Better Brain Health – We Are What We Eat

March 10, 2020 By

Chocolate reduces stress. Fish stimulates the brain. Is there any truth to such popular beliefs? The findings of researchers around the world say yes: It appears we really are what we eat.

A study in a British prison found that inmates who took vitamin supplements were less prone to violent behavior. And in Germany, a psychologist at the University of Lübeck has shown that social behavior is influenced by the ingredients consumed at breakfast. But what really happens in the brain when we opt for honey instead of jam, and fish rather than sausage? Scientists around the world are trying to find out. Neuro-nutrition is the name of an interdisciplinary research field that investigates the impact of nutrition on brain health. Experiments on rats and flies offer new insight into the effects of our eating habits. When laboratory rats are fed a diet of junk food, the result is not just obesity. The menu also has a direct influence on their memory performance. The role of the intestinal flora has been known for some time, but scientists are currently discovering other relationships. So-called “brain food” for example: The Mediterranean diet that’s based on vegetables and fish is said to provide the best nutrition for small grey cells. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish, for example, protect the nerve cells and are indispensable for the development of the brain – because the brain is also what it eats!

Deutsche Welle, 2020

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: , , , , ,

Nutritional Minerals and the Periodic Table

November 17, 2019 By

What are nutritional minerals, and where do they come from? This video looks at the origin of nutritional minerals in a scientific sense. Starting with the periodic table, we go through the understanding of earth elements as atoms and structure of an atom as it applies to nutritional minerals. We finish up with the concept of different atoms coming together to form compounds.

Filed Under: Nutrition, Videos Tagged With: , ,

Semey Revisited: The legacy of nuclear testing in Kazakhstan

April 9, 2019 By

Nearly 30 years after the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in the steppes of eastern Kazakhstan, local people are still suffering the consequences of four decades of exposure to radiation. FRANCE 24’s reporters Sophie Guignon and Miyuki Droz Aramaki went to meet them (October 2018).

Filed Under: Environmental Medicine, Videos Tagged With: , , , , ,

A Brief History of Fat, and Why We Hate It

March 14, 2019 By

Fat is a complex organ, as essential to human life as the heart or liver. Why do we hate it?

There is perhaps no part of the human body more maligned than fat. It’s considered ugly, unnecessary, and unhealthy. But fat is a complex organ, as essential to human life as a heart or liver. This short documentary challenges us to rethink fat by explaining why we have it, how it works, and how it may make us sick. It turns out cutting-edge science is uncovering the wonders of fat, and it’s time the rest of us gave it a second look.

Filed Under: Nutrition, Obesity, Obesity Tagged With: , ,

An Introduction to Occupational and Environmental Medicine

September 9, 2018 By

This video is written and produced by Dr. Jon O’Neal, MD, MPH, FACOEM, and was released in 2016 at the annual conference of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM). The video gives a good overview and historical background of the discipline. It also includes a brief history and overview of workers compensation, as well as the occupational physician’s unique triangular relationship with worker and employer. In addition, the video presents information about common work exposures and routes of exposure, and the role of the occupational physician. This includes the prevention component of occupational medicine; treating injured workers; disability management; and various testing and monitoring roles, such as conducting preplacement exams; serving as medical review officers (MRO) in drug screening programs; conducting surveillance exams to measure ongoing effects of work exposures; monitoring fitness for safety-sensitive workers such as pilots.

Filed Under: Environmental Medicine, Lectures, Videos Tagged With: ,

Zinc Saves Kids

April 3, 2018 By

450,000 children are at risk of dying every year due to the impact of zinc deficiency on diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. A few extra milligrams of zinc every day can make a huge difference. Zinc-containing supplements are a quick and easy, effective and inexpensive remedy.

Video from IZA – International Zinc Association (2011). CONEM is an associate member of IZA.

 

Pneumonia Wonder Drug: Zinc Saves Lives

Respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia, are the most common cause of death in children under the age of five. In a study looking at children given standard antibiotic therapy, new research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Medicine shows how zinc supplements drastically improved children’s chances of surviving the infection. The increase in survival due to zinc (on top of antibiotics) was even greater for HIV infected children.

In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 350 children, aged from six months to five years old, were treated with standard antibiotic therapy at Mulago Hospital. Half the children were given zinc and the other half a placebo.

The researchers from Makerere University found that while there was no difference between zinc and placebo in the time it took to recover from the infection (measured by time it took to return to a normal temperature, reparatory rate, and oxygen saturation) the risk of death between the groups was very different. 4% of the children taking zinc died compared to 12% of the children without zinc. This means that an extra eight out of 100 children could have been saved by taking zinc. Among the HIV infected children, this rose to 26 out of every 100.

Prof James Tumwine explained, “Zinc is known to bolster the immune system and zinc deficiency is rife all over the developed and developing, world. In Uganda, where this study was performed, zinc deficiency in some areas can be as high as 70%. We would only need to give 13 of these children with pneumonia zinc on top of their antibiotics to save one life. This equates to about 4 USD – a small price to pay.”

 

Reference

Srinivasan MG, Ndeezi G, Mboijana CK, Kiguli S, Bimenya GS, Nankabirwa V, Tumwine JK. Zinc adjunct therapy reduces case fatality in severe childhood pneumonia: a randomized double blind placebo-controlled trial. BMC Med 2012; 10: 14.

 

Filed Under: News, Pneumonia, Zinc Tagged With: , ,

The Heresy Of Linus Pauling: Vitamin C

April 3, 2018 By

The heresy of Linus Pauling (1901 — 1994) was that he claimed a range of diseases could be cured by taking large amounts of vitamin C. He was condemned until a few years ago when other scientists began to have second thoughts.

Heretic: Linus Pauling

The last to be made about double Nobel Laureate Dr Linus Pauling, this film was shot about a year before he died in 1994. It chronicles how the world of science, having accoladed him for his breakthrough discoveries about the fundamental chemistry of molecules, later derided him for his experiments on – and championing of – the health benefits of high doses of Vitamin C.

BBC Heretic Series. Ep. 2: Linus Pauling, Vitamin C. 1994.

 

Filed Under: Vitamins Tagged With: ,

Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation

March 31, 2018 By

Learn why over 2,000 scientific, medical and environmental professionals are calling for an end to fluoridation worldwide. This video is produced by Fluoride Action Network in 2009

“One of the recommendations I’ve made is, because we now know that fluoride doesn’t need to be swallowed, that the public has to be informed. They should be told that it doesn’t work by swallowing it.”
-Dr. Hardy Limeback- National Research Council Panelist

“As far as I can see, there’s no doubt that the intake of fluoridated water is going to interrupt basic functions of nerve cells in the brain, and this is certainly not going to be to the benefit of anybody.”
-Dr. Robert Isaacson- National Research Council Panelist

“Fluoridation is against all modern principles of pharmacology. It’s obsolete. I don’t think anybody, not a single dentist, would bring up this queston in Sweden anymore.”
-Dr. Arvid Carlsson- Nobel Laurete in Medicine (2000)

Special Features:
Dr. Bill Osmunson on Water Fluoridation (5 min)
Dr. Vyvyan Howard on Fluoride & the brain (4 min)
Fluoride warning for kidney patients (3 min)
An Environmentalist speaks out on Fluoridation (6 min)

Filed Under: Fluoride, Fluoride Tagged With: ,

In Small Doses: Arsenic

December 14, 2017 By

This is a short movie, made by Dartmouth College in 2009, about the risks associated with exposure to potentially harmful amounts of arsenic in private well water, particularly in New Hampshire and New England.

Filed Under: Arsenic, Arsenic, News Tagged With: , ,

Nutritional Epigenetics

December 10, 2017 By

This little video beautifully explains the concept of nutritional epigenetics. Working with international researchers, we published in 2013 a review on this topic:

Jalili M, Pati S, Rath B, Bjørklund G, Singh RB. Effect of Diet and Nutrients on Molecular Mechanism of Gene Expression Mediated by Nuclear Receptor and Epigenetic Modulation. Open Nutra J 2013;6:27-34.

Filed Under: News, Nutrition, Nutrition, Videos Tagged With: , , ,
Next Page »