Rat research on fucoxanthin presented during the 2006 American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco is starting to make the rounds in the media.
Don’t hold your breath, fucoxanthin is years from being sold at GNC — if it ever gets that far.
Here’s what we know about fucoxanthin.
Continue reading Fucoxanthin as a potential anti-obesity agent?
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
“The main voices in favor of DHEA as a miracle drug are those who are selling it or who make a good living selling books or programs advocating ‘natural cures’.” That’s the conclusion from the Skeptics Dictionary. But look for yourself, and you will agree.
Here is another reason to be skeptical of DHEA [dehydroepiandrosterone].
An algorithm for treating type 2 diabetes appears in Diabetes Care this month. Here’s a summary of the impressive effects of weight control ? if you can maintain it over the long-term.
Benefits of weight loss.
Continue reading The benefits of weight control in type 2 diabetes
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.
Around 1990, two studies here and here suggested that artificial sweeteners had little satiating capacity compared to glucose or sucrose. It raised the question, if they didn’t make you feel full (or keep you feeling full) compared to sugar, how could they help lose weight?
This is the source of the rumor that artificial sweeteners cause weight gain.
A decade later, the controversy was resolved.
The latest recommendations for the routine care of people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease were published last month in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
If you have coronary heart disease, here is what you can expect to hear from your primary care physician or cardiologist.
The new goals of complementary therapies
Continue reading New complementary goals for patients with heart disease
This Sunday’s New York Times spends 6591 words spread out over 72 paragraphs discussing the theory that obesity is related to intestinal microorganisms.
It’s an entertaining story. The results of animal studies suggest that people infected with an adenovirus, Ad-36, have a better than even chance of becoming obese.
I know what you’re thinking, but don’t hold your breath.
Yes, some day, in the future, in a galaxy far, far away, it might be possible to administer antiviral drugs to “infected” individuals early enough to block the effect of Ad-36 on the fat cells.
But by paragraph 67 we learn what we knew all the time, there is no substitute for diet and exercise.
8/13/06 9:22 JR
Even as researchers debate its importance, the NIH has awarded an $8 million, five-year grant to evaluate the effects of plant extracts on the metabolic syndrome. Researchers from Rutgers University and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center will grow the plants, determine their active components, and conduct clinical trials.
Here’s some background on the metabolic syndrome and the growing controversy about its relevance.
Continue reading Studying the effects of plant extracts on the metabolic syndrome
Just got back from vacation? Did you enjoy your trip to Hong Kong? What’s that you say, you found a great diet pill there that you put in your suitcase and took home?
It’s called what? “Conting Qianweisu Slimming Herbs Capsule”?
Hmm, catchy name. Caution!
Continue reading Consumer alert: Conting Qianweisu Slimming Herbs Capsule
Exercise and diet can reduce neuropathic pain and help regenerate nerve fibers in overweight patients with impaired glucose tolerance (“Prediabetes”), according to research that was presented at the 2006 American Academy of Neurology 58th Annual Meeting.
Details of the study are reported here, and a review of the topic is presented here.
7/13/06 00:09 JR