Rumination is the voluntary or involuntary regurgitation and rechewing of partially digested food that is either reswallowed or expelled.
Interestingly, in addition to diet, exercise, and possibly surgery, all treatments are complementary.
Continue reading Complementary treatments for rumination
It’s not the total amount of fat in your diet that’s linked to disease. What really matters is the type of fat in your diet.
The Harvard School of Public Health has published a nice table along with a concise discussion that compares the 4 types of fats in our diet, including sources and their effects on LDL (bad) and HDL (good) cholesterol.
Northern California shoppers were divided into two groups: “regular organic shoppers” who buy organic produce on a typical grocery-shopping trip; and “nonregulars” who don’t. They were asked how much more they would pay for four different produce items.
Continue reading Are we willing to pay more for organic food?
A study in northern India shows that milk fortified with specific micronutrients lowers the risk of diarrhea and acute lower respiratory illness in children.
Here’s a list of what was added to the milk.
Continue reading Adding micronutrients to milk reduces diarrhea and respiratory illness in children
There’s one hospital in Sweden where anthroposophic medicine is practiced. Here is a study of its effect in 60 women who received conventional breast cancer treatment with and without anthroposophic care.
Continue reading Quality of life in women with breast cancer receiving anthroposophic care
I hate these negative headlines, but there seems to be no upside to the latest survey results on obesity among Americans.
Want to know more?
Continue reading Most obese Americans don’t try to lose weight, and those that try, fail!
The Cranberry Institute (Yes, there is such a thing.) lists the benefits of cranberries. And I admit it’s my favorite side dish at Thanksgiving.
But let’s take a look at what you get when you scoop up that mass of goo.
It”s illegal for supplements to be promoted as a “treatment” for a disease. They can “support” health, or “boost” the immune system, or use other vague claims. But before any product can legally state that it can treat a specific disease it must pass US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for drugs.
The dietary supplements listed below have crossed the line by claiming to treat cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and seizures.
Continue reading Advertising claims for more dietary supplements “cross the line”
A natural substance in red wine, known as resveratrol (RSV), offsets the unhealthy effects of a high-calorie diet in mice and significantly extends their life span, according to an article published in The International Herald Tribune, and in The Washington Post.
In this study, mice fed the high-calorie diet became “tubby,” while those who got the high-fat diet plus RSV did not. The full study is online at the journal, Cell. (Vol 127, #4, November 16, 2006)
What are the implications?
These data are from a telephone survey of more than 2500 randomly sampled noninstitutionalized Americans, which was published in 2002. The tables can also be found here. Continue reading The most commonly used vitamins and herbals
A public hearing is scheduled for December 5th to debate what role, if any, the agency should play in defining and regulating functional foods. Details are provided here.
Continue reading What should be the FDA’s role in regulating functional foods?
After eating a meal, blood sugar levels increase and then peak before coming down, as shown on the graph above. This blood sugar “excursion” is exaggerated in people with diabetes compared to those who are not diabetic.
OK, but what’s this got to do with yogurt?
Continue reading Improving diabetes control with soy yogurt and blueberries
Two years ago Denmark made it illegal for any food to have more than 2% trans fatty acids. The result? Today hardly anyone notices the difference, reports the Associated Press.
“The french fries are still crispy. The pastries are still scrumptious. And the fried chicken is still tasty,” according to this report. And the pastries “taste just as good as they always did,” said the 59-year-old sales assistant.
Here is a list of companies and their products that no longer contain trans fatty acids. Have you noticed a difference?
Continue reading Companies switch from trans fats: Have you noticed a difference?
Modest consumption of fish — one to two servings a week — may reduce the risk of coronary death by 36% and the actual death rate by 17%, according to Harvard researchers.
But what about the risk from mercury?
Here’s a series of quotes from the October (Volume 12, 2006) editorial in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine that I think contrasts the points of view between alternative and mainstream medicine today. Is the alternative perspective too esoteric to be of practical value? Or is the mainstream approach (for chronic diabetes for example) destined to come up short? Or is the answer somewhere in the middle?
Continue reading A problem endemic to clinical medicine: treating the symptoms, not the cause
Here in Orange County New York with its “black earth’ and proud agricultural heritage there are festivals this time of year honoring just about every food you grow in the ground or herd on the range.
My town, Monroe, has its cheese festival (although no one actually sells cheese). And the local newspaper lists many more, with the notable exception of beets. This is especially strange considering how close we are to the Borscht Belt.
Well, here is my ode to the lowly beet from NutritionData.com and whFoods.com.
I signed up for the Harvard Health Letter last night. This morning they sent a free report titled, Living to 100: What’s the Secret?
Here are the secrets based on their review of several studies.
There’s not one high tech recommendation in the bunch.
Continue reading Complementary secrets to living a hundred years
Laboratory studies show that there are up to three times more vitamin D receptors on pancreatic cancer cells than on normal pancreas cells. Moreover, the exposure to high concentrations of vitamin D(3) reduces the number of pancreatic cancer cells.
Now, the results from an epidemiological survey confirm the relationship between vitamin D and cancer of the pancreas.
Continue reading Vitamin D protects from cancer of the pancreas
The risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is directly linked to a woman’s body mass index (BMI), according to the results of a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Continue reading Got GERD? Watch your weight.