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Getting enough quality sleep is important for the immunity and health in general. The interesting thing is that sleep can affect the blood pressure drastically. 1741 men and women participated in a recent study to evaluate how insomnia and poor sleep affected blood pressure (Alexandros N., et al. 2009). The...

A low salt diet is usually recommended for people who have high blood pressure. The study referred to here investigated the effect of salt reduction on vascular function by measuring artery flow-mediated vasodilation (widening of blood vessels) (Dickinson KM, et al, 2009). The researchers compared measurements after 2 weeks of...

This may not be what you want to hear, but there are some interesting evidence why it makes sense to reduce the intake of red meat and processed meat. The study reviewed here investigated the relations of red, white and processed meat intake to the risk for total and cause...

            Potato chips have never been considered a healthy food and the study referred to here provides even more evidence for how unhealthy it is. The study was small, but interesting since several inflammatory markers were measured (Naruszewicz M, et al.). The participants were both...

  The glycemic index is a way to rate how high a certain food will raise the blood sugar when compared to glucose or white bread. The higher the glycemic index of a food the higher it will raise the blood sugar. Glycemic load is another way to rate food...

  Menopause can be a difficult time for some women, but it may not have to be that problematic. There are several things which can be done to make it easier. A healthy diet and exercise have for example shown to be helpful, but a simple thing as taking a...

  The latest research on the association of body fat and the risk of death was just published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a very prestigious publication (Pischon T, et al, 2008). Most of the studies in the past have relied on the body mass index (BMI) and...

Whatever your chronological age, your biological age may be more or less than that. If your chronological age is 60 years, you may biologically be only 50 if you are in good shape or it could be 70 if you are in bad shape.

A lot of evidence is suggesting that a large part of the population have suboptimal levels of vitamin D. The research referenced here reviewed the evidence that vitamin D deficiency is associated with cardiovascular disease and also the evidence that supplementation of vitamin D is associated with reduction in cardiovascular...

You may think it is strange that what you eat can cause anxiety or make you depressed. Food is more than calories which give us energy. Science has demonstrated that the micronutrients in food, the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other substances act as cell signaling molecules. They help the nervous...

Research has documented the importance of having a ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids that is not too high. The study reviewed was interesting because the participants were young, healthy adults (medical students) and the purpose was to determine if omega 3 fatty acids would decrease proinflammatory...

A high intake of white rice is associated with the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Both white rice and brown rice are high glycemic index foods, even if brown rice is a little bit better and contains more nutrients than white rice. High glycemic index foods will raise the...

It is easier than you think to prevent serious disease. If you eat right, exercise regularly and don't smoke, the other factors tend to correct them self automatically.

Research has shown that sleeping 7-8 hours per night can make it easier to lose weight. What makes the study reviewed here interesting is that stress in addition to sleep can have an impact on weight loss (Elder CR, et al. 2011). The participants in this research were obese individuals...

Resveratrol got a lot of attention some years ago when research showed amazing benefits in mice. Resveratrol is still a substance receiving a lot of attention from the research community. Two interesting and recent studies on resveratrol are reviewed here. Both studies were conducted on human. In one of these...

Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are conditions which increase the risk for chronic disease, diabetes and cardiovascular disease are two examples. The study reviewed investigated the effect of oral magnesium supplementation on insulin sensitivity in overweight, insulin resistant, non-diabetic participants (Mooren FC, et al. 2011). The study went on for...

The flax seed is a small seed, but it turns out that it can provide some amazing health benefits. The article reviewed here is a summary of research on flax lignans which are found in the shell of the flax seeds and not in the oil. Flax lignans have been...

Magnesium is one of the most important minerals we have. There are many reasons for that. You may know that magnesium is important for bone formation and that severe deficiencies can cause muscle cramps. What may not be so well known is that magnesium is also important for the cardiovascular...

Numerous studies have been conducted on vitamin D and the benefits it provides. This particular study investigated the association between vitamin D and the metabolic syndrome (Devaraj S, et al. 2010). The metabolic syndrome is a condition which includes elevated blood sugar, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides and also often elevated...

We would all like to improve our memory or at least not see it decline as we get older. The following research may show us one way to do that. The study included healthy individuals aged 55 years or more (Yurko-Mauro, et al. 2010). The participants were randomly assigned to...