Baby, we were born to run. Despite that innate need to move, few of us do enough exercise for optimum health. Even our microbes will vary depending on movement. For example, endurance athletes harbor different microbes than sedentary people. A new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tracked changes in the guts of […]
Clinical Corner
Can Probiotics Clear Human Papillomavirus?
Imagine a virus that most people harbor at some point in their lives, usually unaware of it because our fine-tuned immune systems clear them, yet for an unlucky number–usually women—it can be a death sentence. The pathogen is called human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer. A German virologist named Harald zur Hausen […]
Probiotics May Be the New Prozac
Evolution carved out a special place for anxiety, an often helpful emotion which triggers cortisol release in fight-or-flight responses. Anxiety can save your life. But these days anxiety from uniquely modern stressors—health screenings, computer meltdowns, traffic jams, noise pollution and hundreds of other adverse events —lingers long after its usefulness. Chronic anxiety can kill you. This […]
Travel Changes You, and Your Microbes Too
Travel can be rewarding, financially if it’s for work and emotionally when it’s for play or to visit loved ones. The downsides too are well-known: flight delays, uncomfortable seats, annoying seatmates and jet lag. Another to consider is how our microbes fare when flown across vast time zones to lands where even food and water […]
As Asthma Rates Rise, So Does Interest in Microbes
Progress is not always pretty. Polluted air, water and soil are part of the price tag on fast cars, potent drugs and cheap beef. Health can suffer. Faced with environmental toxins, our bodies secrete cytokines which induce multiple responses played out in the lungs, airways and immune system. This specific type of allergy named asthma is […]
Fat-fighting microbes? Prove it with a robust study design.
By Josh Baisley, B.Sc., Director of Clinical Trials, Nutrasource Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥30kg/m2, continues to be an important health issue globally, as it is a major risk factor for several diseases, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, osteoarthritis and some cancers, among others.1,2 Rates of […]