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Vitamin D is important for many reasons and deficiencies are also very common. The study reviewed here is interesting, since it examined the relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and fat infiltration in muscle (Gilsanz V, et al. 2000). 25OHD is the most common way of testing to determining vitamin...

  Magnesium is important for many reasons because it maintains genomic stability and is an essential cofactor for DNA synthesis and repair. It has now been documented that higher dietary intake of magnesium may decrease the risk of colorectal cancer in men (Ma E, et al. 2010). The study included...

A lot of research has documented the anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular protective benefits of omega 3 fatty acids. The study reviewed here is interesting because it measured an almost immediate benefit after eating an omega 3 rich meal (Chong MF, et al. 2010). 12 men and 13 women participated in the...

Many benefits have been associated with green tea consumption. The polyphenols in green tea may also be preventive against various cancers. Regular consumption of green tea and breast cancer risk was evaluated recently (Shrubsole MJ, et al. 2009). Compared with nondrinkers, regular drinking of green tea was associated with a...

    Being happy certainly makes life more enjoyable both for ourselves and other people we come in contact with. It may also help protect us from serious diseases. In a large study which included 14,916 person-years of observation, the researchers investigated that being happy could help prevent coronary heart...

Cognitive decline and Alzheimer disease are getting more common as more people are living longer. This is not a good trend and it is something to think about especially since research has now shown that there is something you can do to help prevent it. Both physical activity and what...

  Many people spend several hours daily watching television and in addition to that sit the major part of the day at work. The effects of both sitting time and TV viewing were investigated in 2,761 women and 2,103 men by measuring waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), resting blood...

    The study referred to here investigated the association of vitamin B-6 status with markers of inflammation and oxidative stress (Shen J, et al., 2010). The results showed a strong dose-response relation of vitamin B-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammatory marker. Increased levels of vitamin B-6 were significantly...

Green tea has been reported to provide many beneficial effects. The study referred to here was related to depression and included 1,058 Japanese individuals aged 70 years or more (Niu K., et al. 2009). In this study group, 34.1% was found to have mild and severe depressive symptoms and 20.2%...

          Flax seed consumption provides several health benefits. Ground flax seeds have also shown to help regulate estrogen metabolism by increasing the favorable estrogen metabolite 2-hydroxyestrone, but not the more active and potentially harmful 16alpha-hydroxyestrone (Brooks JD, et al. 2004). This results in a healthier ratio...

You can get a good start in the new year by implementing some healthy behaviors. One thing that will give you a good start in the morning and make it easier to lose weight or stay at a healthy weight is a high nutrient very low glycemic index breakfast. Don’t...

During early adulthood, the central nervous system displays considerable plasticity. This means the nervous system can still adapt and change easily making it more susceptible to input. The study referred to here is interesting because it shows that physical fitness is important for numerous reasons and it is very important...

  Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory condition of the colon. The cell membranes of tissue cells in the body incorporate fat or so called phospholipids into the membranes. Omega 6 fatty acids, the type of fat found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds are metabolized into arachidonic acid. Arachidonic acid...

                    The study referred to here examined the association of mid-life adiposity and the reduced probability of maintaining optimal health status at age 70 (Sun Q, et al. 2009). The participants were 17,065 women who survived until at least the age...

The study reviewed here included 118,899 postmenopausal women (Peters T.M, et al). Physical activity as light and moderate-to-vigorous intensity was assessed during four periods of life as it related to breast cancer risk. The periods were ages between 15-18, 19-29, 35-39 and the most recent past 10 years. The follow...

The following is a review of a very interesting study where researchers analyzed dietary patterns and cardiovascular risk. 7,646 healthy people from Italy were included in the research and three dietary patterns were identified (Centritto F., et al. 2009). One of the patterns was characterized by high intake of olive...

The belief has been that increased fat mass was a protective factor for osteoporosis. This has now been challenged by two studies. One was done in 2007, which included 150 females and 150 males between the ages of 13 and 21 years (Janicka A., et al, 2007). The conclusion of...

  Omega 3 fatty acids have been documented to provide numerous health benefits. The study referred to here investigated the effect of omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil on telomere length, a marker of biological aging (Farzaneh-Far R, et al. 2010). Biological age is the physiological age (real age)....

This does not mean that you should stop eating fruits. The primary sources of fructose are sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup. It is interesting to note that as fructose consumption world wide has increased so has the rate of diabetes. Excessive intake of fructose induces features of metabolic...

42,093 Japanese individuals from the general population aged 40 years or more were assessed for psychological distress and the relationship between green tea consumption (Hozawa A, et al. 2009). Other lifestyle factors were also accounted for. The results showed that green tea consumption was inversely associated with psychological distress even...