Author Archives: admin

Which omega-3 supplement is going to win the throwdown?

Seems like you can’t turn on the teevee these days without someone touting a tiny, easy-to-swallow capsule of krill oil which will supposedly does everything fish oil does, and more. But – and I know this may come as a shock to some of you – some of the advertising on teevee can be a bit misleading, putting clever catch-phrases before facts, hype before substance.

This is something I’ve learned watching the presidential primaries.

ANYWAYS, let’s get down to it: krill vs. fish: what’s the difference? (Oh, and in case you wondering, krill are tiny, Antarctic, shrimp-like creatures). Both fish oil and krill oil contain compounds called “omega-3s,” short for “omega-3 fatty acids” (which may sound like a futuristic marketing term, but is in fact chemistry nomenclature to describe the structure of the molecule). ...Read More

It’s been almost ten years since we last covered acne in this newsletter. Now, a new decade, a new generation… time to cover the subject again.

Now that some of us are “all grown up,” it’s easy to forget how bad acne was, how miserable, how awful, how flat-out tragic every pimple and blemish could be. But they were, and for the next generation, they are. Research now shows that even moderate acne is associated with levels of anxiety and depression normally seen in chronic, debilitating illness. Let’s take acne seriously! ...Read More

We make vitamin D in our skin using a type of solar radiation called ultraviolet B (UVB).  Unfortunately, UVB is filtered out by the atmosphere.  As the Earth tilts on its axis in winter, the sun’s rays travel through more atmosphere to get to us, and more and more UVB is filtered out.  Some estimates have it that, in our part of the country, we simply do not make vitamin D during 4-5 months of every year.  Even in summer, morning and afternoon sun has to angle through more atmosphere, filtering out most if not all UVB.

Dark-skinned people have an especially difficult time using UVB.  Which isn’t surprising when you think about it: after all, dark skin is built-in sunblock!  In the Boston study, for example, black women averaged half the blood D levels white women did[1].  Obviously, supplements are especially important here. ...Read More

People call vitamin D the “sunshine vitamin” because we make it when sun hits our skin.  Which makes it technically not a vitamin (vitamins, by definition, cannot be made by the body, but must be obtained through the diet).

The whole “vitamin/not vitamin” thing is one of many misconceptions we’ve held about this crucial nutrient.  We’ve also been wrong about how much to take, what kind to take, and what it does for us when we take it.  Which is to say, we’ve been wrong about just about everything about vitamin D! ...Read More

“Take the Health Food Store with You!”

It can be a tough transition going from the home you grew up in, to a dorm or an apartment.  It can be tough leaving behind that old, familiar pantry stocked with your nutritious favorites to nutrition sourced from the cafeteria or the corner store.  It can be tough trading in your organic shampoo and conditioner for something bright pink and toxic.  Not to mention how tough it can be, at least for some of us, to shop, cook, and clean for ourselves at all! ...Read More

… Debra Stark

I’ve long suggested hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to help cure toe nail fungus, and many of you have our toe-nail fungus handout. My mother used hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash, and she also mixed it with baking soda to make her own toothpaste because of its antiseptic properties. Over the years, too, I’ve read things on line about hydrogen peroxide and been intrigued. ...Read More

There’s been a fair amount of research showing that pregnant women who consume fish oil and fish liver oil have babies that come out smarter.  But what, exactly, is a smart baby?  And does a smart baby necessarily grow up into a smart adult?

A few years ago, a group of Norwegian researchers published the four-year follow-up of a trial where pregnant women were given cod liver oil starting a few months into their pregnancies, and continued a few months after giving birth.  (There was, of course, a placebo group).  So the infants got fish oil both in the womb, and while breast-feeding.  The paper was published in the prestigious medical journal Pediatrics. ...Read More

Asthma is a disease where the microscopic airways of the lungs become inflamed and constrict, limiting airflow.  Once diagnosed with asthma, someone is generally considered to “have” it, even if they go weeks, months, or even years in between attacks.

Prevention the Big Picture: Since asthma is a lifelong disease, preventing it i.e never getting it in the first place can save a person from decades of gasping, wheezing, coughing, medication, anxiety, and physical limitations, not to mention potentially tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

This is a big, big deal! ...Read More

Finally, the conclusion of a guide to sweeteners.  To repeat: There is no sweetener that we can consume in vast amounts.  None.  There are certainly some that are better than others.  There are some that even have side benefits.  But the take-home message is still “eat sweets in moderation, if you eat them at all.” 

According to the U.S. government, Sugar is defined, not by its agricultural origin (i.e. what plant or animal it comes from), but solely by its chemical formula.  The formula is C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁.  The chemical is called sucrose.  And it doesn’t matter whether it comes from sugarcane, sugar beets, some other plant, or a lab it’s all “sugar.”  (…and then it gets confusing, because the word “sugar” refers not just to sucrose, but also to a class of compounds called “sugars,” [note the plural] which includes sucrose, plus fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, and many more which are found naturally in sweet foods.  This is why you might see an ingredient list that doesn’t include “sugar,” but a Nutrition Facts panel that still lists “sugars.”) ...Read More

To repeat: There is no sweetener that we can consume vast amounts of with impunity.  None.  There are certainly some that are better than others.  There are some that even have side benefits.  But the take-home message is still “eat sweets in moderation, if you eat them at all.”

Saccharine (benzoic sulfimide): No other sweetener on this list has been through as many ups-and-downs in the mind of the public.  Saccharine was discovered by accident in the late 1800s by a scientist working on coal tar derivatives.  It was largely ignored until the sugar shortages during World War I, then quickly embraced as a diet and diabetic sweetener.  By the late 1970s, however, the FDA was set to ban saccharine as a possible human carcinogen (the FDA is required to ban from sale any food known to cause cancer in lab animals). ...Read More

To repeat: Let’s get one thing out of the way right at the start: there is no sweetener that we can consume vast amounts of with impunity.  None.  There are certainly some that are better than others.  There are some that even have side benefits.  But the take-home message is still “eat sweets in moderation, if you eat them at all.”  Now onto more sweeteners alphabetically. ...Read More

Let’s get one thing out of the way right at the start: there is nosweetener that we can consume vast amounts of with impunity. None. There are certainly some that are better than others. There are some that even have side benefits. But the take-home message is still “eat sweets in moderation, if you eat them at all.”

Easier said than done, of course. Sweets just taste so good. There’s a reason for this. We crave sweets, like we crave fat and salt, because the taste represented a scarce and valuable commodity to our ancestors. And since, thousands of years ago, our ancestors hardly ran the risk of getting too much of these things, our taste buds and our brains were programmed to seek out as much as we could get. ...Read More

… Debra Stark from the Concord Journal

The days are cooler, so I’m thinking “turkey.” I bet you are too.  Before we know it, Thanksgiving and then it’s already New Year’s Day.  Lots of gatherings around the groaning board with family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.

Did you know the average adult gains seven pounds during the holidays?

Articles give helpful hints to avoid over-eating and gaining weight like, “Eat protein before leaving home.” “Take smaller portions.” “Eat slower!”  “Hold a glass of soda water so you aren’t tempted to eat too many crackers with brie or drink too much wine.”

I’m not good at following that kind of advice because I love food. ...Read More

The British Medical Journal reported on July 29 that calcium supplements, normally taken to decrease the risk of fracture, may also increase the risk of heart disease.

This is not (as some have suggested) an attack on natural medicine by the so-called “medical establishment.” This is actually good, solid research. With, however, a big asterisk attached to it. Let me explain. ...Read More

About a year ago, the New York Times printed an article chronicling the rising tide of gout in America.  The paper took great pains to point out that this erstwhile “disease of kings” is no longer limited to the fat, old, alcoholic and wealthy.  Now, the skinny, young, clean-living, and impoverished can get it, too.

Ain’t egalitarianism grand?

Gout used to be considered the disease of kings because it is (often, but not always) linked to rich foods, alcohol, and obesity, all of which used to be the sole province of the upper classes, but now well within the grasp of us all. ...Read More

(Part II of last month’s regulatory drug versus supplement coming next month…)

In May, the Government Accountability Office of the United States Congress released a report on herbal supplements, alleging that they are often marketed deceptively, and contaminated with the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury[1].  The report was authored by Stephen D. Kutz, the GAO’s Managing Director of Forensic Audits and Special Investigations.

Of course the report got a lot of press.  Once again, herbal supplements were made to appear scary, dangerous, and here’s that word again unregulated. ...Read More

If you’ve turned on your television at all during the last few months, chances are you’ve seen a few dozen commercials for a product called Lovaza “the only FDA-approved medication made from omega-3 fish oil!”  The ad makes sure to point out that Lovaza is not available in health food stores.

Of course, omega-3s from fish oil are available in health food stores just none of them are called “Lovaza.”  So it begs the question: what, exactly, makes Lovaza so special?  ...Read More

I’m always on the lookout for cheap and easy ways to deal with complicated and intransigent situations.  So I was thrilled to see research where teenagers did better in math class when they chewed gum.

108 middle-schoolers were randomly assigned to either chew gum or not chew gum during math class, and while they were doing their homework[1].  After 14 weeks of “treatment,” the students who had been assigned to chew gum did better on a standardized exam.  According to their teachers, they paid better attention in class, needed less breaks, and were less fidgety.  And they got better grades.  Granted, the research was funded by the Wrigley (chewing gum) company, but it still seemed fairly sound. ...Read More

For immune function and detoxification, plus liver health, mental health, and general health

For a while now, the amino acid derivative n-acetyl-cysteine (“NAC”) has been one of my favorite supplements.  It’ll decongest you, cut your cold or flu by about half, raise the antioxidant status of your liver and lungs, protect your kidneys from chemical injury, support detoxification of everything from mercury to acetaminophen to alcohol, and protect your eyes from degenerative damage.

So, yes, I liked NAC.  I took NAC.  And I thought I knew all there was to know about NAC (well, within reason, of course…). ...Read More

I’ve been blessed with a digestive tract, immune system, and metabolism that let me eat however much I want, of whatever I want, whenever I want. I know not everyone is so lucky.  There are lots of people who look around a grocery store or at a restaurant menu, and see, instead of possibilities, forbidden fruit.

Some are simply looking to lose weight.  Others are dealing with a food allergy, or multiple allergies.  Others have decided to go vegetarian, or raw; or their child or spouse has.  There are the Candida diets, and the low-residue, low-sodium, low-fat diets.  There are the countless people newly diagnosed with celiac disease.  I could go on. ...Read More

Osteoporosis: Supplement Company Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is, Offers Unprecedented Guarantee

About two months ago, supplement manufacturer Garden of Life came to market with a new kit for osteoporosis called “Grow Bone.” On paper, it looked as good as anything I’d ever seen: well-researched sea algae-derived calcium, highly-absorbable magnesium, boron, strontium, silica, vitamin K2, and 1,600 iu of vitamin D3.

But the ingredients list was only the second-most impressive thing about the product. What really blew me away was the guarantee. ...Read More

Lomatium Root (Lomatium dissectum, formerly Leptotaenia dissecta syn. multfida)OTHER NAMES: Fernleaf Biscuitroot, Desert Parsley, Indian Parsnip, Toza Root

Lomatium may very well be the best antiviral we have. It’s certainly the best and strongest I’ve ever used both topically and internally, and especially for the lungs. So why haven’t you heard of it? ...Read More

I’ve never done a Ten Healthiest Foods list, mostly because I don’t believe in them.  Well, I guess I’m a hypocrite now!

Here’s how this is going to work.  I’m not going to limit myself to ten.  I’m just going to keep writing until I use up my three pages.  I’m going to exclude foods that feel more like supplements (so no spirulina or hawthorn berry); brand-name products (Manna bread), and foods that bear too disturbing a resemblance to the ectoplasm in the movie Ghost Busters. ...Read More

Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland at the base of the brain. We can also get it in supplements. When light hits our eyes, we shut down melatonin production; when it’s dark out, we start making it again. Melatonin synchronizes our wake-sleep cycles to the cycles of light and dark/night and day. It tells us when to sleep.

Melatonin is what biologists call “highly conserved,” meaning that even as species have evolved, the gene for melatonin has not. ...Read More

This month, we’re playing a guessing game. And if you guess right, you get a free Jennie’s macaroon. Really: just come in and say you got it – we’ll believe you – and we’ll hand you your macaroon.

So here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to give you the description of a medicinal plant from www.LiveStrong.com (a health website affiliated with Lance Armstrong, but owned by social networking giant Demand Media). You just have to guess what the plant is. And here’s the big hint: you already know this one. Chances are, you’ve ingested it. Many times. Although you probably thought of it as a food, rather than a medicine. (Here’s the other big hint: it gets an honorable mention next month on my list of the “Ten Healthiest Foods.”)

I’ll quote the LiveStrong entry in its entirety, editing out only two give-away sentences about where it grows, and how it’s used as a food. Good luck. ...Read More

Okay, so here’s the deal: there’s this berry called the açaí berry, it grows on palm trees in the Amazon basin, and if somebody hasn’t already tried to convince you that it’ll help you melt away the pounds, cleanse your colon, energize you, and/or supercharge your sex life, you probably haven’t turned on your television, opened your e-mail, or even glanced at a newspaper in the last six months.

So does it actually do all that?  Uh… no. ...Read More

Public Health bulletins are sounding more and more these days like a Dr. Seuss book, evocative less of mass pandemic death than whimsical barnyard shenanigans.  And yet we’re being told to fear mass pandemic death sort of I mean, we’re not supposed to panic or anything….at least not yet.

It can all be very confusing. ...Read More

A neti pot is like a teakettle you fill with salt water, and then stick the spout up your nose. And when I say that, people think I’m joking. Seriously: salt water goes in one nostril, and comes out the other.

Ideally, one does not do this at the dinner table. ...Read More

I live in Cambridge, and I love my city, its staggering diversity all tucked away in assorted nooks and crannies.  But I realize that for many of my suburban friends, a trip to The City is a big deal, sometimes overwhelming.  Hopefully, this will help.  Here are some healthy meals, all under $10, for your next foray into the urban environment.  Travelling North-to-South… ...Read More

There are a lot of products out there claiming (or at least strongly implying) that they’re going to make you a whole lot prettier.  When it comes to hair and nails at least, there are two that actually work.  One makes your hair and nails stronger; the other, makes your hair thicker and fuller.

Hair and nails are created by living tissue, but they’re not alive themselves.  There’s no blood flow, no enervation, no metabolism.  Lucky for you, or your next hair cut would hurt worse than a root canal.

Living tissues can absorb nutrients, metabolize them, and use them to improve themselves.  Tissues that are not alive, on the other hand, cannot.  Of course if you improve the health of the living tissues that make nails and hair, the nails and hair they make will be healthier. ...Read More

I’m not completely opposed to junk food.  For example, the occasional leftover French fry scavenged from the plate of a dining companion, or the deep fat-fried Snickers-bar-on-a-stick at Redbone’s in Davis Square, Somerville.  Those, I feel, are worth it.

But for the most part, I just wonder why.  I mean, really, why eat most of the crap that’s out there?  Having been raised on good food, I’m constantly amazed that people would crave, say, a Fenway Frank over the much-more-delicious Coleman organic hot dog.  Or a white-flour-Crisco-crusted corn-syrup Cool Whip pie, over something with whole grains and actual fruit and soaring peaks of whipped cream.  For the most part, natural which is to say: “real” just tastes better. ...Read More

Fish Oil Helps You Lose Weight: Researchers earlier last year published the results of a trial in which 232 overweight people (average age 31) were put on a low-calorie diet.  Roughly half the people also received a low dose of 260 mg omega-3s from fish oil supplements daily.  The other half got a moderate dose of 1300 mg a day.

The trial went on for eight weeks. In the final two weeks of the trial, the researchers began measuring the subjects’ feelings of satiety immediately after meals, as well as two hours later.  Conclusion: the people who were taking the higher dose of fish oil felt more full, more satisfied after even a portion-controlled weight loss meal. ...Read More

Last month covered the various types of arthritis, diet, and what the docs like to call “lifestyle.”  This month we focus on supplements.

If this even attempted to be a comprehensive listing, we’d be going on for pages, and pages and pages.  Instead, let’s talk about a few supplements which really work, and then cover a few that don’t really work, but which are being heavily marketed and promoted. ...Read More

There are 101 different kinds of arthritis, and 101 ways to treat each one.  Rather than try to go into all of that here we don’t want to get arthritis in our typing fingers! this is going to be a quick, hopefully simple, guide to some of the most basic concepts, and the most effective ways of treating this disease.

WHAT IS ARTHRITIS?  Arthritis is an inflammation of the joints, causing pain, inflammation, stiffness, and eventual destruction of joint cartilage.  The most common kinds are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.  It is possible to have more than one kind at once. ...Read More

I promise next month to get back to normal topics of conversation in these letters: lungs and livers, your bellies and innards, and wonderful herbs and vitamins which make them shiny!  Next month, I promise.

The other day as the store was about to close, I turned to the fridge to make my important decision for the evening: what kind of cheese to buy to melt over my broccoli, black beans, and diced tomatoes for dinner?  It was down to two finalists — Neighborly Farms organic, pasture-fed Green Onion Cheddar; and the 5-Spoke Farms organic, raw, pasture-fed Herbal Jack.  It was a close race although I eventually did give the edge to the Herbal Jack.  But then my practical side kicked in: maybe I should get the Organic Valley product instead.  Not a bad cheese by any measure.  Heck, it even won an award.  But more importantly, Organic Valley is a large operation, with an efficient supply chain and distribution networks, and centralized production facilities — in other words, Organic Valley was going to be cheaper.

Only it wasn’t!  Organic Valley’s price had just gone up. ...Read More

We shop in the store, just like you do, because we believe in natural and organic, because we want to leave the planet a better place, and because we want our families to be healthy and happy. When we put a product on the shelves, it’s because it’s something we might want to buy! So it was especially upsetting to read the Organic Consumer Association’s (OCA) report on 1,4-dioxane on “natural” bodycare and household products. But we trust the OCA, a watchdog and advocacy group with more than 500,000 members. This is no trade organization or industry mouthpiece; in fact, the OCA often directly opposes powerful interests in the organic industry. ...Read More

For years, people didn’t pay much attention to vitamin D.  We knew that adequate levels were important to prevent osteoporosis, rickets, and other bone and joint diseases.  And that was about it.  Get enough, but not too much, and that was about that.

The last few years, though, vitamin D has been thrust into the limelight as a sort of nutritional superstar. We now see that it prevents kidney disease, birth defects, chronic muscle pain and weakness in the elderly, seasonal affective disorder, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases, and maybe even autism.  Plus probably heart disease and cancer as well. ...Read More

The Peppers: Once, when I was a kid, my mother had a friend, and her friend had a son, and when my mother hung out with her friend, I was expected to hang out with the son.  Well, I found this son to be particularly annoying.  And in my youth, I was not very tolerant of being annoyed.  At the time, we had a little hot pepper plant in a pot in the windowsill.  I remember being told that this variety was the second-spiciest pepper on Earth.  I have no idea if this was true or not, but it certainly packed a punch.  So one day, when this kid was annoying me (again), I suggested he take a taste from the “dwarf Australian pear plant.”

As I recall, he got blisters on his tongue.

Hot peppers can definitely pack a punch, especially for those who haven’t built up much of a tolerance.  Those of us who have, however, love them, the spicier the better. ...Read More

Ah yes another piece for which I must write a disclaimer!  To whit: “my opinions here in no way reflect those of anyone else on staff, or, indeed, on Earth.  Also, they don’t reflect Debra’s, yet she is still kind enough to print them.  Cheers.”

Did anyone else catch that article in the New York Times[1] about how what you eat, and where you buy it, predicts how you’re going to vote in the presidential election?  Good stuff.  To be honest, part of me resents the way the spin-meisters and sales consultants intrude on our privacy, observe and record, cut and splice everything we do, for the sole purpose of turning it back on us.  But an even bigger part of me is simply fascinated. ...Read More

I suppose the icy depths of winter would be a more appropriate time to cover herbs that are heating and spicy.  But now is when the mood strikes, so, here goes.

Actually, summer might not be such a bad time for this, after all.  Traditional South American, Asian, and Indian cultures don’t back off the spice just because the temperature is rising.  On the other hand, the Eskimo’s aren’t exactly known for their spicy cuisine (or much any cuisine, for that matter).  Kenyon also points out that cayenne pepper sends circulation to the surface.  It might make you feel warmer, more flushed for a bit, but in the end it might cool you: heat at the surface is more easily dispersed than heat at the core. ...Read More

So I talked about food last month, and tried to dispel some of the myths about what you should and should not eat.  This month, I’d like to recommend five ways to use supplements to reduce cholesterol.  As always, I like to start with the ones that are the most holistic, that have the most side benefits, that best promote a state of general health in addition to dropping your cholesterol.  For those who prefer the quick fix, I’ll eventually get to the ones that are quick and easy and efficient, and can drop your numbers in two or three pills a day. ...Read More

I’ve been putting off writing this one for years.  First of all, it’s an enormous topic: you can reduce cholesterol levels by decreasing absorption, increasing excretion, reducing the rate at which it is reabsorbed once it’s been excreted, by preventing it from sticking to blood vessel walls, or by reducing the production of cholesterol in the liver (which is where most of our cholesterol comes from anyways not from what we eat).  Then there’s the issue that high cholesterol can be secondary to diabetes, constipation, liver impairment, inflammation, mismanagement of calcium, infections in the blood vessel walls, and/or sitting on your couch more than you ought to.  And then there are the further complicating factors such as “good” and “bad” cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.

But let’s put all that aside for the moment, and just talk about lowering cholesterol, plain and simple.  Let me start by dispelling a few myths. ...Read More

We have more than an entire shelf’s worth of brain supplements at the store, and all sorts of stuff on other shelves, too, that people take to be smarter.  And most of them, frankly, won’t do much for you at least not if you’re basically okay to begin with.  It’s only when you head off into senile dementia, or start having strokes (or are looking to prevent them, years or decades down the road), that most of these really kick in.  There are also some nutrients which help people with ADHD, or soothe the endless worries that interfere with normal concentration.  But if you don’t have these problems, they won’t help you much, either.

There are a few things, however, which work even for normal healthy people.  Here are five of the best.  In no particular order: ...Read More

This is an article on weight loss.  I last covered the topic for the May, 2001 newsletter.  Yet just recently, it has recently been called to my attention that the first article did not entirely solve the problem… That first one was called “It’s May Already, and I’m Still Too Fat For My Bathing Suit!”  I’m going to call this one:

Weight Loss, Part 2

So I was leafing through my old copy of Nutritional Biochemistry, hoping to glean some pearls of wisdom about the subject.  Instead, I came across one of the most medically pompous statements I’ve ever seen.  And I hope it amuses you as much as it amused me: “It is customary for people to self-diagnose obesity, i.e., whether one is underweight or overweight.  A self-diagnosis might be expected to be inaccurate because the measurement of body fat requires special tools.”

Would one of those tools be a scale?  A tape measure?  A mirror, perhaps? ...Read More

A study published just last month in The Lancet, England’s most respected medical journal, has confirmed that artificial food colorings and preservatives make children hyperactive.

Many of you saw this, I’m sure.  It was front page news.

However it hardly came as a surprise to anyone who has followed the issue over the last 34 years.  It was back in 1973 that Benjamin Feingold, Chief of Allergy at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Francisco, first announced that roughly 2/3 of his hyperactive patients improved when put on a diet free of artificial additives.  A number of clinical trials quickly followed to test Feingold’s theory.  Many supported the theory, which came to be called the “Feingold Hypothesis.” ...Read More

Coenzyme Q10 is a chemical naturally found in every cell of our bodies.  Indeed, its name in older biochemistry texts, ubiquinone, reflects the fact that it’s so very ubiquitous.  CoQ10 is needed for the generation of energy inside our cells[1].  And obviously, energy is essential to normal functioning of the body.  We don’t blink an eye or think a thought without energy.  Our hearts don’t pump blood, our livers don’t cleanse blood, and our lungs don’t oxygenate blood without energy.  So it’s no surprise how much CoQ10 can do for us.  What is surprising, however, is that when it comes to actually feeling energetic vigorous and alert CoQ10 generally does not do much for people.  Sure, I talk with people now and again who take CoQ10 and do feel physically and mentally energized, but they’re in the minority.  Most of CoQ10’s benefits remain hidden. ...Read More

In the world of vitamins and minerals, herbs and oils, green foods and high-tech antioxidants, superfruit juices are a relatively new development.  But in the last decade really, in the last few years they’ve leapt into the mainstream with a vengeance.  Noni was first, after a woman got on the Oprah show and swore that it cured her of everything.  Then followed goji and mangosteen, pomegranate and acai, each one hyped as better than the others, a panacea, a miracle. ...Read More

Inflammation: Imbalances in the immune system cause MS, when rogue immune cells infiltrate parts of the nervous system and attack.  The weapon used in this attack is inflammation.  You can reduce this inflammation by rebalancing the immune system (see part 1), or by addressing the inflammation directly.  Or, of course, by doing both.

Most people think that the idea in reducing inflammation is to slow the progression of the disease.  While that’s true, reducing inflammation should also help one of the major side effects of MS, namely, depression.  There are quite a few research papers published specifically examining where the depression in MS comes from.  Are MS patients depressed simply because MS is, well, depressing?  Or is depression an actual symptom of MS?  It now looks like depression is a symptom of MS, and inflammation is largely responsible for it. ...Read More

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a progressive, inflammatory disease that attacks the central nervous system: the brain and spinal cord.  Specifically, MS degrades the myelin sheath, the fatty insulating layer which encases our nerve fibers, and which facilitates speedy and coordinated transmission along neural pathways.  As you can imagine, when these transmissions get messed up, a lot of stuff we take for granted gets messed up as well: thinking, breathing, movement, speech, balance, sensation, and control of autonomic bodily functions. ...Read More

by Debra Stark

For years I’ve heard people talking about dry eyes.  I never understood the problem until one morning (yes, it seemed to happen overnight), I woke up, rubbed my eyes, and the eyes went into spasms.  It felt as if grains of sand were stuck there.  My eyes streamed and my nose ran in sympathy.  While the spasm subsided, the eyes hurt the rest of the day….as if they were stuck with a splinter.  They were red, irritated and the socket ached. ...Read More

We all want to eat, and live, organically.  But we don’t not always.  Even the best of us cuts corners every once in a while.

Bearing this in mind, various scientist and activist groups have taken to publishing top-10 lists, ranking the worst foods for pesticide residues.  The higher the levels of pesticide residues on a food, the more important for us to eat it organic, or not at all.  So we’re warned off of conventionally grown strawberries and raspberries, peaches, spinach, carrots, grapes (and raisins), winter squash (especially in baby food), and more.  Not only are government regulations often inadequate to limit pesticide residues; often, when these foods are tested, residues are found to exceed even the lax government guidelines.  It’s shocking how often this is allowed to happen.  (And I wonder once again why the vitamin industry alone gets labeled as “unregulated.”) ...Read More

Research published just last month now strongly links a variety of genetically-engineered corn to liver and kidney damage in rats, as well as elevated triglycerides, and changes in weight between the sexes.  The particular variety of corn, Monsanto’s MON863 is approved for human consumption in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the European Union.

How (you might ask yourself) could MON863 possibly have been approved for human consumption?  Well, there’s an interesting story here. ...Read More

Contrary to popular belief, bacteria aren’t all bad.  In fact, there are all sorts of bacteria which live on us, and in us, and actually do us a world of good.  The majority live in our digestive tracts, where they help us digest food, excrete toxins, and keep our immune systems up and running.  These so-called “friendly flora” are known as probiotic bacteria.

Probiotic bacteria can help control specific health conditions, but also general long-term health.  In terms of specific health conditions, probiotic can reduce lactose intolerance, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, diarrhea thrush, and colic^[1].  Longer term, probiotics help bolster our defenses against infection (everything from colds and flus, to food poisoning, to vaginal yeast infections, etc.), may lower cholesterol, and appear to significantly lower cancer rates.

So how do we get these good bacteria on our guts?  ...Read More

This is an article about skin.  Not “problem skin,” but skin that glows with health, and ages well.  It’s about thick, luxuriant hair, and strong teeth.

The idea here is that our outsides reflect our insides.  Lynne Lori Sullivan, who works with this and other health topics, says she has very sensitive skin and likes it this way: “I’m glad to be a canary in a coal mine.  If I take a misstep if I eat a Boston cream donut, or trans-fats the next day or two, I break out.  I know that inside the body, things are hardening, things are going wrong.  My skin keeps me on track.” ...Read More

It’s interesting to follow the research on “up-and-coming” supplements as it develops over a number of years.  You start with one or two intriguing (but inconclusive) test tube studies, watch it move on to a few small animal trials, then wait for the big human trials that will either prove or disprove all the hope, hype, and conjecture. ...Read More

I recently had a chance to sit down with our nurse, Grace, and discuss foods for diabetics.  In addition to working here, Grace is also the Type II Diabetes Educator at the Mass Research Diabetes Center in Waltham, and a type II diabetic herself.   She always tests her blood sugar after trying a new food.  –Adam Stark ...Read More

The higher our blood pressure, the harder the heart has to work.  Over time, this enlarges the heart, which is not a good thing.  Chronic high blood pressure hardens the arteries and increases our risk of heart attack, aneurysm, and stroke.  The kidneys, which filter the blood, can also be damaged.  The risk of glaucoma is increased. ...Read More

(and Migraines and Urinary Incontinence and Maybe Some Other Stuff Too)

Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) has the largest leaves of any plant native to England, as much as three feet across. In olden times, people used to wrap butter in them. ...Read More

87% less colic, 50% less booze, 27% more breast cancer, 60% less ovarian cancer, 56% fewer colds (that get better 35% faster); and why spicy olive oil is better.

56% Fewer Colds: Every now and again, researchers decide to mix up some ginseng with human immune cells in a test tube, and see what happens. Inevitably, nothing happens. So the researchers conclude that ginseng is useless for the immune system. Then they publish their findings. ...Read More

The day we finally bought our space and became masters of our own destiny, it occurred to me: we have 68 different kinds of lip balm.

The day before, when everything was still up in the air, it occurred to me: this place feels like home. On that day, a customer came up to me and told me that the store was an “anchor” in her life, a safe place, a constant. She could always count on us to be there. And by that, I gather, she didn’t just mean be in a place, but to be there, for her, in ways that were unnamed-able.

I told her I felt the same way. ...Read More

We make vitamin D in our skin using a type of solar radiation called ultraviolet B (UVB). Unfortunately, UVB is filtered out by the atmosphere. As the Earth tilts on its axis in winter, the sun’s rays travel through more atmosphere to get to us, and more and more UVB is filtered out. Some estimates have it that, in our part of the country, we simply do not make vitamin D during 4-5 months of every year. Even in summer, morning and afternoon sun has to angle through more atmosphere, filtering out most if not all UVB. ...Read More

If I had written this article on vitamin D just a few years ago, I would have struggled to fill a single page. I might have said a little about D and osteoporosis, and mentioned the importance of sunlight, and then that would have been that. But the last few years have seen an explosion of research on D, suggesting that it not only helps with the bones, but also maintains muscles strength as we age, elevates mood, lowers blood pressure, and halts autoimmune disease, including multiple sclerosis and type I diabetes.

Moreover, that it strongly reduces the risk of over a dozen kinds of cancer. ...Read More

A lot of people are panicked about the avian flu, so I want to make one thing very clear to start out with: a pandemic is not inevitable. In fact, as things stand right now, it seems unlikely. As far as we know, avian flu has jumped the species barrier from bird to human only a few dozen times, and human-human transmission doesn’t seem to be a threat. Of course that could change if the virus mutates. And if it ever does become easily transmissible to humans, we could have a serious problem. As many as half the people who have caught the avian flu have died of it. ...Read More

Okay, so the title is a little misleading. Most of this article is going to discuss fish oils, which we’ve known about for a few years already. The rest is going to touch on the Mimosa tree, which the Chinese have been using for a few millenia, but which I just learned about… Anyways, they’re both new to this newsletter, so let’s get started. ...Read More

Cataracts, Macular Degeneration, & Diabetic Retinopathy

Cataracts: In the front of the eye is a lens, like the lens on a camera: it focuses light images so they can be sent to the brain. Cataracts are “spots” or “stains” in the lens. Vision loss depends on the size, shape, color, and location of the cataracts.

Cataracts can occur for a number of reasons. Most are attributed to aging. Others are a long-term complication of diabetes. Understand, however, that neither age nor diabetes make cataracts inevitable. ...Read More

About two years ago, I was asked to speak to Peg Morse’s[1] Vision Group at the Newbury Court retirement home. It turned out to be the worst talk I ever gave.

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve always enjoyed speaking with Peg. And the other people who came were also nice, attentive, and engaged. For my part, I showed up prepared, with an outline, notes, and even a diagram of the eye. So why did this talk go so badly? ...Read More

I’m dating an herbalist now, and she’s pretty amazing. (She’s also going to be reading this). Her training, her philosophy is all about herbs, straight from Nature, prepared the way our ancestors prepared them. I, on the other hand – I love the herbs, too; don’t get me wrong – but I also think nutraceuticals are great. She says nature never intended us to have 1,000 mg of vitamin C, or high-dose B-vitamins, or even standardized herbal extracts: they’re not really “natural.” I say, “Natural, schmatural – so what? Who says we can’t improve on nature?”

Discussion ensues. We’re both opinionated people. ...Read More

The holistic approach to dealing with intense stress isn’t to survive it but to remove yourself from it whenever possible. But sometimes, no matter how calm and in-touch-with-nature you are, two or three weeks just come out of nowhere and hit you like a ton of bricks – you’re dealing with sleep deprivation, overwork, physical and emotional exhaustion. You can’t concentrate, you can’t get to sleep, your blood pressure shoots through the roof, and it seems like every time somebody sneezes you catch their cold. ...Read More

Last month’s newsletter talked a bit about anxiety and panic, touching briefly on the differences between the two.  It also included a fair amount of talk about “lifestyle” factors – those indirect but very real contributors to anxiety and panic.  Much of the article was drawn from an interview with Janet Beaty, a local naturopathic doctor. ...Read More

(The list of natural medicine treatments for insomnia could easily number into the hundreds, and that’s not an exaggeration!  This short little two-page article is going to be far from an exhaustive survey!)

Before we even get into the pills and powders, I should point out a paper published in the January, 2003 issue of the Journal of Psychosomatic Research[1] which compared a wide range of conventional (drug) therapies with various behavioral therapies, such as biofeedback and relaxation techniques, in people with chronic insomnia.  It turned out that the drugs and the behavioral techniques worked equally well, except for in one instance (sleep latency) in which the behavioral therapies actually worked better.  Popping a pill may be easier – pharmaceutical pill, herbal pill, whatever – but it usually won’t work any better than learning how to sleep again!  ...Read More

When I first sat down to write this, I was just going to talk about my 5-point herbal wellness plan, and how important it is now with the flu vaccine shortage. But then I figured I ought to write about stress… which meant writing about adaptogens… then a couple of paragraphs for antibiotics… By the time I was done with all that, I didn’t have any room left for the immune-boosting herbs! So that will be next month (and if you can’t wait, we will have copies to hand out in November, as well as Debra’s classic “Seated Next to Typhoid Mary?” handout). ...Read More

By Carolyn Soderstro

Confused about essential fatty acids (EFA’s)? It’s pretty hard not to be because much of the information out there is inaccurate, incomplete or wrapped around an advertisement for a particular product. Here are the basics together with answers to some of the more common questions we’ve been asked.

Why do we need essential fatty acids? ...Read More

In the early 1930’s a dentist named Weston Price traveled to Switzerland to disprove a theory. At the time, most people believed that tooth decay and other dental problems had nothing to do with diet, but rather, with “race mixing.” The theory was, if your mom was Spanish and your dad was Irish, you’re teeth would come out funny. Price, on the other hand, believed it had everything to do with nutrition. ...Read More

Organic: Most of us have a rough idea what organic means: grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, on land that has been clean for at least three years. No sewage sludge as fertilizer, no genetically modified organisms (GMOs: see below). Food must not be irradiated. For animal products, no anti-biotics or synthetic hormones, and the animals must be fed organic feed containing no animal by-products. (A recent amendment to national organic standards allows animals to be fed non-organic feed if it costs less than half of organic feed). ...Read More

For bumps, bruises, burns, bites, sprains, broken bones, and getting trampled by an elephant.

Heat or Ice? At least once a summer I jam a finger playing basketball. Within minutes, the finger turns a sickly purple-red and swells up to twice its normal size, and then I can’t move it for a week.

Or at least that’s what used to happen before I took icing so seriously. Now I rush for ice the instant I get hurt, and it makes all the difference in the world. Within a day or two, I get my full range of motion back. It doesn’t swell up nearly as much, and it heals a lot faster. ...Read More

Treatment Target #5 – Oxidation: Chemotherapy and radiation kill cancer cells; the problem is, they also kill the healthy cells of the body. Antioxidants protect the healthy cells of the body from chemo and radiation; the problem is, they may also protect the cancer cells… As you can imagine, then, using antioxidants alongside conventional therapies is controversial. ...Read More

Cancer is the taboo topic in health food stores. Sure, we’re always eager to talk about prevention, but when it comes to treatment, we shy away from concrete statements. We do this because, while many of us have considerable knowledge about the herbs and vitamins in question, we rarely have an in-depth understanding of the 101 different kinds of cancer, or the finer points of chemotherapy drugs. We’re reluctant to share what we know because we are all too aware of the limitations of that knowledge, and of what is ultimately at stake. ...Read More