Vitamin, Mineral & Herb Remedies
Dietary supplements can be surprisingly helpful for many common disorders. There is substantial science supporting the use of herbs, vitamins, minerals and other supplements.
No Study Support for Fish Oil Soothing Dry Eyes
Fish oil is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids. These compounds have anti-inflammatory activity, and doctors have hoped that fish oil supplements would prove useful against a wide range of…
Will Curcumin Pills Ease Your Knee Pain?
Who would guess that the yellow spice in curry would become controversial? For centuries, people have been using turmeric to add color and flavor to their food, and in traditional Ayurvedic medicine, …
Are You Wasting Your Money on Curcumin?
If you have ever shopped for supplements online, you may have wondered if you are wasting your money. Ever since 1994, when Congress passed the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act (DSHEA), FDA…
Agonizing Constipation from Calcium Pills for Bo…
Some medications cause constipation as a side effect. Occasionally, people report that simple supplements can trigger agonizing constipation. As a result, one reader faced a dilemma: Trying to Take Ca…
Do You Need to Take Calcium Supplements?
For decades, women and older adults were advised to take calcium supplements to help maintain bone strength. More recently, however, concerns have been raised about the possibility that calcium supple…
How to Treat Seasonal Allergies: Drugs or Natura…
Allergy season is here. Even if you did not realize that, the warring drug commercials on television should have alerted you. On the same program you can see ads for Xyzal, Allegra and Nasacort. There…
Will Bromelain from Pineapple Ease Aching Joints…
What can you do for the aching joints of arthritis or the sore muscles and soft tissue of fibromyalgia? Many sufferers are caught in a difficult dilemma: without relief for the pain, they have trouble…
Will Vitamin D Help Prevent Cancer?
Is there a connection between vitamin D levels and cancer risk? Previous studies have shown that people with low levels of vitamin D appear more susceptible to cancers of the pancreas, colon, breast a…
Will Excess Vitamin B6 Damage Nerves?
Whether you utilize pharmaceutical medicines or look to natural remedies such as vitamins and minerals, you must make sure the treatment is not worse than the ailment. That is a significant danger of …
Do Glucosamine and Chondroitin Increase Your Cho…
What happens if you take something for a presumed benefit only to discover that it has a downside? This happens pretty frequently with pharmaceuticals; everyone is familiar with the idea of side effec…
Should You Worry About Serious Melatonin Side Ef…
More than three million Americans take melatonin to get to sleep. That's twice the number that used this supplement in 2007 (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health). This makes melat…
Fish Oil Flops When It Comes to Heart Protection
For years, Americans have been taking fish oil and other types of omega-3 supplements. Their goal was heart protection, but it seems that expectation is unrealistic. Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Heart Prot…
How Much Vitamin C Do You Need?
Vitamin C, isolated and named more than 100 years ago, is crucial for good health. Even before it was discovered, vitamin C entered history. A lack of fresh fruits and vegetables on long sea voyages m…
Will Women Run Faster After Swallowing Supplemen…
A new supplement under development may help women run faster. In a pilot study, women taking the dietary supplement, which contains three minerals, carnitine and phosphatidylserine, cut nearly a minut…
Will Valerian Help You Sleep Better?
Who has not had the experience of tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep? Anxiety about a new job or an upcoming trip often keeps people awake for a few days. Others find that ruminating about rel…
Will Aged Garlic Fight Heart Disease?
Obesity is associated with inflammation that can exacerbate pain and contribute to chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. Now researchers have found that a dietary supplement containing…
Do You Absorb Magnesium from Your Armpits?
Milk of magnesia is a time-honored medicine to treat constipation. But that is not the only use for this versatile compound. We first heard about using milk of magnesia in the armpits to suppress odor…
Can Magnesium Help You Sleep Without Causing Dia…
Have you seen warnings that too little sleep will ruin your health? Sleep deprivation keeps the brain from functioning optimally (Slama et al, Sleep, Dec. 2017). It can also lead to insulin resistance…
Are Gummies a Good Way to Take Supplements?
What vitamins and minerals do you take? Do you prefer pills, capsules, drops, softgels, chewable tablets or gummies? There may be differences in how well your supplements work, depending on their form…
Can a Vitamin Really Help Prevent Skin Cancer?
Skin cancer is the most common type of malignancy in the US. Between 40 and 50 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with either basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma by the age of 65. (Mel…
Can You Avert Diabetes with Cinnamon?
Type 2 diabetes is increasingly common. According to the American Diabetes Association, 9.4 percent of Americans have diabetes. Most of those individuals have type 2 diabetes, in which the cells stop …
Can You Prevent Macular Degeneration with Supple…
As we grow older, our senses may become less sharp. Many people find it harder to hear; others find it more difficult to see clearly. One of the leading causes of impaired vision among senior citizens…
Will Boswellia with Turmeric Ease Your Joint Pai…
Millions of us suffer with joint pain, and the older we get, the more likely we are to have achy knees or sore hips. It is little wonder, then, that there are many home remedies or dietary supplements…
How Much Fat Is Best for Vitamin D Absorption?
How should you take your vitamins? Most of the time, you don't get much guidance. Maybe you take them with meals, figuring that food contains vitamins too. Or perhaps you try to take them without food…
How Can You Choose a Good Supplement?
The topic of supplements has long been controversial, with some health care professionals claiming that people who eat a well-balanced diet need no additional vitamins or minerals. Others, in contrast…
Which Drugs Mess with Vitamin B12?
Keeping track of the nutritional consequences of medications can be tricky. Doctors don't always ask about possible problems; nor do pharmacists necessarily take these into account. But there are some…
What Is the Story on Selenium and Thyroid?
The body is a remarkable system. Like any system, every part affects all the others. Consequently, focusing on just one nutrient usually doesn't make a lot of sense. When it comes to thyroid function,…
Will Extra Vitamin D for Asthma Improve Breathin…
According to the CDC there are about 25 million Americans who have asthma. That means that one 1 of every 12 people has some degree of wheezing, chest tightness, coughing or breathing difficulties. Co…
Do You Take Magnesium to Get to Sleep?
Adequate sleep is a cornerstone of good health, but far too many of us don't get enough. We stay up late staring at screens, whether for work or entertainment. Perhaps we get up early for a long commu…
Are Your Medicines Depriving You of Folate?
Vitamin B9, or folate, is crucial for the normal development of human embryos. That is why pregnant women and those who may become pregnant are urged to take at least 400 mcg daily of folic acid, the …
Will Probiotics Cut Gas from Drinking Milk?
Many of us struggle with smelly gas, known more technically (and perhaps more politely) as flatulence. Sometimes the culprit is a medication that is causing the trouble. But people trying to control f…
Get Magnesium Just Right to Prevent Dementia
Most people would like to find a way to prevent dementia, but the picture is complex. Lifestyle factors such as exercise, diet and sleep have all been suggested as possible paths to keeping our brains…
Will Magnesium Help You Sleep Better All Night?
Have you ever wakened far too early and resigned yourself to tossing and turning until time to get up? This scenario is common. We were pleased to learn that one reader found a simple supplement could…
What Makes Turmeric So Wonderful?
A few years ago most Americans had never heard of turmeric. If they had, they thought of it as an exotic ingredient in curries and other Indian dishes. Now, turmeric and curcumin, one of its active in…
Licorice Led to Life-Threatening Loss of Potassi…
You may have heard someone express the opinion that natural medicines are safer than synthetic ones. That isn't always the case, however. Sometimes botanical medications can have scary side effects. L…
Glucosamine a Bust in New Analysis
A study published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (online, July 28, 2017) concluded that glucosamine lacks evidence of effectiveness. Although the researchers don't come right out and say it, …
Can You Lower Your Cholesterol with Bergamot?
How do you control your cholesterol? Many people take a statin medication such as atorvastatin or simvastatin to keep their blood fats within normal range. On the other hand, you might prefer a more…
Is Your Confusion Due to a Vitamin Deficiency?
As we grow older, our mental lapses bother us more and more. Could losing the car keys be the first sign of Alzheimer's disease? Is forgetting the PIN for the ATM an early warning flag for dementia? O…
How Can You Counteract Muscle Pain from Statins?
The doctors' debate over statins has become heated lately. You can read what we have written about that here and here. If you prefer, you can listen to our interviews with leading cardiologists here. …
Is Cinnamon Toxic to the Liver?
How do you know when an herb, spice or supplement is safe? It makes sense to do some reading on anything you are planning to take before you begin swallowing it. Many people are taking cinnamon to con…