This week the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published the results of a 6 year study on over 3000 older adults to see if Ginkgo biloba really lives up to claims that it helps the memory and can stave off dementia. The results: a resounding no.
Archive for the ‘supplements’ Category
The Old Man and The ‘D’
On October - 2 - 20092 COMMENTS
As children our mothers told us to finish our milk because it would make us big and strong. It turns out that the vitamin D enriched creamy goodness many thoughtlessly poor over cereal every morning doesn’t just build strong bones. 2009 has been a banner year for vitamin D related research and has seen the publication of numerous studies revealing that vitamin D isn’t only essential for building bones but serves in a variety of ways to help age against the machine. Read the rest of this entry »
Resveratrol Revisited
On July - 31 - 20095 COMMENTS
Resveratrol has been one of the more promising compounds to come out of anti-aging research in recent years. One news item this week suggests that its anti-inflammatory properties could “be used to treat potentially deadly inflammatory disease, such as appendicitis, peritonitis, and systemic sepsis.” Wow, that’s one heck of a claim. Harvard scientist David Sinclair, the man whose research discovered the anti-inflammatory properties of resveratrol, thinks a lot of the claims are over-stated.
Vitamin Supplements: Necessary, Insurance, or Waste?
On July - 8 - 20091 COMMENT
You have probably heard it over and over: it’s best to get the vitamins and minerals you need by eating healthy foods. But the reality is that most people don’t eat as healthy a diet as they would like to, and feel that a good quality multi-vitamin pill daily is a dietary “insurance policy”. Particularly people who are watching their calories or on some other restrictive diet feel it is not really possible to get all the micronutrients they need from food. A new study from Harvard questions those assumptions.
Lypopene: Tomatoes Revisited
On June - 1 - 2009Comments Off on Lypopene: Tomatoes Revisited
I have written about the antioxidant benefits of tomatoes and particularly their component lycopene before. Today, Cambridge Teranostics, a spinout of the well known university, has launched their new product Ateronon, a concentrated form of lycopene. The company is hyping this for heart health. Certainly, lycopene has been researched with an eye toward reducing plasma LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and heart disease. This is the entire basis of Cambridge Teranostics’ business model,, while they also use software like competitive intelligence tools which are great for business. Read the rest of this entry »