Tastes, Vitamin Supplements and Wild foods

A controversial but prominent advocate of immunizations in the United States is now becoming a vocal critic of nutrition. In advance of his new book, which advertisements and reviews suggest is a diatribe against acupuncture, chiropractic, supplements, etc., he wrote an editorial for the New York Times espousing the harms of vitamin supplements. In the editorial he “cherry picks” studies to support his...

Telomeres Are Cool

I am fascinated by telomeres. Telomeres aren’t some sort of underwater television or talking mirrors. Telomeres are caps on the ends of your DNA, your genes. They shorten with age. Eventually they are gone and so are we. As they shorten we become more vulnerable to disease and generally poor health. With advancing age, our immune systems do not work as well. We do not really understand why that is. One newly...

Light on Vision

Needing to wear glasses has long been viewed as a mark of geekiness without any other real significance. “Just bad luck”, the medical experts said. “Your eyeball is just shaped wrong and there is nothing you can do about it”. Dissenting voices, especially from the fuzzier end of the alternative medical spectrum, promoted eye exercises to improve vision and health and full spectrum lights (like the ones in my...

Calcium and D Don’t Build Done, Right

We are supposed to make mistakes so that we learn. Sometimes medical authorities, especially those who issue official guidelines, are remarkably intellectually dull. A current example is the US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation not to take vitamin D and calcium to prevent bone fractures. If they were correct, if this were based upon solid science, it would be the official acceptance of a...