Kristen N. Smith, PhD, RDN, LD
If you’ve ever suffered from headaches, you’re well aware how disruptive they can be. When they strike, they might inconvenience an hour, wipe out an entire day, or in cases of migraine, especially vestibular migraine, they can negatively impact quality of life. More than 17 percent of women and nearly … Read More
Kristen N. Smith, PhD, RDN, LD
Belly bloat often brings with it the dreaded discomfort of a mash-up of seemingly relentless symptoms, like abdominal pressure and pain, distended abdomen, and gas. We don’t like to talk about it, but it’s actually very common in otherwise healthy individuals. In fact, nearly 10 to 25 percent of people … Read More
If you Google "GABA deficiency," the only recognized medical condition you will find is GABA-transaminase deficiency, which is an extremely rare genetic disorder that is not survivable. [1] GABA deficiency is not a recognized deficiency like vitamin D or calcium deficiency that you can test for and correct with a … Read More
Vitamin B-12—the largest and most complex of all the vitamins—is an essential nutrient that, with very few exceptions, must be supplied by animal foods (meat, fish, eggs, and dairy).This is because only bacteria and other one-celled organisms can synthesize vitamin B12. The bacteria in the intestines of humans and animals … Read More
Diarrhea is not a topic of choice at the dinner table. Nonetheless, it is a common condition that affects many people. An estimated 179 million acute cases occur each year, and 5 percent of the U.S. population suffers from chronic diarrhea. Diet may help control this condition, as we'll discuss … Read More
Are you tired of being told to eat oats, nuts, soy, and plant sterols to lower your cholesterol? There have to be other cholesterol-lowering foods, right? The good news is that there are actually many more foods that lower cholesterol. Researchers tend to get fixated, understandably, on those with the … Read More
No one who has ever suffered from diverticulitis is lucky, but some people are able to get through the intense attack of lower abdominal pain relatively unscathed. The unlucky diverticulitis patients have a different story, one that can include complications, hospitalization, surgery, or chronic disease that will have an ongoing … Read More
Shingles—officially known as herpes zoster—is an infection of a nerve and the area of skin supplied by the nerve. It is caused by the varicella zoster virus, a virus in the herpes family that also causes chickenpox. After a person has chickenpox, some virus particles remain inactive in the nerve … Read More
Leptin is a hormone with a key role in food intake and body weight homeostasis. Made by fat tissue, leptin helps control body fat and prevent weight gain, but only when there’s enough of it and when it’s working properly. When leptin resistance develops, as in obesity, leptin stores are … Read More
Stress, bright lights, sleep pattern changes, the weather—unfortunately, there are countless migraine triggers that can take you out of commission, and some of them aren’t always under our control. What you can control, however, is what you put into your body. Oftentimes, what you eat and drink on a daily basis … Read More
