Posts in Diet
The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Although many dismiss intermittent fasting as a fad, there is a mounting collection of research that demonstrates a bevy of benefits to this pattern of eating.

Last week, the review article, Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease, appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. The review covers the biochemistry of fasting, the impact of IF on stress resistance, IFs effect on health, disease and cognition, as well as clinical applications of time-restricted eating.

The evidence for fasting is becoming so compelling; it is likely intermittent fasting will find its way into doctor's recommendations for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you want to give it a try, most find it i

Read More
Diet, MicrobiomeJeffrey TaekmanFasting, Cognition, Obesity, Diabetes, Manuscript, LifestyleComment
Personalized diets may be the future of nutrition, but the science isn't all there yet - Science News
Personalized diets may be the future of nutrition, but the science isn't all there yet - Science News

A recent article in Science News, Personalized diets may be the future of nutrition. but the science isn't all there yet, got me thinking about obesity and diabetes. These diseases are often, but not always, linked.

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic affecting about one-quarter of the world's population. Obesity is associated with a wide range of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Diabetes is the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting 422 million people. In the US, in 2012, the total estimated cost of diabetes in the United States was $245 billion.

Read More
Diet, MicrobiomeJeffrey TaekmanObesity, Food as Medicine, Personalized Nutrition, Short-chain fatty acids, Gut Barrier, InflammationComment
Why Diet Research Is So Spectacularly Thin: NY Times
Why Diet Research Is So Spectacularly Thin: NY Times

Another article in the NY Times is calling attention to the need for quality research in the field of nutrition. The report was prompted by a new manuscript, Assessment of Prevention Research Measuring Leading Risk Factors and Causes of Mortality and Disability Supported by the US National Institutes of Health, that demonstrates a lack of adequate quality control In most nutritional clinical trials.

Read More
Diet, ScienceJeffrey TaekmanFood Policy, NIH, NY Times, RCT Comments
What are Short-Chain Fatty Acids and how do they impact my health?
What are Short-Chain Fatty Acids and how do they impact my health?

A healthy microbiome is a diverse microbiome. One of the substances up-regulated in those with the healthiest microbiomes is short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs influence gut health directly by acting as food for the cells lining the gastrointestinal tract and by tightening the junctions between cells, but SCFAs are also are increasingly associated with a wide range of systemic health benefits. These benefits include improved immunologic function, lower systemic inflammation, and anti-cancer effects. Individuals with the highest level of SCFAs tend to have the healthiest and most diverse gut flora.

Read More
Diet, Microbiome, Science, MovementJeffrey TaekmanShort-chain fatty acids, Psyllium, Microbiome, Exercise, Supplements, Probiotic, Prebiotic Comment
What is an Anti-Inflammatory Diet and How Does It Work?
What is an Anti-Inflammatory Diet and How Does It Work?

If I had to pick one recommendation to improve most people's health, that recommendation would be to decrease inflammation. Inflammation is your body's way of protecting itself from injury, illness, and infection. However, runaway inflammation has profound effects on your health. Uncontrolled inflammation is implicated in a wide range of chronic diseases, including obesity, anxiety/depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's Disease, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, and many others.

Read More
Diet, MicrobiomeJeffrey TaekmanMicrobiome, Short-chain fatty acids, Andrew Weil, True Food Kitchen, Western Diet, Pain, Obesity, Anxiety, Cancer, Depression, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Heart Disease, Anti-Inflammatory DietComment
Are Probiotics Making You Fat? probiotics, prebiotics, and fermented food
Are Probiotics Making You Fat? probiotics, prebiotics, and fermented food

Probiotics are all the rage. But a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Those Probiotics May Actually Be Hurting Your ‘Gut Health’, drove home a point I often try to make about prebiotics and probiotics. 

Probiotics contain live, microscopic organisms. Yogurt, Kefir, Kimchi, Sauerkraut, and other fermented foods have live bacterial strains. The type of bacteria and yeast often vary by brand. Prebiotics contain no live organisms. Instead, they are substances that humans cannot digest. The substances instead feed the beneficial bacteria of our gut (e.g., psyllium or inulin).

Read More
Microbiome, Diet, ScienceJeffrey TaekmanPrebiotic, Probiotic, Obesity, IBS, Atopic Dermatitis, EczemaComment