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Moringa Improves Exercise
Performance
A new study shows for the first time that moringa leaf extract may boost exercise performance.
Moringa has been used traditionally in Africa and Asia. The leaves are rich in flavonoids, including the powerful quercetin. It is a very safe herb to use.
This new study put moringa to the test for exercise in men between the ages of 18 and 40. Half of them took a placebo while the other half took moringa leaf extract for 30 days. They then measured upper and lower body strength, 100m sprint and treadmill endurance.
At the end of the study, the men on moringa had enhanced athletic performance in both push-ups and treadmill exhaustion compared to the placebo group. There was also improvement in antioxidant status.
This is the first study to show that moringa improves post-exercise energy metabolism and antioxidant function, suggesting that it may enhance physical performance and nominating it as a new sports nutrition supplement.
Phytomedicine. 2024 Aug:131:155751
For Preventing Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer, Olive Oil is a Healthy Choice
Fats and oils are so confusing. We are always told that fat and oil are bad. But not all fats and oils are. This new study shows why choosing olive oil is a smart choice.
As the very healthy Mediterranean suggests, olive oil–especially extra virgin olive oil–is good for you. Now a huge new study helps explain why.
The study followed 22,892 people for 13.1 years. It found that, compared to people who consumed less that 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil a day, people who enjoyed more than 3 tablespoons a day were 20% less likely to die prematurely from any cause. They were 23% less likely to die from cancer and 25% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.
This new study found that, independent of overall diet quality, eating more olive oil lowers your risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 2024 May 4. doi:10.1038/s41430-024-01442-8.
Moringa Improves Exercise
Performance
A new study shows for the first time that moringa leaf extract may boost exercise performance.
Moringa has been used traditionally in Africa and Asia. The leaves are rich in flavonoids, including the powerful quercetin. It is a very safe herb to use.
This new study put moringa to the test for exercise in men between the ages of 18 and 40. Half of them took a placebo while the other half took moringa leaf extract for 30 days. They then measured upper and lower body strength, 100m sprint and treadmill endurance.
At the end of the study, the men on moringa had enhanced athletic performance in both push-ups and treadmill exhaustion compared to the placebo group. There was also improvement in antioxidant status.
This is the first study to show that moringa improves post-exercise energy metabolism and antioxidant function, suggesting that it may enhance physical performance and nominating it as a new sports nutrition supplement.
Phytomedicine. 2024 Aug:131:155751
Herbal Cure for a Hangover?
While it’s never a good idea to drink too much, it’s good to know that there may be herbal help if you do.
Your body’s response to alcohol is to enlist the liver to break the ethanol into acetaldehyde. But acetaldehyde is more toxic than ethanol, and the result is a hangover. In moderation, the body can more or less handle further breaking down the acetaldehyde, but if you drink too much, you overwhelm your body and suffer the toxic hangover.
But a recent double-blind study found that a single dose of noni extract may help your body to rescue you. In the small study, 30 people were given either a placebo or 1 gram of noni extract before drinking alcohol.
The ones who took the noni reached peak alcohol concentration significantly faster, meaning that they were more efficiently processing the alcohol. Their blood acetaldehyde levels were also significantly lower 40 minutes after drinking and 12 hours after drinking. That’s good news, since it’s the acetaldehyde that causes the hangover.
The study found that noni extract significantly lowered acetaldehyde levels and the severity of hangover symptoms in people who were 36 years old or less, who drank more than 15 drinks a week and who had higher total hangover scores.
According to the researchers, this study suggests that noni extract “has the potential to improve hangover symptoms by decreasing alcohol and acetaldehyde levels.”
Food & Function. 2023;14(3):1750–60.
Can This Powerful Herb Actually
Reverse Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease?
Affecting 20%-30% of all adults in the world, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the world. So, a safe, natural method of reversing it would help a lot of people. A new study says there is one!
If you have NAFLD, cholesterol and triglycerides are quietly building up in your liver tissue. Being insulin resistant and being overweight are key factors in the progression of NAFLD. This 24 week double-blind study put curcumin to the test against fatty liver. The study included 80 people with nonalcoholic simple fatty liver (NASFL). NASFL is the early stage of NAFLD when it still might be reversed. Each of them was given either a placebo or 500mg of curcumin a day. Compared to the placebo, curcumin significantly reduced liver fat. Importantly, considering the risk factors, curcumin also significantly reduced weight, BMI, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose and long term markers of long term blood sugar and diabetes control (HbA1c).
This study adds to the impressively growing body of research supporting the use of curcumin for NAFLD. Several studies have shown curcumin to reduce liver fat. One study found a 78.9% reduction in liver fat versus 27.5% on placebo
(Phytother Res. 2016;30(9):1540-8). Ultrasound studies have found improvement in the liver in 75% of people using curcumin compared to 4.7% of people given a placebo
(Drug Res. 2017;67(4):244-251).
AJCN. July 2024;120(1):66-79
Stressed Out & Tired?
Probiotics to the Rescue
If the gut microbiome is communicating with the brain, as is now known, can improving the gut microbiome improve mental health?
A new study has found that 8 weeks of probiotics “remodeled” the gut microbiome of people with sleep disturbance and mood symptoms and significantly improved their sleep quality, depression and anxiety.
Nutrients. 2023 Dec 8;15(24)
When it Comes to Heart
Disease, Garlic Does it All!
Tons of research has shown that garlic helps both blood pressure and cholesterol. Now there’s even more!
This double-blind study gave people with prehypertension either a placebo or freeze-dried garlic extract for 8 weeks. The results added to the evidence that garlic really works. Compared to placebo, the garlic significantly lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. At the same time, it significantly lowered triglycerides, the heart harmful LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol while significantly raising the heart healthy HDL cholesterol.
Garlic also significantly increased nitric oxide. Among other benefits nitric oxide causes narrowed blood vessels to relax and expand, increasing blood flow and oxygen.
This study adds to the growing evidence that garlic can play an important role in helping people at high risk of high blood pressure.
Horm Mol Biol Clin Investig. 2024 Jul 15. doi:10.1515/hmbci-2024-0019k up your brand.
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