Produced by the body, N-acetylcysteine (commonly called NAC) is a form of the amino acid cysteine. Because it enhances the production of the Enzyme glutathione, one of the body’s powerhouse antioxidants, NAC can both stave off disease and play an important role in boosting the immune system. Studies have shown that glutathione levels are often reduced in people with certain conditions related to the immune system.
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Learning to Say No
Click here for the Health Tip link. I have a group of chronically stressed patients who share one characteristic: their utter inability to say the word no, as in “Sorry, but no, I just don’t have time for that.” This group can be recognized by their fixed smiles, even as they’re relating stories of stress-related […]
Niacin
Also known as vitamin B3, niacin has earned a reputation (in supplement form) as a natural cholesterol-lowering agent that often rivals prescription drugs in mild to moderate cases. It may also help to prevent or treat a number of other disorders, from arthritis and depression to diabetes. Three forms of niacin supplements–each with a specific therapeutic role–are commercially available: nicotinic acid (also called nicotinate), niacinamide and inositol hexaniacinate, a compound of niacin and inositol (another B-family vitamin).
Nettle
Also known as “stinging nettle” because the prickly hollow needles on its dark green leaves sting and burn upon contact, nettle (Urtica dioica) is an ancient herbal remedy for snakebites, asthma, arthritis, urinary tract inflammation, and excessive menstrual flow. While the above-ground parts of the plant–the leaf and the stem–are generally still used for these purposes, the roots are now popular for treating the discomforts of an enlarged prostate.
Natural Progesterone Cream
For many women, natural progesterone cream appears to provide significant relief from symptoms related to shifts in the female hormones estrogen and progesterone.
For younger women, such imbalances are often associated with PMS or endometriosis, and bring on symptoms such as irritability, breast tenderness, and pelvic pain. For older women entering menopause, decreasing supplies of estrogen can cause hormonal imbalances, producing hot flashes, mood swings, urinary urgency, and poor concentration.
Naringin
A flavonoid compound found in grapefruit, naringin gives grapefruit its characteristic bitter flavor. Grapefruit processors attempt to select fruits with a low naringin content, and often blend juices obtained from different grapefruit varieties to obtain the desired degree of bitterness. Naringin is believed to enhance our perception of taste by stimulating the taste buds (some people consume a small amount of grapefruit juice before a meal for this reason).
Naturopathy
Naturopathy is a distinct system of medicine that is based on a belief in the healing power of nature–and especially in the body’s innate ability to fight disease and heal itself. Practiced by naturopathic doctors (also known as naturopaths or N.D.s), it uses a wide range of natural treatment methods, rather than drugs or surgery, to stimulate the body’s own healing powers. Among the therapies many naturopaths frequently prescribe are diet and lifestyle modifications, nutritional supplements, homeopathy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, detoxification, spinal manipulation, and more.
Native American Medicine
Native American medicine is an umbrella term that encompasses the healing beliefs and practices of all the indigenous people of North America. Its therapeutic approach combines spirituality, herbalism, and magic in treating a wide range of physical and emotional ailments–from the common cold to depression.
Our Missing Nutrients
Click here for the Health Tip link. “Empty calories.” “Overweight and undernourished.” These are the phrases used to describe millions of Americans. Waddling though our now half-empty shopping malls, chowing down on a Mrs. Field’s cookie for the energy to get us to that distant food court, we wonder, “What, in this Land of Plenty, […]
Can You Trust the NYT?
Click here for the Health Tip link. After three patients and health tips readers sent me copies of a decidedly smug article in the New York Times blasting the public’s gullibility regarding vitamin supplements, I felt I had to say something. The article reports that the public seemingly ignores numerous large “well-controlled clinical studies” that, […]
Q&A: New Year’s Resolution
Click here for the Health Tip link. Q: Dr Edelberg, if you could recommend one new year’s resolution to your readers and patients, what would it be? A: Let’s face it, 2008 has been a very rough year and we keep hearing that it may be a walk in the park compared to 2009. During […]
A Solid Thumbs-Up on Nutritional Supplements
Click here for the original post. Every morning and evening for more years than I like to ponder, I reach for my two vitamin trays (yes, I need two), mentally check that I’m not taking them on an empty stomach, and dutifully swallow my eighteen pills and capsules, plus an aspirin. That’s 37 a day. […]
Nutritional Research: Busy Month
Click here for the original post. I’ve had the feeling recently that everybody’s getting tired of prescription medications. To begin with, we’re taking far too many unsavory chemicals for problems mostly attributable to our unhealthful lifestyles–controlling adult-onset diabetes, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, cooling heartburn, sedating our stress-laden lives. And did I mention side effects? […]
R&R for 2008
This new year’s eve, consider a resolution that will make your cheeks glow and your heart happy.
Consider scheduling a long weekend, or even a week, at a health spa.
Many of my patients who have followed through on this (my favorite) prescription consider their health-spa visits life-altering. The healthy food, massage, long walks, and yoga sessions, lack of TVs, and turned-off cellphones helped them see how eliminating stress could lead to a whole new approach to good health.
Nature’s Apothecary: Valerian for Calm and Better Sleep
Using the herb valerian medicinally goes back to ancient Greece. By the 19th century, valerian was regularly found in pharmacies as a medication for both anxiety and insomnia, essentially the Valium of those days.
Q&A: Nutritional Medicine
Q: In a recent newsletter you discussed new findings in nutritional medicine. I’ve never heard of nutritional medicine. Would you define it?
Nutritional Medicine News
Each week I read well over 100 medical articles, summaries, and abstracts of studies sifted from the thousands that are published. Most have nothing to do with nutritional medicine, but there are always a few. Here are some recent highlights:
Nutritional Bad News
Click here for the Health Tip link. The government has made official what’s been common knowledge among nutritionally oriented practitioners for years: the vitamin and mineral content of our fruits and vegetables has been in steady decline since the 1950s, when scientists first began to measure them. Researchers sampled produce from grocery stores all over […]