risk

Low Vit D Linked To Increase In Dementia And Broken Bones (You Can Prevent It)

Low vitamin D levels are associated with a substantial acceleration of memory loss and cognitive decline, a new study shows.   Published Sept 14, 2015 in JAMA Neurology, researchers looked at baseline vitamin D levels and mental status change in over 380 adults (average age 75 years old.)   Here is what they found:   35% of participants were vit D insufficient. Average vit D levels were lowest among participants found to have dementia (average levels were 16 ng/mL — goal vit D levels are 40 ng/mL or higher according to the Vitamin D Council.) Followed for almost 5 years, […]

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Saturated Fat Does NOT Increase Mortality

This week, many of us are heading into the holidays.   And as you head into a week of parties and connection and warmth and pot lucks and FOOD… I can think of no better holiday gift than this:   To share with you, directly from the medical literature, the truth that saturated fat does NOT increase mortality.     It’s not about the fat… saturated fat intake does not increase rate of death. It’s about the inflammation and the long term damage that inflammation does to your blood vasculature (and your entire body, from your gut lining to your

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Good Moods Are Contagious In Teens (And Prevents Depression)

As I blogged about last week… mood is not just something that colors our day. Our moods actually make a huge difference in our projected lifespan… this is now a medical fact!   On the heels of that study, yet another study was published just last month (August 19, 2015 in the Proc Biol Science) revealing that a positive mood among teens is not only “contagious” and spreads among peers… … but is also associated with enhanced recovery from depression and decreased future risk of depression. And even better, the reverse is not true: depressed mood does not appear to

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5 Crucial Ways To Improve Bone Strength (no Rx needed…)

  I just returned from a medical conference and one of the sessions was a 2015 update on osteoporosis prevention and treatment.   The room was filled with physicians approaching bone health from an incredibly narrow, conventionally minded angle.   It was very limited and it was actually downright upsetting — we spent 99% of the lecture discussing the side effects of osteoporosis Rx and how to try to navigate around the fact that the prescriptions actually make bones more brittle, increase atypical fracture risk, and even double cancer risk.   NO thank you.   That presentation fired me up

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Coffee Decreases Your Risk of Diabetes

Published 3 months ago (April 2014) in Diabetologia, a new study found that drinking more coffee can dramatically decrease your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.   This was a huge longitudinal study, looking at whether increasing or decreasing your coffee or tea intake changed the subsequent rate of type 2 diabetes development. Turns out, the answer is yes!   Although several large studies have previously shown that coffee drinkers have lower rates of diabetes, this study was novel in that it followed large cohorts of people who changed their coffee or tea intake, and then followed their actual diabetes

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