August 08, 2008

An extraordinary line-up of actors, musicians, athletes and journalists from the three networks, ABC, CBS and NBC will be participating in a first-ever simultaneous broadcast on Friday, September 5, at 8:00 PM ET/PT.  The show is called Stand Up to Cancer - This is Where the End to Cancer Begins.  

August 01, 2008

A vitamin E safety question from a charming long-term Macula Complete-using concerned customer prompted this week's Friday Pearl column.

July 25, 2008

A study published in the August 2008 Journal of Lipid Research found that the xanthophyll carotenoids, lutein (LUT) and zeaxanthin (ZEA) are preferentially taken up by the retinal cells compared to beta carotene.

July 18, 2008

One of my favorite health writers, Larry Trivieri, addressed the issue of abdominal fat and degenerative disease in his last email like this,  "When it comes to protecting ourselves from degenerative diseases, we need to take an honest look at the size of our bellies." 

July 04, 2008

"You wish to see? Listen; hearing is a step toward vision." Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 -1153) On this day every year, we gather with family and friends to honor our patriotic forefathers for the passion and courage it took to sacrifice their lives for the liberties we enjoy, including health freedom.

June 20, 2008

The world of journalism lost one of its very best when Tim Russert died a premature death from coronary disease. Tim'ss best-selling book, Big Russ and Me, has a chapter simply titled "Food." The Russert family apparently loved high-calorie junk food and that type of love most always leads to excess fat and disease.

June 13, 2008

We found it particularly interesting to note that over one year ago (May 2007) the Archives of Ophthalmology published additional Age Related Eye Disease (ARED) data linking Omega-3 DHA deficiency to advanced macular degeneration disease progression. The same May 2007 edition presented additional data from the Wisconsin Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) strongly linking vitamin D deficiency to increased risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) development.

May 30, 2008

Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin discovered in 1930 during nutrition studies on rats. It must be obtained from the diet or from supplements because humans cannot synthesize B6. It plays a vital role in the function of over 100 enzymes that catalyze essential chemical reactions in the human body.

May 23, 2008

This week's thoughtful, last of the season, episode of Boston Legal, featuring the lead character who suffers from early stage Alzheimer's (which he irreverently refers to as his "Mad Cow" disease), reminded me of the dire need for supplementation with acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, lipoic acid and fish oil for those who carry genes that increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's or Macula Degeneration.

May 09, 2008

The Center for Science in the Public Interest requested on December 5th 2007 that the Food and Drug Administration take enforcement actions against manufacturers of dietary supplements containing more than 5,000 IUs of synthetic beta carotene (a precursor of vitamin A) unless the labels of such products contain a statement warning consumers that beta carotene may cause lung cancer in smokers.