Fermented lemons are a delicious way to add probiotics and tang to many dishes: pilafs, tagines, roast chicken, salad dressings, hummus and more. Even better, they are so easy to make at home. All you need are about 3 pounds of large lemons. Look for organic lemons because you will be eating the rind which […]
Articles
Probiotics Target the Sweet Spot
As diabetes numbers follow the soaring global obesity rates, public health centers everywhere need solutions for both prevention and treatment. Researchers in Brazil looked to probiotics for a possible answer. Effects of Probiotics on Glycemic Control and Inflammation in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled Study appeared April 2015 in The FASEB Journal […]
Out of the Mouths of Babes
Streptococcus mutans is just like the rest of us—trying to make a living with a few holidays along the way. Its daily bread is those crumbs of food left in our teeth. But S. mutans really loves the sticky sweets that hide from toothbrushes. Gummi bears and sugary colas are like a trip to Mallorca […]
Probiotics: Keeping Cholesterol in Check?
Cholesterol has a bad reputation. Clogging arteries, damning up blood supply and eventually, on some fine day, causing a heart attack. This means cardiac tissue death, reduced pumping ability, forays into stents, balloons, and bypasses and for some of the worst cases, heart transplants. Cholesterol though has a purpose. And it is not to kill us […]
Golden, But Not Glittering
The Panamanian golden frog likes life in a bubble. Inside a lab or a zoo, the strikingly handsome amphibian thrives nicely. But out in the wild, the frog sickens and dies. The culprit, a fungus named Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), is the cause of many species extinctions. The Bd fungus however has some enemies and is […]
Schizophrenia: From the Gut
Schizophrenia: severe brain disorder characterized by abnormal interpretations of reality, resulting in hallucinations, delusions and disordered behavior. What causes it? Researchers believe it is a combination of genetics and environment. This “nature vs. nurture” hypothesis pretty much describes the cause of most illnesses, short of those caused by accidents. But it is helpful in that the […]