Prebiotics and Quality Carbohydrates: Enhancing Digestive Health Prebiotics are non-digestible carbohydrates that selectively stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial gut bacteria. Some beneficial gut bacterial can metabolize prebiotics, which gives them a growth advantage. Some prebiotics have more specialized benefits and can play a protective role in gut function. This is especially true for selected oligosaccharides called two prime fucosyllactose, or 2’FL, that are naturally produced and are identical to oligosaccharides originally identified in breast milk, referred to as…

Regular exercise at any intensity level—even just one hour per week—can help reduce depression, a large population study found.1 A group of researchers from University of New South Wales (Australia), King’s College London (England), and Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Norway) examined data from the Nord-Trøndelag Health (HUNT) Study—a large-scale, long-term, population-based health surveys in Norway—to understand whether exercise provided protection against depression and anxiety and whether intensity and amount of exercise mattered. After evaluating longitudinal data from nearly 34,000…

Abnormally high blood sugar in individuals with type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is associated with impaired cognitive performance, a Dutch epidemiological study finds.1 Hyperglycemia is known to cause various long-term complications such as damage to retina, nerve and kidney, cardiovascular disease, and infections. Dutch researchers from the Department of Internal Medicine at Maastricht University Medical Centre and Department of Neurology at University Medical Centre Utrecht were interested in whether differences in glucose metabolism status were associated with cognitive performance, in patients of…

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a disorder characterized by an excessive concentration of bacteria in the small intestine (exceeding 105 organisms/mL). Patients with SIBO commonly report abdominal pain, flatulence, bloating, and diarrhea, and may experience malabsorption and weight loss in more severe cases.1 The standard regimen to manage SIBO has been antibiotic therapy, but this may disrupt the normal balance of the gut microbiota and can increases the risk of developing antibiotic resistance. Further, the antibiotics used are often bacteriostatic, not…

It is estimated that by 2050, 1 in 3 U.S. individuals will have type 2 diabetes(T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death for in these patients.  Prevention of CVD among individuals with T2D is therefore of great public health importance. The scientific statements from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) regarding CVD prevention for patients with T2D, and risk factors for CVD, were recently synthesized and published in…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN The latest findings from the landmark Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) trial demonstrate that bariatric surgery significantly reduces the incidence of female-specific cancers, with the most pronounced cancer risk reductions seen for endometrial cancer and in women with high insulin levels pre-surgery.1-2 The health and economic burdens of obesity in the US, and globally, are immense. Based on the latest 2015-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey findings from the Centers for Disease Control and…

A retrospective cohort study found that infertility in women was associated with an increased risk of death from certain endocrine related disease such as diabetes and breast cancer [1]. As infertility in women may be a sign of endocrine or inflammatory disruption, scientists have had concerns about its long-term effects on women’s health. Researchers from the Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) set out to study the link between infertility and mortality in women in the PLCO…

by Bianca Garilli, ND Obesity is an established a predisposing factor for chronic disease processes including metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease (CVD) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). These sequelae of obesity results from the relationship between excess adiposity, underlying inflammation and insulin resistance at the population level.1 More recently, however, research indicates there is more to learn about obesity as a risk factor for these disease processes on the individual level since the number of lean phenotypes suffering the same health conditions…

by Ashley Jordan Ferira, PhD, RDN Recent research from three well-known cohorts, The Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), NHS2 and Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study (HPFS), reveals that higher magnesium intake is associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), particularly in diets with poor carbohydrate quality.1 Green leafy vegetables, unrefined whole grains, and nuts are richest in magnesium, while meats and milk contain a moderate amount.2 Refined foods, like carbohydrates (carb), are poor sources of magnesium. Diets with poor carb quality are characterized by…