What patients — and doctors — need to know about vitamins and supplements
A recently published clinical guideline on vitamin and mineral supplements reinforces every other evidence-based guideline, research review, and consensus statement on this topic. The bottom line is that there is absolutely no substitute for a well-balanced diet, which is the ideal source of the vitamins and minerals we need.
The brief article, co-authored by nutrition guru Dr. JoAnn Manson, cites multiple large clinical trials studying multiple nutritional supplements’ effects on multiple end points. The gist of it is, our bodies prefer naturally occurring sources of vitamins and minerals. We absorb these better. And be...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 16, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Drugs and Supplements Health Healthy Eating Prevention Vitamins and supplements Source Type: blogs
Does Vitamin D Deficiency Contribute to Brain Disorders?
In this study published in July 2017, researchers looked at the vitamin D levels and cognitive function in patients who experienced psychosis. They found an association between low levels of vitamin D and decreased processing speed and verbal fluency. The authors suggested the next step should be randomized controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation in those with psychosis and vitamin D deficiency.
Another study, published in Psychiatry Research in August 2017, looked at whether vitamin B12, homocysteine folic acid, and vitamin D might be connected to childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Fifty-two children an...
Source: World of Psychology - February 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Janet Singer Tags: Alternative and Nutritional Supplements Brain and Behavior Health-related Memory and Perception Mental Health and Wellness Brain Disorder Mental Illness Vitamin D Vitamin Deficiency Source Type: blogs
Can Nicotinamide Riboside Help Prevent Alzheimer's?
The supplement nicotinamide riboside (NR) – a form of vitamin B3 – prevented neurological damage and improved cognitive and physical function in a new mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.byAlzheimer's Reading RoomThe results of the study, conducted by researchers at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) part of the National Institutes of Health,suggest a potential new target for treating Alzheimer ’s disease.What is the Difference Between Alzheimer ’s and DementiaCompound prevents neurological damage, shows cognitive benefits in mouse model of Alzheimer ’s diseaseSubscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading - This is a ...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - February 14, 2018 Category: Neurology Tags: alzheimer's research Alzheimers Dementia Alzheimers Prevention alzheimers treatment prevent alzheimers science vitamins Source Type: blogs
B12 Shots for Dementia and Those Over 60
Studies indicate that forty percent of the population might be at risk of a vitamin B12 deficiency.By Bob DeMarcoAlzheimer's Reading RoomVitamin B12 deficiency can cause memory loss, dementia like symptoms, does cause shrinkage in the brain, and can cause mean and challenging behavior.Learn More -Care of Dementia PatientsSeveral years ago I started reading up on all the B vitamins. I learned vitamin B12 deficiency is wide spread especially among the elderly. It is easy to understand why. If you don't eat foods that are rich in vitamin B12 you won't get enough into your body.Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading - This is a ...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - February 13, 2018 Category: Neurology Tags: alzheimers care dementia care dementia help for caregivers family caregiving help alzheimer's help with dementia help with dementia care memory care homes vitamin b12 deficiency symptom Source Type: blogs
The crucial brain foods all children need
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The first 1,000 days of life are crucial for brain development — and food plays an important role.
The ways that the brain develops during pregnancy and during the first two years of life are like scaffolding: they literally define how the brain will work for the rest of a person’s life. Nerves grow and connect and get covered with myelin, creating the systems that decide how a child — and the adult she becomes — thinks and feels. Those connections and changes affect sensory systems, learning, memory, attention, processing speed, the ability to control impulses and mood, and even the ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 23, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Brain and cognitive health Children's Health Healthy Eating Parenting Pregnancy Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 55-year-old woman after bariatric surgery
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 55-year-old woman is evaluated during a routine examination. She underwent biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch 8 years ago for treatment of obesity-related complications and lost 68.0 kg (150.0 lb) in the first year following surgery. Her weight has been relatively stable for the last year. She has had chronic nonbloody diarrhea since her bariatric surgery. She also has had generalized fatigue, dry skin, dry and itchy eyes, and increased difficulty seeing road signs at night while driving. Her other...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 20, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Gastroenterology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, January 8th 2018
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more.
This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 7, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The Potential Influence of Gut Microbes on the Progression of Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia is the name given to the characteristic age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that affects every older adult, and eventually significantly contributes to outright frailty. For the past decade or more US researchers have been agitating to have sarcopenia officially defined as a medical condition, with no success yet. Indeed, this is a poster child for one of the ways in which the stifling effect of heavy regulation emerges in practice. For so long as the FDA doesn't consider sarcopenia a disease, then it becomes that much more challenging to raise funding for research and development of potential therapies...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 2, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
What ’ s the story with zinc?
In the several decades since the need for dietary zinc was discovered, it has proven to be far more important to overall health than initially thought. And deficiency is proving to be common.
You may recall that the phytates of wheat and grains block nearly all absorption of dietary zinc, along with blocking iron, calcium, and magnesium (all positively-charged cations). Just as iron deficiency anemia with hemoglobin values of 7 or 8 g/dl resistant to iron supplementation commonly develops in grain-consuming populations, so a parallel zinc deficiency also develops (although not well reflected by blood levels of zinc, which ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - November 18, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Undoctored Wheat Belly Lifestyle autoimmune gastrointestinal gluten gluten-free grain grain-free grains hormonal Inflammation phytates rash zinc Source Type: blogs
Researchers may have discovered a cause of multiple sclerosis
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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a condition that causes damage to the substance that covers nerve cells. This interrupts normal communication between nerves, leading to problems with movement, speech, and other functions. We don’t know what causes MS but we think it is an autoimmune disease.
What is an autoimmune disease?
Autoimmune diseases develop when a person’s immune system goes after its own tissues and organs. Autoimmune disease can affect all parts of the body. For example:
Type 1 diabetes. This is the type that usually affects kids and develops when abnormal antibodies attack cer...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - November 3, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Brain and cognitive health Injuries Neurological conditions Prevention Safety MS multiple sclerosis Source Type: blogs
Food Fight
Given the void in dietary wisdom due to the ineffectiveness and blunders of “official” dietary advice, there is no shortage of books or diet programs trying to fill that void, many wildly at odds with each other—paleo, Atkins, vegan, vegetarian, high-carb, low-carb, ketogenic, etc.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the USDA’s MyPlate and food pyramid, and organizations such as the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association, as well as many of the diet programs in the popular press, I believe, fail to acknowledge several fundamental principles that really need to be address...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - October 7, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle atkins carbs Fat gluten gluten-free grains low-carb low-fat paleo protein undoctored vegan vegetarian Weight Loss Source Type: blogs
Why does hair turn gray?
Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling
If you look at photos of President Obama taken before he ran for president and since he left office, you’ll notice a distinct difference: where there used to be only dark brown hair, there is now far more gray than brown. It seems that the stress of running a country would turn any person’s hair gray. But is stress really to blame? And why does hair turn gray, even for those of us who don’t have jobs quite as stressful as President of the United States?
Stress doesn’t actually turn hair gray. In fact, hair doesn’t actually “turn” gray. Once a hair follicle produces hair, the...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - September 18, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Health Healthy Aging Skin and Hair Care Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 11th 2017
This study developed the first procedure for the removal of epithelium from the lung airway with the full preservation of vascular epithelium, which could be applied in vivo to treat diseases of lung epithelium. Whole lung scaffolds with an intact vascular network may also allow for recellularization using patient-specific cells and bioengineering of chimeric lungs for transplantation. In addition to the clinical potential, lung scaffolds lacking an intact epithelial layer but with functional vascular and interstitial compartments may also serve as a valuable physiological model for investigating (i) lung development, (ii)...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 10, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Open Longevity is Attempting the ICO Route for Fundraising
The Open Longevity group is a Russian non-profit volunteer organization that emerged from the Science for Life Extension Foundation community, and is working to organize responsible, open trials of potential therapies to address aspects of aging. They are a little too focused on tinkering with metabolism rather than repair of the damage that causes aging for my tastes, but each to their own. Based on recent news it seems they are going to try the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) path of fundraising for their ongoing efforts. It will be interesting to see how this goes, as just about anyone who has watched the frenzy over ICOs t...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 4, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Activism, Advocacy and Education Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 193
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 193.
Question 1
Who discovered DNA?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
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Not Crick, Watson or Rosalind Franklin but Johannes Friedrich Mi...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 15, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five copper toxicity Corrigan's line Corrigan's sign Crick DNA finger Johannes Friedrich Miescher quarantine Rosalind Franklin vitamin b12 Watson Source Type: blogs
