Your Health is Important to Us!

Topics in the News

Quercetin and Fatty Liver

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most common cause of chronic liver disease and one of the most common causes of liver transplant. This powerful and versatile flavonoid can help.

In Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), fats, including cholesterol and triglycerides, collect in liver tissue.

This double-blind study found that quercetin can improve that fat in the liver of people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. It showed that taking 500mg of quercetin a day for 12 weeks significantly reduces lipids in the liver compared to a placebo (Am J Clin Nutr. 2024 Sep;120(3):507-517).

Aromatherapy seems to help some symptoms of long COVID.

As if COVID wasn’t bad enough, many people are now struggling with long COVID. Aromatherapy may provide a safe, simple, inexpensive and easy solution.

Some recent research suggests that the rate of long COVID is a staggering 22.8% of the population. Clearly, safe, affordable and easily accessible help is needed. Some of that help could come from aromatherapy.

A recent controlled study included 60 people who still had respiratory symptoms 7-45 days after first being diagnosed with COVID. Half were in a control group while the other half inhaled a combination of eucalyptus, lemon, lavender, peppermint, and tea tree essential oils for 1 minute, 10 cm from their nose, between 9-10am and again between 1-2pm. Then between 6-7pm, they inhaled a blend of lavender and ylang-ylang essential oils.

The aromatherapy didn’t help everything. It didn’t seem to improve nasal symptoms, stress or sleep. But it really helped some things. There was significant improvement in sore throat, and there was significant improvement in fatigue.

This study introduces a safe, affordable, readily available way to effectively improve some of the important symptoms of long COVID.

Integr Med Res. 2023 Oct 21;12(4):101001.

Wrinkles? Gone!

After menopause, lower estrogen levels can lead to skin aging. A combination of superstar women’s menopausal herbs can help.

Soy, black cohosh, chaste tree berry, and evening primrose oil have all been used for improving women’s reproductive health or menopause. This double-blind study gave menopausal women either a placebo or a combination of soybean extract containing 100mg of isoflavones, 520mg of black cohosh, 400mg of chaste tree berry and 500mg of evening primrose oil a day for 12 weeks.

At the end of the study, compared to the placebo group, there was significant improvement in skin roughness, elasticity, smoothness, scaling and wrinkle density in the herb group. The women in the herb group were significantly more satisfied than the women in the placebo group for skin smoothness, elasticity, moisture and wrinkles.

This study suggests that several herbs that help with menopause can also help with healthy skin after menopause.

J. Cosmet Dermatol. May 2022; 21(5):2064-2072.

For Preventing Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer, Olive Oil is a Healthy Choice

Fats and oils are so confusing. We are always told that fat and oil are bad. But not all fats and oils are. This new study shows why choosing olive oil is a smart choice.

As the very healthy Mediterranean suggests, olive oil–especially extra virgin olive oil–is good for you. Now a huge new study helps explain why.

The study followed 22,892 people for 13.1 years. It found that, compared to people who consumed less that 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil a day, people who enjoyed more than 3 tablespoons a day were 20% less likely to die prematurely from any cause. They were 23% less likely to die from cancer and 25% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

This new study found that, independent of overall diet quality, eating more olive oil lowers your risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Eur J Clin Nutr. 2024 May 4. doi:10.1038/s41430-024-01442-8.

Eating Pistachios Protects Your Eyes

Eating pistachios can improve your eye health and potentially protect against macular degeneration.

Lutein is an important antioxidant carotene that accumulates in the macula region of the retina where it, remarkably, as macular pigment, acts as a blue light filter that protects your eyes from light damage and oxidative damage. The result is improved visual function and protection from age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older age.

This study had 33 people who were between 40 and 70 eat a usual diet or the usual diet plus 2 oz (57g) of pistachios for 12 weeks. By week 6, lutein concentrations had significantly increased. Paralleling that increase in lutein, there was a highly significant increase in macular pigment optical density.

Increased macular pigments is important because it has been associated with improved eye health and decreased risk of macular degeneration.

This study introduces the exciting possibility that simply enjoying pistachio nuts in your diet could help promote eye health and prevent macular degeneration.

The Journal of Nutrition. Oct 2024;doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.10.022.

Herbal Cure for a Hangover?

While it’s never a good idea to drink too much, it’s good to know that there may be herbal help if you do.

Your body’s response to alcohol is to enlist the liver to break the ethanol into acetaldehyde. But acetaldehyde is more toxic than ethanol, and the result is a hangover. In moderation, the body can more or less handle further breaking down the acetaldehyde, but if you drink too much, you overwhelm your body and suffer the toxic hangover.

But a recent double-blind study found that a single dose of noni extract may help your body to rescue you. In the small study, 30 people were given either a placebo or 1 gram of noni extract before drinking alcohol.

The ones who took the noni reached peak alcohol concentration significantly faster, meaning that they were more efficiently processing the alcohol. Their blood acetaldehyde levels were also significantly lower 40 minutes after drinking and 12 hours after drinking. That’s good news, since it’s the acetaldehyde that causes the hangover.

The study found that noni extract significantly lowered acetaldehyde levels and the severity of hangover symptoms in people who were 36 years old or less, who drank more than 15 drinks a week and who had higher total hangover scores.

According to the researchers, this study suggests that noni extract “has the potential to improve hangover symptoms by decreasing alcohol and acetaldehyde levels.”

Food & Function. 2023;14(3):1750–60.

A Herbal Way to Help You Sleep

This combination of six herbs can calm your stress and help you sleep. This new double-blind study included 60 adults and lasted 8 weeks. One group was given a placebo, and the other was given a combination of 6 herbs. The herbs included the well-known sleeping herbs valerian and passionflower. It added black seed (Nigella sativa), which has recently been shown to improve sleep and restorative sleep (Front Nutr. 2023;10:1200118) and holy basil, which has recently been shown to help stress and sleep (Front Nutr. 2022;9:965130).

The other two herbs were rosemary and jujube (Ziziphus jujuba). Jujube is used in traditional Chinese medicine and has been traditionally used for sleep and anxiety.

The results showed that the herbal combo led to a 39% increase in sleep time: that’s like an additional 2 hours. It also led to 70% decrease in the time it takes to fall asleep and 53% fewer times waking up. The herbs also led to a 40% decrease in stress scores and an objective 30% decrease in cortisol, the stress hormone. The herbs accomplished all of this safely.

The researchers conclude that this combination of herbs “can be considered a safe and effective dietary herbal supplement to reduce stress and improve sleep quality.”

International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology. Jul-Aug

2024;13(4):doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20241646.

The Latest Proof that Garlic Improves Cholesterol

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world. Cholesterol problems are a leading cause of cardiovascular disease. And cholesterol problems are on the rise because of bad diet. Is garlic powerful enough to help?

This meta-analysis of 21 controlled studies included over 1,600 people with cholesterol problems who were not taking cholesterol drugs.

It found that garlic significantly reduced total cholesterol, triglycerides and the bad LDL cholesterol while slightly but significantly increasing the good HDL cholesterol.

For total cholesterol and triglycerides, the effect was greatest for people over 50, suggesting that garlic may have an even greater effect as we age. For total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, garlic oil had an even greater effect than garlic

powder.

This large meta-analysis adds to the evidence that garlic improves cholesterol and can protect against cardiovascular disease.

J Health Popul Nutr. 2024 Aug 7;43(1):113.