Beta Glucan’s Versatile Immune Modulating Properties

The Maitake mushroom (Grifola frondosa) is well regarded as a potent immune support compound.  The primary active component is beta glucan, otherwise known as the D fraction.  Beta glucan is also highly concentrated in oat fiber, which is also documented as an immune support compound.  This brief review discusses the value of beta glucan as part of a natural immune support program.

Which Whey to Go

In the world of dietary supplements and functional foods there are many choices in terms of product quality, and whey protein is no exception.  This is especially true when a used-car sales pitch is used in an effort to make products look and sound far better than what is actually under the hood.  While consumers should expect this from network marketing companies they are often taken aback when health professionals go out on a limb and push the envelope of truth.

The Thyroid Jolt Time of Year

Many of us living in the Northern states have seen a significant drop in temperature over the past few weeks.  Fluctuating fall temperatures are a jolt to your thyroid system. 

Exercise Tips for Fighting the Swine Flu

Exercise is vital to conditioning your body to have an efficient immune response.  Hundreds of studies on exercise and immunity have been conducted.  In general, the more fit you are the better your immune system works.  At the same time, higher amounts of exercise place increased demands on your immune system.  Working out or performing significant exercise at the same time your body is trying to fight off the flu could make you more susceptible to getting sick.  Thus, it is a good idea to understand exercise in the context of your immune system.

BDNF at the Crossroads of Brain Function & Metabolism

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is vital to the growth of new nerve cells, the plasticity of brain connections that are vital to brain health, and plays an important role in learning and memory.  New research is now showing that it is a vital metabolic compound, lacking in individuals who are overweight and especially in those with type II diabetes.

Easy Ways to Calculate Your Goal Weight and Maximum Weight

Calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI) is seldom done due to the complexity of the formula.  Yet, it is important for people to have a good idea when extra weight is heading in the direction of disease risk.  Researchers are now proposing a simple way for individuals to understand their “Maximum Weight Limit.”

Size of Abdominal Fat Cells Predicts Future Type II Diabetes

New research spanning 35 years shows that women who had the largest size in their abdominal fat cells were twice as likely to develop Type II Diabetes later in life.  The women were taking part in a Swedish study that included taking fat biopsies back in 1974-1975. 

Understanding the War in Your Gut

A new study that documents how Salmonella food poisoning causes intense diarrhea illustrates the rather unbelievable nature of the war that can take place on the front lines of your digestive tract.  Old and now rather stuffy explanations of immunity pit immune troops against foreign invaders, wherein bacteria were simply operating as individual entities and their infectious potential was in their numbers alone.  We now know such bacteria talk to each other and form gangs.  In the latest study it was shown that pathogenic bacteria directly signal human cells and try to confuse them so as to mount a more aggressive attack.

Do High Fat Diets Make a Person Tired and Dumb?

A new study by Oxford researchers has shown one way that a high fat diet challenges your body’s health, leading to a decline in energy and mental function within nine days.

More Science Supporting the Leptin Diet

Quoting the new press release covering the study, “Eat less, exercise more. Now there is new evidence to support adding another “must” to the weight-loss mantra: eat at the right time of day.” How flattering, I’ve been saying those exact words since publishing Mastering Leptin in 2002. 

The Blood Sugar Hormone Adiponectin is Linked to Your Circadian Clock

A detailed analysis of biological clocking genes has shown that adiponectin function is in sync with 24-hour patterns.  The data also showed that fasting causes the adiponectin-relating timing to fast forward, whereas a high fat diet causes adiponectin-related timing to enter jet lag.

Another Study Linking Weight Gain to Breast Cancer Risk

A new study was able to weed out gene-related risk factors for breast cancer (like BRAC1 and BRAC2) and provide the first clear data on the precise risk that obesity poses to women for breast cancer.

Why Consistent Exercise Helps Keep the Weight Off

There are numerous studies showing that those who consistently exercise during and following weight loss are much more likely to maintain their new weight.  The common reasons most people have to continue exercise is to maintain the better feeling of health and fitness and to burn calories.  A new study provides a few new angles that may provide additional motivation.  It showed that consistent exercise following weight loss directly reduced the urge to eat more food, specifically enhanced fat burning, and blunted the formation of new fat cells.

Another Study Linking Obesity to Aggressive Prostate Cancer

It is really important that this message sink in to the male population.  Being overweight when you are older or gaining weight as an adult are clearly linked to risk for developing the most aggressive and deadly form of prostate cancer.

The New World of Bones – Thyroid, Leptin, Blood Sugar, and Bone Strength

In 1994, with the discovery of leptin, the view of white adipose tissue was transformed from a warehouse whose primary role was the storage of extra calories into one of the most important endocrine organs in the human body.  The explosion in leptin-related research, now involving over 16,000 studies, is a testament to the emerging reality that leptin regulates (as a top-level manager) almost everything in your body.  In the past few years the leptin science has transformed our understanding of bone health and bone function. 

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