Magnesium is vital for good bone health and the proper functioning of muscles and nerves. Deficiencies in this key mineral can increase the risk of developing migraine headaches, osteoporosis and irregular heartbeats.
According to the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board, the recommended daily allowance for magnesium is 310–320 mg for women over age 19 and 400–420 mg f...
by Diane Lofshult
Want to spice up your next dinner party? Experiment with one of the following exotic herbs, which are finding their way to a supermarket shelf near you!
Aged Garlic. Organic garlic that is aged for 20 months, this variety of the bulb has a milder aroma and flavor than other varieties. It is available in capsules and herbal extracts.
Yerba Maté. This...
by Melinda Safir, MS, RD, LD
The idea that it is possible to better one’s health through a healthy diet may seem like a new notion, considering all the recent media reports on the topic. However, this hypothesis is nearly 2,500 years old, as evidenced by Hippocrates’ ancient advice to physicians to “leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot if you can heal the patient with food.” The fact th...
by Diane Lofshult
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently filed complaints in four separate cases against marketers of weight control pills for what the commission called “deceptive marketing” of products. Named in the complaint were the makers of Xenadrine EFX, CortiSlim, TrimSpa and One-A-Day WeightSmart for using false claims not supported by competent and reliable scientific eviden...
by Diane Lofshult
Most clients are aware that they should be getting enough vitamins in the food they select each day. Minerals, the bastard child of vitamins, tend to get
less attention.
Yet studies have shown that most people get less than the recommended daily amounts of vital minerals, especially calcium, magnesium and potassium. The recommended daily intake for calcium is 1,000 milligrams (m...
by Diane Lofshult
Researchers in Israel recently announced that they have found a link between childhood obesity and vitamin B12 deficiency. More than 300 children and adolescents were divided into two groups during this prospective study; one group had normal BMIs, while the other had BMIs above the 95th percentile, placing this group in the obese category.
According to the September 20...
by Diane Lofshult
Past research studies have suggested that a low intake of vitamin K may be linked to an increased rate of bone fractures. Researchers in Japan recently examined numerous randomized, controlled trials to determine what role vitamin K supplementation might play in this association.
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by Diane Lofshult
Two studies this year have debunked the belief that vitamin B and folic acid can lower cardiovascular risk. In fact, both reports, which appeared in the March 16 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, warn
that vitamin B and folic acid supplementation may actually put users at greater risk of heart disease.
This research contradicts previous studies, whi...
by Diane Lofshult
Randomized clinical trials have shown that increasing potassium intake can lower blood pressure. However, most of these trials involved the use of potassium chloride supplements, as opposed to the potassium citrate form found in fruits and vegetables. Researchers in England recently compared the effects of potassium chloride to those of potassium citrate and published the results online o...
by Diane Lofshult
You have probably seen those funny TV commercials that show harried men fighting at the dairy counter for the last carton of milk, ostensibly to bring it home to wives who are mad with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). While this is effective product marketing, research has shown that calcium supplementation can reduce the severity of PMS symptoms, perhaps because blood calcium and v...
