According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the lone star tick has been moving out of the south for the last 20 to 30 years. It has steadily moved up the east coast and west into central parts of the country. In fact, although the black-legged deer … Read More
Kristen N. Smith, PhD, RDN, LD
Food allergies are quite prevalent and affect more than 32 million people in the U.S. As a result, it’s now common practice to take precautions with common food allergens, such as wheat, peanuts, or tree nuts, to avoid a potential allergic reaction. But what about less familiar food allergens, like … Read More
Kristen N. Smith, PhD, RDN, LD
If you haven’t heard of lupin, the up-and-coming legume soon to reach superfood status, it’s time you were in the loop. Hardly a new player in the food arena, lupin beans, commonly called lupini beans, have nourished ancient Egyptians, Incans, and Romans and they continue to be popular in modern … Read More
Egg allergy affects about two percent of children. About 70 percent of children outgrow this allergy by age 16. [1] Egg allergy is one of the most common food allergies along with milk, peanuts, and shellfish. If you have an egg allergy, there is always a danger that even a … Read More
If you suffer from chronic heartburn, certain foods may be to blame. But the foods that trigger heartburn in one person can be different than the foods that cause heartburn symptoms in another person. So how do you figure out which foods to avoid with heartburn? You may want to try a short elimination … Read More
People with irritable bowel syndrome can suffer for years without finding a way to relieve their symptoms, but a new review article reveals a promising treatment option: melatonin benefits for IBS. Produced by the pineal gland in the brain and by cells in the mucous lining of the digestive tract, … Read More
Fatigue is a common symptom in people with medical conditions like cancer and diabetes, mood disorders like depression and anxiety, and even in people who are otherwise “healthy.” Yet despite how prevalent it is, medical researchers still do not completely understand what happens in the body to cause fatigue. They … Read More
The lining of your gut is directly related to the health of your whole body. This lining forms a crucial barrier between you and the outside world. In a sense, everything inside your gut is outside of you. Only a few very specific substances are normally allowed through, and the … Read More
Microorganisms feeding on our bodies outnumber our cells by 10 to 1. A typical person carries as many as six pounds of microbes, all living in a delicate, symbiotic balance amongst each other. These microbes can cause either a beneficial or a harmful effect. Most assuredly, an imbalanced overgrowth of … Read More
The importance of fiber in the diet cannot be overemphasized. Dietary fiber—what we used to call “roughage” or “bulk”—can help prevent or alleviate chronic constipation, hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, IBS, and possibly colorectal cancer. There is some early evidence suggesting that a high-fiber diet may lessen or prevent food allergies, and dietary … Read More
