A succulent perennial plant belonging to the lily family, aloe vera grows wild in Madagascar and large portions of the African continent. Because of its many therapeutic uses, it is now commercially cultivated in the United States, Japan, and countries in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Many individuals also grow aloe as a houseplant.
Category: Nutrition, Nutritional Supplements, Vitamins, & Herbal Remedies
Nutritional counseling focuses on helping clients understanding foods and their role in preventive nutrition. Nutrition, supplements, vitamins and herbal remedies help achieve and maintain healthy body composition, (lean muscle-to-fat ratio) in order to improve health, manage disease, feel better, and reduce the risk of serious conditions.
Allium Compounds
Allium compounds are derived from Allium sativum, or garlic, which is one of the most widely studied medicinal plants. The fresh garlic bulb is usually dried, crushed into a powder, and then compressed to produce a tablet. The tablet form is the most commonly used commercial preparation of garlic. Raw whole cloves have similar effects.
Agrimony
The yellow, star-shaped blossoms of Agrimonia eupatoria, an herb found throughout the northern hemisphere, have long been used as a remedy for diarrhea and a host of other ailments. Legend has it, for instance, that the ancient Greeks soothed eye problems with agrimony, and the Anglo-Saxons treated wounds with it as well.
Adrenal Complex
This combination product contains herbs, vitamins, and other nutrients believed to stimulate the adrenals, endocrine glands located on top of each kidney that produce steroid and stress hormones. Nourishing the adrenals is believed to increase energy and reinforce the response to stress, properties particularly valuable to people suffering from fatigue due to overwork, emotional strain, chronic fatigue syndrome, certain thyroid disorders, and other causes.
Adenosine Monophosphate (AMP)
Every minute of every day, as part of normal metabolic processes, your body produces a substance called adenosine monophosphate (AMP). Think of it as a byproduct of your body’s effort to create energy from the foods you eat.
Activated Charcoal
Poison control centers often recommend activated charcoal to treat accidental poisonings, making it a useful supplement to keep in the home. Activated charcoal is made from organic materials such as wood pulp and then treated to further enhance its absorptive powers. Once ingested, it binds with certain chemicals in the digestive tract, preventing them from being absorbed into your system and causing harm.
Acidophilus
Of the 400 different kinds of bacteria and yeasts typically found in the human digestive tract, there are a handful of so-called friendly ones that are of particular importance: Lactobacillus acidophilus and other members of the Lactobacillus family. Acidophilus is considered a “probiotic” because it helps to maintain a normal balance of beneficial bacteria in the intestines and vagina. Like other probiotics, it does this by supplying healthy bacteria and inhibiting unwelcome organisms. Many people take acidophilus to prevent and treat various digestive disorders, vaginal infections, and other illnesses.
Rhodiola rosea
Rhodiola rosea is a popular plant in traditional medical systems in Eastern Europe and Asia and is native to the mountainous regions of these areas. After considerable research by Russian scientists, it has been classified as an ‘adaptogen’ meaning that without treating one specific medical condition, regular use of Rhodiola will help the body resist stressors. By raising levels of monamines and beta-endorphins, Rhodiola raises a “stress buffer” system comparable to serotonin stress buffer raised by SSRI antidepressants including St. John’s wort. Therefore, virtually all symptoms caused or worsened by ‘stress,’ which may include depression, anxiety, insomnia, chronic muscle pain (fibromyalgia), chronic fatigue (from adrenal exhaustion), immune dysfunction (susceptibility to infections, cancer) might be either prevented or improved using an adaptogen like Rhodiola. In its historical use, before its mechanism of action was understood, Rhodiola was recommended to combat fatigue and restore energy.
Resveratrol
Resveratrol is a new and very popular supplement currently recommended by nutritionally oriented physicians, including myself, as avery potent antioxidant that may have potential as an anticancer and cardioprotective compound..
Resveratrol is found in the skins of red grapes and is, therefore, a component of red wine. It is also found in purple grape juice, berries such as blueberries, cranberries, and raspberries, and in smaller amounts in peanuts. In the 1990s, the compound began to attract attention as an explanation of the so-called “French paradox,” namely the low incidence of heart disease among French people despite their diet high in saturated fats.
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, […]
Anti-Aging Supplements
In a previous health tip, I discussed what I considered to be the pointlessness of spending your hard-earned money seeing a specialist in anti-aging medicine. This tip is for those curious about anti-aging supplements. But first, a quick list of the current theories about why our bodies age: Genetic Genes are probably overrated, but if […]
St. John’s Wort as Effective as Pharmaceuticals for Mild Depression
Several years ago, the herbal antidepressant St. John’s Wort (SJW), best known for its excellent combination of effectiveness and absence of side effects, was dealt a serious and unfair blow by the US pharmaceutical industry. But there’s a hopeful end to this tip, so read on. In an example of how the industry’s greed will […]
Preventing Flu
Click here for the Health Tip link. The advice in this health tip works for preventing virtually all virus infections, including the flu. Of the 150,000 genetic variations of mushrooms on our planet, it’s guesstimated that about 5% have useful medicinal properties. Of these, we know something about just a scant handful. Like every other […]
Name-That-Food Quiz
Today’s food quiz comes from Alice Henneman, dietitian at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in Lancaster County. Thanks, Alice.
Vitamin D, Part 2
Last time we talked about the Vitamin D Council and its research on vitamin D deficiency. Today I’ll add some observations from the front lines of doctoring, as well as my updated recommendations on supplementing with D.
Vitamin D – Again
Nutritionally oriented physicians agree that the hottest topic over the last couple of years has been vitamin D.
Travel Snacks
If you travel at all, you don’t need me to describe the dismal food options at most airports. Yes, there are occasionally some decent choices, but what to do in the face of cinnamon buns, cold white-bread lunchmeat sandwiches, and mini-pizzas?
Basic Foods for Cupboard, Fridge, and Freezer
When a young family member set up life in his first apartment, the inevitable shopping list for stocking the kitchen posed a good question. Just what are the basics you need to function day-to-day and meal-to-meal?
Melatonin for Mild Cognitive Impairment
I doubt the subscription list of the Journal of Pineal Research is significantly beyond the high two digits, but it did contain the following nugget.