Nutrition & Wellness

There is more and more evidence that healthy diet can reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Recent research has suggested that getting more anthocyanins, a kind of flavonoid antioxidant, in your diet can prevent cognitive decline. This meta-analysis put the claim to the test. Anthocyanins are plant flavonoids abundantly found in red, blue and purple fruits, vegetables and flowers, including blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, grapes, cherries, red cabbage an

Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause of end-stage kidney failure in the world. High blood sugar leads to oxidative stress, which plays a key role in nephropathy. One natural antioxidant can really help. In this new study, 100 people with type 1 diabetes added either nothing or 300mg a day of alpha-lipoic acid to their conventional medication for 3 months. The study found that people with type 1 diabetes have significantly higher levels of oxidative stress and significant

High levels of uric acid can lead to all kinds of problems. The evidence is mounting that cherries can help. Having too much uric acid can lead to painful gout. Less known is that, even in the absence of gout, it can cause systemic inflammation, high blood pressure, hypothyroidism and chronic kidney disease. Tart cherries have been shown in a number of studies to reduce uric acid and improve suffering from gout (Arthritis Rheum 2013;65:1135-6; Arthritis Rheum 2012;64:4004-11)

Peanuts get a lot of bad press. Here’s some really good press. Eating peanuts improves your memory, and now we might know why. A new single-blind, controlled study has shown that eating 60g a day of unsalted, roasted peanuts with the skin for 8 weeks significantly improved verbal memory in healthy adults whose average age was 67 years. And the improvement was significant: delayed recall improved by 5.8%. This is not the first time peanuts have been shown to improve memory. A

Though it gets a lot less attention than calcium or vitamin D, without vitamin K, your bones would be like chalk. This new study helps explain why. Your bones need calcium, but they also need a hormone called osteocalcin. Osteocalcin helps attract and bind calcium to your bones. And osteocalcin is produced by vitamin K. This new systematic review and meta-analysis of the role of vitamin K included 9 controlled studies of 2,570 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. The form

Chronic kidney disease is more common than you’d think. More than 1 in 7 American adults have chronic kidney disease, and it is a leading cause of death in the US. Could something as simple as vitamin C help? People with chronic kidney disease are at increased risk for vitamin C deficiency, and that lower vitamin C is associated with an increased risk of death. A just published study has found that the highest vitamin C levels are found in people free of chronic kidney diseas

Getting a good night’s sleep is not easy for a lot of people. But the solution might be a lot easier than you think. People have reported getting better sleep when they eat better quality diets, including eating more fruit and vegetables. But this new study is the first to use objective measures to test that observation. The results were spectacular both for the impact of diet on sleep and for the immediacy of the results. The 34 people in the study were younger American adul

Recent research is proving this nutrient to be great for your heart. And nature provides a delicious abundance of it. A group of powerful flavonoids known as flavan-3-ols–sometimes known as catechins or flavanols–is proving to safely and powerfully reduce blood pressure. These nutrients are found in dark chocolate, green tea, apples, grapes and some berries. A new meta-analysis of 145 controlled studies, and 5205 people, has now shown just how powerful these flavonoids are. T

You’ve heard lots of bad news about air pollution, and with good reason: air pollution is associated with reduced lung function. Now,...

Epidemiological studies consistently show that people who eat plant based diets live longer (Maturitas. 2022 Nov:165:47-51). Research has...