James J. Gormley

While meta-analyses, when properly conducted, can be an insightful tool; when ill used they are subject to bias by those who hold pre-determined conclusions and are seeking a way to force studies into them.A wide body of scientific evidence has established that taking antioxidant supplements—including vitamins C and E, beta carotene, selenium and zinc—can help reduce the risk of chronic disease. That being said, we know that antioxidant supplements (and supplements, in general) are not magic bullets, but they can be an important complement to a healthful diet.

Ever wonder when the U.S. nutrition industry appeared and how it’s evolved since? Manufacturer NOW Foods assigned natural products journalist and blogger James Gormley to find out. Gormley’s Timeline of the Natural Products Industry (currently posted on his blog, The Gormley Files) traces the development of the industry from the 18th century to the 21st, addressing everything from unregulated elixirs to “the Vitamin Volstead Act” to DSHEA, marking the dates of the court precedents, Congressional acts and book publications that shaped U.S. nutrition as a business over the last few centuries. Since the beginning of the 20th century, nutrition products have weathered a harsh, mercurial regulatory environment, and Gormley illuminates the historical actors, organizations and publications that have nurtured and sustained the industry since its inception.

Our friend James Gormley has a new article up at the American Chronicle which shines all kinds of education on the liver, kicking Liver Awareness Month off properly on this first of the month. The liver doesn't get nearly the attention that some other major organs recieve, but liver disease affects one in ten people, and roughly 30 million Americans. James' article explains the course and onset of liver disease, as well as detailing the additional threat that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) poses to liver health, before ending with a series of hopeful notes, namely, emerging supplement treatments to combat liver damage.

No one wants to be slowed down by illness, yet every year 1 billion people in the United States get a cold and anywhere from 56 million to 140 million come down with the flu. Your best defenses against sickness are to wash your hands frequently, eat well, get plenty of rest, and keep a positive attitude. (I will stay healthy. I will stay healthy.) But if you happen to catch either a cold or the flu, it's helpful to quickly identify whether your infection is bacterial or viral, and to know how to support your system with herbs as you begin to recover.

Still a matter of some debate, though, is exactly how FM differs from CFS. "For most people, if they're always tired, have brain fog, and can't sleep, they either have CFS or fibromyalgia or both," says Teitelbaum, adding that 70 percent of people with FM also meet the criteria for CFS as recognized by the CDC. But despite commonalties, says Boston-based Don L. Goldenberg, MD, author of Fibromyalgia: A Leading Expert's Guide to Understanding and Getting Relief from the Pain That Won't Go Away (Berkeley Publishing Group, 2002), "If a person doesn't have widespread pain, he or she doesn't have fibromyalgia." Further complicating precise diagnosis, according to Teitelbaum, is the fact that FM alters organ function and hormone levels, but usually not dramatically enough to show up on blood tests—an example of what's called subclinical dysfunction, or symptoms that play out just below the clinical radar screen.

During the last 25 years, China's economic model has evolved from an insular system into a more market-oriented economy with a fast-growing private sector. Although now a major player on the world's economic stage, China has rolled out trade reforms slowly.