Total Health Magazine

Garlic ranks highest in popularity and efficacy among health promoting herbs. A staple remedy in traditional medicine for thousands of years, garlic’s ability to prevent a wide range of age-related diseases has been confirmed by modern science. Studies show that garlic, rich in organosulfur compounds and high in antioxidant activity, lowers cholesterol, helps protect against cardiovascular disease and inflammation, and has potential to lower the risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Red Yeast Rice (rice fermented with Monascus purpureus) is no stranger to the dietary supplements marketplace. For quite some time, it has been viewed as a better “natural alternative” to statin drugs by many individuals who visit health food stores as well as numerous health care practitioners. Recently a large university study of statin-intolerant individuals has provided evidence in support of this position. However, is Red Yeast Rice merely an alternative to statins for some individuals or is it something more?

Dietary calcium is crucial for bone metabolism and bone health, but is calcium alone enough? And are you getting the right kind? Researchers now recognize other essential nutrients are necessary for its use in the body, but there is a very real risk the calcium you take may not be used to build strong bones. Instead, it could end up in your arteries and soft tissues, a development referred to as the “Calcium Paradox.”

Recent statistics have good news for us. Centenarians are the fastest growing age group in America. What’s the secret to a long and healthy life? And, what can you do right now to ensure you will one day take your place in the ranks of vibrant 100 year olds?

The answer can very well be found in the presence of a small but potent molecule made in every cell of your body called glutathione. While glutathione may not have the same notoriety as other more high profile nutrients such as vitamins C and E, it certainly is a miracle molecule.

What does it take to actually thrive, not merely survive, in our hectic 21st century world?
The combination of relentless stress, a toxic environment within our bodies and in the outside world, and nutrient-depleted foods have conspired to create a perfect storm that directly impacts on the body’s ability to repair, detoxify and rejuvenate.

Unlike the health challenges of the past, which were predominantly due to infectious diseases, our modern health epidemics such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, cancer, and obesity are fueled by a one-two punch of chronic inflammation and extensive free radical damage to our cells.

On Wednesday, November 30, 2010, the Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board issued a report saying in essence that supplemental vitamin D over 800 IUs was unnecessary and could even be harmful (more on this in a minute).

Should you ignore this report? Yes. And I'll tell you why.

Solving the Mystery of the Multivitamin Part III

This article is the third in the series begun with “Solving the Mystery of the Multivitamin” and continued with “The Special Nutritional Needs of Women.” Here it is observed again you do not need to believe “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” in order to accept that men and women have different nutritional needs. Men lead in eight of the top ten causes of death in the United States. As it is often remarked, because men are more reluctant than women to seek medical care, when they do so, their illnesses typically have advanced to a more serious degree. It would seem that men, even more than women, would do well to adopt defensive measures to preserve their health. However, men should not depend on the supplements used by their wives or women friends. Some preventative measures are strictly gender-specific. The following suggestions are designed to help men take charge of their health while the ball is still in their court.

Obesity has gone prime time. We Find evidence of its presence where ever we look: in every neighborhood, every mall, every school and every workplace. Hardly a day goes by without the news reporting on some aspect of the looming obesity crisis. However, the epidemic is not confined to just the wealthy developed world. Even desperately poor countries such as Nigeria and Uganda are wrestling with the dilemma of obesity. China, which was once one of the world’s leanest countries, is not immune. In fact, it has one of the fastest-growing obesity rates in the world and one quarter of its urban youth is presently overweight. It is projected that by 2015, 200 million Chinese will be not just obese, but morbidly obese. The looming obesity epidemic is sending chills through the global community. Worldwide, more than 1.3 billion people are overweight, whereas only 800 million are underweight—and these statistics are diverging rapidly.

For many years, I have been teaching patients, and doctors, about the life-giving benefits of Coenzyme Q10 and L-carnitine. Looking back, using them in my practice represented our first steps into the world of metabolic cardiology—the treatment of heart disease on a cellular level by improving individual cell function and energy production. The effect of these nutrients on cellular energy has now been experienced by thousands of heart patients, who improved the quality of their lives by the simple supplementation with these “Twin Pillars” of cardiac health.