We all feel blue from time to time, but major depressive disorder (MDD) is a condition that lasts for a long period of time. It’s a disease that people can’t just “get over” or “snap out of.” While antidepressant medications have been helpful for many people with MDD, they come with side effects of their own,
Eczema is a troubling skin condition that affects millions of Americans. The itchy rash of eczema is due to an atopic reaction: an inappropriate inflammatory response by the immune system. One thing that has long been known to help eczema, especially the type associated with food allergies, is the use of probiotics supplements (those beneficial bacteria).
Last week, I highlighted new evidence about the link between gluten and the symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Hot off the presses, we have another study about a gut-autism link. Researchers at Arizona State University (1) found a significant difference between the normal flora (bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract) of children with autism and non-autistic children.
You know you’re mostly not human, right?
When you count the microorganisms living in your gastrointestinal tract, skin, and respiratory tract will, there are ten times as many bacterial cells as human cells in your body. We are ecosystems, rather than single organisms. If 20th century nutrition was the discovery of vitamins, proteins,
There’s been a lot of debate over the years as to whether or not red meat consumption increases our risk of developing heart disease. In the past, much of the research has focused on the high levels of saturated fat and red meat, and their impact on blood cholesterol levels. A new study just published this month in Nature Medicine suggests a new mechanism: the difference in the type of gut bacteria between meat eaters and non-meat eaters.
Research in the area of normal flora — the “good,” or beneficial bacteria that live in our gut — has been exploding in recent years. It has been known for a long time that supplementing with probiotics (those friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus and Bifidus) can help with conditions ranging from eczema to allergies to irritable bowel syndrome.
This is a continuation of my series (in no particular order) on misperceptions in the field of natural medicine. My previous articles focused on policosanol and cinnamon.
In the 1980s, a medical doctor by the name of William Crook published a book called The Yeast Connection.
In recent years, medical researchers have recognized some common denominators in chronic degenerative diseases: insulin resistance, long-term inflammation, high blood pressure, and cholesterol imbalance (to name a few). In fact, several of these factors have been grouped together to form metabolic syndrome, a constellation of symptoms including at least 3 of the following 5 conditions: