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Vitamins & Supplements

The Colors of Maca: Balancing Hormones with Phytochemical Phenotypes

By Deanna Minich, PhD & Kim Ross, DCN

Maca (Lepidium) is a genus of cruciferous root vegetables representing 249 known species of plants native to the Andes mountains of Peru and Bolivia. Various types of maca have been used as both food and medicine by indigenous peoples of that region for thousands of years. Maca belongs to the same Brassicaceae family as turnips, […]

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A Renewed Push to Include Supplements in Fed Programs

By Erik Goldman

Should people with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) be permitted to use their tax-deferred dollars to buy dietary supplements and herbal medicines? It’s a question that will once again confront members of Congress in the months to come. Under current federal tax rules, supplements are excluded from HSAs and also from Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), unless […]

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Pain Brain: Chronic Pain Drives Cognitive Decline

By Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, Contributing Writer

A massive new study of data from over 19,000 individuals shows that chronic pain is associated with loss of hippocampal volume and increased risk of dementia. Compared with pain-free control subjects, those who had five or more areas of chronic pain showed neurological changes equivalent to eight years of excess brain aging (Zhao W, et […]

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Vitamin B12 Deficiency Often Eludes Detection

By Jill C. Carnahan, MD, Contributing Writer

Vitamin B12 deficiency is more common than many people realize. Large epidemiological surveys suggest that roughly 6% of all US adults under age 60 years are deficient, with the number rising to about 20% in people over age 60. Some estimates put the prevalence as high as 25%. Those are certainly big numbers, but recent […]

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Probiotics in Clinical Practice: Simple Stories, Complex Realities

By Erik Goldman

Twenty years ago, “the microbiome” was an obscure little domain within microbiology, and the term probiotic, to the extent anyone had heard it at all, usually meant eating yogurt and fermented vegetables in the vague hope it would promote longevity.  Today, the microbiome is one of the most widely known and fastest growing healthcare phenomena […]

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UPshots: Nutrition Research Roundup

By Janet Gulland, Contributing Writer

Research on vitamins, herbs, and nutraceuticals continues to grow worldwide. Here are summaries of a few recent studies that have grabbed our attention here at Holistic Primary Care. Modified Atkins Reduces Seizures in Drug Resistant Epilepsy A modified Atkins diet—a less restrictive version of the “classic” high-fat, low carb ketogenic diet—can reduce seizure frequency and […]

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Olive Leaf Extract Reduces Acute Covid Symptoms

By Janet Gulland, Contributing Writer

Supplementation with olive leaf extract, at 250 mg or 500 mg twice daily for five days, in addition to conventional care, significantly reduced body temperature, pulse rate, respiratory rate, and c-reactive protein levels in a placebo-controlled study of 150 patients hospitalized with acute Covid-19. Compared with the placebo, the olive leaf extract also increased oxygen […]

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One in Every Two IBD Patients Is Zinc Deficient

By Janet Gulland, Contributing Writer

One in every two people with irritable bowel disease (IBD) is zinc-deficient, according to a recent systematic review of nine studies representing more than 2,400 IBD patients. The prevalence of zinc deficiency, based on serum zinc measurements, was higher among those with Crohn’s disease (CD), affecting 54% of the patients in this subgroup, versus 41% […]

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Botanical Medicine Research Roundup

By Janet Gulland, Contributing Writer

Research on medicinal herbs and phytochemicals continues to surge worldwide. Here are summaries of a few of the recent studies that grabbed our attention here at Holistic Primary Care. Horsetail Extract Matches Thiazide for BP Regulation A standardized extract of Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) produced clinically and statistically significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood […]

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