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Insulin resistance is a condition present before the onset of type 2 diabetes. Too little physical activity and a diet consisting of high glycemic index foods, which are foods that cause the blood sugar to raise rapidly and high, can contribute to insulin resistance. Muscles use glucose as fuel to...

Stress is known for having a negative impact on health. The research reviewed examined the efficacy of taking high dose B-complex vitamins for 3 months as it related to stress (Stough C, et al. 2011). The study was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in which personality, work demands, mood, anxiety...

Insulin resistance is a condition where the insulin is not as effective as it used to be in transferring the blood sugar into the cells where it can be used for energy. This results in a compensation by the pancreas which then releases more insulin in an attempt to get...

The documented health benefits we receive from omega 3 fatty acids are numerous. Still new research keeps discovering even more ways omega 3 fats help protect us from common diseases. The research reviewed is one of these studies. The researchers investigated if omega 3 fatty acid intake would make a...

There are numerous studies documenting the health benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. However some estimates using food frequency questionnaires have associated omega 3 fat with a higher incidence of diabetes. The research reviewed investigated for that reason the relationship between omega 3 fatty acid measurements in 3,088 men and...

Trans-fatty acids are not a fat we need as compared to essential fatty acids like omega 3 and omega 6, which we do need. Trans fats are formed when vegetable oils are hydrogenated, which makes the unsaturated fat into saturated fat. You are, for that reason, more likely to be...

Meditation has for a long time been considered beneficial. As more research is conducted, a lot more benefits than just relaxation is documented. The study reviewed explored the structural connectivity of the brain in long term meditators (Luders E, et al. 2011). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to compare...

Excessive abdominal fat is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and we are better off with a slim waist. This type of fat accumulates around organs (visceral fat) and is involved in the production of low grade inflammation. The study reviewed here investigated factors associated with change in abdominal...

We have all heard that olive oil is supposed to be healthy fat. The study reviewed here confirms that, since it may even help prevent stroke. The study investigated whether high olive oil consumption and high plasma oleic acid, a marker of olive oil intake, are associated with lower incidence...

Two common health concerns seem to have an association with each other and that is bone mineral density and the risk for myocardial infarction. This interesting study was conducted in Sweden and the participants were 6,872 men and women (Wiklund P, et al. 2011). Bone mineral density was measured for...

Sleep apnea causes abnormal pauses in breathing or abnormal low breathing during sleep. Some of the symptoms are snoring, fatigue during the day, impaired reaction time and decreased short term memory. Sleep apnea is more common in individuals who are overweight. The research reviewed evaluated the effectiveness of a low...

The conventional way to evaluate the risk for cardiovascular disease is by examining levels of cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides. Also included when assessing the risk for cardiovascular disease are information such as blood pressure, diabetes and smoking. All this information is valid, but it turns out that testing the...

Low vitamin D levels are commonly found with obesity. The first study reviewed here investigated the effect of weight loss through diet and exercise on serum levels of vitamin D (Mason, et al. 2011). Vitamin D concentration was measured at the start of the study and 12 months later. The...

Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to provide multiple health benefits according to numerous studies Sometimes researchers use food-frequency questionnaires to assess data. The data based on such information may not always be reliable. The study reviewed here was instead based on data from measurements of the omega 3...

The reviewed research evaluated the association of midlife overweight and dementia, Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia (Xu WL, et al. 2011). This study was especially interesting because the study participants were 8,534 twin individuals with an average age of 74.4 years. Height and weight of the participants were available at...

Probiotics have been in the news a lot lately. There are numerous brands on the market and also many different strains of bacterias promoted as being healthy and producing benefits for the gastrointestinal tract. Most of these friendly bacteria’s are temperature sensitive and need to be refrigerated to keep their...

Cholesterol lowering drugs are big business, but most people could lower both their cholesterol and blood glucose levels by changing the way they eat. The food we eat regularly will have a big impact on your biochemistry. By watching all the ads on TV you would not believe that, but...

We all prefer to be happy, but we may not realize how much of an impact happiness may have on us. There have been numerous studies the last few years on happiness and how it affects our health. The research reviewed here looked at many studies that evaluated subjective well-being...

Loss of muscle mass as we get older is a common problem for many. Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to stimulate protein anabolism (construction of protein) in animals, but it has not been known if omega 3 fatty acids are able to do the same in humans. The...

Research has shown that green tea provides many health benefits. The research reviewed here was interesting because it investigated if capsules containing green tea catechins and theanine could prevent influenza infection (Matsumoto K, et al. 2011). The results documented that the incidence of clinically defined influenza infection was significantly lower...