In the pursuit of a healthier lifestyle, it’s not just food and personal care products that must be carefully vetted. Household and work environments can also be laden with dangerous chemicals and toxins.   New and old items each come with their own risks. An older home or car may still contain chemicals that were found to be dangerous and phased out years ago. A brand-new purchase might bring industrial chemicals from foreign markets with lax regulations. Even everyday items

Chlorohydrin contaminates hydrolyzed vegetable protein products and refined oils. In 1978, chlorohydrins were found in protein hydrolysates. What does that mean? Proteins can be broken down into amino acids using a chemical process called hydrolysis, and free amino acids (like glutamate) can have taste-enhancing qualities. That’s how inexpensive soy sauce and seasonings like Bragg’s Liquid Aminos are made. This process requires high heat, high pressure, and hydrochloric acid

There is another reason to avoid palm oil and question the authenticity of extra-virgin olive oil. The most commonly used vegetable oil in the world today is palm oil. Pick up any package of processed food in a box, bag, bottle, or jar, and the odds are it will have palm oil. Palm oil not only contains the primary cholesterol-raising saturated fat found mostly in meat and dairy, but concerns have been raised about its safety, given the finding that it may contain a potenti

If your body feels creaky, tight, or achy when you get out of bed, you’re not alone. And it’s not just because you’re getting older. “Morning stiffness is often driven by low-grade inflammation, joint immobility, or poor overnight recovery,” explains human performance and longevity expert Mark Kovacs , Ph.D,  “And while lifestyle changes such as movement and hydration matter most, there are over-the-counter supplements that can offer real benefits.” Kovacs notes that suppleme

Plus a doctor reveals how to tell if it's the flu or just a common cold Every year in the fall, you start getting messages from your local pharmacy about coming in for a flu shot. Indeed, while getting a flu vaccine is super important to staying safe and healthy during the colder season when respiratory illnesses run rampant, knowing how to recognize flu symptoms and when you need treatment can also help protect you. Here’s everything you need to know to prepare you for the

A new study found a connection between processed red meats and worse cognition. Brain health has become a hot topic these days, and for good reason—the rest of you can’t function without your brain. And many things affect how well your brain functions. From food and physical activity to sleep and stress, all of it influences the health of your brain—for better or for worse. Thankfully, the brain also has healing superpowers, and a damaged brain can heal over time, given the p

Having a “normal” cholesterol level in a society where it’s normal to die from a heart attack isn’t necessarily a good thing. “Consistent evidence” from a variety of sources “unequivocally establishes” that so-called bad LDL cholesterol causes atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease—strokes and heart attacks, our leading cause of death. This evidence base includes hundreds of studies involving millions of people. “Cholesterol is the cause of atherosclerosis,” the hardening of

What effects do fasting and a plant-based diet have on TBI and migraines? An uncontrolled and unpublished study purported to show a beneficial effect of fasting on migraine headaches, but fasting may be more likely to trigger a migraine than help it. In fact, “skipped meals are among the most consistently identified dietary triggers” of headaches in general. In a review of hundreds of fasts at the TrueNorth Health Center in California, the incidence of headache was nearly

Switch up your iron intake with these plant-based options. Key Points Many plant-based foods—including white beans, lentils, tofu, and spinach—are rich in iron, supporting oxygen transport, energy, and immune health. Since non-heme iron from plants isn’t absorbed as easily as heme iron from meat, pairing it with vitamin C-rich foods boosts absorption. Dietitians recommend combining iron-rich plant foods in creative ways—like lentil soups, tofu stir-fries, and chickpea pasta—t

Treat the underlying cause of chronic lifestyle diseases. It’s been said that more than 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates declared , “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” In actuality, it appears that he never actually said those words, but there’s “no doubt about the relevance of food…and its role in health and disease states” in his writings. Regardless, 2,000 years ago, disease was thought to arise from a bad sense of “humors,” as you can see here and at 0:32