combination of diet and exercise — as long as the calories consumed and burned are equal.
There was one important difference, however.
Here are the details.
Will adopting a healthy lifestyle in middle age improve your health?
Monday, March 24th, 2008 The answer is yes — especially among people with high blood pressure, diabetes, or low socioeconomic status — according to researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. (more…)
Eat food, not nutrients
Monday, March 24th, 2008 Michael Pollan, writing in The New York Times Magazine advises, “If you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat.
What’s this got to do with you?
Echinacea and the all too common cold
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 Taking echinacea after the onset of a cold shortens its duration or decreases the severity of symptoms, according to the results of most clinical trials. The best results are achieved using products containing alcoholic extracts and pressed juice preparations of the aerial (above ground) parts of the plant.
No evidence suggests echinacea can prevent the onset of the common cold or that it’s effective in children.