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.
The Research on Vitamin D3 vs. D2
One area that the medical field and the health gurus agree: vitamin D3 is better absorbed and utilized than vitamin D2. Four studies are constantly referenced when the best type of vitamin D is discussed (1-4); here’s a quick look at those studies. Study 1: 4,000 IU vitamin D3 and D2 supplementation was given to […]
Vitamin D3 vs. Vitamin D2
Many of you have questions about the different forms of vitamin D available in supplement form: vitamin D3, known as cholecalciferol, and vitamin D2, called ergocalciferol. Although they’re slightly structurally different, both have been used for years to help with vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is necessary for bone health, of course, but research has […]
Do Fit People Live Longer?
Will being fit help you live longer? Does the improvement to the respiratory, cardiovascular, and muscular systems result in an increase in longevity? Researchers in Austria did a thorough review of the science of fitness to find out. They approached it in the same manner I would: review the systems involved and how aging affected […]
How Long Does Fitness Last?
Does exercise when you’re young have any impact when you’re older? That’s the question researchers sought to answer in a very unique study. They recruited men who competed in running events in the 1968 Olympics and evaluated fitness variables to see how they had changed since then. The subjects were tested in 1993 and retested […]
How Chromium Conflicts with Levothyroxine
In the recent series of Memos on thyroid issues, I explained what you need to know about levothyroxine, the medication prescribed for an underactive thyroid gland. New research highlights a key factor in ensuring its effectiveness. Researchers examined a dietary supplement to see what impact it would have on absorption of levothyroxine. They found that […]
Bioavailability Ends with Bioactivity
Here’s where we stand: we’ve digested a nutrient and it’s been absorbed into the bloodstream. How is it going to be used? How do we get the benefit of vitamin C, magnesium, alpha-carotene, or caffeine? Let’s take a look. Many target cells have receptors that are specific to a nutrient, like a wrench that fits […]
Bioavailability Continues with Absorption
On Tuesday I talked about some of the processing required to get nutrients ready for absorption. The next phase of bioavailability is the absorption of the nutrient from the gut into the bloodstream. Let’s look at what’s involved. The absorption process occurs via the intestinal epithelial cells and they vary in size and function in […]
Bioavailability Begins with Digestion
Last Saturday’s Memo introduced a new concept: a systems approach to nutrition. One term that gets bounced around a lot related to dietary supplements or different types of food is bioavailability. Claims are made that “this form of our supplement is 10 times more bioavailable than that form.” It sounds so simple, right? It’s not—we’ll […]
Why Nutrition Is a Process
A celebrity doctor who specializes in cancer treatment said something that caught my attention, and it goes to this question: why are some people cured by specific treatments while others don’t respond at all? In his opinion, it’s because the cancer creates a new system in the body that competes with the other systems. The […]
You Actually Have to Take the Supplements
The authors of the study on calcium and vitamin D supplementation as they relate to fractures were all orthopedic surgeons, as stated in the paper. They had no known training in nutrition. Maybe not statistics either. When you perform a meta-analysis, each research study included is given a weight in the form of a percentage, […]
