Archive for the ‘Health, Nutrition and Science News’ Category

Vitamin E is a supplement category that really hasn’t caught up to the latest research, as we discussed in this blog post from January. As we explained then, vitamin E isn’t one compound but a family of eight compounds, 4 tocopherols and 4 tocopherols, each with specific and unique roles to play. However, most vitamin E supplements only contain one form, alpha tocopherol. The best vitamin E’s are those few that contain all eight compounds, but these remain a stubbornly small portion of the vitamin E supplement market. Customers and brands alike may not like the higher prices of full-spectrum vitamin E’s, but there’s growing evidence of their superiority. A soon-to-be published study adds more evidence for a special, protective role of gamma and the other tocopherols, all of which are definitely lacking in most vitamin E supplements and multis.

Last December we published a post in response to the growing number of emails and calls we’ve had in regard to web and multilevel-marketed Acai supplements like Mona Vie. Now an leading consumer advocacy group has lent its voice to those calling for caution and a hefty dose of caveat emptor.

Enzymes are a rapidly-growing category of nutritional supplement. Digestive enzymes are the most popular types, but systemic enzymes are gaining acceptance too. Systemic enzymes are used for all kinds of health issues from chronic sinusitis to back pain and sports injuries. Find out more about systemic enzymes today’s AllStarHealth blog.

A recently published cancer-research study provides new insights into the way cancer spreads (metastasizes) throughout the body. A key to the process is the LOX enzyme that cancer cells use to prepare a remote site for new tumor growth. Enzymes are in fact intricately involved in both sides of the health equation; promoting both health and disease process. So what are enzymes and how can you use this knowledge to better protect your health? Find out in today’s AllStarHealth blog.

Here’s a study we wish they’d have done a long time ago. As you may know, blueberries are one of the most, if not THE most antioxidant-rich fruits in the human diet due to their high polyphenol content. They also taste great and are available year-round in both fresh and frozen forms. So blueberries make the perfect addition to a protein shake. Or don’t they?

Here we go again. The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine recently published a comparison study of weight-loss diets that seems sure to shake up the Conventional Wisdom of weight loss one more time. Many of the major news services covered this report since its conclusions upend the popularly-held belief in a high-protein (or practically any other type of weight-loss) diet. Instead, the putatively surprising finding of this study was that it didn’t matter whether protein, carbs or fats were high or low; long-term weight loss success came down to simply calories-in versus calories out. That is to say, manipulating protein fat and carb levels didn’t matter, what mattered was reducing overall calorie intake. So what does this mean to the millions of people trying to lose weight? Is it time to rethink the high-protein low-carb approach?

Long before it’s talked about on the evening news or Oprah, the most interesting nutritional news and research first appears in peer-reviewed scientific journals; the ones nobody reads but doctors, scientists or grad students. So once a month, AllStarHealth summarizes some of the most promising new findings in our Nutrition News Roundup.

Did your grandparents or parents ever remark about how fruits and vegetables tasted better and even looked more appealing a generation ago? Well, maybe they’re not imagining all that.

Last November, a nationwide survey of over six thousand supplement users identified changes in the popularity of different brands and supplement types.

Dr. Robert Heaney is one of the leading researchers in the quickly-advancing field of vitamin D research. He recently gave a fascinating lecture at UC Berkley in which he summed up the most current information about vitamin D and took on difficult-to-answer questions about vitamin D deficiency and dose. Dr. Heaney’s information is compelling and commands a complete rethink of this crucial prohormone nutrient. The video has since been removed from YouTube, but we were able to see it and took some notes. Here’s what this leading researcher had to say about vitamin D.