March Came in Like a Lion and So Did These Studies!
Every month, I keep a Word document for cutting and pasting links of fascinating articles that I find and want to share with others. New York’s and most of New England’s snow and extreme weather conditions this month gave me some extra leisure time to cross reference and get nerdy.
This week, I provide for you a short recap of some of my favorite topics found in March’s 2017 Top Holistic and Integrative Health Reads. In this way, you can enjoy the cognitive benefits you receive from learning the latest health news highlights as you recoup for spring ahead. For those who want access to more details on their favorite topics, you can click here for the full list of article sources.
Speaking of Extreme Weather…
Recently, President Trump signed a controversial executive order that impacts environmental regulations and that has many scientists concerned for public safety.
Just this month, there were four releases that cited evidence of how our climate effects our health. These articles are listed below and include the topics of pesticides, pollution, and medical groups’ cautionary tale of climate change’s health impacts:
- Two United Nation (UN) Experts Urge for Regulations of Pesticides due to Human Health Effects
- The World Health Organization (WHO) Claims Pollution Is Causing 1.7 Million Children’s Death a Year
- Eleven US Medical Groups Unite to Raise Public Awareness On Climate Change and It’s Negative Impact Human Health
- Medscape Lists the 3 Harms of Climate Change by These Eleven Medical Groups. They include: Direct harm by environmental injuries and deaths from violent weather, spread of diseases through insects and contaminated food and waters, and mental and emotional effects (Password protected.)
For more research and information on this topic, see Globalchange.gov.
Other highlights on this topic and other healthcare policy updates (i.e., attempts to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, problems with conflicts of interest in medicine), are also listed here.
Those Bugs Again!
There were several eye-catching articles this month on the microbiome and the gut. The first was an interventional study that highlighted the benefit of swallowing certain bugs to assist with allergy symptoms. On this same topic of probiotics, I also read reports that buggy ingestion had an impact on rodents’ moods and surprising findings on their memory. (It appears that probiotics were most beneficial for junk-food loving rats, not ones that already had a good diet.)
There were several articles highlighting the gut-brain connection and a few studies on the connection between microbes and diseases, such as Gulf War Syndrome. Finally, did you know that gut bugs help with carbohydrate digestion? I found out more details on that this month!
These critters never cease to fascinate me!
More Health Research and Updates
Mind-Body: The mind-body section of my favorite reads covers a new study on the benefit of yoga for depression, a link between social isolation and colds, how depression hurts the heart after suffering a cardiovascular condition, and a review of some of the benefits of mind-body medicine with autism.
Cool Science: Science updates report on apps that can zap migraines and test for male fertility. There’s also new research on blood tests for brain and heart disorders. One of my favorite studies this month validated several functional medicine tests that assess metabolic analytes. In the research, these were assessed for efficacy in the diagnosis of autism.
Fun Updates: Finally, I list some fun studies on how food can be medicine, how exercise and certain supplements may help muscle fitness, and important drug safety updates (including the US EpiPen recall.)
Now that your brains are happy, you can do some gentle movement and contemplate the great weather ahead.
If you want more brain food, dive more deeply into my March 2017 Top Reads here.
