Recent studies indicate a renewed interest in herbal medicine. Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil looked at the potential health benefits of the traditional medicinal plant called jurubeba (Solanum paniculatum) and found that its leaves exhibit potent analgesic and liver-protective effects. Jurubeba is a small tree that grows up to 3 meters (m) high. It has heart-shaped leaves that are smooth on top and fuzzy underneath, and it produces a small, yellow fruit and lilac or white flowers. The researchers noted that in Brazil, various parts of the plant, including the roots, stems,…
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Researchers found a new medicinal plant that can be used to support bone health. A study published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine found that capillary wormwood (Artemisia capillaris) can help prevent bone loss by regulating osteoblast mineralization, osteoclast formation, and bone resorption. In the study, researchers from Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine in South Korea looked at the effect of capillary wormwood (Artemisia capillaris) to prevent bone loss. To do this, they administered a water extract from capillary wormwood to the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL)-induced bone loss model. The administration of capillary woodworm water extract…
Because of the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, its prevention and management have become a major global public health challenge. A medicinal plant called Korean angelica (Angelica gigas), also known as purple parsnip, shows potential in lowering blood sugar levels and reducing fatty liver in people with Type 2 diabetes. Researchers from Chonbuk National University Medical School in South Korea looked at the antidiabetic effect of the root of Korean angelica root extract in diabetic mice. To do this, they treated mice with Korean angelica root extract at 10 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg), 20 mg/kg, and 40 mg/kg or…
Older people are more likely to develop diseases such as osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease. These progressive conditions also increase the risk of fracture. To lower the risk, a team of researchers at Midwestern University and Auburn University suggests that older people take resveratrol and exercise regularly. For the study, the researchers looked at the effect of resveratrol and exercise on age-related bone fractures in mice. They hypothesized that resveratrol and exercise could reduce the risk of bone fractures in mice with Alzheimer’s disease and age-matched wild type mice. To test the hypothesis, they treated mice with resveratrol or exercise or…
Harvard researchers weighed in on the question of whether or not the consumption of eggs makes it more likely for a person to develop Type 2 diabetes. They reported that eating an egg every day prevents the onset of diabetes. They drew their data from a dozen potential cohorts of earlier studies on the association between eating eggs and the risk of the most common form of diabetes. Nearly 220,000 individuals from the U.S., Japan, Finland, Spain, and France participated in the studies. Close to 9,000 of these people had Type 2 diabetes. Both healthy and diabetic participants provided self-reported data on the number of eggs they ate over follow-up periods…
A healthy diet full of nutritious foods can help prevent different diseases and improve your overall well-being. And according to a recent study, following a plant-based diet can help lower Type 2 diabetes risk. The study was conducted by researchers from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) and Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. An epidemiological study, which is “the study of how often health conditions occur in different groups of people and why,” like this can be used to determine some general population-wide associations about eating trends that are better for people, but they aren’t…
Diets are a dime a dozen. A quick search using the word “diet” is bound to give you endless results. But which of these diets actually give the most benefit, especially when it comes to overall health? Researchers from the Harper Cancer Research Institute in South Bend, Indiana suggests calorie restriction. In their study published in Nutrition Research, they revealed that calorie restriction causes cancer cells to “eat themselves.” It also improves biomarkers of the disease. The idea of sharply reducing calorie intake to unlock certain health benefits is one that’s been around for years. While animal studies have shown that calorie restriction…
The amount of livestock in the U.S. has spiked in recent years, yet the number of farms has gotten smaller. In 2015, only four companies were responsible for 85 percent of the country’s beef-packing industry. This is part of a trend known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), where animals like chickens, pigs and cows are raised in confined spaces. This sounds bad enough when you think about it from the animals’ perspective, but it’s also pretty bad for us humans. Think about it: These operations generate a huge amount of animal feces and urine – more than 40 times…
Margaret Sanger’s legacy has reportedly been granted approval by Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer to seal the list of health violations that recently led to the temporary closure of Missouri’s only abortion clinic, located in St. Louis. Reproductive Health Services (RHS) of Planned Parenthood had earlier requested to have the official “statement of deficiencies” filed by Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) officially sealed in order to conceal from the public the horrors that had been taking place at Planned Parenthood’s only abortion clinic in Missouri, to which pro-life groups vehemently objected. But Planned Parenthood has now been…
A Big Pharma front group known as the Center for Inquiry (CFI) has reportedly filed a new lawsuit against Walmart for selling natural homeopathic medicine, which the pill-pushing “nonprofit” organization has conveniently and arbitrarily declared to be “fake” medicine. CFI’s suit alleges that Walmart is “committing wide-scale consumer fraud and endangering the health of its customers through its sale and marketing of homeopathic medicines,” and thus seeks to force Walmart, as well as other retailers, into selling only Big Pharma pills and vaccines at their government-sanctioned pharmacies – even though many of these drugs, including SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)…
Medicinal mushrooms, such as chaga, reishi, shiitake, lion’s mane, and cordyceps, are some of the most dynamic healing foods available. Listed below are five health benefits that medicinal mushrooms offer. They increase antioxidant activity: Many mushrooms have high antioxidant properties and neutralize the harmful effects of free radicals. For example, reishi mushroom extracts are reported to reduce free radical activity. Chaga, another medicinal mushroom, also has potent antioxidant activity for scavenging free radicals, according to a study published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. Another study in the journal Carbohydrate Polymers reported that polysaccharides in cordyceps mushrooms can improve the antioxidant activity…
The food you eat greatly affects your health: It can either keep you healthy or contribute to diseases. A review of literature published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine suggested that food therapy is an effective way to control blood pressure. Author Ping Zhou, a researcher from Nipissing University in Canada, looked at the beneficial effects of food therapy on controlling hypertension or high blood pressure. He summed up the basic concepts of traditional Chinese medicine, the principles of food therapy, and its application for hypertension control based on Chinese literature in this paper. In traditional Chinese medicine, food…
Acupuncture is a type of healing technique that has been shown to relieve pain, including those caused by osteoarthritis. In addition to this, it can also improve gait or mobility in people with osteoarthritis of the knee, according to a study published in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. In the study, a team of researchers from National Taiwan University and China Medical University looked at the effects of acupuncture on gait in people with osteoarthritis of the knee. To do this, the research team examined the immediate effects of acupuncture on the inter-joint and inter-limb load-sharing in patients with knee…
Your blood sugar and impulsive behavior may influence behavioral flexibility or your ability to respond to changes in the environment. A study published in the journal Nutrition Research found that measures of impulsivity and blood sugar regulation can be used to predict behavioral flexibility. Both psychological and physiological factors influence behavioral flexibility performance, and evidence suggests that impulsivity and blood glucose can affect executive function, of which behavioral flexibility is a subdomain. Therefore, a team of researchers from Northumbria University and Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K., Sunway University in Malaysia, and NeuroCognitive Institute in the U.S. investigated whether impulsivity…
Yoga is becoming more and more popular: It’s now one of the most commonly used complementary health approaches. In the U.S. alone, around 14 percent of adults practice this form of meditation. Children are also jumping in on the trend. According to a report released by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a principal agency of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about eight percent of teens and children, ages four to 17, started practicing yoga in 2017. There are different types of yoga. Some promote meditation, while others combine both meditation and exercise. One particular type that…
Brushing and flossing are critical for dental health, but are your kids using too much toothpaste? The CDC just silently issued a public health warning over children’s exposure to dangerous amounts of fluoride through excessive toothpaste use. Fluoride is a known neurotoxin and causes permanent damage to developing brains. While the dental industry may promote fluoride as some kind of miracle substance, the truth is that the fluoride added to our water supply and dental care products are toxic leftovers from the fertilizer industry. For years, dental care product manufacturers have loaded up their toothpastes and other products with dangerous…