The people who inhabit the Caucasus Mountains of the former USSR are very long-lived, remaining healthy, vital and, legend has it, even becoming parents well into advanced old age. There are stories about some people living into their 160s. However, when researchers went there, looking to verify some these claims, it seemed that Shirali Musilov, […]
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Inflammatory. Bowel. Disease. The name alone conjures up unpleasant and uncomfortable associations. The disease it describes is a miserable. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (“IBD”), is actually a group of three related conditions that affect the gastrointestinal tract: Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s disease and less commonly, Pouchitis. These conditions can really harm the quality of life of people […]
Probiotics: The Best Anti-Aging Elixir for Your Skin?
If you’ve checked out my picture on this site, you may have noticed the gray, Elvira-esque white streak in my hair or the crows’ feet radiating out from the corners of my eyes. The all-natural look that I have long relied on is starting to become harder to pull off. As a woman of a […]
Research Shows Antibiotics Can Cause Obesity
I had always known that commercial farmers put antibiotics into their livestock feed, and generally have tried to buy free-range, organic or antibiotic-free chicken and beef, even though it was much more expensive and the chickens were noticeably smaller. I’ve wanted to avoid meat raised this way not because of a fear that there were […]
The Connection Between Obesity and Bad Gut Bacteria
I can still remember being overweight as a young adult and I would have given anything to be able to take a pill to make the pounds fly away. So, I guess it’s no surprise that get-slim-quick pills and miracle fat burning creams are a mainstay on late-night TV advertising. Although losing weight will never […]
6 Ways We Can Upset Bacterial Balance in Our Guts
There’s mounting evidence that maintaining a healthy ecosystem of gut bacteria in our microbiome can have a wide range of health benefits. And there are many things we can do (and eat) to help create and maintain a favorable composition of gut bacteria. But, how do our microbiomes get out of whack in the first […]
Prebiotics, Synbiotics & How to Feed Your Gut Bugs
In biology class, when I was a child, I saw a movie showing some of the critters, magnified in horrifying detail, that inhabit our eyelashes, skin and scalp. I was disgusted, even though our teacher described them as harmless, even as she simultaneously played up their “ick” factor. I couldn’t stop scratching for a week. […]
Is Picky Eating Caused by Gut Bacteria?
Preface: Much of this article on the connection between picky eating and gut bacteria is based on observation by health practitioners rather than hard scientific research. So far. Perhaps this is because many of the other healthy conditions related to gut bugs are diagnosable medical conditions (such as allergies, asthma, eczema, diaharrea, obesity etc.), while picky eating […]
Mouth Bacteria (not sugar) Are Rotting Your Teeth
Can you imagine a world without flossing? Until I heard the radio announcer on BBC say that a new type of gum could make flossing a thing of the past, I’d always assumed, based on the conventional wisdom, that evil mouth bacteria that thrived on plaque ate holes in your teeth. And I’d learned that […]
Surprising Ways Mouth Bacteria Impacts Our Health
When I was a child, my mother had to have gum surgery because she had periodontitis, a serious condition of the gums surrounding the teeth. The way she described it horrified me. She had to healthy gum tissue removed from one part of her mouth and the tissue was then grafted onto the diseased area. […]