When it comes to fueling an athlete, there had been as many approaches as there are sports to play. Several respected bodies have merged philosophies to incorporate and publicize nutritional recommendations that can be adapted to most athletic pursuits.

In the early 1980’s, British physician R. Edgar Hope-Simpson proposed a relationship between solar radiation and the seasonality of influenza. Without sufficient sunlight, the skin does not produce vitamin D, deficiency of which is common in winter.

If a plant had cognitions, whereby it could think and perceive, it almost assuredly would pay attention to the environmental and predatory insults that bombard it regularly, never thinking that the chemicals it makes to protect itself could likewise benefit its animated aggressors.

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.