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 […]
Microbiome Environment
Holiday Cheers for Probiotics
It’s so easy to throw a ribbon on a box of candy or bottle of booze and call it your very merry holiday offering. Resist the ordinary. This year, invest your resources in gifts that will actually improve the health of those you care about (even though your annoying co-worker still merits ribbon candy.) Ideas with […]
Can Microbes Lower Blood Pressure?
Shake the salt habit, get off the couch and don’t forget your meds. Long the trifecta for managing high blood pressure, those rules demand revision as more of the planet (as many as one-third of adults) struggle with numbers that can lead to early death. One novel approach may lie with the gut-brain axis. In […]
In Two-Thirds of Patients, Meds for Stomach Acids Overused
Just a few decades ago, a nip of baking soda was all you used for annoying stomach acids. Today, a multi-billion dollar industry hawks antacids, histamine (H2) blockers, and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) across vast shelves in drugstores, supermarkets and warehouse stores. Snake oil or wonder drugs? Clearly, these popular remedies are effective at neutralizing stomach acids. If acid […]
In Colon Cancer, Probiotics Pay It Forward
Why are rates of colon cancer (CRC) rising across the globe? Much blame goes to the “Western diet” with its red meat, processed foods and low fiber content, a deadly menu now exported into the remotest regions of the earth. Of course, our “Western medicine” via colonoscopy can find polyps and laser them out before […]
WANTED: Probiotics, Dead or Alive
Much is made of the surviving numbers of live bacteria reaching our guts, whether through food or supplements. Yes, live probiotics taking seed and growing into vigorous colonies promise to be good neighbors across the spectrum of health for humans. But much like a life well-lived, good things can follow in the wake of even […]