Recently, I posed a question on the last day of class to my nursing students. After teaching all quarter about each organ system and its diseases, I asked them to name the things that were important to life. They came up with four things they felt were important ingredients for life. They were (1) proper
Here’s an interesting question – Why do men and women who routinely take calcium supplements to support good bone health still suffer from loss of bone mineral density? The obvious answer is that they do not take enough calcium to replace what they lose during normal aging. But there may be other reasons too. To
Are you struggling to lose weight even though you are doing everything “right”? Are you gaining weight even if your diet and exercise routine has remained the same? If so, then your hormones may be partially to blame. I’m not just talking about your “sex hormones”, but also the hormones that control appetite or how
Water Pollution – Is It Really as Bad as They Say? A number of years ago when I was in college in Los Angeles (I won’t tell you when but my kids will tell you I took notes on a stone tablet, not an I-Pad), there was a Harvard Professor named Tom Lehrer who wrote
Some time ago, I came across a speech that David Heber, MD, PhD gave to a group of people interested in nutrition. Dr. Heber is the Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA. As some of you know, I went to school there, but most do not know that Dr. Heber was my
Healthy eating starts with knowing the facts about what you are putting in your mouth. While reading nutrition labels helps you make wise food choices, knowing how to read the the “Nutrition Facts” on a food label and not relying on package labels like “healthy” or “low-fat” is a key step. Being in better control
Doctors for many years have recommended to their patients, especially older adults or post-menopausal women, to take calcium to help prevent bone loss. In fact, when I was in medical school, my teachers would often recommend that we teach our patients to take antacids that contain calcium or drink more milk. But this isn’t practical
Ninety-eight percent of all diets fail within the first year or two. People either get discouraged and revert to old habits or fail to reach a realistic weight loss goal. But what about those who really follow a good routine and lose weight, but then plateau and not continue toward their goals? What are they
A recent University of Florida study of bottled water from China suggests a great warning for Americans – don’t drink the liquid from a plastic bottle if you’ve left it somewhere warm for a long period of time. Plastic water bottles are made from a material called polyethylene terephthalate which, when heated, releases potentially harmful
The Emerging Role of Gut Microbes in Heart Disease In the past few years, researchers have determined that specific strains of probiotics have the ability to target disease-specific risk factors. This is especially true for cardiovascular or heart disease.1-3 Probiotics and research on the human “microbiome” have become increasingly popular for their ability to boost
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