Integrative Medicine Alert – January 1, 2015
January 1, 2015
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Run, Don't Walk: Benefits for Older Adults
This study compared the metabolic cost for walking three different speeds in 30 adults at least 65 years of age, and found that those who ran on a regular basis expended less energy walking than the group that walked exclusively. -
Vitamin D Supplementation: What's the Verdict?
Large-scale observation data indicate an inverse association with circulating vitamin D levels and risk of death due to all causes, particularly cardiovascular and cancer-related death, while supplementation with vitamin D3 appears to reduce overall mortality among older adults. -
Exercise and Gut Flora: Suggestions But No Final Answers
Diversity of gut flora was significantly greater in highly trained athletes than in population controls, even after stratifying on the controls¡¯ body mass index. The athletes¡¯ level of exercise and diet may have been responsible, individually or jointly, for this phenomenon. -
Licorice as an Agent in Helicobacter pylori Quadruple Therapy Regime
Individuals having peptic ulcer disease positive for Helicobacter pylori infection (diagnosed by endoscopy and biopsy with positive rapid urease test) were treated with either traditional quadruple therapy or quadruple therapy with licorice as a substitution for bismuth subsalicylate. After 4 weeks of treatment, eradication of H. pylori infection was comparable in both groups. -
Not So Sweet: Artificial Sweeteners Contribute to Dysbiosis and Glucose Intolerance
Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel demonstrated that mice consuming non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS; e.g., saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame) in drinking water developed marked glucose intolerance compared to mice consuming only glucose or sucrose in drinking water. -
Probiotics and the Microbiome
Research about the human microbiome and the therapeutic effect of probiotics is changing fast. It can be difficult to know how to counsel our patients about this important topic.