Our Top 10 Stories of 2022

Happy 2023! We’re celebrating by taking a look back at our top 10 most-read stories of the past year. Covid-19 no longer tops the list (or fills it completely, as it did in 2020), but a couple of our top stories this year did deal with Covid-19, specifically the virus’s long-term impacts. Stories on disease […]
Probiotics, Fermented Foods, and Your Gut

Fermented foods and beverages are trending. But many of their biggest fans aren’t aware that they’ve been around for thousands of years. Before refrigeration, people cultured dairy products and fermented meat, fruits, and vegetables to prevent spoilage. As a food ferments, naturally occurring antimicrobial compounds block the growth of organisms that can cause foodborne illness. […]
Food Synergy Boosts Nutrition

Pancakes and maple syrup, spaghetti and meatballs, chocolate and strawberries — these are the “Thelma and Louises” of the food world — items that just belong together. Beyond flavor, when certain foods are eaten together, their nutritional firepower is amplified. It’s called food synergy: a concept where the benefits of two or more foods eaten […]
The Kid’s Doctor: A discussion on prebiotics and probiotics

There have been plenty of discussions about using prebiotics and probiotics in your child’s diet, and there has been a lot of discussion lately (in both medical and lay literature) surrounding the use of prebiotics and probiotics. What is the difference between the two? The first question patients/parents often ask is what is the difference […]
Can probiotics help treat depression and anxiety?

Harvard Health Blog There is a lot of interest right now in the human microbiome (the populations of bacteria that live in various parts of the body, including the intestine, skin and lungs). We now know that there are approximately 10 times as many bacterial cells as human cells in the body. The vast majority […]
Prebiotics, to feed your good bacteria

From yogurt to kombucha to supplements, probiotics appear to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, literally and figuratively. Probiotics are live bacteria and are believed to have properties that improve digestive health. Lactobacillus found in yogurt and other fermented foods is just one example. Though the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health expresses […]
Probiotic supplements boost gut-friendly microbes

By Marcia McCulloch, M.S., R.D., Environmental Nutrition Newsletter Your gut is home to trillions of friendly microbes, which are primarily bacteria, but also include some yeasts, which support health. You acquire these probiotics naturally, at birth, but many factors can affect the composition and number of your gut microbes over time, such as diet, antibiotic […]
Probiotics

One Bug You Want On Your Side Our guts are teeming with billions of bacteria essential to our gastrointestinal health and our ability to ward off chronic disease. When these bacteria work in our favor, we don’t give them a second thought. But when our natural balance is off, many of us question the role […]