Turmeric: A Potent Anti-inflammatory with Availability Issues

Curcuma longa (Turmeric) roots and powderAlthough turmeric has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries, the renewed attention around this member of the ginger family centers on the scientific evidence supporting its main active component, curcumin. Continue reading Turmeric: A Potent Anti-inflammatory with Availability Issues

Why the Nutrition Facts Label Can Lead You Astray

FDA Nutrition Facts Label 2006On the back of every cereal box, frozen dinner, condiment bottle, and any other packaged food, you will find the Nutrition Facts label.

Introduced by the Food and Drug Administration over 25 years ago, the purpose of this labeling system is to help consumers make more informed food choices.

Thus it would be natural to think you’re covered for, say, vitamin C, if a product’s Nutrition Facts label says it provides 100% of the Daily Value of vitamin C.

 

But you’d be wrong.

Continue reading Why the Nutrition Facts Label Can Lead You Astray

Diet for a Healthy Heart

A Healthy Heart of Fruits and VegetablesYou’ve probably heard it before, but it’s worth repeating:

  • Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women
  • Diet and lifestyle choices can have a dramatic effect on the development of heart disease and other conditions affecting the cardiovascular system

It’s never too late to start taking measures to prevent the onset or progression of cardiovascular disease—the more changes you make now, the healthier you’ll be in years to come. In addition to getting regular physical activity and not smoking, what you eat makes a big difference.

Continue reading Diet for a Healthy Heart

The Cancer “Bad Luck” Hypothesis and Its Aftermath

Smoking is a leading cause of cancer

 

Forget smoking, sunburns, infections, and bad diet: two-thirds of cancers are due to “bad luck.”  That was the takeaway—and subsequent media headlines—from an article published in Science last year by researchers at Johns Hopkins Unversity.

Fast forward several months and another study looking at the same question came out in Nature with the opposite conclusion: lifestyle and other external factors account for over 70% of most cancers.

Two big name journals.  Two different conclusions.  So which is right?  What should be the new takeaway?

Continue reading The Cancer “Bad Luck” Hypothesis and Its Aftermath