Category: Herbs and Nutrients

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An Herbal Approach To Rheumatoid Arthritis

I recently conferred with a patient who had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory type of arthritis that affects the lining of the joints, causing painful swelling and potential joint destruction and deformity. The standard treatment for the disease is high dosages of pharmaceutical drugs, including anti-inflammatories, steroids, and immune suppressive drugs. The danger is that although these drugs suppress symptoms and may keep the disease somewhat under control, they do not address the underlying causes. And the side effects of these types of drugs can be significant, including serious liver damage, increased risk for infection, and heart disease.

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The Many Health Benefits of Anthocyanins

When I think of foods that have “super” health-promoting properties, berries are on my list of top ten favorites. Not only are they delicious, but bilberries, black currants, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, elderberries, raspberries, strawberries—in fact, every berry you can think of—offer an enormous range of health benefits. What all of these berries have in common are anthocyanins—the pigments that give them their rich deep red and purple coloring. Although berries are perhaps the best-known sources of anthocyanins, other foods with the same colorants—for example, beets, cherries, eggplant, plums, pomegranates, purple cabbage, purple grapes, and red onions—also contain these valuable compounds. Grape seed extract, an especially rich source of anthocyanins, is the most widely researched anthocyanin supplement. Another excellent anthocyanin source—and one of my favorites—is a blend of fruit anthocyanins, which contains red grape, elderberry, blueberry, aronia berry, pomegranate, and red raspberry.

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Phytoestrogens and Breast Health

In the quest to identify nutritional compounds that potentially influence breast cancer (and other hormonally driven cancers), phytoestrogens are among the best researched. The label “phytoestrogen” has been given to specific compounds in plants and foods that under certain conditions appear to have a modulatory effect on estrogen and other hormone receptors.

Plants contain a diversity of beneficial compounds, including a wide range of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, lignans, and phytosterols. Each phytochemical exerts multiple actions, both alone and in combination within and on target cells, including the epigenome. Abundant data indicates that these compounds act on estrogen receptors; for example, isoflavone and other compounds referred to as phytoestrogens have an ability to inhibit local estrogen synthesis and induce epigenetic changes.1 According to the most recent literature, phytoestrogens have demonstrated positive effects on breast cancer prognosis, including breast cancer recurrence and mortality in survivors of the disease.2 Continue reading “Phytoestrogens and Breast Health”

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The Many Health Benefits of Pomegranates

On our recent trip to Israel, my wife Jen and I appreciated the abundance of healthful foods, including fresh pomegranate juice. Pomegranate juice is a popular beverage throughout the country, and everywhere we went, there were stands offering freshly prepared juice, either straight up or mixed with fresh orange juice. We looked forward to watching the vendors juice the ripe pomegranates, and then enjoyed sipping the delicious ruby red beverage.

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The Pros And Cons Of Coffee

I look forward to my morning cup of java and my afternoon cappuccino. Living in Ashland, Oregon, I am fortunate to have high-quality coffee and espresso available—fair trade, organic, locally roasted, and freshly ground. Delicious coffee is such an integral part of our daily lives that a beautiful and very old Pavoni Italian cappuccino/espresso machine occupies a prominent place in our kitchen at home.

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Are Fish Oils Harmful To Your Health?

fish oil prostate cancer

You may have seen last week’s highly publicized study targeting fish and fish oil as a cause of increased prostate cancer. Published in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the authors state that EPA, DPA and DHA (the fatty acids derived from fatty fish and fish-oil supplements) are associated with a 71 percent increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer, a 44 percent increase in the risk of low-grade prostate cancer, and an overall 43 percent increase in risk for all prostate cancers. These figures are enough to scare any man away from eating even one more salmon dinner.

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