Health Highlight: Dietary Fats
All dietary fats and oils are a combination of polyunsaturated (PUFAs), monounsaturated (MUFAs), and saturated fatty acids (SFAs). Each are distinguished by their chemical composition…
Featured Supplement: Valerian
Historical evidence for the use of valerian root (Valeriana officinalis), also called setwell, as a sleep aid and anxiolytic goes as far back as ancient…
Featured Supplement: Melatonin
Melatonin, also known as N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is promoted as a natural sleep aid; however, it's a hormone produced in the pineal gland in the brain from…
Health Highlight: GMOs
Biotechnology for the purposes of this discussion is using genetic engineering (GM) techniques to alter the DNA of an organism with genes or DNA strands…
Featured Supplement: Magnolia Bark
Bark, leaves, and cones from the magnolia tree (Magnolia officinalis) have been used in traditional Chinese and Japanese herbal medicines for centuries. Magnolia bark extract…
Health Highlight: Food Safety
When it comes to food safety there is a disconnect between what the medical community and scientists see as risk and what the general public…
Featured Supplement: Acetyl L-Carnitine
Carnitine is a compound synthesized by the liver and kidneys from the amino acids lysine and methionine that was first isolated from meat, which is…
Featured Supplement: D-Ribose
Sugars, particularly glucose, are used by the body to produce energy, but some sugars have other functions within the body. D-ribose is a critically important…
Evaluating Dietary Supplements
In the United States supplemental nutrients and phytotherapies, i.e. botanical medicines, are primarily under the umbrella of dietary supplements, leaving the field loosely regulated with…
Featured Supplement: Milk Thistle
Milk thistle (Silybum marianum), also called holy thistle, Mary's thistle, and Scotch thistle, has been used as food and medicine in the Mediterranean region for…