The natural, alternative approach to cancer treatment and prevention can’t make money for an entity because natural substances cannot be patented. Therefore, little interest in their exploration and development has emerged. Without funding, classic studies can’t be performed on a large scale. Yet, there are a few brave souls who delve into the bright possibilities (hope) of promoting natural substances to heal disease, whether they come directly from foods or indirectly via sensible supplementation.

Medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) are a unique kind of dietary fat that lend a wide range of positive health benefits, weight loss among them. MCT’s have a fatty acid chain length that varies between six and twelve carbon atoms, which is only one characteristic that distinguishes them from the more familiar long-chain fatty acids, such as the highly-celebrated fish oil.

Phthalates are endocrine disrupters, widely present in the environment and able to impede mental and motor development in children by causing changes in the nascent brain. These chemicals are found in many consumer products, from shower curtains to plastic toys to shampoo and hair spray. Their ubiquity has led scientists to look more closely into the risks associated with exposure to phthalates during pregnancy.

Sleep disorders are coming under closer scrutiny in a society plagued by their ubiquity, prompted by extraneous and self-induced pressures and obligations. Discovery of the genetic basis for circadian rhythms has expanded our knowledge of the temporal role of behavior and physiology.

Part of the mouth-watering experience of eating is what appeals to your color perception. Unless visually impaired, we see our food before we taste it. Aroma may precede that. What we anticipate enhances what we taste. The more colors there are on the plate, the more nutritious the tasting. Beyond the humdrum nature of tan, ecru, and washed-out pale, there is an array of colors that can arouse a more than casual interest in eating: blue, red, and purple.

“Most children and adolescents who are strongly committed to sports are not concerned about nutrition as it relates to energy balance and obesity,” states a report from a 2004 issue of Nutrition. The interactions among nutrition, growth, and development deserve attention if a participant expects to achieve optimal performance and to avoid the injuries and problems that stem from nutritional deficiencies.

The upper part of the normal blood pressure range can be a danger zone for heart attack and stroke. Investigators at Kaiser Permanente, in Portland, Oregon, looked at almost 600 men and women who were ten to sixty-five percent above their ideal weight, and who had slightly elevated blood pressure. All were given weight reduction counseling, and later were compared to a like-sized group who received no such guidance. It was found that a ten-pound weight loss effected a drop in diastolic (bottom number) blood pressure by 2.7 mm of mercury, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but which is significant.

If there exists such a philosophical regime that can bring a person closer to Elysium in every aspect of life—balance, health, aging—its enthusiasts argue that it is yoga. Investigations into the complexities of this physical / mental / spiritual discipline have focused on the almost inexplicable efficacy of its practice. That it is conjectured to effect a return to normal following a physical or mental derangement deserves at least a little attention.

Some unfortunate persons are not able to convert essential fatty acids (EFA’s) from their parent forms to their more active metabolites, such as converting linoleic acid, the primary omega-6, to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). More than twenty years of research points to the inefficiency of this active conversion pathway as causative of inflammatory skin conditions. Wherever and whenever a metabolite cannot be made by the body on its own, administration of that substance may be in order.