Health Information
Mental Turmoil: Depression Treatment Drives Users to Murder, Suicide
By Dr. Mercola After taking GlaxoSmithKline’s Paxil for just two days, retired oilman Don Schell brutally murdered his wife, daughter and 10-month-old granddaughter in the middle of the night before turning the gun on himself. The murders, which took place in 1998 in Gillette, Wyoming, shocked neighbors who couldn’t understand why Schell, who had no history of violence, appeared to have spontaneously killed the people in his life he loved the most.1 The bodies were discovered the following afternoon by Tim Tobin, the husband of...
read moreHow to Pick the Best Produce at the Grocery Store
By Dr. Mercola If you’ve ever been to a grocery store and picked up produce, you’ve more than likely opened a package or two and found yourself stuck with rubbery carrots, mealy apples or muskmelon that was either mushy or hard as a rock. Fruits and vegetables that disappoint once you get them home may have something to do with the fact that, more often than not, it’s not kids who have to be prodded to eat their fruits and vegetables, it’s adults (and if adults don’t think it’s important, chances are they...
read moreHow to Grow Endive
By Dr. Mercola While they look deceptively similar to lettuce, with one bite you will realize endive tastes slightly bitter. Despite there being a fair amount of confusion in terms of distinguishing endive from other members of the chicory family, it is characterized by a large rosette with narrow, curly-edged, light-green center leaves surrounded by dark-green outer leaves. Endive’s close relatives — Belgian endive, curly endive (also known as frisée) and escarole — are names of other chicory relatives that are sometimes confused and...
read moreQuick Tips to Grow Chives
By Dr. Mercola If you don’t grow herbs in your garden, outside containers or inside, you’re missing out on powerful flavors, variety in your meals and impressive health benefits. Aromatic herbs are an excellent key ingredient to any garden, most providing you with a full summer of growth and beauty. Herbs are derived from the leafy green parts of plants, like their leaves and stems, while spices come from other parts, such as flowers, roots, bulbs or bark. Herbs are often used fresh, while spices are usually dried before use in...
read more7 Supplements That Help Fight Holiday Stress
By Dr. Mercola While the holiday season can be a wonderful time of celebration and connection, few of us get through it without experiencing some level of stress. Emotions can run high around the holidays and expectations higher still. You may feel pressure to entertain, cook a big meal and shop for gifts for family and friends, whether you can afford it or not. In addition, there are many holiday-oriented activities and special events to attend. All of those taking place in a short window of time can send your stress levels spiraling out of...
read moreIs Cognitive Training the Answer for Dementia?
By Dr. Mercola Could computer-based cognitive training reduce your risk for dementia? According to recent research, it might. The study, said to be the first-ever randomized controlled trial to demonstrate an intervention effective at reducing dementia risk, found a specially developed brain exercise program lowered the risk by 29 percent over the course of 10 years.1,2,3,4,5 The research was led by Dr. Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus at the University of California, who has pioneered research in brain plasticity for more than 30 years....
read moreWhy Vanilla Beans Are Absolutely Worth It
Vanilla beans (Vanilla planifolia1) are long thin pods from a variety of orchid that’s grown in a commercial scale in Madagascar, India, Indonesia, Puerto Rico and the West Indies.2,3 When opened, the pods are waxy and dark, filled with little brown specks and emit a sweet fragrance.4,5 There are three types of vanilla beans: Bourbon-Madagascar, Mexican and Tahitian. Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla is a thin pod with a rich and sweet flavor, the sweetest of the three. Mexican vanilla tastes smooth and rich, while Tahitian vanilla has the...
read moreAre Your Unscented Products Truly Fragrance-Free?
By Dr. Mercola Nearly 13,000 chemicals are used in cosmetics and personal care products, but only 10 percent have been tested for human safety. The average American woman uses 12 personal care products or cosmetics every day that contain approximately 168 different chemicals. While men use fewer products and are exposed to nearly half the number of chemicals than women, teens use more products and are exposed to even more chemicals.1 Your personal care products are applied on an active, living and complex organ system. Your skin is not just a...
read moreBig Sugar Buried Evidence to Hide Sugar Harms
By Dr. Mercola A number of recent investigations have revealed a significant truth: The sugar industry has long known that sugar consumption triggers poor health, but hid the incriminating data, much like the tobacco industry hid the evidence linking smoking to lung cancer. The most recent of these investigations, based on unearthed historical documents, found the sugar industry buried evidence from the 1960s that linked sugar consumption to heart disease and cancer. The research didn’t see the light of day again until Cristin E....
read moreWill Most Sunscreens Be Eventually Banned?
By Dr. Mercola Oxybenzone (benzophenone-3)1 is one of the most common ingredients found in sunscreen products. Its primary function is to prevent your skin from absorbing ultraviolet (UV) light. Since the chemical is cost effective and increases the sunblock protection in a sunscreen product, it can be found in nearly 3,500 brands of sunscreen worldwide.2 If you reapply the product every two hours as directed, an average day at the beach may mean you are exposed to 2 to 4 ounces of a product containing chemicals known to disrupt human...
read moreGovernment Falsifies Warning on Kratom to Protect Opioids
By Dr. Mercola The overprescription of powerful opioid drugs to treat everything from back pain to arthritis has resulted in an unprecedented crisis of overdose and death in the U.S. Even when taken as directed, prescription opioids can lead to addiction as well as tolerance, which means you need an increasingly stronger dose to get the pain-relieving effects. Physical dependence, in which you suffer withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking the drugs, is common.1 In fact, more than 91 Americans fatally overdose on opioids every day.2 The...
read moreRoundup Creates Antibiotic Resistance
By Dr. Mercola Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, has earned the ominous distinction of being the most heavily used agricultural chemical of all time.1 Use skyrocketed starting in 1996, when Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” genetically engineered (GE) glyphosate-tolerant crops (soy, corn and cotton) were introduced. The GE crops are impervious to Roundup’s toxic effects, which allows farmers to spray the chemical onto their crops with abandon. As such, use increased nearly 15-fold since...
read moreVaccine Deficient Employees Fired to Gain Health Care Funding
By Dr. Mercola Mandatory influenza vaccinations for health care workers — who really benefits from this draconian measure? While public health officials tell you that mandatory flu shots for all health care workers will protect patients from influenza, there’s virtually no good scientific evidence to support such claims. If health and safety were really the chief aim of this forced vaccination policy, why not mandate vitamin D testing and optimization, since vitamin D supplementation has been shown to be 10 times more effective than...
read moreAloe Vera Effective for Most Psoriasis
By Dr. Mercola For people who don’t have it, psoriasis may seem like a minor condition that may be slightly unsightly and mildly irritating. In reality, however, this can be a long-term skin condition, evidenced by patches of skin anywhere on your body that can be not just scaly and irritated but swollen and painful. It can also lead to other, more serious problems. Today, about 7.5 million people in the U.S. suffer from this chronic condition, caused by cell buildup that is not just on the surface but goes deeper, often bringing joint...
read moreChinese Herb Shows Promise Against Tooth Decay
By Dr. Mercola Your dental health is an important component of your physical health. While often ignored or overlooked, dental issues such as cavities and root canals can have a significant systemic influence, and the state of your soft tissues and teeth often offer a clear reflection of what’s going on in the rest of your body. Tooth decay is often misconstrued as a “fluoride insufficiency,” but nothing could be further from the truth. The health of your teeth is largely dependent on your diet, which affects not only your gut...
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