Dr. Chet’s Health Memos
If it’s in the health news today, I’ll be writing about it as soon as I read the research, both old and new. With my email Health Memos, you’ll know more about making lifestyle choices that will help you get and keep good health. These free, concise updates on health are emailed to subscribers twice a week. Subscribe today and get a free MP3, in English or Spanish, of Dr. Chet’s Top Ten Tips—Small Changes for a Healthier Life.
Research Update: Gut on a Chip
In the final research paper I’ll review, the headline that caught my attention was “Probiotics are not always ‘good bacteria’.” That’s something I really hadn’t seen before so I had to check it out. In this case, I had to learn about a new technology called organ-on-a-chip. Over the past five years or so, researchers […]
Research Update on Probiotics and Staph Infections
One of the primary threats to our health is infection—specifically, antibiotic-resistant infections. We’ve all probably heard of people who became critically ill due to a life-threatening staph infection. A new research paper may give us insights on how we might be able to reduce the risk of getting infected with staphylococcus bacteria. Researchers selected a […]
Research Update on Probiotics and Healthy Skin
There has been so much research on probiotics published that it’s hard to keep myself informed, and you as well. This week I’ll summarize three recent studies on probiotics. Let’s begin with research on probiotics and skin conditions. Researchers examined the effects of three strains of probiotics on skin inflammation in mice: two strains of […]
Quality Manufacturing: Own It
The most important trait of a quality manufacturer of dietary supplements is to own as much of the process as possible: farms to grow plants, laboratories to test all components of the supplements, scientists to base formulations on the latest research, manufacturing facilities for the products, and elements of the distribution process. As I said, […]
Quality Manufacturing: Independent Testing
Let’s continue our look at how quality manufacturers could prevent tainted products. In-house testing is important, but all work should be verified by an independent testing company. There are several labs that perform such services such as NSF and USP. There are three important services they can perform: Inspect the facility to make sure the […]
Quality Manufacturing: Establish Rules
Last week’s Memos were about supplements that were tainted with pharmaceuticals. What can manufacturers do to insure their products are not tainted? Mistakes can always happen, but what can be done to get those errors as close to zero as possible? That’s what we’ll cover this week. Let’s begin with this premise: no manufacturer of […]
Tainted Supplements: Buyer Beware
There was a big problem with the papers that were published in JAMA and the resultant media headlines: the authors and commentator lumped the tainted products into a single category of dietary supplements and categorized these questionable manufacturers and their tainted products with all manufacturers of dietary supplements. That was simply wrong, and people in […]
Which Products Were Tainted?
The logical concern is this: what products were on the list of supplements that made up all those headlines? There were over 700 products on the FDA list of tainted products, so I think there’s a better way to ask the question: what were the categories of products? 1. Sexual performance was the overwhelming leader. […]
Tainted-Supplement Headlines
I’d like you to read these three headlines, stop, and identify the first thought that comes to your mind: “Hundreds of Supplements Are Tainted With Hidden Pharmaceutical Drugs” “Hidden Drugs and Danger Lurk in Over-the-Counter Supplements, Study Finds” “Supplements Often Tainted by Hidden Drugs” No matter what supplements you’re taking, the thought “I wonder what’s […]
Vitamin D: Stay the Course
Let’s finish this look at the recent paper on vitamin D (1). As you could read in Thursday’s Memo, they included some curious studies in their review. Let’s take a look. Mixed-Purpose Studies Have you ever eaten leftovers? Sure. Did you take all the different leftovers—the spaghetti, the fried rice, the mashed potatoes and gravy—mix […]
