bacteriaTrillions of microorganisms – mainly bacteria and yeast – inhabit your intestines and make up your microbiome.

Don’t worry – most of them are generally harmless, and even sometimes beneficial. Many of these microbes help us obtain nutrients from food we normally can’t digest, and they also help protect us from opportunistic infections caused by pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria.

However, we are only beginning to understand the importance of the microbiome in maintaining our health.

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vitamin E pills

Clinical trials involving vitamin E supplementation have been mixed – some showed benefits, while others did not. Some trials even reported negative outcomes associated with taking vitamin E.

Is it time to ditch your vitamin E supplement? Continue reading

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A surprising number of Americans fall short of vitamin and mineral intake recommendations, and will never know it.

It’s a state we know as ‘inadequacy’—insufficient micronutrient intakes for optimum health. Continue reading

sleeping is important to circadian rhythms

 

Our bodies change signals based on a circadian clock – stronger at certain times of the day and weaker at others. It establishes a rhythm of signals that influences our life.

At least one-third of all genes in our bodies are affected by circadian clocks, and so maintaining a normal circadian rhythm is important to keep ourselves in good health. But many people fail to realize the impact that disrupting circadian rhythms has on our well-being.

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