In the largest study to date examining the relationship of diet to dry eye, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered that getting more omega-3 fatty acids can help prevent and relieve the dry-eye symptoms experienced by millions of North Americans. The...
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Help for Cataracts: Lutein supplements prove beneficial yet again
Lutein is a naturally occurring plant pigment found in a number of plant foods, including corn, spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, peas, leeks and collard greens. When we ingest lutein, whether through foods or supplements, it concentrates in a section of the eye called...
Eastern Wisdom? Women can reduce menopause symptoms by learning from the Japanese
Women can dramatically reduce menopausal symptoms and risk factors for heart disease by living more like their Japanese counterparts, say Australian researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Investigators Dr Debra Anderson and Vicki Kain have been...
Calm for Colic: Herbal oil shown to reduce symptoms
Most parents of an infant with colic will agree that the condition is often as hard on the parents as it seems to be on the child. Colic is a fairly common problem in which the baby is otherwise healthy but has periods of inconsolable crying, apparently caused by...
Breathing Easy: Grape extract quells inflammation in lung disease
A component of red wine, resveratrol, seems to damp down the inflammatory process in the progressive lung disease COPD, finds a small study. So effective was resveratrol in laboratory tests that the authors suggest that the compound could be developed to treat the...
Vitamin Prevents Cancer: Folic acid lowers childhood cancer incidence
A research team at The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) and the University of Toronto (U of T) has shown that folic acid food fortification has resulted in a 60% reduction in the incidence of neuroblastoma, a deadly childhood cancer. “Our research indicates that this...
Tea Therapy: L-theanine in tea strengthens immunity
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that drinking certain types of tea containing high concentrations of an amino acid called L-theanine may help strengthen the body’s immune system response when fighting off infection. The findings were first...
Soy Good: Component of soy foods improves blood flow and vessel health
An Italian study has found that a component of soy products, genistein, can bring about improved blood flow and blood vessel health, suggesting that soy can replace hormone therapy, which doctors now warn against because of increased risks of breast cancer, stroke and...
Pregnant Pause: Study suggests caution with ginseng use while pregnant
Researchers from Hong Kong have warned that women should be cautious about using the herbal remedy ginseng in the early stages of pregnancy after a study found abnormalities in rat embryos. They found that embryos exposed to more than 30 micrograms per millilitre of...
How Black Cohosh Works: Herb safe and effective for hot flashes
Black cohosh, an herb increasingly used by women as an alternative to estrogen replacement therapy, may reduce hot flashes by targeting serotonin receptors, according to a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The finding, the first to show a...