Ginkgo biloba has the longest life span of any tree, with some ginkgo trees
estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. Even more astonishing is that
ginkgo, as a survivor of the Ice Age, has been around for more than 200
million years.
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.
Holiday Stress Rx: Part 2
Click here for the Health Tip link. Women play such a central role in family and celebration, to the degree that the stress of holiday demands can make you feel exhausted, anxious, and sick. Taking some time for yourself may seem counterintuitive, but it’s precisely what you need. Here’s another prescription for keeping healthy during […]
Most Common Deficiencies: Zinc
Click here for the Health Tip link. A popular blood test in our office measures levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It seems reasonable that as long as you’re spending good money on nutritional supplements, you might as well see if they’re being absorbed. It’s also helpful that some health insurance companies (notably, Blue Cross) […]
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 […]
Ginkgo Biloba
A lot of my patients ask me about taking ginkgo for memory. Here’s my answer, with a little extra detail: Ginkgo biloba has the longest life span of any tree, with some ginkgo trees estimated to be more than 1,000 years old. Even more astonishing is that ginkgo, as a survivor of the Ice Age, […]
Homocysteine and Your Health
The medical profession has done a good job alerting the public to the dangers of high cholesterol, with ample help from the pharmaceutical industry.
Q&A: Supplements for Better Breathing
Q: My husband has congestive heart failure. While he’s getting excellent care from his physicians, I’m wondering if there are any supplements you could recommend that would improve his breathing. A: The single most useful supplement for congestive heart failure is coenzyme Q-10. Many cardiologists are aware of this, but because it’s not yet FDA-approved […]
Preventing Cancer with One Good Choice
You can prevent cancer by eating more vegetables, and specifically more cruciferous vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts.
More than half of all cancers in US adults are likely caused by poor diet, and many others develop because we’re exposed to a gruesome soup of environmental toxins in our food, air, and water.
Supplements I Take: Acetyl-L-Carnitine
I ask every new patient what prescription medications and supplements she takes. Occasionally, someone turns the tables and asks me what my daily supplement regimen consists of.
Is Vitamin C Worthwhile?
I’m asked this question a lot.
You’d think the controversy would be over by now. Among doctors who take vitamins regularly (now the majority), vitamin C is always included.
Fish Oil Now by Prescription
Yes, you read that correctly. But don’t worry–fish oil will still be sold here and at your health food store.
Believe me, I was surprised when the drug rep came in with samples and said the fish oil capsules her company was making would be covered under most health insurance plans. I have mixed emotions about this.
Yet Another Reason to Enjoy Fruit
I’m not sure how far this will go to replace Pop Tarts with your children, but some new research reveals that children 16 to 18 years old as well as women 60 to 83 who ate fruit regularly had much better bones than those who didn’t.
Melatonin and Perimenopause
I was surprised to see a clinical report using the nutritional supplement melatonin in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science, simply because it’s a very conservative journal, rarely acknowledging the existence of natural medicine.
Q&A: Interactions Between Antidepressants and Supplements
Q: I’m currently taking Effexor and Wellbutrin for depression. Eventually I’d like to eliminate these medications. Will the Triple Whammy supplements harm me in any way while taking these prescribed medications?
Add Some Fat to Your Veggies
Researchers at Ohio State University (OSU) have made a truly tasty discovery: in order for our bodies to get maximum benefit from the nutrients in the vegetables we eat, we need to add some fat while eating them.
Pycnogenol: Are You a Frequent Flyer?
Many of my patients travel quite a bit for work. Here’s a tip: pycnogenol (pronounced “pik-noj-en-all”) is a powerful antioxidant extracted from the bark of pine trees and sold in health food stores either under that name or as PCO Extract. A newly discovered side benefit from pycnogenol is that it can prevent the foot […]
Vitamin D and Fibromyalgia
You may have noticed I’ve been sending out a lot of messages about vitamin D lately, but there’s a good reason for this. Worldwide, there’s much new research relating vitamin D to puzzling and seemingly unrelated medical conditions, and it’s important to keep up with the latest information as it’s published.
Q&A: Supplements and the Triple Whammy
Q: I unfortunately have all the symptoms of the Triple Whammy. What supplements do I need to take to get on the right track? A: Taking supplements to boost your feel-good serotonin is just one part of the Triple Whammy three-week cure, but it’s an essential component. To increase the amount of serotonin in […]
Still More Benefits of Fish Oil
The Triple Whammy Cure endlessly extols the virtues of fish oil to ramp up your production of feel-good serotonin. Many readers know that fish oil also protects against heart disease, but are unsure exactly how or why. The answer is that fish oil opens up your blood vessels and improves circulation. To prove this, researchers […]
Cancer and Vitamin D
If I caught your attention with that headline, why not review your supplements right now and add up the total number of units of vitamin D you’re taking every day.