Monthly Archives: February 2014

Calcium Lowers Blood Pressure

The possibility that calcium lowers blood pressure has been reported in the nutritional literature. The association between hard drinking water and lower rates of cardiovascular mortality have been suggested to result from the fact that calcium lowers blood pressure. Theoretically, … Continue reading

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Decaffeinated Tea: A Complex Subject

Despite being a complex mixture of chemicals much of the cognitive effects of tea are unfairly attributed to the caffeine. Decaffeinated tea is interesting nutritionally because many of the other components of tea are known to be biologically active. The … Continue reading

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Legume Digestion: Cell Walls Again

Legume digestion is interesting to nutritionists because legumes have beneficial glycaemic effects. In particular legumes are able to lower postprandial glycaemia and this may explain their inverse association with body weight. Peanuts are legumes and consumption of peanuts has been … Continue reading

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Selenium Insufficiency: Molimo China

Selenium deficiency results in Keshan disease which is characterised cardiomyopathy, cardiogenic shock and congestive heart failure, as well as Keshin-Beck’s disease which is characterised by osteoarthritis and joint degeneration. In animals, selenium deficiency is known to cause birth defects in … Continue reading

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Zinc Depletion: Symptoms of Deficiency

Zinc depletion studies have allowed researchers to piece together the physiological consequences of low zinc intakes. Zinc metabolism is highly complex, and the study of zinc is made more difficult by the wide variety of proteins that it associates with … Continue reading

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Fructose Consumption: The Road To Ruin

  Fructose consumption has increased in recent decades as soft drinks have been more widely marketed. In the United States soft drinks tend to be sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, but in Europe sugar is used. Between 1977 and … Continue reading

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Garlic for Cardiovascular Health?

  Despite huge financial investment in pharmaceutical ‘research’, cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death in developed nations. The newest and most high-profile cardiac drugs are the profitable but useless statins, however, others white elephants include beta blockers, ACE … Continue reading

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Calcium Deficiency: High Blood Pressure

  Sodium chloride is often blamed as a causative factor in cases of high blood pressure. However, the evidence does not support a role for salt in causing high blood pressure in healthy individuals. Excess salt consumption tends to result … Continue reading

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Licorice: Is It A Superfood?

  Licorice is the common name for the Glycyrrhiza genus of plants that includes over 30 species including Glycyrrhiza Glabra. Licorice grows native to the Mediterranean area, Central Russia, Asia and parts of the Middle East. Licorice root has a … Continue reading

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Lactase Insufficiency and Lactose Malabsorption

  Lactase insufficiency is characterised by an insufficient production of the β-galactosidase enzyme (lactase) responsible for cleavage of the dietary disaccharide lactose. This enzyme is usually present in the brush border membrane of the enterocytes of the small intestine. The … Continue reading

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