Digestion, health and nutrition: Dr. Anil Minocha, a gastroenterologist and nutritionist

Have kidney stones? OJ versus lemonade

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Citrus fruits juice results in biochemical changes in the body leading to reduction in risk factors for kidney stones. But are all citrus fruit juices equally good in preventing kidney stones?

Dr. Odvina from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, compared orange juice and lemonade for risk of kidney/urinary stones. Thirteen volunteers were studied. They published their findings in paper titled, "Comparative Value of Orange Juice versus Lemonade in Reducing Stone-Forming Risk ." The paper was published in Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2006).

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

The subjects were given orange juice or lemonade. Ingestion of distilled water was used as control.

And the winner was OJ! This is based on the fact that orange juice provided alkali as evidenced by higher urinary pH and citrate compared with control. Lemonade did not have this potentially beneficial effect. Whether these short-term results can be sustained over long term remains to be established.

What did you guess and why?

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Learn about feeding disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia	Whole fruit versus fruit juice. Are they equal?
Melatonin  is not just for sleep: use it for healthy digestion?	Is mangosteen good for health and heal disease?
Chronic back pain? Acupuncture helps	Homeopathy benefits fibromyalgia
Overweight or obese? Bacteria in your gut may be responsible!	For good travel, prevent motion sickness
Breast feeding benefits, alternatives	Yoga improves sex
Acupuncture for chronic GERD or heartburn?	Folic acid supplement to prevent cancer controversial, some say harmful.
Reduce mortality with vegetarian diet and lose weight too	Does tea make your body healthier?

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Can Drinking Juice Prevent Alzheimer's?

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Polyphenols are a common source of antioxidants in diet and provide better protection against neurotoxicity of aging than the common vitamins. This raises an obvious question, that is, can drinking fruit or vegetable juice reduce the risk of progression to Alzheimer's disease?

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Dr. Dai and colleagues report on their results examining this issue as a part of KAME project cohort. Their results were published in the American Journal of Medicine (September 2006).

Their data-base consisted of 836 Japanese Americans, who were dementia-free at baseline (1992-1994) and were followed up through the year 2001. Different measures of lifestyle and eating habits including juice consumption were recorded. In addition, cognitive function tests were conducted.

They found that the risk for Alzheimer's disease was significantly lower among subjects who drank juices at least 3 times per week. There was no effect of intake of vitamins E, C, or beta-carotene or tea consumption.

Bottom line: Drink atleast 3 glasses of juice per week to shield yourself from Alzheimer's disease.

Do you drink juice frequently? Do you prefer fruit or vegetable juice? Which one is your favorite? Please feel free to share your thoughts.

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Reflux, heartburn (GERD) and COPD

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Numerous studies have linked chronic heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and bronchial asthma. Several studies have shown that GERD contributes to asthma via multiple mechanisms including aspiration and esophago-bronchial reflexes.

Similar mechanisms could be in play in exacerbation of COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is frequently caused by smoking.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

GERD-COPD study

Dr. Rascon-Aguilar and colleagues from University of Florida Health Science Center in Jacksonville, Florida recently studied this issue. They wished to examine the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux symptoms patients with COPD and the effect of reflux on the rate of COPD exacerbations and published their findings in the journal Chest (October 2006).

These investigators conducted a questionnaire-based, cross sectional survey in patients with an established diagnosis of COPD.

Results of GERD-COPD study

Of the 86 patients studied, 37% reported symptoms of reflux. They found that patients with chronic reflux symptoms suffer twice as many exacerbations of COPD as compared to those without reflux.

Comments

The authors concluded that presence of reflux symptoms is associated with increased worsening episodes of COPD. Chronic heartburn or reflux is therefore a modifiable risk factor for COPD.

Confused about probiotics on market? Knowledge is power	Coconut oil for healthy, beautiful skin
Evidence based natural treatments of fibromyalgia	Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
Herb/spice in kitchen to prevent cancer & boost immunity	Yoga improves blood pressure & diabetes
Food triggers for migraine	Botox works at both ends. Cheers!
Fish type, mercury toxicity risks versus benefits	Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
Depressed? Want alternative medicine options?	Risks of heartburn and ulcer medications
Constipation? Think your colon has kinks?	What causes alcohol hangover?

Heartburn, GERD and acid reflux	Probiotics in IBS or irritable bowel syndrome
Stroke prevention diet	Yogurt heals kids diarrhea
When should I have a repeat colonoscopy?	Baked or broiled fish protects against abnormal heart rhythms
Could your birthday be a risk for stroke?	Irritable bowel syndrome or IBS and Chinese herbal medicine
Can restaurants help cure obesity?	Does coffee protect liver?
Does Mediterranean diet increase longevity?	Does stress cause leaky gut syndrome?
Intestinal bacteria and infantile colic	Cranberry juice versus antibiotics for urinary tract infections

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Does Hypnotherapy Heal Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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Hypnotherapy benefits for irritable bowel syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or spastic colon can be very difficult to treat in many patients. There is paucity of medications available, and many of the strategies used actually have not been shown to be of benefit. Hypnosis has been gaining a lot of attention lately for this vexing problem.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Dr. Roberts and colleagues from the University of Birmingham in United Kingdom conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate this hypnotherapy as a complementary therapy and published their data in the British Journal of General Practice .

Patients with IBS who had failed conventional treatment were included in the study. Patients in the study group received five sessions of hypnotherapy in addition to their usual management. Usual and conventional treatment was administered to the control group.

These investigators found that after a period of 3 months, significantly greater improvements were seen in the intervention group. This included improvement in pain, diarrhea and overall symptom scores . Quality of life was not improved. While the improvement in symptoms was not maintained over long-term, the patients in study group were significantly less likely to require medication, and the majority felt that their condition had improved.

Do you or someone you know has IBS? What treatments have worked for you? What are your thoughts on hypnosis or other forms of complimentary and alternative medicine? 

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Heart or heartburn?

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Is it your heart or just heartburn or GERD? 

Heart and esophagus are intimately connected. It is not just that many a times we can not differentiate between heartburn of GERD versus the heart attack. Acid in the esophagus has been known to affect coronary blood flow as well as heart rhythm.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Dr. Gerson and colleagues from the Stanford University School of Medicine recently reported on a series of three patients who had symptoms of abnormal heart rhythm as well as heartburn (GERD). Simultaneous recordings of heart rhythm as well as gastroesophageal reflux events were performed. The findings were reported in the Journal of Gastroenterology .

Patients were treated with powerful acid suppression using proton pump inhibitors. Symptoms improved in all of the patients further reinforcing the premise that heart and esophagus are connected.

The mechanism of therapeutic action may be via the nerves connecting the heart and esophagus or cardio-esophageal reflexes.

The authors concluded that patients with both abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) and chronic heartburn or gastroesophageal reflux disease should undergo a trial of acid suppression for relief of their cardiac symptoms. 

Of course, GERD is one of the major causes of non-cardiac chest pain. Other atypical manifestations of GERD include asthma, chronic cough, laryngitis, recurrent respiratory infections and nonobstructive dysphagia. At the same time, proton pump inhibitor drugs used for acid suppression to treat heartburn or GERD have their own risks. 

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Tips to prevent alcohol hangover	Homeopathy: fact or fiction?
Natural treatments of migraine?	Do you have intestinal gas problems?
Food allergies? Knowledge is power	Natural Stomach Care by Anil Minocha MD of Shreveport, La
Difference between colitis and diverticulitis	About aphrodisiac foods to make your day or night: Myth or reality
Constipation: Taking care of business!	Do artificial sweeteners increase cancer?

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Hepatitis A versus hepatitis C

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Can one hepatitis infection heal the other?

This provocative question has frequently been debated. A recent study from Hannover Medical School in Germany certainly lends support to this hypothesis.

Dr. Deterding and colleagues report on a group of 17 patients with chronic hepatitis C who also developed an acute episode of acute hepatitis A. Their findings were published in the Journal of Hepatology (December 2006).

These investigators found that none of these chronic hepatitis C patients developed fulminant liver failure. In addition, they demonstrated that while hepatitis C could be detected in 84% of those without acute hepatitis A, it was detected only in 65% of those who developed the co-infection. This suggests that the presence of hepatitis A suppressed the hepatitis C virus.

Once the acute hepatitis A had resolved, 6 out of the nine patients showed increased hepatitis C replication, whereas two of the patients continued to test negative for hepatitis C.

These authors concluded that acute hepatitis A virus infection inhibits hepatitis C virus replication and may even lead to its eradication. In addition, they noted that fulminant hepatitis A is uncommon in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. 

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Is homeopathy safe or effective?

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Homeopathy

While many people in eastern cultures and even Europe swear by the effectiveness of homeopathy, it is generally looked own upon by many involved in Western medicine.

A recent report from Germany led by Dr. Bernhoft and colleagues provides an overview of evidence for effectiveness of homeopathy based on published literature. The authors systematically searched all the medical literature and found many high-quality pre-clinical and clinical studies proving positive effects of homeopathy.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

They report that 20 of 22 systematic reviews demonstrated at least a trend in favor of homeopathy with five of the studies demonstrating definitive evidence for effectiveness of homeopathic treatment.

They concluded that homeopathy is clearly effective, safe and essentially devoid of side effects based on scientific evidence.

What do you think about alternative and complimentary medicine therapies? Have you visited the National Center for complimentary and Alternative Medicine web site. Have you used any one of them or would you consider using them under certain circumstances? What are your thoughts about homeopathy?

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Even a little extra weight will shorten life

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Obesity, premature death and life span

Obesity is known to contribute to many diseases and premature death. However, the impact of just being overweight but not "obese" has been hotly debated.

Studies in (New England Journal of Medicine) confirm what many of us had long suspected, i.e. even a little extra weight is harmful and shortens life.

In one of these studies, Dr. Adams and colleagues from National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, studied the impact of overweight, obesity, and mortality in subjects 50 to 71 years old.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

They studied body mass index (BMI) and its relation to the risk of death in over five hundred thousand subjects. Results were adjusted for age, race or ethnicity, education, smoking , physical activity, alcohol intake and preexisting diseases.

Examination of BMI in nonsmoking subjects above the age of 50 years revealed that the risk of death increases by 20 to 40 percent among overweight persons and by two to three fold among obese persons.

The other study concluded that underweight, overweight, and obese men and women had higher rates of death than men and women of normal weight.

Bottomline: Maintaining a healthy weight and preventing weight gain especially in middle age is critical for a longer and healthy life. 

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Green tea for weight control

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Numerous strategies have been suggested in order to conquer the growing epidemic of obesity. Among the commonly used tools are caffeine, ephedrine, capsaicin and green tea since they are likely to increase the body metabolism and energy use thus contributing to weight loss.

Dr. Diepyens and colleagues from the Maastricht University in Netherlands recently published a review on this topic in the American Journal of Physiology (July 2006).

They conclude that while a combination of caffeine and ephedrine is effective for weight loss, the adverse effects of ephedrine preclude its use.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Capsaicin is effective but compliance has been a big problem.

Green tea is effective for weight loss and works via multiple mechanisms including its role in regulation of body fat metabolism.

Do you or someone you know has ad difficulty losing excess weight? Have you been on yo yo diets or any fad diets? What tools worked or did not work for you? 

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Leaky gut and food intolerance

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What is leaky gut? Intestinal hyperpermeability or leaky gut syndrome has been a hot topic for discussion and debate in recent years. This leakiness has been documented in many patients with nongastrointestinal disorders and as such has been implicated in the pathogenesis of such diverse diseases as asthma, psoriasis and irritable bowel syndrome.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Objectives and hypothesis: Dr. Ventura and colleagues from the University of Bari Medical School in Italy examined the intestinal permeability in patients with food intolerances. They hypothesized that an increased intestinal permeability could contribute to alteration in sensitivity to food-allergen. Their findings were published in the journal Digestive and Liver Disease.

Study: 21 patients with food allergy and 20 with food hypersensitivity. Intestinal permeability were examined. The investigators demonstrated that intestinal permeability was altered in subjects with food allergies and hypersensitivity. There was relationship between the intestinal permeability and the patient's symptoms.

Conclusion: Leaky gut is seen in all patients with adverse reactions to food and that the severity of symptoms correlates with increasing intestinal permeability.

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Tips to prevent alcohol hangover	Homeopathy: fact or fiction?
Natural treatments of migraine?	Do you have intestinal gas problems?
Food allergies? Knowledge is power	Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health
Difference between colitis and diverticulitis	About aphrodisiac foods to make your day or night: Myth or reality
Constipation: Taking care of business!	Do artificial sweeteners increase cancer?

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When is colon cancer screening not worth it?

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Colon cancer and rectal cancer screening: timing and benefit

Colorectal cancer is preventable and screening saves lives. How long should this periodic screening or surveillance continue during a person's life is controversial and raises health, economic and societal issues and concerns.

Dr. Cary Gross and colleagues from the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the Yale University School of Medicine tackled this controversial and emotional issue and recently published their findings in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine .

Study

Gross et al.  conducted a retrospective cohort study in patients with prior colorectal cancer using population-based cancer registry with linked administrative claims data.

Methodology

They assessed each patient's chronic illnesses based on Medicare claims. Chronic conditions included myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, COPD, dementia, diabetes, renal or liver failure, AIDS etc.

Results

The overall study sample consisted of 35,755 patients. Not surprisingly, they documented that thelife expectancy depended on patient's age and the number of chronic illnesses.

Age versus cancer detection: The investigators found that among men diagnosed with stage I cancer (curable form of cancer) at the age of 67 years, the life expectancy was 19 years for those without significant illnesses; it was 12 years for those with 1 or 2 chronic conditions as compared to 7.6 years among those with 3 or more illnesses. The numbers for females were 2, 16 and 7 years respectively.

At the other extreme,, these investigators found that if same cancer was diagnosed at the age of 81 years with no concurrent medical illness, the life expectancy was 10 and 14 years among men and women respectively.

Conclusions

Coexisting chronic illness results in significant reduction in life expectancy after diagnosis of early-stage colorectal cancer. Further screening among such patients should depend upon the overall health of the patient.

Caveat: These recommendations are controversial since these are based on a retrospective examination of data. Each patient is different and statistical averages may not apply to each and everyone. In addition, we should also partner with the patient and take into account his/her expectations and desired quality of life.

If you are planning on colonoscopy, be sure to follow your doctor's instructions meticulously. Colon needs to be clean for a good colonoscopy exam and the definition of clean colon sometimes lies in the eyes of beholder.

Simple things help too: Lets us not forget that healthy diet such as fruits, vegetables, curry and calcium contribute to lower risk for colon cancer.

Are you above the age of 50 years? Have you had your colorectal cancer screening? Please share your thoughts/experience. 

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Exercise makes radiation therapy easier

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Radiation therapy is frequently undertaken as part of treatment of breast cancer. However, these beneficial effects come with a price. Sometimes the side effects can make the therapy intolerable and reuire additional medications to combat the unwanted adverse effects.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

A recent study by Dr. Drouin and colleagues published in the journal Cancer  suggests that aerobic exercise during therapy would help make this otherwise toxic treatment more tolerable.

They conducted a randomized controlled trial to study the impact of aerobic exercise twenty sedentary females with breast carcinoma during radiation therapy.

These investigators found that moderate intensity aerobic exercise maintains red blood cell counts and hemoglobin levels better during radiation treatment of breast cancer compared with the declines observed in patients who were not doing moderate level of exercise.

They concluded that exercise is a safe and cost-effective method to improve fitness and maintain hemoglobin levels in women during radiation treatment of breast cancer.

Do you exercise regularly? Do you do it with a trainer, in a group or by yourself? 

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Does breast milk help brains, make kids smarter

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Breast-feeding is associated with numerous health benefits for the kids including enhanced immunity against infections, but does it also enhance their intelligence?

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Study: Der and colleagues from United Kingdom studied the impact of maternal intelligence and breast feeding on child's intelligence and published their findings in the British Medical Journal (November 2006).

Results: Mother's IQ was better predictor of breastfeeding status than age, race or education. Looked at in isolation, breast-feeding had positive impact on a child's IQ.

However, after adjusting for maternal IQ, breast-feeding was found to have little impact intelligence in children.

Conclusion: Breast-fed children are more intelligent because their mothers are more intelligent, better educated and provide better living environment.

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Do probiotics improve gut function and strengthen intestinal barrier?	Health benefits of probiotics and prebiotics
Is kava bad for liver	Fish type, mercury toxicity & health v benefits: Farmed fish versus wild
Is fasting good or bad for health	Food triggers for migraine and helpful natural supplements
Is VitaminD deficiency a growing epidemic. maybe?	Mangosteen is not the same as mango

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Fish, mercury and health versus sickness

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There has been a great deal of press about mercury content of fish and the potential for mercury poisoning. On the other hand, numerous studies attest to the beneficial health effects related to fish ingestion.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Goals of the study:

Dr. Mozaffarian and colleagues from Harvard Medical School wished to examine the fish intake, contaminants, and their relationship to human health. They published their findings in the Journal of American Medical Association .

What the investigators did:

The authors studied the published literature on intake of fish or fish oil and cardiovascular risk; effects of methylmercury and fish oil on development of nervous system; cardiac and neuro-risks due to methylmercury and: health problems related to dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls seen in fish.

Conclusions on fish intake and health risk

They concluded that ingestion of fish (e.g., 1-2 servings/week) reduces risk of coronary death by 36 percent.

Conclusions on fish intake in women:

They recommended that women of childbearing age and nursing mothers should consume two seafood servings per week.

Recommendations for people who eat lot of fish:

In addition, individuals with very high consumption of fish (5 or more servings per week) should limit intake of types of fish with high mercury levels. Another post on this site discusses the type of fish and mercury content.

Bottom line:

Average American seafood consumption is usually below the levels conferring health benefits. While there are uncertainties associated with estimates of the health risks from mercury, the health benefits outweigh the risks in most instances.

Can exercise prevent colds?

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The answer is an unequivocal yes, at least among older women according to a recently published study.

Dr. Chubak and colleagues from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington studied the impact of a regular, moderate intensity exercise program on prevention of colds and upper respiratory infections. They published their findings in the American Journal of Medicine.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

These investigators studied 115 overweight and obese, sedentary, postmenopausal women. The subjects were divided into the moderate-intensity exercise group or the control group. The exercise program consisted on 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5 days per week for one year. Control subjects attended weekly stretching sessions.

During the study period, the risk of colds was significantly lower in the exercise group. The cumulative effect of exercise appeared to be greatest towards the end of the study when the risk of colds in the last 3 months was 3 times less in the exercise group.

These results add to the growing body of evidence that exercise may improve the immunity to ward of infections like colds. While the study was conducted only in older women, it is likely that the beneficial effects would apply to men also and probably at all ages.

Do you do regular exercise? Is your exercise program focussed on strength or endurance? What other benefits do you think you could be getting from your exercise program? 

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Grape seed extract helps colon cancer and fatty liver

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Grape seed extract for cancer and fatty liver

When we talk about health benefits of grape seed, we usually think about heart. Data indicates grapeseed extract reduces platelet reactivity in humnans and reduces insulin resistence (good for diabetics) in animals. Dose for better glucose regulation in animals is 25 mg/kg/d.

There are studies suggesting they may be good for fatty liver and prevention of colon cancer too.

Effect of grapeseed in colon cancer

Dr. Kaur and colleagues from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center studied the effect of grape seed extract on the cancer. They conducted in vitro and in vivo experiments in mice. They found that feeding grape seed extract to mice results in inhibition of tumor growth.

The mechanism of action of grape seed extract is thought to be mediated through proanthocyanidins contained in the grape seed extract.

These results emphasize that our diet does influence state of our health and predisposition to sickness. At the same time, decades of poor diet may not get easily reversed. Thus, remember that colonoscopy is an effective tool for prevention of colorectal cancer.

Effect of grapeseed in fatty liver, NASH or NAFLD

In addition to effects against cancer, a double blind study by Koshbaten and colleagues showed that grape seed extract is  helpful in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease or fatty liver seen commonly among obese and diabetic persons.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

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Heartburn drugs treat heart too!

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I am sure you or someone you know has raised the question, is it heartburn or heart attack?

Now comes a report that heartburn and ulcer medications of the H2 histamine blocker type may actually help strengthen the heart in heart failure patients. While the data is preliminary, it is indeed exciting and of course ironic that heart and heartburn have crossed paths again.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Dr. Kim and colleagues from National Cardiovascular Center in Japan recently conducted a retrospective analysis and then a small prospective study to evaluate the effects of famotidine (Pepcid) in patients with heart failure. They published their findings in the Journal of American College of Cardiology.

For their retrospective study, these investigators identified 159 patients who received famotidine among symptomatic congestive heart failure (CHF) patients and compared them to age-sex matched controls. They also conducted a prospective study in 50 symptomatic CHF patients who were treated with either famotidine or teprenone.

These investigators found that addition of Pepcid to standard treatment of heart failure reduces blood pressure, heart rate and the plasma B-type natriuretic peptide levels. In addition, the treatment improved the severity of heart failure. The patients on Pepcid had also fewer hospital admissions for heart failure.

I would like to emphasize that these results suggest a role for histamine in the causation of heart function and failure. Thus although proton pump inhibitors or PPIs (Nexium, Protonix, Prevacid, Aciphex) are more potent than histamine-2 blockers or antagonists (Tagamet, Zantac, Pepcid, Axid) for blocking acid secretion, the PPIs are unlikely to help the heart.

Do you take heartburn or ulcer medications? Do you usually get the over the counter medications or the prescription only. What are your thoughts on the TV commercials for these drugs?

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Hepatitis C: another indication for marijuana?

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Marijuana has been touted in past for a variety of reasons including its potential use in cancer patients. Now comes a study documenting its benefits for treatment of hepatitis C.

Dr. Sylvestre and colleagues from the University of California in San Francisco studied the effect of symptomatic relief provided by concomitant cannabis use and the outcome of treatment of hepatitis C. They published their findings in the European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

It was a prospective observational study of standard interferon and ribavirin treatment in 71 recovering substance users, of whom 22 used cannabis.

These investigators found that fewer of cannabis users discontinued therapy (5% versus 33%). On the other hand, cannabis users had a much higher sustained virological response (54% versus 18%).

The authors concluded that modest cannabis use promotes adherence to therapy leading to better symptomatic and virological response.

What are your thoughts about medicinal use of marijuana? Have you tried it for recreational use? What are your thoughts on laws regulating its use especially for terminally ill cancer patients? 

An update: Above treatment of Hepatitis C is pretty much outdated now.

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Maternal nutrition Vitamin E and Zinc

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Maternal vitamin E and zinc correlates with asthma in child

Maternal nutritional status is incredibly important for the health of the fetus. Vitamin E is certainly not at the top of the usual nutritional advice to the expecting moms. Now comes a study showing that a low vitamin E intake in pregnant women increases the risk of childhood asthma in children.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Dr. Devereux and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen in United Kingdom performed a longitudinal study of 1,861 children born to women recruited during pregnancy and followed for a duration of 5 years. These investigators published recently their findings in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical care Medicine.

These authors used and plasma levels to assessed maternal nutritional status using food frequency questionnaire and blood tests. Spirometry and skin prick test was done in kids at the age of 5 years.

They found that kids were more likely wheezing and asthma if they were born to moms ingesting low maternal vitamin E. Low maternal zinc intake was also found to correlate with wheezing and asthma. Surprisingly, the children's nutrient intake did not have any impact on their own respiratory function.

These investigators concluded that their results support the hypothesis that higher maternal intake of antioxidants during pregnancy is protective against the risks for wheezing illnesses in childhood. 

Caution: Do not take any drugs or supplements without consulting your physician.

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Drink tea for better heart!

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Wall Street Journal Best Seller Dr. M's Seven-X Plan for Digestive Health

Some of us drink coffee whereas others are fans of tea. While green tea has a lot of proponents, black tea is not far behind in health benefits. Tea is known to help heart we don't know how.

Is It Leaky Gut or Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Dr. Steptoe and colleagues from the University College in London (UK) indirectly examined the effect of drinking black tea on coronary artery disease and recently published their findings in the journal Atherosclerosis. White blood cell with platelet aggregates and C-reactive protein levels were used as markers for increased risk for coronary artery disease.

Seventy-five healthy non-smoking men participated in study. They were randomized to drinking black tea or placebo for a period of six weeks.

The authors found that at the end of six-week period, tea drinkers had much less platelet aggregation and lower C-reactive protein levels than the subjects drinking placebo.

Several studies have since been published with results consistent with above findings.

Just imagine, next time you are sipping a cup of tea, you are also doing your heart some good!

What beverage do you prefer? Do you drink it more for taste or the perceived health benefits? I drink both coffee ad teas although my favorite is tea. 

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