Health, Microbes, and More
Again, more benefits of vitamin D. Think of it as the sunshine vitamin, but supplements also work, especially vitamin D3 (rather than D2). This time higher levels of vitamin D in the blood (as measured by the vitamin D biomarker, 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D) are linked to lower incidence of macular degeneration among those women genetically ...continue reading "Vitamin D and Macular Degeneration Link?"
Once again, research shows that eating lots of fruits and vegetables is beneficial to health - this time because high vitamin C concentrations in the blood is linked to lower risks of developing cardiovascular disease and early death. And it's food that they looked at, not supplements. From Science Daily: Vitamin C related to reduced ...continue reading "Eat Fruits and Vegetables!"
This new research suggests possible future treatments in treating urinary tract infections (UTIs) by manipulating the person's diet and so influencing gut microbes and urinary pH (how acidic is the urine). These possible future treatments are different than what others are looking for, which are bacteria (probiotics) that one can take to prevent or treat ...continue reading "A Person’s Diet, Urine Acidity, and UTIs"
The study results of 218 overweight, postmenopausal women who had insufficient levels of vitamin D (like most people) at the beginning of the study found that weight loss (including exercise), in combination with vitamin D supplementation, had a greater effect on reducing chronic inflammation than weight loss alone. Current thinking is that chronic inflammation is linked ...continue reading "Weight Loss and Vitamin D Reduce Inflammation Linked to Some Diseases and Cancers"
People are correctly raising the issue of whether the positive results (less diabetic nerve pain in type 2 diabetics) are due to the weight loss or to the vegan diet (which caused the quick weight loss)? I suspect it's the average 15 pound weight loss, which lowers inflammation and improves blood flow to the feet. ...continue reading "Is It the Vegan Diet or the Weight Loss?"
Finding out that so many of probiotics currently contain traces of gluten is of serious concern to people wishing to avoid gluten in food products, for example those with celiac disease. Too bad the researchers didn't publish the brands.From Science Daily: Many probiotics are contaminated with traces of gluten More than half of popular probiotics ...continue reading "Many Probiotics Contain Traces of Gluten"
My last post was about a recent Medscape article discussing whether probiotics can be used to treat urinary tract infections (UTIs) (answer: probiotics are promising, but too little is known right now to recommend any). Two alternative treatments that the article did not discuss were drinking cranberry juice or taking cranberry supplements (studies are currently mixed ...continue reading "Urinary Tract Infections and D-Mannose"
Since so many people are taking Vitamin D supplements because of its supposed health benefits, the question becomes - how much is too much? For those desiring to take vitamin D supplements, what is a good maintenance dosage to take daily? That question has not been answered from the studies I've seen other than 1000 ...continue reading "How Frequent is Vitamin D Toxicity?"
Our microbiome or microbiota - are the trillions of microbes living in communities within and on a person (gut, nasal cavities, mouth, sinuses, etc.). They are incredibly important to our health in many ways. Our intestines (gut microbiome) are densely packed with microbes, with between 500 to more than 1000 species of bacteria. These microbes play ...continue reading "Feeding Your Gut Microbes"
There has been a lot of discussion in the last few years of our gut bacteria (hundreds of species), the microbiome (the community of microbes living within and on a person (gut, nasal cavities, mouth, sinuses, etc.), probiotics, the finding of a link between bacteria and some chronic diseases, and how the modern lifestyle and ...continue reading "Feeding and Nurturing Your Gut Bacteria"