Vitamin D, of course.

A PubMed search revealed 146 studies in humans during 2008 for a dizzying list of conditions. (more…)

Airborne.

Unfortunately, the biggest losers are the people who were coned into taking a “health product” with insufficient supporting scientific evidence. (more…)

 Patients with exercise-induced delayed-onset muscle soreness felt better after acupuncture, according to researchers at Goethe-University in Frankfurt, Germany. (more…)

 Researchers from Peking University in China reviewed the use of acupuncture combined with opioid receptor agonists for treating opiate-withdrawal symptoms. (more…)

 Laura Christman and Deb Peterson have written interesting articles on these resins, which became forever famous more than 2 centuries ago.

Highlights follow. (more…)

Mistletoe preparations are sometimes used as CAM to treat solid cancers such as breast cancer.

Here are statistics on the use of mistletoe to treat cancer, the results of a recently published clinical study in women with breast cancer, and a review of the medical literature.

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Not to be a scrooge, but at this time of the year it’s worthwhile to review the safety of mistletoe. (more…)

A group of Canadian researchers reviewed the medical literature on this topic.

Not all patents benefit from omega-3 fatty acids. (more…)

 Some of the weight loss products listed below claim to be “natural” or to contain only “herbal” ingredients.

The FDA found they actually contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed on the product labels or in promotional advertisements. (more…)

Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston have published a detailed review.

Their interest relates to the needs of vitamin D in the breastfeeding mother and her infant and child, but they also present a detailed and well-referenced review. (more…)

 It reportedly improves certain aspects of cognitive (reasoning) and psychomotor function in older individuals and in young people following sleep deprivation, according to researchers at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania.

But what about in healthy young people? (more…)

 The American College of Gastroenterology has published new guidelines for the management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Let’s focus on their view of herbals, acupuncture, and diet. (more…)

This review by Professor Edzard Ernst from the Universities of Exeter & Plymouth in the UK is an outspoken negative critique. (more…)

After 2 years of treatment, glucosamine sulfate had no effect on the symptoms and the progression of hip osteoarthritis, according to researchers from the Netherlands. (more…)

That’s the finding from a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Dr. Douglas Kiel of Hebrew SeniorLife and Harvard Medical School in Boston. (more…)

Giving zinc tablets reduces the duration and severity of diarrhea in children, according to researchers from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. (more…)

Here’s what the Cochrane Review reports. (more…)

 Researchers studied the relationship among fitness, adiposity, and mortality in older adults. (more…)

Dr. Brent Bauer (photo) who practices in the Division of General Internal Medicine and is Director of the Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at Mayo Clinic was interviewed as part of their ongoing series of podcasts.

Here are the highpoints. (more…)

 The benefits of isoflavone depend on converting soy foods and supplements to biologically active compounds such as equol, which occurs in the intestines and is altered by age-associated conditions.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin in Madison studied the effects of soy in older nondemented men and women. (more…)